Cranford Baseball Looks to Continue Winning Ways

There's one thing local baseball fans can always count on. And that's being able to watch another talented Cranford varsity baseball team take the field in early April.

Head coach and Hall of Famer Dennis McCaffrey has his team working hard to get ready for opening day.

"We're just trying to get the pitching and defense all set," said McCaffrey. "It starts with pitching. We're just trying to get everyone in different positions we think they'll be playing for the year. We need to get our pitching set as well as our defense for our first game."

Known throughout the state for their outstanding defense and pitching, the Cougars are trying to get back to Union County prominence. The six-time county champions last won the crown in 2007.

"Some of the kids have been throwing all winter, some of them go over to the Ballpark over in Springfield so we're fortunate. We're just trying to get them to work their arm strength up, and come the first game of the year, they'll be ready to go."

McCaffrey, who was recently named to the New Jersey Athletic Hall of Fame, oversees a program which owns an impressive resume over the years. Since 1971, the Cougars have won 16 conference titles, six counties, eight sectional championships and two state crowns. Needless to say, the expectations are always high for this storied program.

"I'm hoping we'll be able to be competitive in each game," said McCaffrey. "We'll be able to compete with the schedule we have. We know we'll have a very difficult schedule. We open up with a very good Governor Livingston team who's coached by Chris Roof, who does an outstanding job, so we're going to have our hands full. You have to give regards to our athletic director, Marc Taglieiri, who does an outstanding job scheduling our games."

And while there's excitement and anticipation for what lies ahead this season, the Cougars take it one minute at a time.

"The goal is to get better each day, each game," said McCaffrey. "We really don't look ahead to any games, What we really try to do is just focus and kind of live in the moment and worry about that practice, that game, that specific day. We don't really worry if we're going to be good for a county game or a state game. We worry about trying to be competitive for that day's practice or game."

McCaffrey knows it takes good people all around him to keep the machine well-oiled.

"It's a credit to having a great coaching staff and great kids," he said. "I'm very fortunate to be here coaching at Cranford. The kids are really into baseball. The Cranford Little League does an outstanding job. I'm fortunate to have a number of coaches who have either played here or I've coached with since I've been here. I coached under Jamie Schreiner when I watched him win a state championship. I work with a great administration, so it's a whole team effort. We have great kids and it's an overall team effort."

As for pitching this year, they'll be counting on a pair of key seniors.

"Pat Gilstrap is a returning pitcher who pitched very well for us last year," said McCaffrey. "Then we have Nick Cook who pitched a little bit for us last year. And then we'll figure it out from there who will be pitching for us this spring."

"It's going good early on," said Gilstrap, a senior righthander. "We're getting a feel for the new guys. I think we'll be good this year. We're a fast team. We're going to be a good contact hitting team. I think we'll be pretty solid."

"We only expect the best out of ourselves," said Cook. "We hope we go far this year. We need to just practice hard and come to play every day."

And how good will this year's team be? As expected, the coach is cautious.

"It's too early to tell," McCaffrey said. "We have a lot of kids returning who have a lot of varsity experience and we're hoping we'll have quality at-bats come this spring and be able to put up some runs that will allow us to have a chance to be competitive in each game."

Gilstrap already has his list of keys to a good season.

"We need to pitch well, we need to run the bases well and we need to hit well. I look forward to this every year, so I'm happy to be out here. It's my senior year, I want to put it all out there and I want to pitch good."

For Gilstrap and the other members of this team, they live by the mantra that there's no "I" in team.

"The coaches are great, the whole team is great. They make you feel like a family. I just love the team and I don't want to stop playing for them."