AMIDST CANCELLATIONS AND CLOSURES, CSI ATHLETICS FORGES FORWARD

3/20/2020 3:30:00 PM

STATEN ISLAND, NY | On a blustery day in mid-March, where the mist of rain was enough to leave a cold layer of film on the skin but not enough to dampen the spirit of those collected, Assistant Baseball Coach Pat Daddio is on the mound in the bottom of the final inning of an intrasquad game at the College of Staten Island. Daddio does his job, his fielders turn in a game-ending double play, and the coach hops off the mound with his troops, his fist high in the air as the unit sings its cheers of victory.

A few feet away, Head Coach Michael Mauro is nearly doubled-over. “Look at Daddio,” he says through laughs, the team surrounding the winning pitcher in cheers, while others debate the called runner out at second base. “That’s awesome!” Mauro was the losing pitcher this time around, but can’t contain his emotion. It’s a reminder that baseball is still a kid's game, and an escape from the world that surrounds it.

It was also the final game of the spring sports season at the College of Staten Island.

“It was so abrupt,” said Mauro when he learned the fate of the program the following day, along with hundreds of other NCAA programs that canceled their activities. “It took a day or two to really sink in, but it’s an empty feeling. In college athletics, especially a sport like ours, you have no choice but to get incredibly close to a group of people because you’re seeing them and working with them all the time, and when it gets taken away so quickly, it’s hard to get over it.”

The lost spring season at CSI, which also carried the entirety of the softball, outdoor track & field, and men’s tennis schedules, was a result of the COVID-19 protocols set in place by the pandemic sweeping the nation in response to the virus, one that hit American shores when the baseball team was in Myrtle Beach during Spring Training a few days earlier.

CSI issued their official statement of season cancelation a week ago today

“We can see that things were going to take a bad turn when we canceled our game against Mt. St. Vincent and the sun was shining and it was 55 degrees outside. And then once the NCAA canceled the basketball tournament, which you know has millions of dollars tied to it, we knew we were in trouble,” Mauro said, “but we hung on to hope. We were ready to play, we were all-in. We practiced like we had a game the next day and everyone was on board.”

Once the NCAA canceled the basketball tournament, which you know has millions of dollars tied to it, we knew we were in trouble, but we hung on to hope. We were ready to play, we were all-in. We practiced like we had a game the next day and everyone was on board

Michael Mauro, Baseball Head Coach

Ultimately Mauro and his troops wrapped their heads around the safety-first mindset, and it became painfully clear that even if CSI opted to hang on to their season, they would have likely been the only ones, left with no one to play. Hindsight was crystal clear in the hours and days later, when New York City entered a state of emergency, the first cases connected with the College surfaced, and public schools shut their doors, following the lead of CUNY and SUNY schools that did the same days earlier.

Mauro is CSI’s longest-tenured coach, entering his 13th year, his 12th as Head Coach. The 2020 season was the school’s first as a provisional NCAA Division II program, and with a little optimism, the same year he would break the school’s all-time record in coaching wins in baseball.

A few paces away, CSI Softball skipper Eric Kraut was getting ready for his collegiate head coaching debut with the Dolphins, taking over a team that had won seven-straight City University of New York Athletic Conference Championships, getting set for their first crack at Division II. United on the diamond, they shared the same fate of delivering news to tear-stained faces, broken hearts, and bodies wearing jerseys that were still way too clean.

Head Coach Eric Kraut was looking forward to debuting as a collegiate head coach in 2020, instead he had to deliver the worst of news to his team.

“Oh, it was rough,” said Kraut when trying to explain how he approached his team to deliver the blow. “Being an ex-athlete, you know the news you’re going to give them was going to be devastating. The disappointment they showed when given the news, it reaffirmed the level of involvement and commitment they have for softball, and how much they love the sport. It’s an escape in many ways. You look forward to playing so much, I totally understood how sad they were by the news.”

With the school on an institutional recess, and later advancing to distance learning, for the coaching staff the deliverance of the news was in many ways a goodbye. Students used what was left of their day emptying lockers and getting final treatments before hunkering down, some isolated in the residence halls, but the majority going home, awaiting word from the department of an all-clear to resume practice. The tight smiles and fist-bumps upon exit confirmed it was a longshot, and they knew it.

