Young athletes persevered
Palmieri, Bans, Dandeneau, Coopers didn’t allow pandemic stop them from succeeding
Despite challenges, 2020 was good to some local athletes
People like to talk about how much 2020 was cut from a different cloth. You know what? They are 100 percent correct.
For the sports-writing crowd, there’s no question the job was impacted greatly. We went multiple months without covering games or live events. When our favorite teams returned to action, open locker rooms and clubhouses were replaced with Zoom sessions. It was all part of the new – hopefully, temporary – normal.
The circumstances may have changed when it came to how we as sports journalists interacted with athletes and coaches, yet the mission that this particular scribe seeks to always adhere to did not. After all, we are a seven-day-a-week operation and COVID-19 wasn’t going to thwart the efforts of the Call/Times sports department from bringing you, the loyal reader, the stories that hopefully struck a chord and made you appreciate the folks whose stories we shared.
You go where the story is, and 2020 once again provided this scribe with the chance to interact with folks in the Blackstone Valley and beyond. Let’s raise a glass to a 20-pack to those who distinguished themselves:
1). MASON PALMIERI
A 2019 graduate of Bryant, the Lincoln native still had a season of eligibility remaining to play baseball for the Bulldog ‘9’ in 2020. Last January inside the Chace Athletic Center, Palmieri talked about why his desire to pitch in a college baseball