Veteran youth baseball coach Ben Rotondi wanted to do something nice for his Hoboken Little League 9-year-old All-Stars.
“It’s something a little different,” Rotondi said. “I wanted to give the kids the chance to experience something outside of Hudson County.”
So Rotondi entered his All-Star team in the annual George Spero Memorial Tournament, which is strictly for 9-year-olds.
It was an eight-team tourney, with teams like Lyndhurst, Rutherford, North Arlington and Lodi participating.
First, there was pool play – which allows each team to face each other at least once. Then the best teams coming out of pool play move on to the championship round.
It was a double elimination tournament and the Hoboken 9’s only lost once to North Arlington.
So they were ready for the challenge.
“I just wanted them to have fun,” said Rotondi, who has been coaching Little League baseball for more than 20 years. “It was more for the kids to get away from the regular [Hoboken] league and have some fun.”
However, Rotondi assembled a great roster and the Hoboken 9’s managed to capture the Spero Tournament, defeating host team Lodi by a lopsided score of 18-7 in the championship game.
Rotondi believes that the strength in his team was centered around a stellar and deep pitching staff.
“It was extremely important to have good pitching,” Rotondi said. “We were not afraid to pitch any kid we had if it was needed.”
Max Casazza was one of the team’s top pitchers.
“He’s also a pretty good all around player,” said Rotondi of Casazza, who played second base, shortstop and even catcher during the tournament. “He hit the ball very well for us.”
Aneel Ward is another top-flight hurler.
“He’s the type of kid who would do anything we wanted,” Rotondi said. “He really could play anywhere and can hit the ball a mile.”
Chase Kirk is another pitcher and infielder.
“He’s our leadoff hitter,” Rotondi said. “We needed him to get on base.”
Joe Fiore is another player who could line up at a host of different positions, ranging from pitcher to second base to shortstop to catcher. He’s also the son of Ray Fiore, who is an assistant coach on the team, but when he was 12 years old, he was the first baseman on the Hoboken Ambassadors team that was the first American youth team to ever play in Russia.
“Joe is another good all-around player,” Rotondi said. “We can’t stress it enough to have the kids learn how to play multiple positions. We can put them anywhere and not worry.”
It’s also a smart approach for the future, because you don’t want to pigeon hole a kid in one position at such a young age. This way, the kids’ versatility will pay dividends in the future. Give Rotondi credit for instilling such a policy with his team.
Luke Lasky is the team’s regular third baseman, but he can play first base and left field as well.
“Luke is our cleanup hitter,” Rotondi said. “He’s a big and strong kid who can wallop the baseball.”
Zach Johnson is the team’s starting catcher.
“He’s able to handle everyone back there,” Rotondi said. “He wasn’t a catcher during the season, but he’s quick behind the plate and we needed that because a lot of these teams had backstops that were far away from the plate. We needed someone who could protect the ball.”
The centerfielder is Isaiah Blanks, who is the son of 2002-2003 Hudson Reporter Male Athlete of the Year Jason Blanks. The younger Blanks is a slick fielding quick outfielder like his father was.
“He’s small, but he’ll go after anything,” Rotondi said. “He moves fast. He got some key hits for us down the stretch.”
The right fielder is Nick Petruzzelli, who made two spectacular and acrobatic catches in the championship game.
“He knows baseball,” Rotondi said of Petruzzelli. “We put him in as a pinch runner late in games. He’s the kind of kid who won’t sit home and play video games. Instead, he’s out practicing. We have a lot of kids that are that way.”
Nate Palmerino is another outfielder.
“He did his job,” Rotondi said. “We told the subs that we needed them to do their jobs. Nate went in there and did what he had to do. That’s all we can ask for.”
Alex Giantino, the son of Hoboken councilwoman Jen Giantino, was a catcher, pitcher and outfielder for the team.
Finn Getz is a second baseman and outfielder who Rotondi called “a smart player.”
Lucas Rakala was the resident jack-of-all-trades on a team with utility players.
“He was a nervous kid when we first started,” Rotondi said. “I just told him he had to calm down, to go out and have fun.”
That’s what Rakala, a regular third baseman, did – collecting a single in his second at-bat after admitting his jitters.
“After that, everything was fine,” Rotondi said.
Needless to say, it was a great run for the Hoboken 9’s.
“They got the chance to see how other teams play,” Rotondi said. “We didn’t mind traveling to those places and fields. They wouldn’t have had a chance to do so if we didn’t do this.”
Jacob Johnson and Ray Fiore were the coaches.
“I have to give Ray a lot of credit, because he basically ran the practices,” Rotondi said.
So this bunch of Hoboken kids got a chance to taste a championship before they even start to get really competitive. Not a bad idea at all.
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