Not everyone has given up hope that the season for home runs, stolen bases and thrilling double plays is done.

In Lansford, a small core of volunteers continues to manicure the baseball fields, working as though play would resume tomorrow. They know it won’t but they’ll be ready when it does.

Tim Goida, Toby Krajcirik and John Rickert have been mowing the grass, eliminating ruts and doing other maintenance on the Lansford Little League, girls softball and teener baseball fields – just in case they get the go-ahead to play ball.

All team sports are on suspension because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

“This could go into August,” Goida said of the halt to baseball, “but we’ll have some kind of a season.”

Goida, who last year was the head coach for Panther Valley’s Schuylkill Teener League entry, said he’s still hoping that league play will still be held this year, even if it starts late or has an abbreviated schedule.

He is optimistic that his could occur as soon as late May. If some Covid 19 restrictions are lifted in mid May, the season could begin by the end of the month or the beginning of June. For any games to occur, it is mandatory that two weeks of practice occur.

“It would be a compressed schedule,” he said.

Last year was Panther Valley’s first year in the Schuylkill Teener League. It was an impressive showing with the team finishing second to Hegins.

Goida said delay of the season has enabled many improvements to occur on the Lansford fields.

Working alone with his two pet golden retrievers – Miles and Ranger – keeping him company, Goida concentrated this week on improving the surface at first base, rebuilding the pitching mound, manicuring the home plate area and edging the grass in the base paths.

He said he has been primarily centering his efforts on the Babe Ruth field while Krajcirik and Rickert has been doing the work on the other two fields. The three fields are situated together at the base of a mountain in a wooded area on the east side of Lansford.

On the little league field, a new backstop was installed and other improvements made.

Krajcirik did some leveling on the softball field, and he has that field just about perfect,” Goida said.

Grass was planted on all the fields.

Goida said when the baseball games do resume, there will be social distancing enforced as much as possible. He said players will not be permitted to share gloves and helmets.

For the past 18 years Goida has been involved in baseball. He started coaching tee ball with his father, the late John “Gabby” Goida.

His three sons are baseball players. They are Darren and Mason, both Panther Valley High School graduates, and Hayden, who is an eighth grade student at Panther Valley Intermediate School. He has coached all three of his sons during various times in their careers. Mason played baseball at Penn State Hazleton before the season was halted.

Besides coaching the Panther Valley Schuylkill Teener League last year, on which Hayden was a member, he also formed a traveling team called the Coaldale Tigers two years ago. The Tigers have expanded to three teams: age 12 and under, age 13 and under and age 14 and under. A fourth age group might be created.

Goida is hoping that the Coaldale Tigers might possibly play in some fall tournaments.

He said numerous players have shown their anxiousness to play baseball. While Goida was working on the fields, several high school and intermediate school players have come there and practiced hitting and catching on their own while maintaining distance rules. Among those who he has seen on the field are Bradley Buzzard and Mark Kokinda, who played on last year’s Panther Valley High School’s varsity team, and David “Trey” McAndrew and Hayden Goida, who played on the Schuylkill Teener League team last year. Mason has been working out with his younger brother.

Roobhenn Smith of the Anthracite Little League and Softball Association wrote on the league’s Facebook site:

“As of this moment we are still on pause for our current little league season. Little League is reviewing all possibilities for a regular season and tournament play at this moment. The traditional timeline will be altered but our thought and hope is that we will ‘play ball’ and have a season.”

Goida also has a flickering ember of hope that there will be baseball this year.

“I’m kind of chomping at the bit now,” he said.

He said that because of all the rain, many of the games that would have been scheduled so far probably would have been canceled anyway.

If all else fails with league action, he said that once he gets the clearance for baseball, he will invite players from not only the Panther Valley area but also Marian and Tamaqua to get together for some fun games.

“What sport is more distancing than baseball?” he asked.