It was a 'Good Time Had by All'

at Post 390's 'baseballbaque'

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     DENVILLE - The proverbial "good time was had by all" was the name of the game at Veterans Memorial Field off Zeek Road here in the township on Saturday, June 26, when the three Denville Post 390 American Legion baseball age-group baseball  teams squared off against their counterparts from Post xx of Roselle.
      "The Roselle program is run by Bob Catullo, the state's American Legion Baseball Chairman and a good friend of mine," said Post 390's director of baseball Bill Tonero after the long day. "We thought this would be a nice idea and, as it turned out, it was a great day. Next year, we do the same thing at their place."
      Denville won two of the three exhibitions before the players hit the barbeque pits with vengeance.  The sophomores won, 19-9; the juniors won 13-1; and the seniors lost their game, 7-5.
      Sophomore coach John O'Dell was impressed with the way his club took to the wood bats and senior coach Chris Wetzel found a bright spot in his game when Ryan Smith pitched for the first time this season and threw three scoreless innings, giving up only an infield single while striking out three and walking but one.
     Tonero's juniors had their share of extra-base hits in their win and got two hits each from Steve Rosen, James Aliotta (double, triple), C.J. Abrahamsen (triple)  and Bobby Hanson (double). Brian Stagg tripled in his only official at-bat and Jackson Baird had a double to complete Denville's extra-base attack.

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Denville Legion adds soph team

to 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."