With a trip to the state semi-finals, the Lakeland baseball squad made school history and earned bragging rights as the finest team the Hornets have fielded.
"We had some of the great teams, a couple of guys call, guys come back from the 1970s, 80s and 90s ... and basically told us because of what this group did, they were the best team that ever came out of here," Lakeland Co-Head Coach Mike Robinson said. "The '00 team was probably our best team on paper and they had a lot of Division 1 kids on it, but they even said this team is the best team to ever play at Lakeland."
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One reason why this year's Lakeland team can make that claim is New York State Gatorade Player of the Year, junior Jonathan de Marte. He stood out both on the mound and at the plate.
As a pitcher, de Marte finished 11-2 with two saves, seven complete games, a microscopic earned run average of 0.93, 105 strikeouts and just 17 walks.
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Offensively, de Marte was equally as lethal as he hit for a .466 average, drove in 32 runs, stole 12 bases and hit four homers.
Leading the Hornets (23-5) at the plate this season was junior first baseman David Judisky, who led Lakeland in the following categories: batting average (.500), runs batted in (33), home runs (eight), slugging percentage (.923) and stolen bases (13).
Judisky and de Marte, because of their exploits this spring, earned All-Section honors and are up for All-State awards.
"Judisky, he's the biggest kid on the team and he's also the quickest," Robinson said. "Him and Jon really both hit the ball. Those two guys hitting the ball was very big for us in addition to, of course, Jon's pitching."
All-League senior pitcher/second baseman Justin McCarthy, who was 8-1 with a 1.62 ERA, made up the other half of the Hornets' one-two punch on the mound.
Senior shortstop Chris Salvo (.368) and senior outfielder Matt Pihota (.324) also earned All-League with senior outfielder Eric Giancola (.300) and senior catcher Alex Iglesias (.295) receiving All-League honorable mention.
Junior infielder Zack Lenane (.444), senior Scott Fortune (.364) and junior designated hitter Joe Arena (.327) also played important roles for Lakeland.
"All the players did a great job," Robinson said. "It was a team effort. They put a lot of time into it."
Yorktown (8-13), which qualified for the Section 1 Class AA tournament, was led by All-Section senior first baseman Joe Frederick.
"Joe had a terrific year," Yorktown coach Sean Kennedy said. "We really played a first-rate schedule. We really challenged ourselves with not only the league we played in but a top-rated non-league schedule. More than half of our games were against other team's No. 1 pitchers. For Joe to hit six home runs and drive in 25 runs against the level and quality of pitchers we went up against, was very impressive."
Very impressive on the mound was ace, junior Jake Matranga and senior Austin Sichling, who were both named All-League.
"Jake and Austin ate up a lot of innings for us," Kennedy said. "They were our one and two pitchers. At the end of the year when the bats started to go into a slump, day in and day out, they threw the ball well and kept us in games."
Earning All-League honorable mention for the Huskers was junior pitcher Matt Hreyo.
"Matt is a great kid, a very coachable kid," Kennedy said. "He works hard and gives you everything he has. It's always nice when kids like that have success because he's a fabulous kid."
Four senior outfielders who Kennedy was impressed with were Rob Weigel, Ryan Calvi, Mike D'Onghia and Scott Spiridigliozzi.
"All four were just kids who worked tremendously hard day in and day out," Kennedy said. "They all just exhibited a true passion for the game and gave me as a coach everything you could ask for."
