Senior helps MHS baseball advance
By: Bob Nuse
Gary Stefanski was hoping to be a bigger contributor to the Montgomery High baseball team during his senior season.
If that meant learning a new position as a junior, well, that’s what Stefanski was going to do.
Now a senior, Stefanski has taken over as the starting catcher for the Cougars. After spending his first three years in the program as a third baseman and a pitcher, Stefanski took on some catching duties during his junior year, and now has proven a capable replacement for three-year starter Nick Umar.
On Monday, Stefanski had a pair of hits, including his first home run of the season as the Cougars topped New Brunswick, 13-7, in the opening round of the North Jersey, Section 2 Group III tournament. Montgomery, the sixth seed and defending sectional champion, advanced to face third-seeded Mendham today at 4 p.m. in the sectional quarterfinals.
In other state tournament action on Monday, West Windsor-Plainsboro North won its Central Jersey Group III opener, 16-5, at Northern Burlington. Dan Margiotti tossed four scoreless innings to get the win. Zache Weale had three hits and drove in seven runs for the Knights, who improved to 15-8 on the season.
WW-P South dropped its CJ IV opener at Freehold Township, 7-1. Jeff Quinton had one of the Pirates’ two hits and drove in the only run of the game. South slipped to 10-14 with the loss.
For Stefanski, just being able to contribute to the team’s success is the most important thing. And if that meant learning a new position, he was ready to do just that.
"Last year, one of our backup catchers got injured, so I said I would step in and do it if they needed me," said Stefanski, who is batting .373 this season with 19 hits in 51 at bats. "I caught some in Little League and travel, but mostly just to fill in. I really like playing catcher because you’re in the game on every pitch. At third base, I would get three or four balls a game hit to me.
"I just wanted to do whatever was best for the team. Last summer I was still raw at the position. But over the winter I did a lot of work and went to private lessons, so I felt like I was ready for the season."
The fact that Stefanski was willing to make a position change at this stage of his high school career spoke volumes about the kind of player he is. And that was not lost on head coach Peter Mueller.
"He came in this year with big shoes to fill after Nick (Umar) graduated," said Mueller, whose team improved to 14-6 with an 8-7 win over Hunterdon Central on Tuesday. "And before Nick we had (Andrew) Baldino and (Justin) Kurvilla. So this was the first year in a while that we came into the season with a question mark at the catcher position. Gary came in and really answered that question for us. This is his first full season as a catcher and he’s done a great job for us."
He’s helped the Cougars get into position to make another run at a sectional title. Ironically, they opened the tournament last year with a win over New Brunswick, then went to Mendham and posted a huge, 17-1, win.
"When the brackets came out, we saw right away that it was similar to last year with New Brunswick first," Stefanski said. "And now we get Mendham in the second game again. It won’t be the same kind of game this year as it was last year. We’re a different team and they’re a different team. We can’t expect 17-1 again like last year."
In the win over New Brunswick, the Cougars trailed, 4-3, before erupting for four runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth. Dale Hering and Matt Pizzolato drove in three runs apiece, while Hering, Pizzolato, Stefanski and James Boyer each had two hits.
While the Cougars are the defending sectional champions, they have a much different team. There are several new starters, including Stefanski.
"He was a third baseman and a pitcher for us and in the middle of the season we approached him about learning to be a catcher," Mueller said. "He was open to it and he had a great attitude. He’s done a fabulous job. He was very limited last year with his playing time. But he saw an opportunity and he took advantage of it.
"He’s the kind of kid that loves baseball and I think he saw that we had a need at catcher. He worked hard, listened to our catching coach (Doug Ruhlman), and really learned the position. He’s thrown out 10 runners this year. He’s done a great job defensively and he hit his first home run in the game on Monday."
Stefanski has provided the Cougars with offense and defense, helping to carry on the tradition of strong players behind the plate.
"I knew I needed to step up more than in the past, especially defensively," Stefanski said. "I knew it was a position that has been strong in the past, especially with Nick, so there were big shoes to fill. I just tried to think about how I could help the team."
He’s helped the Cougars get back on track at the right time. They’ve bounced back from an opening game loss in the Somerset County Tournament to put themselves in the same position they were a year ago in the state tournament.
"After that loss in the county tournament, we went into a little rut and lost four in a row," he said. "It seemed like maybe we were just waiting for the state tournament to start. Now it’s here and we’re playing pretty well right now."

