by Brian Honka
Final: Smithtown East 14, Centereach 6
WP: Matt WildCentereach will play Smithtown West on Monday. Smithtown East will play the winner of that game on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/G82wE4KnIe
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 21, 2022
Smithtown East enters this year trying to defend their Conference II Championship. They had a terrific 2022 season, defeating rival Smithtown West before losing in the Suffolk County Class AA Finals to a loaded Commack team.
Overall, they went 12-6 in league play before winning four playoff games and finished with an overall record of 16-9.
Coach Rob Christensen, entering his second season with the program, said, “last year’s team had 9 very talented seniors who took the team and turned them into a family.” He added that everyone was selfless as some players had to change positions to help the team.
The team will have to fill the spots of Christian Villacci, Matt Wild, and James Ackerman who were a big part of last year’s team. They will miss the bats of James Ackerman and Chris Goohs as they finished league play last year batting over .450.
B1: Christian Villacci gives Smithtown East a 2-0 lead with a 2-R single to center to score Matt Wild and Luke Ciminiello pic.twitter.com/BRGf7vZaUz
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2022
Villacci, Wild and Ackerman all received All-League honors while Ackerman received All-County.
Coach Christensen said the team will be looking forward to seeing the contributions returning junior catcher Luke Ciminiello will bring to the team. Ciminiello had a great season last year and comes from a baseball family – his older brother, Mike, pitches at Seton Hall, and his father won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 1992 and won the NYS Championship in 1990 for Smithtown.
The bond and the communication between the guys on the team are the team’s biggest strengths going into the season. The team has all the motivation and determination they need to have another successful year.
The team is using last year’s opportunity to play for a county championship as motivation and hunger but they understand that they can’t take anything for granted as their league has changed and the competition has increased.
The team will look up to and count on Cole Conte (Hobart), Luke Ciminiello, Dominick Weidtman, and Ben Kennedy as they all have different attributes that they bring to the table and are emerging as team leaders.
Mid 1: Ben Kennedy freezes Adam Ginsberg with a slow hook to strand two runners in the first. East coming to bat pic.twitter.com/1BCUYFzfJd
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 25, 2022
Kennedy (’24) and Weidtman (’23) are expected to anchor the rotation for Smithtown East. Kennedy was 6-1 on the season – he came up big with 2 playoff wins and his only loss came against Newfield. His older brother, Will, played for the program as well and is playing at Hofstra University.
Smithtown East will open its season on the road as they take on Newfield on March 27th.
