DeMayo's Indians began the season with a wacky 17-9 extra-inning victory over defending Class LL champion West Haven (before losing to Sheehan over the weekend), DeMayo's 778th career victory, a number that if broken will only come because of advances in medical science that allow people to live forever. And even then it would be tough.
But DeMayo recently called this year "the most stressful spring I've ever had here (at North Haven)". It had nothing to do with today's youth, or the fact that he was getting tired of coaching. It had to do with North Haven's brand new home for baseball, once whose opening was six years in the making.
A facility, ironically, named after him.
To complete the whole story, you have to go back a decade when North Haven's long-time home Sachem Field was renamed Robert E. DeMayo Field, an honor that even then was long overdue.
The next chapter was really no one's fault, the town of North Haven came up with the funds to build a brand new high school and the best place to do so was on top of their former athletic facilities. But the idea was to build brand new and improved athletic facilities for everything but football (Vanacore Field was not in the construction zone) where the old school was.
New and improved NHHS opened in 2005, but with other things going on, the Indians were content to move to antiquated, but serviceable Bailey Road for 2005 and 2006. But then glass was found (among other things) and the potential new field was deemed unplayable for another season in 2007. Then 2008 also went by. Finally, on May 18 of last year, the new Robert E. DeMayo Field was dedicated, including a statue of a baseball player that was a collaborative work, with DeMayo and his wife Betty coming up with the idea and many, many others contributing to the sculpting and engraving of it.
North Haven beat Guilford that night, and the saga of DeMayo Field seemed to finally be over, allowing DeMayo to finally enjoy a decent home field.
Unfortunately, and sadly, our story is just beginning.
You see one thing that was forgotten was some high fencing down the lines - particularly the left-field line - where some houses sit on nearby streets. The backyards of these houses, some with young children, are in the line of fire of stray foul balls.
No problem, you say, put up some netting. Ah, but this is a government operation (and although I'm a fan of a government health care plan, this story does show why so many people are so against it), and the funding for the field said nothing about any netting.
"It didn't seem that hard when it was first brought up," DeMayo said. "But everything kept getting put off, everything was manana."
Which got DeMayo (among others) even more angry, because in DeMayo's world, nothing is "manana". He finally e-mailed former players around Thanksgiving time, asking for a donation to help him pay for these fences and nettings he needed to be able to play on his field.
That's the part of the story that galls me the most, a legendary figure whose own field has been off-limits to him for six years having to basically beg for money to play there.
Of course, his players came through, and with new First Selectman Mike Freda (whose son was DeMayo's captain just a couple of years back) in office, again it appeared everything was taken care of.
But as the scrimmages began, the Indians were again back at Bailey Road. Sigh.
Finally, hours before the home opener against Sheehan on Saturday, they got permission from the neighbors and the town to play the game there as a special exemption. But there's no guarantee that the next home game (Wednesday against Notre Dame) would be played there.
"My understanding is that all the materials for the fencing are there," DeMayo said. "They need sleeves to put the fencing in, though, and I guess those haven't arrived yet. Until then, we can practice there because he hit in a cage, but who knows if we can play there? I'm completely confused. It's killing our program because we're trying to fit a varsity, JV, freshman, and middle school program basically on two fields.
"I don't blame the neighbor personally, he's got to look out for his children, and I completely understand that. People say, 'Why don't you get on the Building Committee?', and my response is, believe me, I've tried."
Eventually, these things will probably be worked out and the field will be up and running permanently. Deep down, Bob DeMayo will be thrilled that his team and program will finally be back to full speed and he can just worry about baseball again.
He never should have had to worry about these things in the first place.
AROUND THE HORN: This just in, Amity is good. Their pitching will be tough to stop, but Foran's 1-2 punch of Ward and O'Keefe is also going to be difficult to score on. They played each other Monday after our deadline, and they'll meet again later in the season ... I'm actually pretty proud of the fact that my Power Rankings weren't all that far off in the first week. Notre Dame's pitching held up, and if it does they'll be dangerous ... But not many other teams got great pitching performances in the season's first week, those that do will have a leg up on the rest of the league ... Looks like life will be tough for the New Haven schools this season, particularly usually competitive Wilbur Cross, who found itself down 20-0 after the first three innings of the season against Hamden last week. No one likes to see that. But Career, although 0-2, was very competitive, taking Shelton to the brink after nearly knocking off Xavier in the opener ... Speaking of the Falcons, they played their opener against Career at Xavier High, and will play their next 10 games on the road while Palmer Field is allowed to dry and undergo some work. They will finish the season with nine straight home games ... As it was last year, it looks like easy wins for the most part, will be few and far between this year in the SCC.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brett Michael Doran, Jonathan Law - There was talk of an injury, but obviously he felt fine in throwing a three-hit shutout against Xavier on Saturday, allowing the defending SCC champs to even their record at 1-1 and beat Xavier ace Shaun Coughlin. With a tough schedule, the Lawmen will need performances like that to make a return to the SCC Tournament.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Notre Dame at Shelton, Friday, 11:30 a.m. - This should be a slugfest between two of the top offenses in the SCC (and maybe the state). But these teams will go as far as their pitching will take them at the end of the season, and for both (at least in the season's first week), it was so far, so good.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2
Number of runs allowed by both Amity and Foran in their first two games. One run per game. If you're going to knock these teams off, you're going to have to find a way to keep them off the scoreboard.
POWER RANKINGS
1) Foran (2-0; Last Week 1) – Sheehan had them on the ropes, but Ward sparked late comeback to start season.
2) Amity (2-0; LW 2) – This has the look of one of those vintage Spartan teams, how do they do it over there?
3) Shelton (2-0; LW 4) – Nearly went to sleep after opening victory, were fortunate to get past game Career squad.
4) Cheshire (1-0; LW 5) – Pitching is the question mark, four games this week may answer that question.
5) Notre Dame (2-0; LW 6) – For those scoring at home, the Green Knights are in Class L this season.
6) Sheehan (1-1; LW 12) – Should have remembered the Titans always have great pitching and this year no different.
7) Jonathan Law (1-1; LW 8) – Big win over Xavier, but Cheshire, Amity, and Foran all await in next four games.
8) Branford (0-2; LW 3) – Easier part of the schedule awaits, but would have liked to have a win in their opener.
9) Fairfield Prep (2-0; LW 14) – Might be the biggest surprise of the first week, put up 21 runs and got some pitching.
10) Xavier (1-1; LW 7) – Falcons will embark on a 10-game road trip while Palmer Field undergoes some work.
11) Hand (0-1; LW 10) – We'll know a lot more about the Tigers after this difficult four-game week.
12) Guilford (0-2; LW 9) – Not exactly the start the Indians wanted, must make some progress in three home games.
13) North Haven (1-1; LW 13) – Blanked by Sheehan after scoring 17 runs against West Haven. Strange game.
14) West Haven (0-2; LW 11) – In first two games after Lawrence graduated, Blue Devils give up 32 runs.
15) Career (0-2; LW 18) – Looked feisty even though lost first two, should serve them well in mediocre Oronoque.
16) East Haven (0-2; LW 15) – Brutal week coming up, could use some confidence, or could be uphill climb to states.
17) Hamden (2-0; LW 16) – Hard to get much of a read with first two games against Cross and Hillhouse, but they count.
18) Lyman Hall (1-0; LW 17) – Like Hamden, just one game and impossible to get a read, but a win nonetheless.
19) Wilbur Cross (0-1; LW 19) – Did sneak in a game against O'Brien Tech this week, tough opener.
20) Hillhouse (0-2; LW 20) – Scored a couple of runs, if they could keep people off board, could spring an upset.
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