Former Paramus High School Pitcher Returns to Coach

David Ferrara knew that he wouldn’t play baseball collegiately or professionally, but that didn’t keep him from shying away from the game after high school.

Ferrara, who currently attends Ramapo College, came back to his alma mater , where he was a pitcher and infielder, two years ago to work under junior varsity baseball coach Jon Morrisette as the team’s pitching coach.

Ferrara’s bond with his former coach helped him land his current gig.

“I stayed close with Coach Morrisette throughout high school and I came back during one of his tennis practices to talk to him about how college was going,” said the 21-year-old Ferrara. “We were talking about the upcoming season and he was like, ‘Hey I could always use a pitching coach.’  I said yes right away.”

Ferrara, a 2008 PHS graduate, has enjoyed every minute of it.

“It’s been better then I could have ever imagined,” he said. “There is nothing like helping someone else succeed.  I am more nervous watching my pitchers play than I was when I was pitching.  It is a great feeling when you work with a kid and he goes out there and pitches a great game.”

Ferrara experienced that wonderful feeling when one of his players went out and pitched “perfectly”.

“This is my second year working with Anthony D’Errico,” Ferrara said. “He’s a great kid and we have worked on a lot the past two years. I could not have been more proud of him when he pitched a perfect game against Dumont.  I was so happy for him.

“He was on from the first pitch, keeping the hitters off balance and locating with his fastball,” Ferrara added. 

Ferrara is not the only PHS graduate on the JV coaching staff. Scott Zymet (2006) is the team’s third base coach and Mike Putrino (2005) is the hitting and first base coach.  “They do a great job with the players and are a huge asset to the program,” Ferrara said.

Being a coach not only makes Ferrara long to once again play the game he started playing when he was five, but also reflect on some of his favorite memories on the diamond.

“I definitely miss playing and it's tough to get that same feeling of competition and the rush of standing on the mound looking into the catcher as everyone waits for you to deliver the ball, but coaching brings back a lot of those feelings,” he said.

Some of those feelings include his sophomore year at PHS, a year Ferrara said was the “best by far.” 

“We had a great team that year and we all really jelled,” Ferrara recalled. “I cannot stress enough how important team chemistry is to a winning baseball team.  We were a very close team that year and it showed on the field. We all had each other’s backs and were always there to pick each other up if we made an error or whatever the case was.

“It was just a great team atmosphere, which had a lot to do with Coach Morrisette.”

That year was the first annual JV Tri-Conference Invitational Tournament, which gave the Spartan JV squad something to play for.

Ferrara’s two fondest memories from that season were his start against Bergen Catholic and the team’s tournament championship game against Old Tappan.

“I was so excited when Coach Morrisette said I was going to get the start for that game. That game meant a lot to me because I had friends that played for BC, so it was naturally a big rivalry there,” Ferrara recalled.

The game was played across the street from PHS at East Brook.

Ferrara remembers the JV games getting a decent number of fans, but that day the right-hander said he “felt like we were playing in front of 40,000 people.”

“I went right after the hitters, staying outside, making them wait and for the most part they were all off balance, popping the ball off,” Ferrara said.  “I even struck out my friends a few times, which was a little icing on the cake.”

The Crusaders managed to score a few runs off of Ferrara, and Morrisette brought in Spartan closer Joe Valentino to get the final out in the seventh inning.

“It was a one-run game with a runner on third and I remember just kneeling down behind the fence, praying that we got this last out,” Ferrara said.  “It was a ground ball in the hole at short. Our short stop [Jin Jeon] made a nice backhanded stop, set his feet and fired it over to first for the out.  We all rushed the mound hugging each other. It was just a great team win.”

The season culminated in a 10-0 win over Old Tappan in the tournament championship game.

“After the final out was made, we all rushed to dog pile on the mound,” Ferrara said. “All of us smiling, jumping on each other as all the hard work paid off.”

The next season, Ferrara pitched against another parochial school, this time St. Joseph Regional, who was undefeated at the time.

The Spartans were in a bit of a slump, but Ferrara was confident the team could turn it around and pick up a win against the Montvale school.

“My favorite thing about baseball is that on any day you have a chance to win and do something special,” Ferrara said. “No matter how big or better the other team is, you have a chance to be the better team on that day.”

He reassured his coach that he would take the ball and help guide the team to victory.

“I was locked in from first pitch,” Ferrara recounted. “My catcher [Anthony Amato] and I were on the same page the whole game.”

In between innings, the battery mates sat next to each other in the same spot on the bench, but didn’t really say much. They were just ready to get back out there. 

“The best way to describe the feeling of being on the mound that game was similar to the movie For Love of the Game where Kevin Costner is pitching at Yankee Stadium and everything goes silent as he is locked on his catchers glove,” said Ferrara, whose favorite team is the New York Yankees. “That’s sort of the feeling I had that game.”

Ferrara was still toeing the rubber in the bottom of the seventh inning. There were two outs, runners on first and third as Paramus was nursing a 3-2 lead.

“I knew the kid [on first] was going to steal to get the winning run in scoring position,” the righty said. “So, I faked a pick-off to third and turned to first. I was stunned how far off the base the kid was.”

Ferrara fired the ball to first and the runner, caught in a run down, was tagged out by second baseman Taka Murakami before the runner at third could score, and Paramus hung on for the win.

“We rushed each other on the mound, just in relief and excitement,” he said.

Ferrara also played the infield and batted over .400 on the season.

He moved up to varsity his senior year, working out of the bullpen and filling in at third base. In his lone start, Ferrara pitched a complete game and picked up a win.

When asked what he brought to the mound each time out, Ferrara said “consistency.”

“I was definitely not a hard thrower, but I threw strikes and had good off-speed pitches,” Ferrara said. “So my biggest strength was that you knew what you were going to get from me when I was called to pitch. I wasn’t going to walk people. I was going to make the hitters beat me and just let them put the ball in play and let my defense do the rest.”

Currently, outside of baseball, Ferrara is focused on graduating from Ramapo.  He is majoring in psychology, and hopes to become a teacher. Ferrara serves as a substitute teacher in town on his days off from school.

Being close to home allows Ferrara to spend time with his family, especially his younger brothers Chris and Matt.

Chris, who is a senior at Paramus High, is a golfer and routinely plays a better game than his older brother.

“I need to start practicing because I can’t take him beating me,” the eldest Ferrara said.

Matt is in eighth grade and plans to play baseball at PHS. David has been working with him and is “really excited” to watch his little brother play next year.

Ferrara thanks all his high school coaches, especially Jon Morrisette, for being there for him and believing in him throughout the years both on and off the field.

David Ferrara knew that he wouldn’t play baseball collegiately or professionally, but that didn’t keep him from shying away from the game after high school.