20U Pirates lose to Cardinals in playoff opener but emerge grateful for how far they have come

August 9, 2023 at 10:07 p.m.

RJ Thalheimer was player/manager AJ Marini’s right hand man in organizing the 20U Pirates made up largely of former Port Chester High School varsity baseball Rams who are now in college or working. He was also the team’s best hitter. (Courtesy photo of Nina Marini)

The season started off well even though it didn't end well. Because the local aging boys of summer have learned the hard way that it doesn't really matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Especially if you get to keep on playing the game you love another summer no matter what happens.

Which is to say the Port Chester 20U age group Pirates lost 12-2 to the East Coast Cardinals in the one and done opening game of the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League playoffs on Saturday, July 29 at Rec Park.

But win or lose, it was nonetheless a good deal for the Port Chester players, a team comprised of mostly ex-Port Chester Rams varsity baseball players who had aged out of the Port Chester Youth Baseball League (PCYBL) yet wanted to continue playing ball while off from college or in the workforce.

The aging ex-Rams

They are the aging ex-Rams who refuse to fade away. They want to continue playing the game they love.

And the PCYBL Pirates gives them that chance even as they work their way through irregular work and college schedules that allow them little time to practice.

But they still managed to win seven games, their most ever in this their third season, and went into the playoffs as the fourth seed.

So it was too bad the playoff game couldn't have ended after the first inning. Or the third. Because after that, the Cards shuffled the deck and everything went their way.

Things started well, however, for the local nine.

The promising start

Player/manager AJ Marini (Mitchell College) started the game with a base hit. Corey Heckel (Villanova) followed with a bunt single that moved Marini to third base. And Matt Marini (SUNY Cortland) hit a sacrifice fly for the RBI that scored his big bro.

Pitching aces Jack Mutino (Utica) gave the Pirates three solid innings and Ishmael (Ish) Jimenez (CCNY) closed strong after that, but they were essentially undermined by errors and silent bats and the Cardinals capitalized on the mistakes and ran away with the game.

"We just didn't have it on this day, we were off in every aspect of the game," AJ Marini said afterwards. "But even though the loss was disappointing, it turned out to be our best overall league performance yet in our three years of experience. Because we won our most games ever under trying circumstances and managed to go into the playoffs as the fourth seed."

Trying circumstances

And AJ knows what he is talking about when it comes to trying circumstances.

Because as player/manager, he played through a concussion and a shoulder injury that required surgery and made it difficult to throw while also juggling a day job as well as the administrative workload that goes into running a team, from recruiting to scheduling to travel team arrangements. Even and especially being there for his parents when they were both hospitalized with COVID.

So it hasn't been easy. From the get-go.

Because it was AJ's idea to start the team in 2021 in what he called "a last-minute idea, really."

He had transferred from Salem University in Kentucky, where he was attending college on a baseball scholarship, to Mitchell College in New London, Conn., so he could play ball closer to home. And he was talking to some of his ex-Ram buddies about their mutual desire to continue playing organized fast-paced summer travel team ball after work hours now that they were home from school. But they had aged out of the PCYBL. And there was no local team for them to play on. That's when he came up with the idea to start their own team, a team that would pay homage to the seafaring history of Port Chester, the village they loved.

How to begin?

But the question was how do you start a team from scratch and get them into a league like the GHVBL.

Marini didn't have a clue. But he had some ideas. And he knew where to turn.

So he reached out to Joe Durney, the former Port Chester athletic director when AJ was an All-League Ram shortstop, and Bob Vyskocil, the longtime president of the PCYBL. And both helped him navigate the bureaucratic maze. Durney was especially helpful in getting the fledgling team a home field to play on. And Vyskocil was instrumental in enabling them to play under the auspices of the PCYBL, including insurance coverage.

They played their first season as the Sawpit Cardinals, a tribute to Port Chester's seafaring past. But at season's end, they decided that it didn't make sense to continue playing under the Sawpit Cards name because most of the players had learned to play the game as age group PCYBL Pirates. So once again they decided to play as the PCYBL Pirates, albeit on a 20U level, the first local team to extend the age group level beyond the low teens.

Beyond name change

And win or lose, it has worked out. Even though, ironically, their recent playoff loss came to a team named the Cardinals.

"The main thing is that we played meaningful baseball," AJ said. "And we will continue to play meaningful baseball. I have to give a huge thank you to RJ Thalheimer (William and Mary) for being a right hand man in this process (not to mention that RJ was probably the team's MVP as their best hitter as well as the clutch slugger who won the team's most exciting game, a recent win over Harrison with a walk-off base hit in the last inning, a game where he went two for three with an RBI)."

He also thanked the team's sponsors and included a "huge shout out" to Bob Vyskocil and the PCYBL "for all their help from the very beginning" and "for all the young men who have played for this team over the years." That number includes unsung players like Gavin LaDore, Lucas Sileo, Sebastian Alvarez, and Will (Willy Mac) MacAllister as well as former ex-Ram All-Stars like the Heckel brothers (Tyler and Corey, the latter attending the New Jersey Institute of Technology), Nick Dorazio (Russell Sage), Nick Miranda and Leon Marrano (both Manhattanville), James Moore (Ole Miss) and, most recently, class of 2023 Ram graduates Mike (Mikey D) DeCrescenzo (SUNY Plattsburgh) and Nic Lovallo (Miami walk-on), the latter who stepped up to play centerfield at the last minute when the Pirates needed an urgent fill-in.

"As we look ahead into year four, I am nothing but grateful for what we've accomplished and all we have done," AJ said. "The last-minute idea in 2021 has turned into something really special. And we can't wait until next year to see what the future holds."