Pete Cammarata is entering his second season as Head Coach of Centereach baseball. He was previously the assistant for Mike Herrschaft since 2004. In his first season, the Cougars went 9-11 and missed the playoffs by one game. They needed to sweep Copiague to clinch but had to face Franklin Parra in the final game–and held their own–but lost 7-5 with the winning run coming across on an unearned run.
I am a 2009 graduate of Centereach, where we won the League III title in dramatic fashion, needing to sweep both East Islip and Smithtown East to clinch–which we were able to do.
After repeating as League III champs in 2010–thanks to a .375 team average, it’s been eight consecutive postseason-less seasons for the Cougars. They will give it their best shot this season in League III once again with the likes of Hills East, Smithtown West, Smithtown East, Northport, Copiague and Newfield.
I spoke with Coach Cammarata and here’s what he had to say…
So Coach it’s been 10 years since our 2009 season, one that seems like it was just yesterday for me. What do you remember most about that team?
I remember just how much time we put in pre-season. All the winter workouts, everything we did before the season began. You remember all the work we put in, hitting and pitching. I think we were probably four days a week after school , at night 7-9, all prepping for that year. I remember the hard work that we put in.
There was an unusual amount of talent on that team as well. I believe we had eight All-League players and seven went on to play in college as well between myself, Jimmy Milani, Kenny Willms, Nick Luciani, Andrew Abreu, Matt Dixon, Bret DeRosa. I thought that was pretty rare.
You could go down the list with that team. Even the kids that didn’t play in college produced, contributed in some way. But to look at the talent on that team, it’s hard to replicate that–although this year we might be close. We’re looking forward to it.
That brings me to my next point–the more contemporary times. Let’s start with last year–2018, your first year as the Head Coach. There was a lot of talent and you came within one game of your first postseason berth in eight years. Take us back–as painful as that might be–to that last week against Copiague.
First I want to say I tried to go into last season with having the Herrschaft mentality of hard work, doing it right. Top give props to coach Herrschaft, he taught me not only things to do on the field but things to do off the field. Everything we wanted to do, we wanted to do correctly. I want to give him props for instilling that in me. Going into last season, I took everything I learned from Herrsch. I ran a baseball summer camp for 15 years in Williamsport, PA and all the people I’ve ever been around I tried to take their bet philosophies and go into the season with that knowledge. And we worked pretty hard–we were three nights a week, back gym 7-9pm, we did everything correctly to prepare.
You guys had the tough luck of having to go against Franklin Parra, an 11th round pick of the New York Mets in the final game of the season. You held your own, though, from what I understand.
That was a GREAT game, we lost 7-5. We had a great week of practice, we prepared for him. We wanted to make sure that we were going to make him throw as many pitches as possible. We got him out in the fifth inning, we did our job. We practiced one day where all we did was bunt, because we knew that’s what it would’ve taken us to win that game. We were one play away, we lost 7-5, and that’s still in my cap. One game away from the playoffs. We remember, these kids still remember.
I remember from playing, going against guys like Adam Brown or Max Greenough, when you face these hard throwers. Very rarely do kids have to face 90 MPH. How did you try to overcome that fear factor for the hitters?
Parra did a great job of raising his fastball when he had to. He didn’t throw consistently at 90-91 but then when he needed to he juiced it up to 93. But during the week we prepped as best we could. I had two pitching machines out, one set at 90 MPH and another right next to it set at a curveball. I would hold two balls up and they would have to identify which pitch was coming. We practiced bunts at over 90 MPH fastballs–all things to do with the velocity of the pitcher.
Speaking of bunts, people think it’s easy because it’s not a full swing but it’s just as hard you still have to square it up and you can’t get it in the air.
I tell them just make contact and get it on the ground. I don’t care where the bunt is, just get it on the ground. Let the other team make the play. A couple times we put the bunt down and the other team made an error–that’s how we came close.
League IV was really tough last year with West Islip, North Babylon and Newfield. Was it difficult going into a series knowing the other team might have more talent than you?
Going into the Newfield week was REALLY fun, but before I answer that I have to give props to the other coaches. These guys are good. Even when the teams are down, these guys are good. You have to be on your A game every single game.
To go into the Newfield series, our kids were ramped up, their kids were ramped up. They had a great pitching staff, and you know the town rivalry, you don’t want to lose to them. Letting our team see that we could compete with anyone, that was important. First game we lost 1-0, and my starting pitcher went down before the game even started so I went with a reliever. Losing 1-0, it made my team see that we could compete with anyone. That was important, that was important. Even though we got swept, that happens.
Was there any realignment with the league?
Tough league, Northport, Hills East, both Smithtowns, it’s going to be a dogfight. I don’t think we’ve ever faced Northport but I know they’re a good program and there are no ‘gimmes’. We are going into every game knowing we are going to be better than competitive. We are going to the field knowing we can win every game. We just have to produce, that’s it. And the teams that we’re facing, they know they can win every game. So it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a battle.
So let’s pull back the curtain for our audience, who are some impact players you are counting on this year?
I am relying on all the seniors, as a group. We have Ryan Mahnke at third base, Ryan DeCoursey, Robby Maina, Eddie Bassett, Mark Schnitzer. These guys produced last year. However they produced, we are looking for them to even double their numbers. That’s what we’re hoping for. Our seniors really have to have breakout seasons. It’s not just one or two–I’m looking at it as all seniors better produce.
Eddie had a really under-the-radar season last year. It’s hard to stand out when there’s all the talented players in the league but for our audience could you tell us what makes him so effective?
He hides the baseball for a very long time. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. It just kind of appears. He keeps the ball behind him very late. When a hitter sees that, your velocity may not the fastest but if you’re hiding the ball and it kind of appears out of nowhere, you’re going to surprise some hitters. And he’s got a good curveball, good offspeed, but that’s his strength–he hides the ball.
Is it safe to say the strength of the team is the upperclassmen and specifically the pitching?
It is. We are coming in with one of our senior pitchers who didn’t really get to pitch last season, Chris Hammer, we are looking for very big things from him. Looking for big things from Mark Schnitzer and Eddie Bassett. Every one of these kids has their own strengths that we’re going to ride hopefully the whole season.
