'Playing for him': This Oakmont baseball player continues grandfather's legacy on the field

ASHBURNHAM — Just like any other baseball field, the grass at Dennis Driscoll Park is green, the dirt is brown, and the foul lines are white.

But for Johnny Losordo, this isn’t just any other ballpark.

It’s home.

With the Oakmont Regional baseball field named after Losordo’s grandfather, who was a longtime administrator, coach and teacher in the school district, the Oakmont junior is doing his best to carry on his grandfather’s legacy this spring .

“It’s something I look forward to every time I wake up,” Losordo said. “Coming here and playing baseball so my grandfather can watch me. It means so much.”

And with his grandfather, Dennis Driscoll, watching as Losordo helped Oakmont defeat Hudson on Monday, the 17-year-old from Ashburnham felt right at home.

Just another day at the park.

“I kind of grew up here,” Losordo said. “I have something to play for, and I play for (my grandfather) every day. I think of him every time I go and play, and (to have) his name on the field I’m on, I love it.”

Planting their roots

Fresh off watching his team win their first state championship in program history last spring , Oakmont baseball coach Tim Caouette had a debt to pay.

After telling players — a few seasons earlier — that he would shave his red beard if they ever won a state title, Caouette fulfilled his promise on June 19.

“He’s had his beard (for) forever,” Oakmont senior captain Sam Curtis said. “Even back in college, he had it. It’s iconic.”

With his baseball team and roughly 40 of his students taking part in the shave off at Dennis Driscoll Park, Caouette sacrificed most of his facial hair. The Oakmont English teacher and coach then buried remnants of his burly beard behind home plate, second base and the third base coach’s box.

“So if any sort of weird trees start to grow down in those three spots, that’s the problem,” Caouette said. “It hasn’t shown up yet.”

Even with Caouette’s beard now staking claim to some of the baseball surface located behind Oakmont Regional, the field still belongs to Losordo’s grandfather.

A family man, friend and veteran, Driscoll wore many hats during his 33-year tenure at 9 Oakmont Drive in Ashburnham. Since 2008, he’s had a plaque and a sign by the baseball field that commemorates his work at Oakmont.

“He’s done just about everything you can imagine for the district,” said John Losordo, who was adopted by Driscoll, his uncle, when he was 7, and is Johnny’s father. “He’s about as good as you get.”

“He’s just an all-around tremendous person,” said Caouette, who grew up with John Losordo and watched his own father, Gary, coach various sports at Oakmont with Driscoll. “If anyone was going to have a field named after them in these two towns, Mr. Driscoll was the perfect person for that.”

There's no place like home

Johnny Losordo didn’t get the chance to play baseball at Dennis Driscoll Park until 2021.

So when he finally did, Losordo didn’t waste the opportunity.

In his final middle school game of the season, the left-handed-hitting eighth grader roped the first fastball he saw down the right field line and didn’t stop running until he reached home plate.

“My coach tried to stop me at third base,” Losordo recalled, “but I kept going because I wanted an inside-the-parker.”

With his grandfather perched in his usual viewing spot beyond the left field grass for Monday’s high school game, Losordo roped a single in Driscoll’s direction in the bottom half of the first inning. The Spartans speedster then scored the first of four Oakmont runs in the frame.

“Like his father, he hustles,” Driscoll said. “He works very, very hard.”

“He has the same work ethic as his dad, grandfather and family,” Caouette said. “He comes to work every day to get better.”

Along with classmate Levi Hessel’s first career home run, and a workmanlike performance from senior captain Ben Forbes (6⅓ innings, 4 hits, 4 earned runs, 10 strikeouts) on the mound, Losardo (2 for 4, 2 runs, RBI) helped the Spartans beat the Hawks, 11-5.

The last time Oakmont (5-0) lost a game was on May 31, 2023, to Hudson (3-4).

With his team off to a good start this season, Losordo feels right at home.

“Every day I wake up and think about it, and I think about playing for him, and it’s just amazing that everybody knows him around here, I always have that to look forward to.”

“He has some roots here,” Caouette said.

As Losordo walked off the field following the game, the Oakmont junior catcher (who was the designated hitter on Monday) was greeted with a hug from his grandfather in the parking lot — just a few feet away from a sign that reads: Dennis Driscoll Park.

When it comes to Oakmont baseball, it's a homecoming of sorts.

“For John to play on his grandfather's field and at Oakmont and with Tim as his coach, it’s about as full circle as you can get,” Losordo’s father said. “This doesn’t happen all the time. It’s the next generation, we’re just blessed to have the opportunity and blessed to be a part of it and enjoy it.”

“It’s quite an honor,” Driscoll said. “It’s good, and he works hard like all the kids do, but it’s extra special to see three generations all together.”

And they wouldn’t want it any other way.

Dennis Driscoll Park isn’t just any other baseball field to Johnny Losardo and his family. It’s home.

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'Playing for him': This Oakmont baseball player continues grandfather's legacy on the field