Mercer Carpenter Cup team member John Mastrangelo, playing for Hamilton Post 31, eyes a hit to deep right field during an American Legion game at Ewing July 15, 2013. Post 31 won, 6-4. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
Mercer Carpenter Cup team member BJ Dudeck, playing for Hamilton Post 31, returns a right field hit during a game at Ewing on July 15. (Photo by Mark Wetherbee, Jr.)
Mercer County won its first Carpenter Cup baseball championship since 2004 this June, and there truly were contributions from towns all over Mercer County.
But no municipality contributed quite as much as Hamilton Township, which had a whopping 12 players on the roster.
“That says something,” said BJ Dudeck, the Hamilton Post 31 rightfielder who went to Princeton Day School. “From Little League to Babe Ruth, the teams that remain are always Sunnybrae, HTRBA, Nottingham (in little league) and Hamilton and Nottingham (in Babe Ruth). It’s definitely clear.”
“This township has a lot of talent, it always has,” Steinert/Post 31 centerfielder Eddie Ashley said. “I think a lot of the kids carried that team. The pitching was a little mixed with a lot of guys from all over, but the hitting was mostly Hamilton kids. The first five guys were all Hamilton.”
Ashley and Hamilton West/Broad Street Park catcher Dave Osnato felt the Hamilton core helped provide a cohesion throughout the team. Most of the Township Dozen knew each other and imbedded themselves with the rest of the team.
“I think having so many Hamilton kids helped us out,” Ashley said. “The chemistry and stuff helped us out throughout the tournament. It’s pretty cool.”
“We’re all friends (from Hamilton) and kind of jelled together,” Osnato said. “I think we rubbed off on everybody. When I played on this team last year, everyone was quiet in the dugout, everybody was just in it for themselves. This year everyone was playing for each other—all the guys, not just us (from Hamilton)—and it was cool.”
The other township players included Notre Dame’s Enzo Esposito, Hamilton West’s Brandon Kirk, Cody Astbury and Gerry Gomez, Steinert’s Matt Moticha, Chris Geraci, PJ Wiegartner and John Mastrangelo, and Nottingham’s Luke Westerberg.
The 13th township person involved—Steinert head coach Brian Giallella—guided the Mercer County squad, and was impressed at how the players all came together.
“Not all of them go to the three public schools, so that’s something special too,” Giallella said. “They’ve grown up and played together through Little League and Babe Ruth. They separated obviously during high school and then have a chance to come back and play together in an All-Star tournament.
“But their contributions were amazing. Everybody came in and did a great job. Everybody looked the part. Everybody went out and played with enthusiasm, played with energy, and most importantly played the game the right way.”
Looking the part was no simple task. The first two games were played at FDR Park, down the street from Citizens Bank Park. The semifinals and finals were played at the Phillies home park.
“That was just amazing,” Mastrangelo said. “It was so surreal.”
“Man, it was crazy,” Westerberg said. “I never expected to play on a field like that. It was real humbling, honestly. A lot of kids don’t get the opportunity, so for me to go out and play on that field was just great.”
And although Ashley, Kirk and Westerberg are Yankee fans, Osnato is a Mets fan and Dudeck is a Braves fan, they were still taken aback by playing in an MLB stadium. Westerberg’s dad, though, is a big Phillies fan, and was loving it.
“I’m a Yankee fan, but any MLB field you’re on it’s pretty cool, so, I’m not complaining,” Ashley said with a laugh. “It was unreal. It’s a once in a lifetime thing.
“Our goal was to get there, and we got there and we surpassed that by winning the whole thing. It definitely meant a lot playing there, after watching Major League players play there every day on TV. It’s almost a fantasy. It’s pretty cool that it’s a reality now.”
The obvious concern might have been that the players got so overwhelmed by their surroundings they may not have focused on the game.
“You’re used to going there and watching other people play, but it’s crazy to actually be on the field playing,” Dudeck said. “I felt like I was losing my breath a few times I was so excited. I was a little bit nervous but very excited.”
Both Westerberg and Dudeck felt the team chemistry helped get the nerves out.
“It was pretty easy,” Westerberg said. “ All of us guys were real close. We weren’t thinking, ‘Oh, we’re playing in the Phillies stadium.’ We were just out there playing for a Carpenter Cup championship.”
“That was certainly neat,” Dudeck said of running onto the field the first time. “It was a one of a kind opportunity and to do it with a group of guys that seemed to jell so quickly that it was definitely special. I enjoyed every second, that’s for sure.”
Kirk said it was just a matter of playing baseball in order to get the jitters out.
“I was having butterflies walking out there, and I wasn’t even playing yet, I don’t know how pros do it,” he said. “I’m only walking on the grass that’s it. But after we got warmed up, got the throws in and the first at-bat, we got the jitters out of the way.”
Osnato actually went to a former pro to find out how he did it for 10 years.
“When I first started playing for Dave Gallagher, that was one of first questions I ever asked him,” the catcher said. “I said, ‘Did you ever get used to playing in front of all those people or were there butterflies in your stomach every night?’ He said there were always some butterflies and he never totally got used to it, but it was a great feeling. It was great for us, with the history of that stadium.”
And while it was great for the players to bond while playing in a Major League setting, the biggest high point of all, of course, was winning it all.
“I knew we had a good team,” Mastrangelo said. “I knew we could do it.”
“We definitely had that big drought (of not winning since 2004) but we played loose,” Dudeck said. “We came in with a nothing-to-lose mentality. We realized we belonged, we were neck and neck with teams and we proved we belonged.”
“It’s awesome,” Osnato said. “We all got along. This was real fun, even the stretching was awesome. We were having a good ol’ time, having fun, messing around each other. The dugout was like a big ol’ party place.”
And when the party finally ended, Hamilton Township certainly stamped itself as one of the distinguished guests.
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