PEABODY — Entering his 16th season at the helm of the Peabody high baseball team, coach Mark Bettencourt has seen his fair share of seniors come and go for the Tanners.
But with COVID-19 cancellations putting this season on the backburner for now, it’s unclear if this group of seniors will even get the chance to close out their careers. Bettencourt, like most coaches, can’t help but feel for them.
“You only get one senior year,” Bettencourt said. “It’s one last season of competitive baseball. It’s hurting all our sports, lacrosse, baseball and softball. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will get another chance but not the seniors. It’s that class you really feel bad for.”
One of those seniors is Christian Ploumbidis. A right fielder, Ploumbidis and his teammates are still holding out hope that they’ll be able to take the field again together this spring.
“It’s all been crazy,” Ploumbidis said. “No one expected this to happen and now we might be stuck without a season. We’re all just trying to have hope that we can get out there eventually.
“You miss being out there with your friends everyday for sure,” Ploumbidis said. “It’s your senior year, your last year with all your friends and your last year where you’re all together on the field.”
With a season in limbo and everyone staying at home taking necessary precautions the question for athletes becomes what can you do to prepare for a season if it comes?
“There’s some stuff you can be doing at home but it’s not the same,” Ploumbidis said. “We’re still in contact a lot with the team in a group text. It’s not the usual preparation. Usually we would be together before all this, but there’s not a lot that you can do.”
For Bettencourt, doing what you can to prepare for whatever the spring season may look like has become a big focus for him and his children.
“My daughters play softball and my son plays baseball,” Bettencourt said. “I can tell you we’re out throwing everyday that we can and we also have a hit stick to work with. It’s more about just keeping them swinging.”
During the high school season, Bettencourt and his team are no strangers to preparing for the season indoors.But things will be much different for them this year.
“Our guys are used to preparing in the high school gym early in the season and on rainy days,” Bettencourt said. “But this is just a much shorter version of that. It’s about kids getting in their garages or backyards and doing soft toss or even hitting rolled up socks.
“The one fair part is everyone is dealing with this,” Bettencourt said. “You have to wait for good weather, you can’t go out during the rain we’ve been having, but you can still go in your backyard. It also depends if you have family who can throw with you. I’m sure a lot of players will be out with a neighbor playing catch and keeping their distance.”
And even if the makeshift preparation does lead to a shortened season in May, Bettencourt expects things to look a lot different on the field.
“If we do get a handful of games it’s obviously going to be different,” Bettencourt said. “Not everyone will be at their best because nobody has had the preparation. It’ll be a rough 10 to 12 games for everybody.”
For now the Tanners continue to sit, wait and prepare however they can just like everyone else while the country weathers the storm.
“You’re not really angry about it,” Bettencourt said. “It’s not fair but obviously it’s something that needs to be done. As a nation we all understand what’s happening and sacrifices need to be made. You see it with college seasons and March Madness being shut down. A lot of big memories for people and athletes are being shut down right now. As far as the kids go we’re still hoping and praying that we can get something in whenever they say it’s safe to go back.”
