Author's cut of the article as it appears in the June 2013 edition of New England Baseball Journal Magazine.
05/17/13: While the marathon bombers were on the run in Watertown, Mass., the Watertown High varsity baseball team was mentally preparing to play Arlington High at Victory Field at home the next morning. That game was postponed while the entire town was placed on unprecedented lockdown.

Watertown High School players line up in Watertown Strong T-shirts at Victory Field. |
Raiders senior pitcher Gabriel Rodriguez might have missed action
on the field, but he was exposed to more action than he could have ever imagined as the manhunt took off outside his home.
“I heard one
explosion from
my bedroom,” Rodriguez said. “Then
I looked out my window and saw a
few cops going by. It was nothing big.
And then I looked into the distance
and saw a big fireball in the air. That’s
when I knew something wasn’t right.
Five seconds later, I saw 20 cops coming
down my street. From there, the
cops took over. They told everyone
to stay indoors. No one could come
out at all. It was a pretty surreal moment.”
Raiders coach Aram Manoukian
has lived in Watertown his entire life
and considers himself a Watertown townie. He’s in his 10th season coaching
baseball for Watertown, second
with varsity, and also is a math
teacher at Watertown Middle School.
He was on his way to the orthodontist
when he heard about the Boston
Marathon attacks earlier that week.
“I heard Mazz and Felger on 98.5
say that an incident happened at the
marathon,” Manoukian said. “They
said they didn’t know if it was a store
explosion or something else. My first
inclination was to go on online and
check the Facebook and check the texts to make sure nobody I knew
was hurt. I knew some teachers that
were running. One of our principals
from our school system was running.
Of course, there were all kinds of
friends of mine that were down there.
I was pretty nervous. I knew for a
fact that there were some students
that I teach at the middle school that
were at the bombsite. It definitely hit
home.”
It only got more frightening later
that week when the manhunt came
to Watertown and gunfire exploded
outside his window. Manoukian was
on edge.
“I thought I was inside of some
crazy nightmare,” the coach said. “I
was just shutting my television off
and opening my window and turning
my light off to go to bed. Just as
I opened my window, I heard these
loud cracks. It sounded somewhere between fireworks and the gun going
off for a track meet. They were
very loud. I looked outside my
window and saw cops swarming
in. I live about three blocks away,
maybe about 200 yards. I heard the
whole thing. The
explosions. It
was pretty horrifying.
When you
saw the amount
of police that
were coming in
to get these guys
… you just knew
it was them.”

Watertown High School coach Aram Manoukian was eager to get on field. |
Of course,
we all know
the story of
the Tsarnaev
brothers by
now.
After a few
days trapped in
the house, and
exactly a week
without a game
at Watertown’s
Victory Field,
Rodriguez was
eager to get back onto his home
field. The game against Arlington
that was postponed was reschedule
exactly a week later — and quite a
crowd was on hand.
“I’m pretty proud to be wearing
my Watertown jersey tonight,” he
said. “I can’t wait to play for my
town tonight.”
Coach Manoukian
agreed: “Pregame,
it’s all about
pride. As soon as
the first pitch happens,
it’s business
as usual.”
It was anything
but usual. Before
the game, Watertown
Athletics
put on a moving
pregame show to
celebrate the local
police and fire departments. Mike
Lahiff, the director of athletics, was
master of ceremonies.
“It is no secret that it has been
a tough week for everybody here
in Watertown and everyone else
throughout the Boston area,” Lahiff
said. “Yet instead of backing down,
the community came together and
provided a unified front. Sports also
has a way of bringing people together so we decided to use tonight
as a way to show our appreciation
for the first responders, and also to
remember the lives lost during this
tragedy.”
Lahiff then thanked the Arlington
baseball team for
its participation
before asking
the crowd to join
him in a moment
of silence
for those who
lost their lives
in the marathon
bombings and
its aftermath.
Among the 11
first responders
being honored
were Watertown
Fire Department
firefighters Patrick
Menton and
James Caruso.
They were the
first on scene to
help save the life
of MBTA Transit
Police
officer Richard Donohue Jr., who
suffered a bullet wound during the
gunfight that ultimately led to the
capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
“You can imagine being a firefighter,
not wearing S.W.A.T. gear,
and not being armed, and going
into a scene like that to save a life,” Manoukian said.
“It’s got to be nerve
wracking.”
After the local
heroes were
introduced, Watertown
catcher Erik
Antonellis received
ceremonial
first pitches from
firefighter Patrick
Menton and police
officer Tom Dicker.
Watertown High
School sophomore
Sara O’Connell sang the national
anthem.
Then it was just another baseball
game. But the score wouldn’t matter,
because Watertown already won.
|