White Sox Summer Highlighted by Titles

KENT—The Kent White Sox 18U baseball team recently concluded its second consecutive strong summer season. The Sox won the WPBA 18U regular-season division title, and was also the WBA 18U Wood Bat division winner.

Skip Pearlman Jeremy Lovera Kent, under manager Neil Oratz and coach George Torres, closed out the summer at 28-8 overall, going 18-4 in the WPBA and 10-4 in the WBA’s Wood Bat League.

The Sox were unable to compete in the WBA’s post-season because of WPBA commitments. And in the WPBA playoffs, top-seeded Kent won it’s quarterfinal game, 8-1, over New Fairfield, but lost in the semifinals to No. 5 seed Yorktown.

“We’ve had a pretty good season for two years in a row,” Oratz said. “I was sorry to see the season end… we had won 14 in a row before the playoff loss. We were playing good baseball. I enjoy seeing the kids play good baseball. We turned two triple plays in the last week, and three during the season. Some of these kids have been playing together for a lot of years.”

Skip Pearlman Jeff Oratz The Kent roster included Colin Burns and Steve McLeod ©, Jeff Oratz (1B), Jeremy Lovera and John Zumbo (2B), Nick Denapoli (SS), Troy Torres (3B), Jared Shoemaker (LF), Brandon Lugo (CF), Paul Strubing and Mike Marek (OF).

Denapoli, Jake Bell, Evan Hoffman and Zumbo were the teams top pitchers, and all performed well. Denapoli, the catcher for the Carmel varsity last spring, was the most impressive. He went 8-0 with 88 strikeouts and just five walks in 56 innings. Hoffman was 5-1, and Bell went 4-1.

“Our starting pitching did very well,” Oratz said. “In the playoff loss Bell was perfect through four innings. But they (Yorktown) caught us on a flat day. But a lot of these kids improved a lot.”

Skip Pearlman Nick Denapoli Kent was also a strong hitting club. Lugo, the team MVP, batted .420 to lead a solid lineup.

“Denapoli was impressive this year and last year,” Oratz said. “He throws as hard as anyone I’ve seen in high school. Burns had a solid season, Zumbo has a lot of power, Oratz and Marek both hit well and got better. Shoemaker did well, Lovera is a big threat on the bases, and Strubing is a tremendous hitter. They’re all good players, and a lot of them will go on to play college baseball. They’ve all shown a lot of ability. It’s been a real pleasure to coach these kids, and the reward is to see them improve each year.”
Skip Pearlman Jared Shoemaker
Brandon Lugo Skip Pearlman