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07/30/2016 12:00 AMThe North Haven baseball team had graduated the bulk its pitching staff from last year’s state title squad and so there was every chance that the Indians would experience some ups and downs in the 2016 campaign. Although things were looking down for North Haven heading into the home stretch, Head Coach Bob DeMayo’s club started trending upward when its back was against the wall and reminded everyone why the Indians are always a dangerous team once the weather gets warm.
North Haven had lost four in a row entering a matchup against Guilford on May 11—a night that saw the Indians hang on for a 10-9 triumph after honoring their five state championship teams from year’s past. The win could have given North Haven a boost to grab those last two victories it needed to make states, but instead, the Indians dropped their next two games and now needed to win their last two to qualify. With its season on the line, North Haven played its best baseball of the spring by defeating Cross 10-1 and blanking North Branford 5-0 to continue its tradition of reaching the Class L State Tournament.
The 31st-seeded Indians took that momentum into states as they beat No. 2 seed Berlin by a 5-3 final in eight innings and later rallied for three runs in the seventh to take down No. 15 Fitch, 7-6. North Haven then lost a 7-4 contest at Avon in the quarterfinals to finish with a record of 10-13, but Coach DeMayo felt proud of his players for persevering through an uphill battle to even make it that far.
“Well, even though it was a struggle to get into the tournament, we were not an easy out at all. The kids are tough kids and they didn’t quit. They just come at you all the time. We didn’t play great baseball, but I knew it was going to come and, to their credit, they hung in there and stayed together,” said DeMayo, who finished his 58th season as head coach with 856 career victories. “Basically, we turned it around so that everyone felt good about how the season ended—not with that last loss, but with what it took to get there and be a force in the state. We were one game away from the semis and not many teams get to that point and so I think we all feel good about it. I know the coaches did.”
DeMayo feels that one of the reasons his team stayed strong through the struggles was the exemplary leadership of senior captains Giovanni Torres and Mike DeRosa, whom the coach said “were phenomenal and held everyone together.” Torres, a shortstop who hit leadoff, posted a .340 batting average and an on-base percentage (OBP) of .448 to go with five doubles, one home run, and 21 runs scored. He also hit the go-ahead single in the eighth inning when the Indians beat Berlin in states, as well as a two-run single that put them ahead to stay in the seventh inning of the Fitch victory in the next round. Ultimately, Torres earned All-SCC Oronoque Division honors, was chosen for the Senior Select All-Star Game that DeMayo coached in, and also received three distinctions from the Indians in the DeMayo Scholarship, the John Calamita Scholarship, plus the Rocky Ruggerio Award. Meanwhile, DeRosa was the Indians’ catcher and batted .367 with a .487 OBP and a team-leading 12 RBI.
“Giovanni is a talented kid who hustles and works hard and, toward the end of the year, we knew we were going to win if he got a hit in his first appearance. He did that in four-straight games and just seemed to pick the team up,” DeMayo said. “Mike was our cleanup hitter and a lot of pitchers pitched around him because of his reputation of being able to hit the ball hard. He was a force in our lineup.”
Coach DeMayo added the senior Joe Ireland “was like a third leader” and the right fielder wound up winning North Haven’s Most Valuable Player Award and Sportsmanship Award. Ireland had a batting average of .348, clubbed two home runs, and hit seven doubles and three triples. He also drew 13 walks en route to an OBP of .453 to complement his 13 runs scored an 11 RBI. Ireland’s robust offensive totals helped him earn a spot on the All-Oronoque Team.
“Joe is an individual who blossomed this year and he impressed me and the other coaches with his power. We played at Torrington early in the season and he hit a home run in a minor league park and a triple that hit the top of the fence. He had four hits and drove in four runs, which was the apex of our hitting in a ballgame this year,” DeMayo said. “Joe is the kind of kid who helped everybody. He knows how to handle it when we win—he doesn’t go nuts—and he knows how to handle the losses. He’s just very good with dealing with everybody.”
Fellow senior Joe Balzano turned in one the campaign’s most clutch performances when he tossed a complete game to help the Indians punch their ticket to states with a 5-0 win over North Branford in the regular season finale. Balzano, who also won one other game, was named North Haven’s Most Improved Player and received the No ‘I’ in Team Award from the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club.
“Joe pitched extremely well in that last game. It was a gem that certainly put us in good position to get to the quarterfinals,” said DeMayo. “Joe got very few innings last year and came from nowhere to the extent that he pitched some pretty good games, including the biggest win of the year.”
The Indians featured two other seniors in Chris Tullo and Kyle Scafariello. DeMayo called Tullo “one of the best defensive first basemen in the area” and noted that Scafariello got a key RBI double that sparked a rally in the crucial North Branford victory.
Next year’s senior captains will be Brendan Clark and Dom Onofrio. Clark earned five wins with two saves on the mound and pitched all eight innings of the Berlin win in states. Also a third baseman, Clark batted .316 with an OBP of .442 to go with four doubles, 13 walks, 16 runs, and 10 RBI. Onofrio, who played both second and third, recorded a .298 batting average and had three hits in the Berlin victory.
North Haven’s other juniors were Preston Young, who won three games; Tom Myjak, who picked up the win in relief against Fitch in states; fellow pitchers Mark Tantorski, Griffin Bottomley, and Alec Butler; second baseman Alphonse Fusco, left fielder Chris Stevens, designated hitter Craig Somma, and backup first baseman Vinny Anastasio.
Sophomore center fielder Peyton Farina batted .333, had an OBP of .442, and also drew 13 walks, scored 14 runs, and produced nine RBI. Fellow sophomore Kevin Lucey was the team’s backup catcher.
As always, North Haven is losing some quality seniors from this year’s team, but unlike this year, the Indians will return an experienced core of pitchers next spring. Consequently, Coach DeMayo feels optimistic about his team’s prospects for 2017.
“It’s a situation where I’m looking forward to next year. We’ll have pitchers with experience and, although we lost some good people, we were heavily loaded with juniors this year,” he said. “So I’m excited about it. We’ll have experienced people coming back and we hope that the experience they get from playing summer baseball and fall baseball will help us get off to a good start next year and then we can carry it through.”
DeMayo’s coaching staff featured varsity assistants Muchie Dagliere and Ray Degnan, JV coach Justin Falcon, and freshman coach Mike Proto.