Novans wait another year to play at Cass Park
Woonsocket was excited to play next to school
WOONSOCKET – If there was one thing that head coach Dan Belisle remembers most, and best, about his 2019 Woonsocket High varsity fast-pitch team, it came one day in May, when unbeaten Rogers came to town for a Division II-Sullivan League clash.
The one thing he feared most, his own pitching, happened to be pretty good that day, but his offense and defense, those were off the charts.
“They came to Cold Spring (Park), but we battled and scrapped,” he stated. “We made some diving plays, a couple of double plays; we played very well. It was a gutsy win. That was their lone loss of the season, so we could hang our hats on that.”
He sighed, then noted, “We were looking to do some of the same things this spring.”
Belisle claimed the April 23 announcement by Gov. Gina Raimondo that schools would not reopen for the rest of the academic year, thus canceling all high school spring sports campaigns, deeply hurt not only his players but himself as well.
“We had stayed hopeful that if things started to loosen up by early May, then there might be a chance we could have a modified season beginning maybe a week to 10 days later,” he said. “But as the (quarantine) went on, it became obvious everything was going to be canceled.
“During that time, we would chat on group text. In that group, most of the girls play for club softball or for a travel team, so they just love to compete. When the word got out, there were so disappointed. I mean, this was their senior year; it was a big deal, and their time to shine, so it was a big, big letdown.
“There’s nothing better than a high school season, the ebbs and flows, being together as a group, going through ups and downs together, big wins, the camaraderie,” he added. “We all missed out on that, and it’s tough.”
Belisle stated he had slightly higher expectations of this campaign than the one before, for assorted reasons. Sure, they had lost some standouts to graduation, such as Abbie Rodericks, Holly Letourneau and Maddie Hereth, but the Villa Novans would return five experienced seniors, among them left fielder Maddie Thibodeau, center fielder Lauren Peloquin, pitcher/first base Hannah Moyen, second baseman Julia Beech and third baseman/catcher Mia Plasse.
Call them the quin-captains.
“We had lost Lundyn Forcier, our pitcher, the year before (last), so we ended up going 9-7 with a slow-pitch pitcher,” Belisle recalled. “We had to rely on our hitting and defense. I have to say, last year’s group was the most talented and well-rounded group I’ve had in my 16 years coaching here at Woonsocket.
“Because Lundyn had graduated, we had no one to replace her (in the circle), so the fact we went 9-7 is a testament to the girls and their hard work,” he continued. “We ended up some pretty good teams … Now this season, we had a young pitcher coming in, Rylie Forcier, a freshman (and Lundyn’s younger sister), and I had never seen her pitch before.
“It’s just the way it is in Woonsocket; we don’t have a solid feeder system at pitcher like we do for other positions, and that makes it tough. Still, we had high expectations this year. The girls who left were very, very good, and all of them are playing in college, I believe. For us, everything hinged on pitching and whether we could throw strikes.
“The returning starters and the reserves from last year, they were all ready to come in and contribute, and – if they did – we were going to be a threat to make the playoffs. Hannah had done most of our pitching last year; in fact, she’s the one who beat Rogers. We had the mindset going in of ‘Let’s take pride in the fact that we can and will win games with our hitting and defense – despite the fact we’re weak at pitching.’
“All the kids bought in, and we were ready to go, then, all of a sudden, it was gone. I will say I’ve had some really good ballplayers on my teams the last few years, and I have to thank them all.”