"It was actually kind of sad,” said Salvatore Trancucci IV, a senior and one of the baseball team’s four captains. “Being eight games into the season, having worked that hard leading up, we created something special that I've never felt before and it was unfortunate how it got cut short. We were all pretty skeptical about an opportunity to get back at it because we could see how everything is unfolding. Everything happened so quick.”

...we created something special that I've never felt before and it was unfortunate how it got cut short. We were all pretty skeptical about an opportunity to get back at it because we could see how everything is unfolding.

Salvatore Trancucci IV, CSI Baseball senior

The next day, Mauro was back at work, spending the better part of the morning folding the team’s laundry and sorting equipment. CSI Director of Athletics Charles Gomes joined him to talk about the next steps, and later, Michael Jr. dropped in on his father, simply to have a catch with his dad before going home. Kraut, the Athletic Department's Student-Athlete Academic Success Coordinator, braced himself for the new reality of now guiding students remotely through a semester waiting in limbo.

Baseball equipment sits idly in the aftermath of the canceled season

And that was it. The spring season was over, the weekend had approached, and Mauro now set to map out the future of CSI baseball, connecting with each member of his team through text messaging and phone calls. That’s when it became clear that baseball wasn’t just about what took place on the field, and what showed up in the boxscore on game day.

“One-by-one you talk to the kids and you realize what this absence means to them,” Mauro said. “They realize how professional our program is run and the family atmosphere that the entire athletics department stands for. The day-to-day life on campus is something they miss and it’s bothering them. It hurts because you try and do what you can to ease that pain, but when it’s taken away in an instant, it leaves a giant void. It hurt, and it still does.”

The hardest conversations came with Mauro’s band of seniors. Anthony Lozada, awaiting graduation this spring with a job already lined up at Wall Street there to greet him knows his playing days are probably over. Graduate studies are an option to further his baseball career, but he admits it wasn’t even a thought prior to the cancellation of the season.

Jett Nouvertne, who joined the Dolphins as an academic sophomore in 2017, is already in his fifth year, and will be walking at graduation this spring.

Jett Nouvertne was hoping for a big season in 2020.

Third-year senior Khalid Zharieh, a walk-on in 2018 who had not played organized baseball since the seventh grade, is on track for graduation with a degree in accounting, and won’t return either, as he is planning to enter the workforce full-time. He finds himself busier than ever as a Brooklyn grocer trying to wade through hordes of customers during the pandemic, trying to stay virus-free.

Only Trancucci IV, a junior transfer in 2019, has made a decision to participate a fifth year, one afforded to him through an NCAA blanket waiver that absolved the use of the 2020 playing year. “Having that opportunity means a lot, especially knowing we will have a full Division II schedule next year,” he said. “But the seniors especially, they worked so hard so we could be competitive and set the bar high and stay that way. I'm disappointed for those guys.”

Those kids don’t have a Senior Day. They don’t get to hear their names on the public address a final time. They don’t get the curtain call and the last at-bat. They don’t get to do those things together. Those are important moments, and I struggle with that.”

Michael Mauro, Baseball Head Coach

"It was tough, those conversations,” Mauro said. “It’s not the way we wanted to go out. Those kids don’t have a Senior Day. They don’t get to hear their names on the public address a final time. They don’t get the curtain call and the last at-bat. They don’t get to do those things together. Those are important moments, and I struggle with that.”

But through the conversations, Mauro knows that his job as a coach was rewarded. He thumbs through his text messages days after where the sentiments are so much easier to say in writing than in person. “Love you man,” reads his final message to Lozada after they discuss his future, “Love you too, Coach” the fitting response. “You helped me improve every day,” reads Zharieh’s message to Mauro. “Playing college baseball after a 7 year layoff, I never expected to be where I am today as a baseball player....Thank you for everything!”

Mauro shakes his head, perhaps to shake off the tears of pride that are welling up in him. "Twelve years of coaching, these are the types of things you’ll never forget,” he reminds himself. “For them to think of me at a time like this in their lives, it makes you know that everything you do and every conversation you have is worth it. It’s why you coach.”

