By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
The goal for this year’s Cranbury-Plainsboro 12-year-old All-Star team is simple when it comes to the District 12 tournament.
”My first goal, obviously, is to get out of pool play and I think we have a very good chance of doing that,” said manager Dave Benerofe. “We feel confident about it. I’ve known these kids a long time, it’s a good group of kids, a whole bunch of good athletes who are very competent in a lot of aspects of the game.”
The 12-player roster features Cranbury residents Matthew Wong, Patrick McCormick, Dalton Sekelsky and Chris Maselli, and Plainsboro residents Neelesh “Sonny” Satpute, Scott Benerofe, Alex Chen, Matt Apuzzi, Caroline Brooks, Jay Mastrangelo, Mike Morabito and Jack O’Connell.
The dugout coach is Pat McCormick, while Ed Apuzzi, Ed Sekelsky and Paul Maselli are all helping at practices.
C-P’s pitching staff includes Satpute, Benerofe, Wong, Apuzzi, Sekelsky, Maselli and Morabito. The infielders are Satpute, Chen, McCormick, Apuzzi, Sekelsky, Maselli and Morabito and the outfielders are Benerofe, Wong, Brooks, Mastrangelo and O’Connell.
Three of the players — Benerofe, Morabito and Satpute — played on last year’s 12’s and should provide leadership.
”The experience of those guys will certainly help,” Benerofe said. “I look for them to be leaders of the team and share their experience as well.”
C-P opens Tuesday at 6/11 against Millstone-Roosevelt. That’s followed by Wednesday’s game at Sunnybrae vs. North Trenton, Friday’s home game vs. 6-11 and Saturday’s game at North Trenton vs. Bordentown.
Also in the six-team pool is Robbinsville. Three teams advance from pool play.
”Our pitching looks steady,” Benerofe said. “The team has a fantastic attitude, which to me is a large component. With that attitude, there’s a ripple effect and there are other positive outcomes because of it.”
Offensively, the manager says C-P is built on manufacturing runs.
”Without question, our strength is speed,” he said. “Our lineup has singles, doubles and triples written all over the place. We are going to utilize the speed and the very good contact hitting we have as much as possible.”