Former PHS Baseball Stars Continue to Play Locally

Don Hays knows that talent isn’t the only thing reason why his Paramus Eagles baseball team has been successful this season.

“We’re having fun…bunch of kids who love the game. We all have great attitudes,” said the player/manager. “We’re just looking to play and have fun—and that’s what we’ve been doing.

“Whether we’re winning or losing, we’re always laughing, we’re always making jokes—that’s the way the game should be played.”

This is Hays’ first season as skipper, but the 25-year-old has been with the team as a catcher for several years.

After finishing up his higher education—as well as his collegiate baseball career—at William Paterson University, the North Jersey Amateur Baseball League has allowed Hays to continue to play the sport he loves alongside his former classmates and teammates.

The NJABL is a 16-team, 18 and up, all-wood baseball bat league divided into three divisions (North, West, and East).

“The hitting gets better every year, pitching gets better every year. It’s getting more competitive,” Hays said about the league.

The Eagles, who play in the West division, won the championship last year.

“You love the game so much,” said Hays, a 2004 Paramus High School graduate, “and it just becomes a part of your life that you have to be around it, you want to be around it and you’ll do whatever you can to be around it.

“It’s just good to be around the game,” Hays added. “It’s a passion…something that you grew up with. Something that you grew up watching and playing. Without it, there would be something missing.”

And what fuels this team, the skipper said, is “Everyone [on the team] shares that same drive and passion for the game.”

And outside of playing with the team, some of the Eagles are coaches or instructors.

On playing and managing, Hays said, “I don’t want to say it’s difficult, but at times it’s kind of weird having people that you’re playing with, same age—you’re also their coach.”

Hays added that some decisions are easier than others, but he also has a support system around him.

“Just being honest as a coach is the best thing you can do,” he said.

Knowing his teammates strengths has helped him create his lineups each game and Hays also knows where each guy can play in the field.

He consults with current Eagles teammates and former classmates James Adamo, Justin Tegg, and Kevin Moran before making important decisions.

“I like to get input from different people,” Hays said. “I like to know what other players are thinking—especially other players whose judgment I trust.

“It helps to have another set of eyes, another set of ears, another voice. Easier to have team chemistry when everyone has the same attitude and leadership qualities.”

The Eagles’ roster also has some of Hays’ other teammates from the Spartans 2003 state sectional championship team: Jason Calhoun, Scott Darwick and Tom Legregni.

Team manager Lanya Kerkez helps secure fields, schedules games and also keeps the stat book.

The Eagles—formerly known as the Pitbulls—play their home games at the . Games tend to start at 8 P.M. under the lights.

The Eagles’ namesake comes from the jerseys Hays acquired from his uncle, former PHS stand out Doug Cinella, who owns Professional Baseball Instruction (PBI) in Saddle River.

After this season, Hays plans on renaming his team the Dirty Birds, based on their swagger.