It’s safe to say that Pat Laguerre is the busiest baseball coach in Hudson County.
Not only does the longtime St. Mary’s of Jersey City coach keep a tab on his Ramblers during the course of the summer, but he is also involved with coaching two different youth teams.
Laguerre coaches the Jersey City Recreation Sharks in the Mickey Mantle (15- to 16-year-old) division of the Amateur American Baseball Congress. The team is a newly formed entity, headed by legendary local baseball guru Ed “The Faa” Ford.
If that wasn’t enough, Laguerre also helps with the Jackie Robinson Senior Little League All-Stars, another team with budding teenaged talent.
“I was committed to Mickey Mantle with ‘The Faa’ for a while,” Laguerre said. “They’re a good group of kids who listen and play hard. They’re easy. The other team, I just help out a little. My wife is on board with it all, so that made it official. I don’t think of it as anything different than what I normally do.”
But bouncing back and forth from team to team? That has to be a grueling routine.
“I just love being with the kids,” Laguerre said. “That makes it easier. They’re all good kids, down to earth. And they’re good baseball players.”
However, no one could have ever predicted all that Laguerre and the Sharks had to endure over the past week, en route to securing the New Jersey Mickey Mantle state title.
First, the Sharks had to weather the storm of having field venues, game starting times, and even opponents change from day to day. They were bouncing back and forth from Paterson to Secaucus’ Laurel Hill County Park for games. The times of the games would be altered on a whim. And when it looked like the Sharks were supposed to play one team, they were ultimately paired with another.
But nothing can compare to what happened last Saturday afternoon.
After playing a game in the state tournament earlier in the day, the Sharks had to bounce back and play another game later that night. So Laguerre and assistant coach Ray Pardo thought it would be best to keep the kids together for the entire day. Pardo invited the team back to his home in Kearny for an impromptu barbecue.
That’s when disaster struck. The deck in Pardo’s yard collapsed, sending about six people tumbling about 15 feet or so to the ground below. Anne Marie Costello, who serves as the general manager of the Sharks, suffered a knee and ankle injury. Another woman suffered minor burns from going into the grill.
“I was inside the house and heard it go down,” Laguerre said. “I thought it was an earthquake. I heard someone yell, `Call 911.’ I thought that there might have been kids trapped under the deck.”
Fortunately, the players had moved from under the deck only a few minutes prior to the collapse.
“The kids were just there,” Laguerre said. “It could have been far worse. All hell broke loose.”
However, no players were injured and life was restored to normalcy for the time being.
“Everything turned out fine,” Laguerre said. “Considering what could have happened, it wasn’t that bad.”
But the eventful weekend wasn’t over. The Sharks won again on Sunday, setting up a showdown with neighboring rival North Bergen for the state championship.
“It was our fifth game against North Bergen,” Laguerre said. “They beat us in the first round of the tournament, so we had to come back and beat them twice.”
On Monday night, the Sharks faced off with North Bergen for the state crown. In the sixth inning, the Sharks held a 3-1 lead when Mother Nature got into the mix. Severe lightning caused the suspension of the game, delaying the outcome for another day. Baseball purists in attendance believed that Jersey City should have been rewarded the victory, because it was an official game, but AABC officials declared it a suspended game and made everyone come back again on Tuesday to complete the contest.
A day later, Jersey City scored two more runs and Bayonne standout Mike Santana shut the door, giving the Sharks the long-awaited state title.
“It really felt like it was going on forever,” Laguerre said.
Sure seemed that way.
“I really wanted these kids to advance,” said Laguerre, who will take the Sharks to Connecticut later this week to compete in the Mickey Mantle Eastern Regional. “It’s really a great group of kids.”
If the Sharks emerge victorious this weekend in Connecticut, then they head to the Mickey Mantle World Series in Texas in two weeks.
Santana, one of the best all-around talents in Hudson County, spearheads the team, whether he is pitching or playing second base. He’s also one of the Sharks’ top hitters and delivered a clutch hit Tuesday to seal the deal.
Laguerre’s own talent, Brandon Torres of St. Mary’s, is another key contributor for the Sharks. The pitching staff features Mike Doran of St. Peter’s Prep.
“He’s really established himself as a top pitcher,” Laguerre said of Doran.
Other pitchers include Abe Groomes of Hoboken, Charlie Castellano of Bayonne, Sal Mendez of Weehawken, and Richie Pardo of St. Peter’s Prep.
The catching duties have been shared by T.J. Wilson and Angel Pena. Both will be teammates at St. Mary’s in the fall, with Pena transferring to St. Mary’s from High Tech.
Danny Mirabel of St. Mary’s and Mike Rodriguez of St. Anthony are the team’s third basemen, with Santana and Torres holding fort at either second base or shortstop.
Bryan Cuevas, the former Memorial standout who ended up at St. Mary’s of Rutherford, is also a pitcher and infielder.
Ryan Houghton of Hoboken and Eddie Rios, the youngest player on the team, considering he hasn’t entered high school yet, round out the roster.
Laguerre has received assistance in coaching the Sharks from Wilmer Mendez of Ferris.
So the busiest baseball coach in Hudson County will now head to Connecticut with a team that was definitely capable of handling its fair share of adversity last week.
As for Laguerre’s summer?
“Once August comes, I’ll be shutting it down,” Laguerre laughed. “My wife has already booked a cruise for then. That will be it.”
That is, unless the Sharks keep winning.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.