Dateline: Apr. 21, 2026

New ballfield banner and the dugouts

April 13 was looking like an unlucky day for the dedication of the new school ballfield. Rain showers off and on during the day made it seem like it was going to be a "washout." But by 5:30 p.m. the rain had stopped and, with a great shout of relief from the dozens of attendees, the setting sun suddenly broke through the clouds.

As one scanned the large group of people gathered along the third base line, one could pick out several notable town and school officials: Shannon Kruger, Community School Principal, Jack Finley, SAU53 Superintendent, Jody Moore, School Board Chair, and several members of the Budget Committee and the Select Board.

Also present were Bill and Sharon Gelinas and Armand and Claudette Verville, who were being honored for their major contributions to the creation of the ballfield.

The perimeter of the ballfield included a tall and wide chain link backstop behind home plate, home and visitor dugouts, and a five-foot-tall chain link fence that encompassed the outfield wall some 100 yards from home plate.

The Gelinas Family Dugout was installed along the third base line, while the Verville Family Dugout was positioned along the first base line.

The Armand Verville acknowledged that they had donated yards and yards of sand and loam from his lot to level off the large ballfield and the infield.

The Gelinas family, owners of Advanced Excavating and Paving, used their construction equipment to remove stumps and rocks from the field. Then they spread and leveled the sand and loam, and hydro-seeded the infield.

According to School Facilities Director Matt Boisvert, "The fencing and dugouts were installed by AAA Fence Company out of Dover, NH." Funding came from the Allenstown School District.

The Gelinas Family Dugout

The Verville Family Dugout

With megaphone in hand, School Principal Shannon Kruger welcomed attendees to the event and explained what was about to happen.

Principal Shannon Kruger (right) addressed visitors and the baseball team

As part of the First Pitch Ceremony, four members of the Allenstown Eagles Baseball Team handed baseballs to the four honorees and backed up several feet. As shown in the video, a signal was given and the honorees tossed the four balls to the four catchers, which elicited a round of applause from the attendees. This could be considered the rare case where an umpire could have called out "four balls and no strikes!"

It was a bit disappointing that the opening pitches did not conform to the traditional practice of throwing the ball from the pitcher's mound to home plate. But without adequate practice, there might have been a lot of wild pitches. Some people didn't get the photos or videos they wanted so there was a quick do-over of the First Pitch, which might be called the Second First Pitch.

First Pitches at the New Allenstown Eagles Baseball Field

After that, two Eagles players offered bouquets of flowers to Claudette Verville and Sharon Gelinas, while attendees applauded.

Gifts of flowers were given to Claudette and Sharon

Shannon Kruger then offered hugs and hand shakes and thanks to the honorees for their generous donations. Unselfish contributions like theirs helped turn a rock and stump strewn lot into a fine looking ballfield.

Shannon Kruger congratulated the honorees

The final activity was the proverbial baseball team photo at home plate with the Verville family on the left and the Gelinas family on the right.

A group photo of the Eagles baseball team with the Verville family on the left and the Gelinas family on the right

What You Can Do

Get ready for local baseball. Allenstown is part of a regional baseball association in which school teams compete with each other.

Team members are currently holding practice sessions at the school Monday to Thursday 5:30-7:00 p.m. with Coach Fournier. Here's hoping they have a great season.

The final touch will be the installation of bleachers for visitor seating during the home games.

The school district has posted the following game schedule.

* means home game