By: Rich Fisher
Three weeks ago, Tony Cosumano couldn’t wait for the season to end.
Now, he’s sad to see it go.
That’s what happens when a team wins seven straight games. But it wasn’t quite enough to get South Brunswick Post 401 over the hump into the Middlesex County playoffs, as a slow start doomed the locals to a third-place finish in the National Division.
"We under-achieved during the season and we played well the last week," said Cosumano, whose squad won seven straight before losing to Edison and Milltown on Sunday and Monday. "At the beginning, I couldn’t wait for the season to end. Now we’re playing so well, I wish it could go longer."
Cosumano noted that Post 401 (12-8-1) is 11-0-1 against teams with worse records than its own, but 1-7 against opponent’s with better records. South Brunswick ended the season Wednesday night against Old Bridge, hoping to spoil OB’s chances of winning the National Division.
"It’s just disappointing because we could have been so good," said the coach, whose teams have had winning records in 26 of the 27 seasons he has coached. "We proved we did have a good team by winning seven in a row, it just hurts to have played so bad early in the year.
"I think part of playing bad early was carryover from Monroe High School going 2-16 and South Brunswick High not having the kind of year they thought they were going to have. There was a little lull until they all got together and saw what they could do when they were combined."
Two of the late bloomers were Mike Spiga and Kyle Cleffi.
After going 2-for-2 in a loss to Milltown Tuesday, Spiga was hitting .353. He was also one of the team’s hottest pitchers down the stretch, going 3-0 with a 0.99 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 14Ò innings.
"Spiga just needed to play a little after not playing in college," Cosumano said. "He’s a good athlete. He was a good high school player at Monroe and last year at Carteret he was a productive player. We knew we would get better the more he played."
Cleffi carried a .483 average into Wednesday’s game and his power numbers were impressive. He had six doubles, four triples and four home runs, which came in four consecutive games last week. His slugging percentage was .946, as 14 of his 27 hits were for extra bases.
"He was trying to pull the ball too much early in the season," Cosumano said. "His power is to right center and he has a tendency to go after pitches a little up and out of the strike zone. We basically got him to cut down on his swing a little bit and he started using the whole field."
Joe Clemente and Bryan Sock continued to be the team’s top hitters from beginning to end. Clemente was at .517 entering the Milltown game while Sock was hitting .441. Nick Clemente was at .389 prior to the Milltown game, while Chris Felix, Dane Marini and Pat Keenan were all at .333.
"I know what it takes to win, and I knew that with the caliber of players we had on this team we could win," Cosumano said. "But the dedication and attitude at the beginning of the year was about 50 percent. It got up to about 80 percent at the end and you saw what happened."
Good things happened. They just happened a little too late.
POST-MORTEM: Cosumano thanked assistant coaches Chris Felix and Monty Forthun for their help during the season . . . Sock, who struggled on the mound early in the summer, started against Old Bridge Wednesday. He carried a 2-3 record and 2.68 ERA into the game, having pitched well over the second half of the campaign.
