Oakhurst's run points to more spring success
County's top Senior Legion team got better over the summer
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

RICH GRAESSLE Ocean Township's Keith Weincofsky and his Oakhurst teammates enjoyed another successful American Legion season, advancing all the way to the District 5 finals before falling to a more experienced Mt. Morris squad.

After winning the Monmouth County American Legion regular season title, the team from Oakhurst VFW #2226 entered the state's District 5 tournament in New Brunswick hungry to add some more hardware.

Featuring a roster made up of primarily players who will play for the Ocean Township High School varsity team next spring, the Oakhurst squad knew full well what it was up against in District 5 play - a group of teams loaded with college and established varsity players who have been preparing for this tournament all summer long.

While Oakhurst looked up to the challenge early on, beating Verona, 14-2, and Piscataway, 12-8, in its first two games, head coach Del Dal Pra's squad ran into a better team in its third game, a deep, experienced squad from Mount Morris, and fell, 6-3.

Oakhurst responded to their first loss with a resounding 13-1 win over Clifton in the semifinals to earn another shot at Mount Morris in the finals. But once again, the Oakhurst team found itself overmatched, losing a lopsided game, 27-9, to end their state tournament run.

"We ran into a better team, loaded with older players, and it wasn't pretty," Dal Pra said. "Basically, we ran out of pitchers. It's hard enough playing as a high school taking on the teams loaded with college players, but when you have depth issues, it makes it that much harder.

"We had one of our regular pitchers available for the final, James Christie, and we knew he wouldn't be able to go the whole way either," the coach added. "And once they got seven runs off him in the first, we knew we were done."

While Mount Morris was piling it on against Oakhurst's replacement pitchers, Dal Pra's squad showed him something in defeat.

"I was extremely proud of the fact that we got nine runs off their number one guy," the coach said. "And second in the district, in this district, is pretty good. We finished up 16-6, won the county title, and finished with all of our missions accomplished for the summer. We answered a lot of questions that we had coming in."

With a team batting average of .343 and a team earned run average of 2.01, it's easy to see why Dal Pra was pleased with the summer season.

He entered the campaign with a team looking to prepare for next spring's high school season (and another run at a state Group III title after finishing second in the state this past spring), and he got exactly what he wanted.

The Oakhurst players responded on the mound, in the field and at the plate.

The Oakhurst pitching staff was stellar throughout the summer, led by senior-to-be Eric Hinkle (2-1, 1,46 ERA), junior-to-be Jeff Parenty (5-1, 1.75 ERA) and senior-to-be Kyle Norman (3-0, four saves, 1.88 ERA).

At the dish, Oakhurst was led by Keith Weincofsky (.465, four home runs, 19 RBIs despite missing several games), Parenty (.461, five home runs, 12 RBIs), and Norman (.361, nine doubles and 19 runs scored).

Dal Pra was also pleased with the emergence of junior-to-be Sean DiSilva, who by hitting .373 with a team-leading 28 hits, probably locked up the starting second base nod for next year's OTHS varsity team, and junior-to-be Dave Kascka, who played a flawless center field this summer.

Now that the summer season is over, it's time to start getting ready for the upcoming fall season in the Jersey Shore Fall League (a wood bat league).The goal there will be the same.

"Every game I try to find something that shows we got better," Dal Pra said. "This summer I was able to do that every time out."

And with the entire team coming back for the fall season, Dal Pra is anxious to see that trend continue.

"This group seems to continue to take another step further and further," he said, adding that next spring's varsity team has a tough act to follow in this past year's 26-win club.

"I'm looking forward to next spring already."

And for good reason, too.