Put Valley Baseball Team Finished Season Strong

PUTNAM VALLEY—Despite making it to the playoffs, which was something they did not do last year, the Putnam Valley High baseball team went through a tough season in 2010. The team went 5-15 overall, including 3-5 in League I-D.

“There were not many games in which we put it all together,” coach Joe Natalie said, pointing out that there were games when his team would hit but could not pitch and then there were others where it was the exact opposite.

However, he was happy with how his team played towards the end of the season, including their tough 4-3 loss to Hastings in the opening round of the playoffs.

“We played our best games of the year at the end of the year,” said Natalie.

Five Tigers received post-season honors for their performance. Senior pitcher/first baseman Alex Basso was named All-Section Honorable Mention. He was also named All-League, as was senior centerfielder/pitcher Travis Gembecki and senior shortstop/pitcher Anthony Tyndal. Senior catcher Jerry Zimbaldi, senior pitcher/utilityman Steve Pino and freshman shortstop/second baseman Mike Walsh all received All-League Honorable Mention honors.

Basso, who will be playing at Manhattanville College next year, was the ace of the pitching staff. Natalie believes that he will be successful at the next level.

“He knows how to pitch,” he said. “He will have more time to play and practice. He was able to put the ball in spots whenever he wanted to.”

Basso went 3-7 this season with a 3.40 earned run average in 57.2 innings. He had 71 strikeouts and also hit .350.

Gembecki led the team with a .390 batting average this season. He also went 2-2 on the mound with an earned run average of 4.67 in 21 innings of work. He had 11 strikeouts. He also had a solid season with the glove.

“He played a pretty good centerfield,” Natalie said.

Tyndal hit .365. On the mound, he went 0-4 with one save along with a 5.88 earned run average over 33 innings. He had 31 strikeouts in 10 appearances. Natalie pointed out that although his team did not have any captains, Tyndal was somebody who was a leader.

“He was probably one of the more outspoken guys on the team,” the coach said.

Natalie pointed out that although Zimbaldi hat a bit of a down year with the bat, hitting .286, he played great defensively.

“He was solid behind the plate,” Natalie said. “He threw out a bunch of runners this year.”

Pino hit .382 this season after getting off to a slow start. Natalie added that Pino helped the team by playing many different positions on defense.

“He was just coming around for us,” Natalie said. “He played pretty much everywhere.”

As a pitcher, Pino went 0-1 with a 7.00 earned run average over 11 innings. He had 11 strikeouts and one save in four appearances.

Walsh contributed a great deal to the team despite only being a freshman. He hit .302 and gave the team some speed as well as a solid glove in the infield.

“He was definitely the most solid infielder we had,” Natalie commented.

Although they did not receive any postseason honors, Natalie praised the work of seniors Mike Nallan and Zach Maucieri. Nallan, who played third base and rightfield and was a three-year member of the team, had a down season at the plate but picked it up towards the end of the season. In the playoff loss to Hastings, he hit a double with runners on base that gave the Tigers a lead.

“He finished up strong,” said Natalie. “He had a go-ahead double in the sectionals.”

Maucieri, a shortstop and second baseman, just concluded his second year on the team. It was one in which he got a lot of playing time and worked hard.

“He was pretty much in the lineup all year,” Natalie noted. “He gave it his best all the time.”

The Tigers will be losing nine players from this year’s team due to graduation. When you add that to the fact a few of the players who saw a lot of playing time this year were only sophomores, it is obvious that Putnam Valley will have a young team next season.

One of Natalie’s biggest concerns about next year’s team is its pitching. That is because most of the players who took the mound for the Tigers this season will be gone.

“Our top four pitchers this year were seniors,” Natalie said, adding that most of the pitching will come from players who were on the junior varsity team this season.

Many of the younger players who were on the varsity team this year will be starters next season. Natalie is hoping that the athletes who will be on his roster next season will put in a lot of hard work during the off-season in an effort to improve their skills.

“Most of the starters on the team next year will be freshmen and sophomores from this year,” he said. “I look forward to seeing which guys mature and want to improve over the off-season.”