LEWISTON, Maine — On a numb-hands fall day, shivering batters enthusiastically stepped up to the plate. Umpires hugged, laughed, and cried. Spectators chatted and caught up, pausing to watch a good hit to send outfielders hustling towards the fence.
The Lewiston Strong Memorial Benefit Softball Tournament was both a festive celebration and a reminder of how thoroughly this community has changed, less than three weeks after 18 people lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history.
“It was tough, the first few days,” said Tony Gowell, the USA Softball Maine commissioner, who has struggled to process the death of friend and fellow umpire Ron Morin, who was killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille on October 25th.
“[I] cried, cried, tears flowed… but now they’re happy tears,” Gowell said. For him, this tournament is the kind of thing his friend Ron would have loved.
Twenty-five teams signed up almost immediately after the event was announced online. Donations poured in from across the country. Patrick Dempsey, a Lewiston native, even joined a team of first responders.
It was the kind of support and attention that organizers, accustomed to the fierce, albeit insular, softball community, could hardly comprehend.
“This surpasses my expectations immensely. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that we could put something together like this,” David Mulcahey, another friend of Morin’s and Maine’s Umpire-in-chief for USA Softball, said on Saturday.
But while those gathered for the tournament were there to support the cause, many suited up in the cold to be supported themselves, in their grief.
“To me, this tournament has been healing,” Dan Labrie, an umpire, said before leaving to officiate a game.
Cliff Meserve, a team captain who said he had so much interest he could have fielded two squads, added, “It kind of brought some calm.”
But perhaps, Mulcahey, the bearded umpire who talks of the closeness of the softball community, puts it best, “It’s a rebuilding… rebirth. This is what’s going to help to heal these wounds.”