| Issue #50, March 23, 2007 |
Here Comes The North Fork Ball Players
North Fork Baseball Beginning To Heat Up
By Phyllis Lombardi
I take it back. Recently I wrote that North Forkers don’t use four-letter words. That our vocabulary was above reproach. In our conversation, we were the model of decorum.
Now I ask your forgiveness. As I travel the North Fork these spring days, I hear a couple of four-letter words over and over again. Mostly uttered by young people gathered in groups of 20 or so. But every now and then an adult repeats the very same words. And no objections ever seem to be raised.
How has this happened? A little detective work led me to Southold High School and what’s going on there. Sundays, Mondays, always, it seems. But especially on Sunday nights.
Now Southold High School is set right down in the middle of a pleasant residential area, just a half street away from Main Road where a police officer often directs traffic and where several churches look to the skies. Yet those four-letter words are shouted out week after week. Guess the neighbors see no harm in what they hear. The four-letter words are PLAY BALL.
Those words begin the 5-8 p.m. Sunday sessions of the independent traveling/tournament team, the “All League Hitmen.” These Hitmen are young people ages 10-18, who meet in the school’s gym for baseball, baseball, baseball. They come from Riverhead, Mattituck, Southold – all over the North Fork and beyond. Their coach/manager is Brian Hansen and the kids love him about as much as they love our national game. Easy to understand why.
The Hitmen traveling team has been around for some time (although the name is new this very season). Winter and spring indoor practice gives some idea of the players’ dedication. Come 5 p.m., the boys (no girls this year – who knows why?) start running laps around the gym. That’s followed by warm-up tosses and the let the games begin. Well, not really a game but batting, pitching, and fielding techniques and practice.
Brian, a certified baseball coach, attends a coaching convention in Connecticut each year. And listen to this. He’d just returned from Port St. Lucie, Florida, where he spent a week at the Mets spring training camp. Talk about Meet the Mets! Brian caught up with Willie Randolph in Camille’s Deli. Camille’s is like Riverhead’s Panera Bread, said Brian. No, Brian did not notice what kind of sandwich Willie ordered. That disappointed me. But he did talk with Omar Minoya. Omar wasn’t eating.
Back to the gym where I talked with Noreen Stepnoski of Southold. She’s a baseball mom (is that like a soccer mom?) whose three sons, Pat, Matt and Connor, are Hitmen. That sounds pretty scary to me. Anyway, Noreen is an essential part of the group. She recruits, registers, arranges travel. In the past, the team has played in Connecticut, Florida and Colorado. Where do they play their home games? Jean Cochran Park on Peconic Lane in Peconic. When do they play? In July and August – 16 games.
And what kind of a game do they play? Pretty darned good, I’d say. Listen to the whack of bats as the helmeted boys connect with the pitches thrown in by Brian (a righty).
There was some fancy footwork, too. In one instance, Southold’s Robbie Clausen, 15, was instructing his brother Kyle, 12. The Robbie-maneuvers might teach Derek Jeter a thing or two.
Are the boys long-ball hitters? Well, some are. Dimitri Rauseo of Mattituck, for example. But Brian’s not pushing them for home runs. I liken Brian’s approach to Joe Torre’s well publicized small ball. Matter of fact, Brian spends considerable time teaching the young athletes the beauty of a bunt. Coach says his favorite play is the suicide squeeze. You have to see it.
After three hours of a workout like this, you’d think Brian and the boys would be exhausted. Not so. The boys finish off the session with a half hour of shooting baskets and then all agree they’re hungry, starved. Pizza is the only answer. As for Brian? Well, for an old guy with three baseball-playing sons of his own, he’s in pretty good shape. Maybe that’s because he still plays ball, too – for Riverhead’s Digger O’Dell’s.
Brian and the young Hitmen welcome new members. Right now they’re looking to add some catching depth. So if you know a Campy, a Yogi, a Tim – or any youngster who loves and wants to play baseball, any position, Brian’s phone number is 765-4709. Or call Noreen at 765-6997.
As I drove home on our quiet roads that Sunday night, I thought of the baseball I’d just seen. Only thing missing were peanuts and crackerjacks. And I knew for sure a longer drive to Cooperstown wasn’t really necessary if I wanted to pay homage to dedication on the mound, at the plate, in the field. I could do that right here on the North Fork.
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