Ocean in mix for county Legion title … again

FARRAH MAFFAI staff Middletown South’s Jayme Provine lunges for a pitch during the Eagles’ 4-3 home loss to Howell during an American Legion game in Middletown South last week.

Lancers’ American Legion team hopes to reach .500 mark

BY DOUG McKENZIE

Staff Writer

While a lot of coaches view the American Legion season as a chance to prepare for the next spring’s high school campaign, other coaches view it as an extension of the previous season and go all out in pursuit of a Legion state championship.

Ocean Township’s Del Dal Pra has the best of both worlds.

While Dal Pra recognizes the usefulness of the Legion season in terms of preparing his younger players for varsity-level competition, he is also in the unique position of fielding a Legion team filled with players who have already experienced varsity baseball.

"We entered last spring in a bit of a rebuilding mode, and wound up going 20-10 and playing for the Shore Conference championship," the coach said. "So six or seven of the guys playing Legion ball this summer started as juniors on the varsity team this year."

Add to that a group of sophomores who can play with the best upperclassmen the county has to offer, and the result is a very good Senior American Legion team that is vying for the county title and looking forward to tomorrow’s playoffs.

Ocean entered the week at 10-5 with 55 points. That put them behind only CBA’s representative, Post 515, which entered the week at 11-3-1 (61 points), and Middletown North’s Post 338, which is 11-1 with 56 points.

With the top four teams in the league qualifying for the playoffs, Ocean was assured of a spot in tomorrow’s games, regardless of whether or not it could play its final two regular-season games this week (Tuesday against St. Rose and yesterday against Wall).

The fourth spot in the playoffs was up in the air, with Freehold Township (9-3, 48 points) and Freehold Borough Post 54 (8-7, 47 points) fighting it out. Middletown South Post 338 was also mathematically still alive with an 8-5 mark and 42 points, but needed quite a bit of help to qualify.

As for Dal Pra’s squad, this is familiar territory, since the Ocean team will be heading to the district tournament for the fifth year in a row — the only team from Monmouth County with such a streak intact. That streak becomes even more impressive when you consider that in the past, only one team from Monmouth County emerged to the district tournament.

"Our league has grown so much in recent years that now the top four teams go, and are among the top 32 teams in the state," Dal Pra said. "It’s a tremendous opportunity to move on and, like the [high school] state tournament, it gives you a chance to play different teams that you wouldn’t normally see."

Tomorrow’s playoffs will decide exactly where those four teams will be heading in district play. The two games will feature the third- and fourth-place teams squaring off at 4 p.m. at Middletown South, with the county championship game to immediately follow. The point system that determines the top teams awards five points for a win, two points for a tie, one point for a loss and -1 points for a forfeit.

"The system was designed to avoid forfeits," Dal Pra said.

The county champion will earn the right to choose which district tournament it will enter, either in Lyndhurst (District 1), New Brunswick (District 3), Ewing (District 4) or West Deptford (District 5). District 2 will be held in Union, but the Monmouth County representative cannot go there.

"If we’re in first after this weekend, we’d probably head to New Brunswick, just because it’s the closest," Dal Pra said. "That’s usually the deciding factor — you usually pick who’s closest."

Over the past four years, Ocean has been everywhere except District 5, West Deptford, which is home to the state’s top legion program from Brooklawn, a team that features players from Gloucester Catholic.

"They’re like the Yankees of American Legion," Dal Pra said. "They’ve won the state title something like 13 of the last 16 years. We were supposed to go there one year, but we wound up hosting a tournament, and CBA went there instead."

Logic would tell you that the Ocean team will look to avoid the trip to West Deptford this summer. But not so fast.

"I wouldn’t mind heading down there," Dal Pra said. "I wouldn’t mind taking a shot at them."

One look at the talent on this year’s Ocean team, and it’s easy to see why.

The pitching staff is headed by Walter Taylor, who has pitched far better than his 2-3 record indicates.

