Bases loaded with family, friends and baseball players for Owen Pagano Vigil

RIO RANCHO — The west diamond at Cibola Little League’s baseball fields was full of people as dusk fell April 9. It wasn’t for a rambunctious Little League game, though. It was a vigil for Owen Pagano, a 16-year-old and former baseball player who died in a Cochiti Lake boating accident.

A crowd of baseball friends of all ages, high schoolers, friends and family surrounded the Pagano family, which huddled on the pitching mound in the center of the baseball diamond. Bonnie Land, Cibola Little League member and organizer for the event, had a few words to say to the family.

“On behalf of Cibola Little League, I want to express our deepest gratitude to each of you for coming together today. We’re here to honor Owen and offer our unwavering support to the Pagano family during this incredibly difficult time, though words can never fully heal the pain that they’re feeling. We gather today as a community to surround them with love and strength, and I want to thank you all for being here to share this with them,” she said.

After she spoke, members from the Next Level Baseball Academy placed flowers on home base in memory of Pagano, and people came up to speak about him. Several members from the crowd spoke about Pagano, gave a prayer for him or simply thanked the crowd for attending. Close friends on the baseball team also shared their memories.

There was one common theme amongst all comments about the teen: He was a good person. One little girl, in so many words, said Pagano didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Ashley Merrell, one of Pagano’s teachers at Cleveland High School, spoke about his time in her class. “I’ll think about him probably the rest of my teaching career,” she said.

She continued saying Pagano was always part of a trio of boys who were always up to some “silly antics.”

“I think I laughed every single day last year as their English teacher,” she said.

Close friends of Pagano’s also spoke, saying the Paganos made them feel like family. “You raised a good kid,” one said.

After the vigil, junior grader Deegan Goldberg said a few words about his teammate.

“Owen and I played baseball together when we were younger and again when we were in high school. Owen was a great teammate and an even better friend and person. I am thankful for his friendship and will miss him,” he said.

After candles were lit and a moment of silence was held, Land presented Pagano’s siblings with stuffed bears made from his jerseys.

“We were able to get these special gifts made for you from your brother’s jerseys for each of you to hold onto tight when you miss him and to remind you guys that he is with you guys always,” she said.

Next, the Cibola Little League staff unrolled a memorial sign for Pagano in the outfield.

“Owen’s presence will always be here at Cibola, even though he was a Red Sox. He will now forever be our angel in the outfield,” she said. The league also collected donations and also took proceeds for the family’s GoFundMe at concessions.

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Pagano’s father Cuylar thanked everyone for attending and took a minute to say something about his son.

“I’d just like to say thank you to everyone for coming out here tonight and showing your support for our family. It shows how much Owen was loved. And the rest of the kids as well myself, my wife, we definitely appreciate all the support here from the community and especially here from Cibola Little League for putting this on for us,” he said.

He said that Owen started at the Little League with T-ball and went on to play through Majors and All-Stars. He moved on to play football as well. Then he played baseball in high school. Pagano took the opportunity to encourage all the players present to pursue the game.

“So for all you young guys out here, I just want you to know when Owen first started in T-ball, he wasn’t the best player, but he did have a great worth of work ethic,” he said. “He used to have me bring him out to the Mountain View Softball, we used to live right down the street there. Every day after school, he would ask me ‘Dad. Can we go to the park?’ And, you know, I love the fact that he was the one asking me; I never had to ask him to work and get better.”

He invited the players to watch Owen’s YouTube videos of his training.

“If you guys check our channel from back in the day where I used to record him doing all kinds of drills, he even made his three favorite drill video on there. If you guys want to find that, if you guys want to work on some stuff, but he was definitely a hard worker and became a really great player,” he said.

He ended by telling the group to “stick with it” and keep working hard.

“Thank you guys, all, for coming out here and supporting our family. It means the world to us,” he said.

Shortly after, Owen’s little sister spoke.

“He was the best brother ever,” she said.