7 Up—The players are stepping up and starting young as age group baseball dips into local fountain of youth
August 14, 2024 at 11:35 p.m.
The accent is on youth as perhaps never before when it comes to age-group baseball in Port Chester and Rye Brook where starting them young takes on a whole new meaning.
How young is young and what does accent on youth mean in local baseball circles?
The Rye Brook Rookie Rebels Yellow team. From left: Austin Hillman, Chase Cipolla, Jules Francis, Mat Soh, Devon Cipolla, Abby Jakowsky, Aarav Bajaj, Casey Wallace, August Tepper, Kyle Rogovic and Niqo Zhang. Coaches, from left: Jon Hillman, Chris Cipolla and Cameron Wallace.Courtesy of Doug Florin
How about four Rye Brook Rebels teams ages 7 and younger playing games against each other all week long on the Pine Ridge Park New and Old Fields resulting in playoffs, a championship and consolation game come the weekend?
Or how about a Port Chester Youth Baseball League Kiddy Pirates team full of six- and seven-year-olds playing up against older 8U division opponents to get their first taste of real baseball competition?
Youth on the diamonds
Well, how about that, because that's exactly what is happening.
And that renewed emphasis on sipping from the fountain of baseball youth has a trickledown effect that comes from falling up.
It means that the caliber of play will keep getting better all the way up to the varsity level when the players start advancing in baseball age and wisdom by starting competitive play younger than ever.
Coming of age
In Rye Brook, for example, they point out that Andrew Rogovic and Zach Schneider started playing together as young Rebels aged 6 or 7 in the Rye Brook Rebels Baseball League and both contributed to the Blind Brook varsity becoming league champions. Not to mention the fact that Rogovic has graduated and will attend Northeastern University on a full athletic baseball scholarship, throws 90-plus miles per hour heat that is attracting Major League Baseball scouts and was so good he made the All-Section team and was named Pitcher of the Year. And Schneider made the All-League team, earned All-Section Honorable Mention and will be attending Emory University as a scholar-athlete.
In Port Chester, they will tell you that college athletic and academic scholarship players like Mike DeCrescenzo, Josh Virella and John Tomassetti cut their teeth playing in the PCYBL at an early age.
The Rye Brook Rookie Rebels Navy and Green teams gather for a group shot. The Navy team consists of Charlie Karasik, Cameron Zigler, Lawrence Settanni, Yurun Wu, Hudson Bailey, Tristan Park, Vince Casubolo, Charlie Liebenstein, Theo Seligman, Dylan Sosa, Peter Tamburrino and Logan Ritter. Coaches are David Zigler, Gabrielle Kachman and Mark Kariski. The Green team is made up of, back row, from left: George Wood, Charlie Wood (no relation), Ben Sheer, Pete Gisondi III. Middle row, from left: Maddox Emmot, Wilder Emmot, Shane Berkowitz, Michlyn Pascuma, Julie Pascuma. Front row, from left: Spencer Sheer, Sam Sussman, Troy Cirillo, Evan Harmon, Pete Gisondi IV, Jack Bell.Courtesy of Doug Florin
Colorful baseball display
But rarely, if ever, has the area seen anything like the way the game is being played now starting with 7 and under teams.
In the Rye Brook activity, for instance, the stepped up play includes Gray, Navy, Green and Yellow teams (the colors designating the color of the jerseys the teams wear) competing against one another in games leading up to semi-finals Thursday (8/15 at 5:30 p.m. after press time) at both the Pine Ridge Park New and Old Fields and free ice cream handed out to any child wearing Rebels gear.
That will lead up to the championship and consolation games Saturday (8/17) at 10 a.m. at the Pine Ridge Old and New Fields.
As for the PCYBL Baby Pirates, they have racked up a 3-8-1 record playing up against 8U teams in the Greater Hudson Valley Baseball League, getting better with the competition and building on the foundation created through the popular Rookie Pirate program, a notch up from starting out in T-Ball (5 and under).
Following in footsteps
And what makes it even more fascinating is to see the younger siblings following in the footsteps of their kin—Kyle Rogovic on the Rebels Yellow team, for example, and Andrew Magliacca and Logan Brown developing into potential future PCYBL stars like their big bros.
The Port Chester Youth Baseball League 7U Pirates. Front row, from left: Anderson Goyburu, Chase Krzeminski, Logan Brown, Dylan Brigante, Santiago Bautista, Andrew Ianello. Back row, from left: Luke Renaldo, Andrew Magliacca, Nico Ferraro, Kamari Di Bella, Evan Longo, Kevin Nalepka, Kai Fotia.Courtesy of Jeremy Brown
There's a lot of good baseball being played locally from a young age. And you should look for yourself at the latest goings-on stretching from Lyon Park to Pine Ridge Park. And you have to give a lot of credit to the coaches involved in spending lots of time bringing that talent along: guys like PCYBL president Bob Vyskocil and RBRBL prexy Doug Florin and mentors on the sidelines like Port Chester's Frank Nunziato, Jeremy Brown, Steve Rytelewski, Dom Quinn, Jim Doherty, Fabio Garcia, Dan Greco, Dan DeBari and Rob Brenzel and Rye Brook's Dave Hyman, Dan Grumm, David Zigler, Gabe Kachman, Mark Karasik, Jon Hillman, Chris Cipolla and Cameron Wallace.
As for the players involved, a picture is worth 1,000 words, so look at the photos illustrating this 7U Pirates and Rebels story for a glimpse of the Port Chester Rams and Blind Brook Trojans of the future.
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