LEWISTON — Movies have been made about baseball springing to life in an Iowa corn field. A group of college and high school players are showing it can sprout in Lewiston in the middle of a pandemic.

Every Saturday and Sunday, the Lewiston Baseball Babe Ruth 16-18 Division brings together players from the Twin Cities and as far away as China, Maine at the Lewiston Baseball and Softball complex (Elliot Field) to play in a league organized by Lewiston varsity baseball coach Darren Hartley.

“I think it’s just like high school,” said Sam Laroche, a recent Lewiston graduate who lost what he thought would be his last chance to play baseball when the spring season was canceled. “Some of the kids are a little younger but it’s still competitive.”

Four teams featuring players from Lewiston, Edward Little, Lisbon, Oak Hill and Medomak Valley high schools, as well as Monmouth and Erskine academies, compete in the league. The teams play a doubleheader on either Saturday or Sunday, with games subject to a two-hour time limit.

The Lewiston and Auburn teams are coached by recent high school alumni. Hunter Landry, a 2019 Lewiston graduate who attends Bates College, leads the Lewiston team with the help of fellow former Blue Devils Jack LeBlond and Nate Osgood.

“This is fun. It’s good, relaxed baseball and good to get these guys on the field,” said Landry, whose football season at Bates was canceled this week.

EL alum and current University of Southern Maine Huskie Ethan Brown coaches the Auburn team with the help of another alum, Giles Paradis.

Play started on June 20, with the 14-game season lasting seven weeks with no playoffs. Since the Maine Principals’ Association has rules restricting what coaches can do with their athletes until Aug. 3, Hartley and other high school coaches are relegated to being spectators.

Not long after the pandemic forced cancellation of spring high school sports in April, and anticipating more cancellations into the summer, Hartley set out to create an opportunity for Lewiston players to get some action on the diamond this summer.

The format for the league went through several revisions based on state and local rules regarding social gatherings, but once Lewiston Baseball and Softball agreed to allow use of its field, things came together quickly.

Hartley recruited Landry, who in turn recruited others to serve as coaches.

His former Lewiston teammate, LeBlond, played at Bridgton Academy last year and is headed to the University of Maine on a baseball scholarship. LeBlond and Brown are among the fortunate college players who have been able to get on the diamond this summer, playing three times per week in the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League. But he jumped at Landry’s invitation to coach because he could see himself in the players’ shoes.

“Just knowing that if my senior season was cancelled, I would be so excited to come out here for a chance to play baseball,” said LeBlond, who is cautiously optimistic UMaine’s announcement Friday that it was canceling fall sports won’t prohibit intrasquad baseball practices and workouts. “It’s nice for me to be out here and coach the kids. I mean, they’re a year younger than me, but it’s awesome to just see them get the experience to play like they would have in the spring.”

Finding players was no trouble. Lewiston has 18 on its roster and the other squads are full, too, although the league is informal enough that teams will lend an opponent a player or two if they need some help off the bench.

“It’s not as serious a league as, say, (American) Legion or something,” Osgood said. “You’re just here to have fun. At the end of the day, everybody’s getting their at-bats.”

“Playing against Auburn has probably been the most fun for us because you can joke around with them,” said Laroche, who will attend the University of Southern Maine in the fall.

Osgood, who will enter his senior year at Lehigh University in the fall, played baseball and football at Lewiston but hasn’t played any sports since graduating from high school in 2017. Nevertheless, he was eager to help Landry with the Lewiston team.

“I think everyone is excited to be able to get back out and do something,” Osgood said.

“Some of these guys have other places to play (for AAU teams, for example), but for some of them, this is all they have, the only chance they get, a couple of games a weekend. They take full advantage of it,” Landry said. “They’re easy to work with, easy to coach.”

“It’s easy when you’re a couple of years out of high school and you can relate to the guys,” he added.

Not surprisingly, players were rusty when the season began but are starting to get back into the swing of things.

“The first week was a little shaky, but what do you expect?” Landry said. “Last weekend went great. Even with one practice a week, if we can get it in with all of the rainouts, these guys are showing a lot of improvement.”

The coaches are working hard to improve, too.

“I’ve been trying to get hitting fungos down and it’s been pretty bad,” Osgood said. “I’ll get three in a row and then the fourth will go over the fence or straight into the ground.”

Getting a baseball season off the ground is good enough for the players and coaches. Landry admitted just being around the game has helped him rediscover his love for baseball after being focused on football for over a year.

“Since coming out here,” he said, “it’s been like, man, I’ve been missing something in my life.”

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