Denville Post 390 Sophomore (15U) Baseball - 2010
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     Players: Tanner Ackerman, Rocco Aliotta, Zachary Blume, Thomas Bright, Chris Brindle, Thomas Boehm, Alex Bubak, Mike Carmiche, Andrew Chegwidden, Joey DeRose, John-Lucas Duffy, Connor Grady, Sean Green, Jonathan Hyer, Joe Kaufmann, John O'Dell, Ryan Tiefenbacher, Anthony Trillo.
      Head Coach: John O'Dell. Assistant Coaches: Chris Brindle, Joe Aquino and Mike Carmiche.
      Schedule: June 4, at Randolph, 6 p.m.; 6, x-Sparta, 1 p.m.; 7, at Flor-Mad, 6 p.m.; 10, x-Mendham, 6 p.m.; 11, at Mount Morris, 6 p.m.; 13, x-Roxbury, 1 p.m.; 16, x-Randolph, 6 p.m.; 18, at Sparta, 6 p.m.; 20. x-Flor-Mad, 1 p.m; 21, at Mendham, 6 p.m.; 34, x-Mount Morris, 6 p.m.; 25, at Roxbury, 7 p.m.; 26, x-Roselle, 10 a.m.; 28, at Randolph, 6 p.m.; 30, x-Sparta, 6 p.m.; July 5, at Flor-Mad, 6 p.m.; 7, x-Mendham, 6 p.m.; 9, at Mount Morris, 6 p.m.; 11, x-Roxbury, 1 p.m.

x-home games played at Veterans Memorial Field off Zeek Road in Denville.

Hyer, Grady HRs; Cheg's 5-hitter

help U15 team beat Flor-Mad, 16-5
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       DENVILLE - Andrew Chegwidden scattered five hits and Jon Hyer and Connor Grady each hit two-run homers to pace a 14-hit attack when the Denville American Legion Post 390 sophomore team defeated Flor-Mad, 16-5, in a five-inning Morris-Sussex American Legion Sophomore Baseball League played at Madison High School on Monday, June 7.
       Chegwidden (1-0) allowed five runs (three earned), struck out four and walked one in his five innings of work in the game cut short by the league's 10-run mercy rule.
       Hyer hit his home run with Tommy Bright on base in Denville's two-run second inning and Grady homered in Denville's two-run third inning.
       Denville opened the game with a four-run first-inning flurry with Sean Green's run-scoring triple that drove in Zack Blume the big hit of the inning.
       Denville put the game out of reach with a six-run outburst in the top of the fourth. The big hits of the inning included Anthony Trillo's RBI double; Alex Bubak's two-run single; and RBI singles by Ryan Tiefenbacher and John Lucas-Duffy.
      Denville added two more runs in the top of the fifth and final inning when Mike Carmiche singled and scored on a triple by Chris Brindle and Brindle scored on Tanner Ackerman's RBI groundout.
      Hyer finished 2-for-2 with a homer, double and two RBIs; Grady was 1-for-3 with a homer; Blume was 2-for-3 with an RBI; Green was 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI; Trillo was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs; Bubak was 2-for-3 with two RBIs; and Duffy was 1-for-3 with two RBI.
      Denville, which improved to 2-1 with the win, is back in action on Thursday, June 10, with a 6 p.m. home game against Mendham at Veterans Memorial Stadium off Zeek Road.

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Denville bounces back with 7-5 win over Sparta

      DENVILLE - The first-year Denville American Legion sophomore baseball team came back from its opening-day no-hit loss of the previous day by scoring six first-inning runs to beat Sparta, 7-5, in a Morris-Sussex American Legion Sophomore Baseball League game played at Veterans Memorial Field off Zeek Road here on Sunday, June 6.
     Zack Blume got Denville's first-inning outburst started when he reached second on an outfield error and scored on Sean Green's single. Anthony Trillo followed with a two-run homer over the fence in left field for a 3-0 Denville lead.
      Tommy Boehm singled, stole second and came home on a double by Alex Bubak and, after John Lucas-Duffy sacrificed Bubak to third, Bubak scored when Connor Grady bounced out to second to make it 5-0.
      Denville's final run of the inning was scored by Joe Kaufmann, who was hit by a pitch, stole second and came around to score when Ryan Tiefenbacher followed with a single.
      Denville (1-1) scored its seventh and final run in the third inning on back-to-back doubles by Boehm and Duffy.
     Duffy (1-0) started the game for Denville and worked 5.2 inning with four strikeouts while walking four. He was relieved by Joey DeRose in the top of the sixth when Sparta rallied for three runs to pull to within two runs at 7-5. DeRose got out of that inning with a strikeout and then struck out two more in a scoreless seventh to pick up the save.
     Denville is back in action on Monday, June 7, when it travels to Madison for a 6 p.m. game against Flor-Mad.

