by Vinny Messana
They weathered the storm of fierce competition on the field and they overcame the trauma of losing two beloved members of their community off the field.
It takes a lot to wow a Head Coach who has won 582 games over 31 years, but that’s exactly what the Connetquot Thunderbirds did by winning their fourth Long Island Championship last season.
“It was a tough situation for everyone,” said Bob Ambrosini. “It’s something that never really happens in life–maybe once,” he said in regards to having to deal with the loss of teammate’s family members. “The kids really rallied around each other,” he added.
In regards to John Hengge pitching in the Suffolk County Championship he said, “Credit to him and his family. Without him, we wouldn’t have been where we were,” he added.
They finished the season at 24-5 after eventually losing in the New York State Class AA semifinals to Player of the Year Kumar Nambiar and Mamaroneck HS.
All told, it was a highly successful season for Connetquot. There were several individuals who had standout seasons–notably Travis Bruinsma, who recorded a program record and Long Island leading 13 wins against two losses.
“Not many kids can take the ball on two-days rest and do what he did,” referring to his complete game against Ward Melville in the Suffolk County championship.
Aaron Gagliano won the Silver Slugger Award for Suffolk County after hitting .565 with 34 RBI and scored 31 runs. He is playing at the University of Albany.
Several others, including Dave Brehm, Brandon Morse and Marc Wangenstein experienced success on the field.
Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned players–with the exception of Wangenstein–have graduated and will not be around to protect the throne.
“It’s going to be tough to replace the seniors from last year,” said Ambrosini.
With Brehm, Gagliano and Wangenstein, he noted it was “probably the best outfield we’ve ever had.”
They will be counting on a pitching staff of Tom Monti, Tommy Johnson and Chris Ryan to lead the way.
Monti, who threw 4.2 innings in the LIC, is the lone pitcher of the group with substantive experience at this level. The others will be looking to translate their success at the JV level and in summer ball to the grand stage.
Ambrosini noted that the league is as balanced as ever, especially after losing one of the strong teams in Sachem East. They added Bay Shore and Northport to League II, both up-and-coming programs.
It will be tough to top 2015 in terms of success, but with the program that Ambrosini has built up, you can count on them being right in the mix in 2016 yet again.
