Friday January 23rd about 100 Major League players, ages 9-12, parents and coaches filled the conference room of the Nazarro for the 2014 baseball awards ceremony. The night featured trophies, medals, Regina pizza and wild applause as the players from the 2014 season took their bows. The night started with league coordinator John Romano welcoming everyone and introducing commissioner Ralph Martignetti to the stage. The commish spoke about how proud he was of the league, the players and the parents and thanked everyone for working so hard to make the league so successful. Once commissioner Ralph was done he invited up the head coach of the Cardinals Dennis LaColla and the ceremony was underway.
Coach Dennis added his assistants, Coach Vincent Sablone and Coach John D’Amico and they began to call their players up one-by-one to receive their trophies. St Agrippina Cardinal’s trophies were awarded to: Joe Everett, Paige Fitzgerald, Luca Orlandi, Jesse Sablone, Steven Griffin, Nico LaColla, Dan Scibelli, Marilyn Fitzgerald, Francesca Rubino, Rocco Zagarella, Serina D’Amico, John D’Amico and Francesco Santaniello. The Uncle Fred Carangelo award winner for the Cardinal who best exemplifies sportsmanship, respect, effort, being a great teammate and honoring the game went to Nico LaColla.
Next up Coach Luigi Natale called up his Tomasone Tigers for their awards. Receiving trophies for the Tigers were: Carlo Crocini, Amanda Forziati, Greg Marenghi, Carmine Spagnuola, Christopher Spagnuola, Dan Toscano, Ryan Maziarka, Valentina D’Ampolo, Nicholas Seaver, Fortunato D’Ampolo, Richard Pagliuca, RJ Garfield and Antonio Waife. The Uncle Fred Carangelo award winner for the Tiger who best exemplifies sportsmanship, respect, effort, being a great teammate and honoring the game went to Ryan Maziarka.
Next up Mike Szulc and Bill Woods presented the NEAD Indians awards. Receiving trophies for the Indians were: Sonny Blazo, Sam Griffin, Vinnie O’Byrne, Alphie Detemple, Jackie Gallarelli, Charlie Griffin, Alessia Pantaleo, Liam Riley, Victoria Taieb, Dominic Orlando, Calvin Szulc, Brianna Woods and Isabella Vilar. The Uncle Fred Carangelo award winner for the Indian who best exemplifies sportsmanship, respect, effort, being a great teammate and honoring the game went to Charlie Griffin.
The team awards concluded when the North End Champion Regional Review Cubs, led by head coach Dan Shea and his assistant Joe Bova gave out their awards. Receiving trophies for the Cubs were: Richard Bova, Niklas McHugh, Nicholas DiMambro, Jackson LeBlanc, William White, Michael Anderson, John Paul Giorgio, Peter Shea, John Paul Anderson, Joseph Bova, Mattea Del Peschio and Francis Shea. The Uncle Fred Carangelo award winner for the Cub who best exemplifies sportsmanship, respect, effort, being a great teammate and honoring the game went to Michael Anderson.
After the individual teams were recognized there were more team awards given to the participant in the NEAA All-Star Game, The Inner-City League and the Mayors Cup. These players got awarded medals. The Inner-City team was a team of 12u players and they made it all the way to the championship before losing. The Mayors Cup team was a 10u team that made it to the final 4 teams in the tournament before being eliminated.
The Awards Ceremony wrapped up with Commissioner Ralph giving out the 6 major individual awards. Recognized with some beautiful trophies for their accomplishments during the 2014 season were: League MVP Fortunato D’Ampolo, Pitcher of the Year Francesca Rubino, Sportsman of the Year Charlie Griffin, Rookie of the Year Richard Bova, Playoff MVP Joseph Bova and Coach of the Year Dennis LaColla.
The Commish thanked everyone for attending and reminded all that sign-ups for the 2015 season have begun. He asked that they go to NEAABaseball.org to sign up as soon as possible. The crowd applauded and the ceremony was over.
