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08/01/2022 10:24 AMAfter scrapping together 2 wins last year, the North Haven Senior American Legion 19-U baseball team improved mightily by recording 11 victories during the 2022 season. North Haven thrived on consistent and competitive play all summer long, leading Post 76 to an appearance in the State Tournament at the end of the year. Head Coach Mike Busillo couldn’t be happier with his group’s improvements on the field and the overall direction in which the program is headed.
North Haven put together a regular-season record of 11-7 in Zone 2 on its way to qualifying for the double-elimination State Tournament this year. In its first game of states, Post 76 took an 11-7 loss against Ridgefield on July 16. North Haven fell behind early, but rallied to tie the game in the later innings. In the end, Ridgefield got a few big hits late to come away with the victory.
Manny Lopes went 1-for-3 with a run scored and 4 RBI for North Haven in the game. Tyler Signore was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Ryan Bauman pitched 4 innings for Post 76, striking out 3 batters.
Despite the loss, North Haven’s performance against Ridgefield strengthened Coach Busillo’s belief that Post 76 was in just about every game it played this season and always competed its hardest, no matter the score.
“We were just kind of a group that, regardless of the situation, we battled seven innings. We were competitive pretty much all year,” Busillo said. “There weren’t multiple games where we were out of it. If we get a big hit or a big out in a certain situation, we might have 14 or 15 wins and not 11.”
The following day, North Haven hosted Danbury for its second contest of State Tournament play. Post 76 jumped out to an early lead, but Danbury’s offense eventually got going and put up a big sixth inning that resulted in a 14-4 loss for North Haven to put the team’s overall record at 11-9 on the year.
Chris Tobin went 2-for-3 with a run scored an RBI for North Haven in the game. Will Sullivan went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Derek Novicki was also 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Jeremy Gordils went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Chris Hager and Ty Rooney both had a hit and scored a run.
While his team was hoping to win a game in states, Coach Busillo felt extremely pleased about how Post 76 performed throughout the season. Busillo feels encouraged about what the North Haven Legion program can accomplish on the ballfield going forward.
“Most of our roster, if not all of it, will be eligible to play Legion next year, and many of them have already expressed the interest to do that again,” said Busillo. “Even when the season ends disappointingly in the State Tournament, we still have kids that expressed it was a good experience. I think we’re on the right track.”
While praising the efforts of his players in North Haven’s turnaround campaign, Busillo also gave credit to his two assistant coaches for the team’s success this year. In Busillo’s eyes, the efforts of assistant coaches Kevin Lucey and Mike Ferrett played an instrumental role in the progression of the program.
“I’ve been coaching high school baseball for close to 20 years. If I were ever a varsity coach for baseball, I would take those two guys in a heartbeat,” Busillo said. “Despite their young age, they are great baseball guys. My son [Ben] was on the roster this year, and the knowledge and teaching that they gave him was impressive.”
Coach Busillo felt proud to see North Haven play solid baseball throughout the course of its 11-win season. Post 76’s biggest strengths were its pitching and defense, but Busillo was also impressed with the overall cohesiveness and consistency that his team displayed on a game-by-game basis.
“We were very proud of how competitive we were. The kids showed great maturity. We spent our games willing to try to battle every at-bat, every inning,” said Busillo. “I knew every time we showed up that our guys were going to compete and our pitchers, for the most part, were going to keep us in the game. We were pretty happy with that.”
North Haven’s 9-win improvement was spurred by a solid pitching staff that featured Bauman, who had 29 strikeouts on the year; and Tobin, who recorded 18 strikeouts. Sal Giaimo led the way at the plate by posting a .362 batting average with 17 runs scored and 12 RBI. Coach Busillo also praised the defensive play of Lopes, who had 17 RBI, along with that of Hager and Rooney.
Shaun Murray and Novicki were two of North Haven’s inspirational leaders throughout the season. Murray batted .298 while scoring 16 runs and collecting 7 RBI. Novicki hit at a .321 clip to go with 13 runs scored and 11 RBI on the year. Along with Novicki’s presence at the plate, Busillo raved about his performance with the glove this summer.
“Novicki did everything for us. He was a great leader,” Busillo said. “I’ve been doing high school baseball for a long time, and I don’t think I’ve seen a better defensive first baseman than Novicki.”
Looking ahead to next season, Coach Busillo believes that everything North Haven accomplished this year marked a big step in the right direction for the Legion program. Busillo is hoping that North Haven’s success will entice more players to join the team. Busillo thinks that Post 76 is nearing the level of Zone 2 stalwarts like West Haven and Hamden, and he’s hoping that the club will continue trending upward next season.
“I just think this is a step in the process. Our guys know how close we are to those two teams. I hope they realize how close they are,” said Busillo. “If we come back a year better, maybe we get some of our other kids in town to play Legion. I’m excited for the future of the program. To me, I just think it’s an attractive situation for North Haven kids.”
After steadily improving from last year’s struggles, the North Haven American Legion team is set up for even better results next year. This season acted as a stepping stone for where Coach Busillo ultimately wants to take the program. Post 76 made a name for itself while achieving its goals and having fun doing so in 2022. This level of success has raised North Haven’s expectations about what the team can achieve in 2023.
“It was a drastic improvement, and the players deserve a lot of credit, especially the kids who have been here for the past few years. We wanted to improve our record. We did that,” Busillo said. “We wanted to put us on the right road for the future, the future of North Haven Legion, and I think we’ve done that. We also wanted to enjoy ourselves and have a good experience, and I know we did that.”
The North Haven Senior American Legion baseball team’s roster for the 2022 season included Luke Blasi, Declan Finkle, Sal Giaimo, Tyler Harger, Manny Lopes, Chris Hager, Tyler Signore, Chris Tobin, Derek Novicki, Ty Rooney, Shaun Murray, Will Sullivan, Mike Brandt, Jeremy Gordils, Ben Busillo, and Derek Mortali.