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08/09/2015 12:00 AMThe East Haven Senior Legion baseball team finished with a mark of 9-21 in Zone 2 action this summer. The 89ers’ record equated to a ninth-place finish in the division, which fell short of the goal they had established at the start of the year.
“It’s a long season. The goal for us is to win 14 games. If we’re there, we can get a top-six spot in the zone,” Head Coach Lou Ciaramella said. “We don’t put pressure on them and tell them that we want to win the zone. We just want to get 14. If we do better, great. We knew this year was going to take 14 to get a top-six spot.”
Things didn’t go as planned for the 89ers in large part due to low team numbers. There were plenty of games where East Haven fielded just 10 players, which didn’t allow much flexibility for Ciaramella.
“That hurt because, from a standpoint of when you don’t have a bench, that hurts you. If you’re trying to send a message to a player, you can’t because you can’t make a move. You can’t go to a game with 10 guys. You can’t make any moves. You’re strapped. Those are one of the things we have to work on,” he said. “It was a big problem because sometimes I couldn’t take a Junior guy with us because if they were short, I couldn’t make them forfeit.”
The biggest issue with numbers was on the mound. Antonio Cancel missed the entire summer after undergoing Tommy John surgery and John Kikosicki couldn’t throw that many innings due to arm soreness.
“We played and lost a lot of tough games. Pitching-wise, we just ran out of pitching,” said Ciaramella, who thanks his assistants Graeme Sutherland and Chuck Hinckley for their work this summer. “In Legion, you’re playing five nights a week. If you don’t go five or six arms deep, you’re in trouble. We only had four. That’s how it is. You need pitching...At this level, you can’t pick anybody and say go throw. It doesn’t work that way.”
In his first season with the Senior club, Ciaramella learned the hard way that a difficult high school season can put a damper on the Legion club’s performance throughout the summer. The coach noticed that the tide turned early on when East Haven was swept by Milford its opening series.
“The hardest thing was when you jump up and get kids that are seniors coming out of high school that had a bad season. They didn’t have a bad team, but they only won six games. When they come with us, if we don’t have the opportunity to get their head straight, they’re shot,” he said. “They’re thinking about the high school season, they’re talking about it, and then they’re disappointed when they don’t make it to the playoffs with Legion. With the Junior Legion kids, they’re younger and seem to listen more.”
One athlete who did have a strong high school campaign and carried it into the summer season was Kikosicki. The center fielder hit .500 for the Yellowjackets this spring and continued his hot streak as the 89ers’ top batter.
“He was the best. He was a very good kid, quiet, and it was a pleasure to coach him,” Ciaramella said. “There were a lot of games where he came through for us. Thanks to him, we got a few extra wins.”
Winning is something Ciaramella wants to see sooner rather than later with the East Haven Senior Legion squad and he’s hoping to start up a 12-year-old team to generate a feeder system for the Legion program. With his club defeating New Haven 6-1 in its final game this summer, the coach is looking for the 89ers to build upon that in 2016.
“When you win your last game, it’s a way to go off. We’re going to try to build from it and see what happens,” Ciaramella said. “The thing I was happy was down the stretch—they didn’t give up and played hard. They knew it, but I told them every time to give us 110 percent and what happens, happens. I’m enthused about next season.”
From the Sidelines
The 89ers’ wins came against Milford (12-8), North Haven (3-2 and 7-6), Stratford (3-2), Shelton (1-0), West Haven (11-4), Ansonia (8-6 and 3-2), and New Haven (6-1).
Team members throughout the year for East Haven were catcher Bryon Kucharski, first baseman Mike DeAngelo, second baseman Nick Carbone, shortstop Chris Affinito, and third baseman Matt Wynne; along with outfielders Anthony Pepe, Brandon Sutherland, and John Kikosicki. The roster also featured pitchers Dan Petr and Tyler King, as well as utility men Albert Maio, Matt Coyle, and Jakob Cronke.
The Senior squad also called up Jake Ferrara, Tyler Leone, Giusseppe Minichino, and Lou Torres from the Junior Legion team during the summer season.