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Denville sophs no-hit by Randolph in opener

      DENVILLE - The Denville Post 390 American Legion sophomore baseball team played its first game in program history on Friday, June 4, and became a no-hit victim in a 14-1 loss to Randolph in a five-inning game played at Randolph.
     Randolph took advantage of 11 hits, three walks and five Denville errors and had seven-run first and third innings.
     Denville scored its only run of the game in the fifth inning when John-Lucas Duffy drew a one-out walk, took second when an attempted pickoff was mishandled, and scored when Tommy Bright's hard infield grounder was played into an error, allowing Duffy to score from second.
     Denville is back in action on Sunday, June 6, with a 1 p.m. game against Sparta at Veterans Memorial Field off Zeek Road here in the township.

Denville's new soph team
opens June 4 vs. Randolph
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      DENVILLE - The first thing that John O'Dell did when he was named manager of the new Denville Post 390 Sophomore American Legion 15U baseball team was dedicate the 2010 season to the memory of his late father, John "Jack" O'Dell, who passed away at the age of 68 on Feb. 2, 2010.
      "He was my baseball guru, a fountain of knowledge to which I can no longer go," O'Dell explained. "He would have loved watching this team ... he was much too young and full of life for this to have happened.
      "This season is for him."
       Denville opens the 2010 season in the seven-team first-year Morris-Sussex Sophomore American Legion Baseball on Friday, June 4, with a 6 p.m. game at Randolph. The team's first home game will be played two days later - on Sunday, June 6 - at 1 p.m. - against Sparta at Veteran's Memorial Field off Zeek Road here in the township.
      O'Dell was a three-year closer at Morris Knolls High School and also pitched for the Denville American Legion. He also pitched one season at the County College of Morris; three seasons with the Verona A's of the Met League; and two seasons with the MontvilleShamrocks of the Morris County Majors Baseball League.
      He coached the junior varsity coach at Morris Catholic High School for two years and was the varsity associate head coach for another two seasons, all under then head coach Bill Tonero, who has run the Denville American Legion baseball program the last 12 years. O'Dell also managed and coached in the Denville Little League where he coached the 9-,10-, 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars. He also served on the township's LL board of directors for five years.
      "When Billy asked me to manage the sophomore team, I was very excited about it," O'Dell said. "We always seem to be on the same page when it came to coaching kids.
     "My goals are the same goals of the other teams in the program ... we want to be fundamentally sound and work on avoiding mistakes. The junior and senior teams have tried to do this and have been strong through the years and I want our team to follow their example. If we do that, I'm sure the winning part will take care of itself.
      "Coaching in a program that I came up through and having my son on the team is special, too. I'm looking forward to the season and passing on to my players some of my knowledge and passion I have for the game of baseball.
      "Hopefully, just the way my father did for me."
      Notes: O'Dell will be assisted by coaches Joe Aquino, Chris Brindle and Mike Carmiche ... the team consists of players aged 15-under from the freshman classes of Morris Knolls, Morris Catholic and Morris Vo-Tech High Schools and the 7th and 8th-graders from Denville ... the seven teams in the new league include Denville, Sparta, Randolph, Flor-Mad, Mendham, Roxbury and Mount Morris ... the league will have a post-season playoff tournament the format of which has yet to be determined.

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Denville Legion adds soph team

to its summer baseball program

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     DENVILLE - There will be three baseball teams operating out of Denville American Legion Post 390 this summer.
     A Sophomore Division team (15-under) has been added to the roster that now consists of a Senior Team (19-under) and a Junior Team (17-under) and will begin play this coming June in the seven-team Morris-Sussex Sophomore League.
    "The state started a sophomore division three years ago and placed leagues in Camden County and Union County," said Bill Tonero, who has run Denville's American Legion program for the past 12 years and who also coaches the Juniors. "I was asked at the state meeting about starting a Sophomore Division in this area.
    "I put together a proposal and presented it at a Morris-Sussex meeting and got a favorable response so we moved forward and put together the division for the younger kids."
    The league will open in June and consist of seven teams - Denville Post 390, Flor-Mad Post 43, Randolph Recreation, Mendham, Sparta Post 491, Roxbury Summer Baseball, and Mount Morris (West Morris High School area).
     Flor-Mad has been playing in the Union County the past two years and won the regular-season championship last season.
    Each team will play the other six teams three times for an 18-game regular season. There will be league playoffs and, although the format has yet to be made official, the most popular setup is that all seven teams will be seeded according to regular-season records and play a double-elimination tournament.
    The league will also send at least one team to the American Legion State Baseball Tournament's Sophomore Division.
     "They actually have an American Legion Freshman Division, too, but we're not there yet," Tonero said. "We're very excited to be getting the 15-year-old division off the ground."
     Denville's team will be managed by John O'Dell and Chris Brindle and Mike Carmiche will be his coaches.
    Denville will fill out its roster with 7th and 8th-graders from Denville and the portion of Rockaway Township that sends its students to Morris Knolls High School, and freshmen from Knolls.
     "We have to thank Post 390 for supporting this new venture," Tonero said. "They have been very generous with us the 12 years I have been involved ... they pay 100% of league expenses, all our insurance and equipment and travel costs.
     "The Post has been very supportive of our baseball program and we are very appreciative."