A season of remembrance
Estrella, GNB eye crown for DaSilva
NEW BEDFORD — Scott DaSilva searched for answers after his 16-year-old son AJ, a student at Greater New Bedford Voke, lost his battle with cancer last June. They weren’t easy to find. This spring, however, James Estrella, a senior on the school’s baseball team, managed to provide some.
Estrella honored AJ’s memory through his play and the special bond he forged with DaSilva. He delivered at key times in this postseason, setting the stage for Greater New Bedford’s bid for a Division 2 state title today against Danvers (at Brockton, 4 p.m.).
“It’s helping me to not focus on that AJ is gone, but that AJ is still here,” DaSilva said. “He’s still putting in work. He’s helping. He wanted to play for VocTech desperately.”
Now, Estrella and GNB play for AJ.
“You got people like me and all my guys come out here every day and we take it for granted some times, a lot of times,” said Estrella, who plans to enter the Marine Corps Reserves. “Like everybody. Take a lot for granted. The moments you have they go by quick. Time is precious.”
AJ, a year younger than Estrella, was diagnosed with cancer in his liver and lungs in January 2015. The two grew up playing baseball together, and while Estrella was able to suit up for the Bears, AJ never had that opportunity.
Yet even battling cancer, AJ headed to the ball field after enduring chemotherapy treatment twice a week. He succumbed to the disease on June 12, 2016, and his father created the AJ DaSilva Memorial Scholarship to honor him.
Estrella became the first recipient.
“For my son to have looked up to him, I wouldn’t have changed anything about James,” DaSilva said. “He’s got to be like the perfect kid in my eyes. I look at him and that’s what I would have wanted my son to do if the shoe would have been on the other foot.”
After receiving the scholarship, Estrella felt compelled to bring awareness to AJ’s story and to his family. On Senior Day, a game in which graduating players and their families are recognized a final time, Estrella walked out with DaSilva by his side during the pregame ceremonies, not his own parents.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” Estrella said. “My parents had a chance to walk me out for football. It’s not something (DaSilva) could do. Life is precious. It’s more than the game of baseball.”
A special season for Estrella and Greater New Bedford took on even more meaning with each win in the tournament. Estrella scored the winning run in a 3-2, nine-inning victory over Hopkinton in the sectional semifinal.
Then on Sunday, heading to the plate in the sixth inning of a 3-3 game with two runners on, Estrella was pulled aside by Greater New Bedford coach Rick Avila. “Do this for AJ,” Avila told him. “Do it for him.”
Estrella did just that, delivering a two-run, two-out single that gave GNB a 5-3 comefrom-behind victory over Westwood and the first South title in school history. The big hit came one day shy of the one-year anniversary of AJ’s death.
Estrella and the team believe AJ, along with Andrew McCann, a former GNB baseball player who died in a car crash five years ago, are behind this magical run.
“They’re watching a good baseball team,” said Avila.
Estrella said AJ’s battle taught him to live in the moment. He will savor every second of the final game of his high school career today with AJ DaSilva watching over him.
“He’ll be there all day long,” Estrella said.