By Kyle Kondor
Fortunately, there will be all-star Babe Ruth baseball for Hopewell and Ewing this month.
Ewing native Joe Sparano will manage this year’s 15-year-old all-star team, and for the first time, his roster consists of players from both Ewing and Hopewell.
This team is a result of the new league started after Hopewell and Ewing agreed to combine the two towns’ old Babe Ruth leagues. The merger, which started this season, happened just in time.
Last year, eleven kids tried out for Sparano’s 14-year-old all-star team that was required to use only Ewing residents. He chose to keep all of them.
This year, five of those kids didn’t show up for tryouts, and a few of them didn’t even play in the regular season.
So Sparano’s roster this year consists of eight Hopewell residents and six Ewing residents. But if it weren’t for the merger then I’d have to believe that we wouldn’t have been able to field a team this year, he said.
For decades, Hopewell and Ewing had entered the District 1 Babe Ruth All-Star tournament as rivals.
That rivalry has come to an end, and the Ewing-Hopewell team will begin District 1 Tournament play at Veterans Park in Hamilton July 5 as one team. As the host team, Ewing–Hopewell will advance to the state tournament regardless of whether it wins the district tournament. The state tournament will begin July 17 at Moody Park.
One of the only concerns at this point is whether or not the players on the Ewing-Hopewell team can build enough chemistry to face teams whose players have been together for up to seven years.
“I’d be lying to you if I thought we were in a perfect situation right now,” Sparano said. “I would definitely say we’re doing fine but they’ll need to work together a little bit longer for me to get a true assessment of that.”
Joe Sparano has done all he can to prep his 15-year-old team for the District Tournament, including entering his team in a 16-year-old or under tournament in Manahawkin this past May.
The team suffered only one loss and won the tournament, which pitted seven teams from all around the state.
Jimmy Sparano is one player who’s contributed to the team’s success thus far. According to coach Joe Sparano, Jimmy will be relied on greatly throughout the district tournament as a pitcher and the starting shortstop.
“Everything has been going good and the Hopewell kids blend in really well with us,” said Jimmy Sparano.
He started third base as a freshman for Ewing High School this season. He is one of three pitchers on the team of 15-year-olds that can hurl a fastball that reaches up to 80 mph.
That list also includes Greg Gasparro, who was a starting outfielder for Hopewell Valley Central High School as a freshman this year, and Stephen DeBoskey, who has earned time on the mound for Ewing Post 314’s American Legion team this summer.
The team also features crafty left-handed pitcher Keiran Zeimet who will earn a significant amount of time on the mound as well. Zeimet was a sophomore on Notre Dame High School’s junior varsity team this year.
In Babe Ruth All-Star tournament play, a single pitcher is allowed to throw up to seven innings in two consecutive games, so Ewing-Hopewell’s versatile pitching staff will likely give them an edge.
The team’s catcher John DeDufour spent a lot of time behind the plate for Hopewell Valley Central High School’s junior varsity team as a freshman this past season. Pitcher-catcher relationships can be hard to build, so he has spent most of May and June trying to get accustomed to what the Ewing pitchers have to offer.
“I don’t think it’ll be too difficult to catch these guys because it’s nothing I’ve never seen before,” DeDufour said.
As 13 and 14-year-olds, the talent of both the Ewing and Hopewell teams have posed great threats to the other five teams that will be participating in this year’s district tournament, though neither the Ewing-only nor the Hopewell-only squads ever won a tournament.
With the new Ewing-Hopewell roster consisting of the cream of each crop, one can only assume that the talent of this team has become an even greater threat to the competition, and catcher John DeDufour isn’t afraid to warn his competitors of their intentions.
“I think we’re the odds on favorite to win the district tournament,” DeDufour said.
The Ewing-Hopewell 15-year-old all-star team is made up of (front row) Josh DeDufour, Greg Gasparro, Cameron Cane, Jimmy Sparano, Chris DeClerico, Ray Laraya and Jeffrey Bartlett and (back row) coach Dave DeDufour, Eli Paolella, Kieran Zeimet, Chase Fleming, Stephen DeBoskey, manager Joe Sparano, Kevin Crow, Zachary Bregenzer, Jordan Peterson and coach Ed DeBoskey.,