GEN 20 - Covid follow up - Text Lozada-1

A few swipes on his cell phone yields sentiments from other players at CSI sharing their thoughts even more openly. In an open letter on Instagram that sits alongside a slideshow of her days at CSI, senior Julianna Cretella shared her gut-wrenching thoughts.

“Softball,” she begins. “Thank you for everything. Thank you for shaping me into the person I am today...to hear this news today absolutely crushed me. I would do anything just to play one last season...I’ll miss this more than ever...” it says in part. Cretella worked her way back from a partially torn UCL in her elbow a year ago, undergoing surgery to repair nerve damage, bone spurs and scar tissue and undergoing rigorous rehab for this, her senior year. She graduates with a degree in education in May. She’s thinking about graduate school, hopefully at CSI, where she can optimize a fifth year of play. If not, her softball days are over.

“I honestly feel like it’s a dream, it happened so fast,” she said. “All last year I thought I had so much more time. The news was crushing.”

Patricia Riches, an NFCA All-American that stood to break just about every major CSI softball record at the close of her four-year career also has a lot on her mind. “It was the most heartbreaking news I’ve ever received in my life,” she started. “No matter how it ends, you want it to end on the field, and to have that ripped away from you isn’t even something I can put into words.” With graduation looming and a degree in psychology in tow, she’s already a New York Police Department Auxiliary Officer, working her way through the ranks to her dream job with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

She’s perfectly comfortable starting that part of her story, but the unfinished business in softball has her potentially eyeing a return. “It’s not how I want to go down, without a fight,” Riches said. “Not everyone gets an opportunity to be an athlete, and I’m thinking about coming back. I’d love to finish it my way.”

Senior Patricia Riches has big plans post-graduation, but unfinished business on the diamond.

Alexis Kateridge, a Macaulay Honors College senior who will be pursuing a Masters Degree in Library Sciences is striving for a job as a Librarian and perhaps as a novelist. She’s steadfast on walking away from the game now, but admits she was hoping for one final softball ride alongside her kid sister, Jaclyn, who was the CUNYAC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player a year ago as a freshman. “It hurts to say goodbye,” she said. “I was definitely looking forward to playing alongside my sister, she’s been a huge inspiration to me. Having this taken away has been one of the hardest things to grasp since the announcement has been made.”

Fellow senior Christina Cerverizzo also may return but graduation is also looming. She batted a career-high .325 last year, and was saving her best for last in 2020. She says she has plenty of career and graduate school options, but wasn’t going to give many of them a whole lot of thought until after her softball season. “I’ve been crying for a week, every day,” she confessed. “I braced myself for the news but you’re never really prepared to hear it, and now there all these questions.” After a pause she continues, “Just getting out of my house, and being outside in the outfield sun, waiting for a ball to get hit to me so I can make a play, I’ll miss it so much.”

Above, Cretella's ode to softball on her Instagram page. Below, the trio of Cerverizzo, Cretella, and Riches through the years from travel ball youth programs to junior year at CSI.

Rounding out the senior class is Victoria Holmes, who was set to make her CSI debut in 2020. The first-year senior is a transfer from the College of New Rochelle, which closed as an institution last year. This is yet another major hit for her as she packed her bags to return to Windsor in her home state of Virginia. Her plans were to stay there for graduate school, but forging the relationships she did during the transition is making her want to stay too. "It was heartbreaking," she said. "I was lucky to make a transition to a great coach and great teammates, so the fact that we didn't get to play a single game hurts."

“I didn’t name any captains this year because we had so many seniors and I felt they were all going to be a part of a leadership team that was instrumental to our growth,” said Kraut. “From the start they provided guidance and collaboration to make this season a successful one for us despite a lot of challenges with a new coach and the move to Division II. They did it because they love the game and one-another. I am super-appreciative of that. You obviously want to see that then translate to the field, and I’m disappointed we didn't get that chance.”

“It’s not a good feeling,” Cretella said with a low groan. “We all have such great chemistry. Some of us have grown up together, playing travel ball, and so on. All we know is playing and being together. Not having that is...weird.”