"He’s 2-2 over his last four games, but has allowed just eight hits in those four games," the coach explained. "He’s thrown a four-hitter, a one-hitter and three two-hitters this summer. He has a 2-3 record, with a 1.87 ERA."

Taylor, who was 6-2 on the varsity team this past spring, will be a senior in the fall, and will be the ace of the high school staff next season.

But he’s not alone. Another senior-to-be, Mike Chiarella, has also pitched quite well this summer — posting a 3-1 record and a minuscule 0.36 ERA after allowing just one earned run in 19 innings.

Throw into the mix sophomore lefty Eric Hinkle, who has two saves and has registered 20 strikeouts in just 14 innings, and the Ocean pitching staff can match up with anyone. Hinkle, who won seven games for the JV team in the spring as a freshman, has emerged this summer as a force.

And then, there’s the offense. The Ocean lineup is an imposing one, as evidenced by the team’s .338 average.

Ocean is led by sophomore-to-be Keith Weincofsky (DH/catcher), who is 21-for-47 this summer (.447), and leads the team with 11 RBIs and a home run.

Left fielder Corey Giddings is 13-for-27 (.482) and has stolen seven bases. When he’s not pitching, Chiarella plays first base and does his damage with the stick, going 19-for-35 thus far (.400), with 16 walks and a .580 on-base percentage.

But it doesn’t end there. Senior center fielder Colin Truax is hitting .372 with 11 runs scored; senior second baseman/shortstop Steve Novak is hitting at a .349 clip with 13 runs scored; while a pair of rookies — Hinkle (13-for-38 with two home runs) and Kyle Norman (8-for-22, .364 and nine RBIs) have also added some punch to the lineup.

Dal Pra also praised senior third baseman John Barbarise, who has played his way into the starting lineup with some stellar defensive play, while also registering three wins on the pitching mound.

With such a solid mix of younger and experienced players, Dal Pra is enthusiastic about the immediate future of Ocean Township baseball. Add to that the success of the Ocean Junior Legion team, which entered the week in first place with a 10-4 mark, and is assured of advancing to the district tournament (the top three teams from the county will advance), and the coach has reason to be optimistic.

"We should be pretty good for the next two years or so, and should contend for some championships," the coach said.

And while the Legion season is not exactly the same as the high school campaign, the coach still expects his team to play to win.

"We use it as a tryout, because it’s better to have 17 games in June and July to work on things than just a few weeks in April," he said. "I might put a kid in a spot, or leave a pitcher in for a while in the summer, that I wouldn’t necessarilydo in April. But we want to win, at the same token. At Ocean, we try to be competitive year-round, whether it’s in the summer, spring or fall."

And that competitiveness has helped the team’s success, according to the coach.

"I’ve found that the kids that do well in the summer will do well in the spring, and the same goes for the team," he said.

While some coaches put less of an emphasis on winning in the summer and more on developing the younger players, Dal Pra doesn’t see why you can’t do both.

And there’s no arguing with the results.

Diamond notes... Based on the way things have played out this summer, it’s safe to assume that when next spring’s high school baseball season rolls around, the Class A North will be among the Shore Conference’s top divisions.

Of the Monmouth County Senior American Legion’s top eight teams in the standings, six of those teams will be playing in the A North Division next spring.

While the Colts Post 515 (CBA) team entered the week atop the standings, both Middletown North Post 338 and Ocean VFW Post 2226 were right there with the Colts. Not far behind them are the Freehold Township Patriots, who won the A North title this past spring, while the Middletown South Post 338 team sat in sixth place. South will join A North next year, replacing Long Branch.

The sixth A North representative among the league leaders is the team from Marlboro, who has played to a 7-7 mark this summer, with Howell right behind them at 6-3-1.

"The top four teams are all from A North, plus Middletown South, Howell and Marlboro all have over six wins," Dal Pra said. "I think you can expect the teams from A North to beat up on each other a bit next year."