Florham Park 9U All-Stars Emphasize Sportsmanship, Teamwork

The Florham Park Little League 9U Summer All-Start Team just completed their season with a record of 2-10. That record may not be impressive but the way they played was noteworthy.

The F.P. 9U team played in District 1 Little League against towns that were two, three and even five times their size. Some of the teams they faced had five or six players who recently turned 10 years old. The Florham Park 9U squad had five players who were only 8 years old.

Their final game of the season, against Mendham, was in jeopardy. Seven of Mendham’s 15 players were unavailable for various reasons, including one player who had recently broken his nose during a game. The Mendham League President said they would have to forfeit.

In an excellent display of sportsmanship Florham Park manager Charlie Malone sent an email requesting that Mendham be allowed to amend their roster and play the final game of the season. The changes were made and the boys hit the field. 

The game was tied at 10-10 and went into extra innings. Mendham eventually came away with a 15-14 win.

“It was a great game that almost didn’t happen and a lot of new experiences for our All-Stars during that game,” said Malone. “To simply say this team was 2-10 completely misses the mark.”

Malone went on to say that he saw his players advance their baseball skills in several areas.  Among those were hitting the cut-off man, stealing second base, backing up plays and many more skills individualized to their particular needs.

Below is a list of players and the positions they played:

• Liam Dunphy - P, C, middle-infielder at 2B/SS and some outfield (played 6 different positions over the season)
• Connor Malone - 2B, C, P, OF (played all positions over season)
• Christian Peterson - LF, CF, 2B, RF (played 4 positions)
• Nicky Diamante - LF, 2B, RF, CF.  (played 4 positions)
• Charlie Petro - 3B, RF, 2B, CF (played 7 positions)
• Carter Rubelowsky - C, 3B, SS, CF (played all positions)
• Joseph Bartolomeo - SS, CF, P, 3B (played all positions ex. C due to medical restriction)
• Jonathan Iandiorio - P, 1B, SS, 3B (played 6 positions)
• Matt Dirlam - 3B, RF, LF, CF (played 4 positions)
• Eddie Karpinski - C, P, 1B, 3B (played all positions)
• Paul Silva - 3B, CF, OF, P (played 5 positions)
• John Clarke - 1B, P, C, SS (played 6 positions)
• John DeFrancesco - C, 3B, OF, 2B (played 7 positions)
• Caden Wasdyke - 2B, P, SS, OF (played 8 positions)