Strange as it is, the reality is that many of the players displaced by COVID-19 will have that option to return, and Kraut knows if that happens, CSI Softball’s future is bright. He credits the team’s resilience as a strength in turning this negative into a positive, as evidenced by their support in one another over the past week.

Like Kraut, Mauro knows the future is still bright for CSI Baseball despite the setback. The team finished 5-3 in their modified time, a mark that included two wins over Division II teams. Now, the focus simply shifts. Mauro is also Athletics’ Marketing & Development Coordinator, part of a team responsible for the heavy lift of generating philanthropic dollars to the Department’s newly minted Scholarship Fund. It’s a little self-serving for Mauro, who has already inked seven scholarship players on board for 2021.

Mauro and Kraut know there is more to do following the difficult discussions they had with their teams.

For Kraut, his job is the newest one within the department. NCAA Division II regulations call for strict progression towards degree requirements for student-athletes, along with mandatory intervention for at-risk athletes, and advising. Already brainstorming and implementing new policies, Kraut gets the added challenge of now learning how to do his job remotely, helping acclimate student-athletes to the distance-learning model that many are doing for the first time.

To put it mildly, there’s still plenty of work to be done.

"There’s even more work to do now,” commented Kraut. “Maintaining the relationships we’ve built with recruits, communicating and over-communicating, reassuring our current and future players that we will all get through this together is paramount. It’s always a lot of work keeping a team focused and on-task, even more so now doing it remotely. The good news is everyone is in the same situation now and it will help us support one-another. It gives us a chance to catch our breath and reevaluate where we are even with the Academic Success piece. We’ve come so far with the position, setting protocols and systems as we go from Division III to Division II and now it’s even more of a challenge. It’s a great chance to set good policies and build on them so they’re even better at a time like this when you may need them most. It’s a chance to get ahead of the curve.”

The good news is everyone is in the same situation now and it will help us support one-another. It gives us a chance to catch our breath and reevaluate where we are...It’s a great chance to set good policies and build on them so they’re even better at a time like this when you may need them most. It’s a chance to get ahead of the curve.

Eric Kraut, Softball Head Coach

Mauro agrees. “You immediately think of the things that have to take the place of the time we would have been at practice and games, and you begin to wonder how you ever had time for practicing and playing games,” he said with a grin. “Focusing on our recruits and working on 2021 starts immediately, and that includes helping our current students in this distance learning process. Now more than ever, we really have to keep our momentum with Marketing & Development alive as well, keeping those great relationships we have going from a distance. We envisioned having to rush through those things but this gives us a chance to step back and get to it more creatively. And then we know next year we have a lot of unfinished business out there. We were thrown into Division II pretty quickly and getting that taste and knowing we can compete, there’s no doubt that’s a motivator and a great jump-start to our future.”

"The amount of support we get from Charles has been instrumental," said Mauro of Gomes (left). "He's made this process easier for us to handle."

Gomes, CSI’s Director of Athletics since 2013, never envisioned a national pandemic would be added to his growing list of challenges following the school’s entry to Division II, but agrees that the lost spring season should only strengthen the program moving forward.

"I think our entire staff knows we are running a 24/7 operation here in Athletics and so we've talked about utilizing this pause in activity to find ways to improve, and I think our student-athletes, coaches, and administrative team is on board with that," he said. "We have a great opportunity to look at our practices and programming and question ourselves on how we can do it better. It's encouraging when you have an entire staff that recognizes that. All of our staffers are on board with helping our students through distance-learning, and utilizing their home time to get better in their specific sports and operationally. It's going to ultimately improve our department."

And with that, CSI’s spring season commences in an altogether different way, and as coaches like to say, one day at a time, but it will help to remember these days. A few days ago, Mauro posted a memory to his Twitter account, a George Kantzian grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the dense fog of the 2015 CUNYAC Championship game that the team would go on to win in extra innings. It’s one of his treasured memories. He regrets not having his phone handy for another memory made on that damp, overcast afternoon just over a week ago, when Daddio was mobbed by his team in after the scrimmage victory, CSI’s final day of play of 2020.

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