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 (see related story) and Kyle Cleffi.
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."
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.
