A 13-13 season brought some satisfaction and promise for Coach Mike Lepore’s South River High School baseball team.
"I have some quality players coming back and some freshmen and sophomores who are stepping up," Lepore said. "As I said late in the year, I didn’t want the season to end. The kids did a great job."
Two Rams played in the this week’s Greater Middlesex Confer-ence senior all-star game, first baseman Dave Cox (who batted a team-high .435 with 35 hits, five doubles, two triples and a homer) and catcher Michael Shearn (.338, 10 doubles, three homers and 25 runs batted in).
"He also threw out 12 base runners and had 73 hits for his career," the Coach noted.
Another senior, Todd Singer, went 4-1 to finish his career at 7-1.
One of the team’s bulwarks was sophomore leadoff man and outfielder Mike Feaster, who had a .420 average, scored 29 runs and stole 19 bases while striking out only four times.
"Sophomore Steven Zdep gave me great defense at shortstop," said Lepore. "He’s a great kid and he’ll be here two more years."
Junior third sacker Matt DeSantis batted a solid .359 with 28 hits, three home runs and 23 RBI.
In the outfield, sophomore Greg Mongelli posted an impressive .343 mark at the plate and Michael Johnson chipped in with a .293 average in his junior year.
Another junior, first baseman-shortstop Kyle Ronan, had 28 hits for a .322 average. Rounding out the frontliners, pitcher Pat Pisano was 3-5 with a 3.62 earned run average.
"I have some kids playing American Legion ball with the Milltown team this summer," Lepore said. "I think it’s true of all of the kids in this county that they have to learn the game more. The skills are there, but they need to play."
Assisting Lepore this spring were volunteer Mike DeSantis, who Lepore said was very valuable in helping with the varsity, junior varsity coach Carl Buffalino, middle school coach Jim Mackiewicz and batboy Chippy Perkin.