Weather warming up, and so is South Jersey baseball

There isn't a coach in South Jersey who will tell you the first week of April is the best time of the year.

Granted, the high school baseball season gets under way, but to say it's the best time of year, well, that's a stretch.

"Last year, we played against Cherry Hill West on April 1 and it was 34 degrees," Seneca head coach Sean Cassell said.

"The pros, they get to go to Florida for a month," Bishop Eustace head coach Sam Tropiano said. "We get like 3 weeks to prepare and the weather almost never cooperates. Most of the time it's a race against the sun and see how much practice you can get in before it's too dark to do anything."

But 2010 has been a whole lot different.

The break in the weather has opened the door to a ton of early season action, including several tournaments. Last year, Washington Township head coach Bill Alvaro Jr. mixed and matched dates for the better part of 2 months to get the Grand Slam Classic completed. This year, the fields at the high school and nearby Washington Lake Park have been filled with action with Gloucester Catholic and Millville slated for the final this Saturday.

"This tournament is a big deal for us because it gives us a good feel with where we are early in the season," said Alvaro, whose Olympic Conference schedule kicks in next week against Cherokee and Shawnee. "We're fortunate in that our fields drain real well, but this weather has been great for us.

"The key for us is, yeah, we have a lot of juniors and seniors on our roster, but most of them are still in their first year as a varsity starter. To get games against Gateway and Gloucester Catholic, whether we win or not, gets us into real game action and that's invaluable."

The Minutemen (3-1 after defeating Cherry Hill West, 6-4, yesterday) will obviously lean on senior Nick Favatella at the start of the year - he already has four doubles, a triple and a home run to go along with the 100th hit in his high school career - but the key will be how quickly the rest of the team comes along.

Through three games juniors Dan Simnor and Mark Jankowski have both stepped up - Simnor is hitting .583 - and that boost in confidence wouldn't have come without the Grand Slam Classic.

"We know the game is about pitching and that's usually magnified early in the season," Alvaro said. "But the one thing about this weather and the early games has been our hitting has been afforded a chance to catch up and right now we're coming along."

"Hold on," Horan said. "This is the 15th year. Wow."

That's right, the Ralph Shaw Tournament is in its 15th year of existence and will be played tomorrow and Saturday at Audubon High School. Audubon will open with Riverside at 2:30 tomorrow and in a quirk in the schedule, Camden Catholic and Bishop Eustace will play for the second time in a week at 11 a.m. in the other semifinal.

"We have an ambitious schedule the first 2 weeks of the season," Eustace coach Sam Tropiano said. "I know we don't have enough pitching, but then no one does."

Eustace (2-1) has a good core to build around in senior catcher Greg Brodzinski, senior first baseman Scott Carcaise and senior infielder Jimmy Yezzo, but that only means the Crusaders have time for their staff to mature. The breaking in period ends early in a 2-month season.

"We'll hit but we'll only be as good as the young kids allow us to be," Tropiano said.

Audubon, meanwhile, has gotten off to a tough 1-3 start with losses to Colonial Conference foes Haddonfield and West Deptford in the first week of play. But Horan has been around long enough that he doesn't have time for panic.

"With the young kids we have it's important for them to learn a tournament atmosphere like this as early in the season as possible," Horan said. "This tournament is big for us because anytime you can play a game in which every pitch and every play is competitive, it's a learning experience."

The Green Wave certainly will benefit from this weekend since Wade Geist is the only senior in the rotation. Sophomores Andrew Shore and Kevin Kreamer – who took a 4-3 loss to Haddonfield on opening day – did get much needed experience as freshmen and with the Brooklawn American Legion program over the summer. Now Audubon needs them to take the next step starting tomorrow against Riverside.

Soccer Hall of Fame

The event includes a cocktail reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with dinner being served at 7. Tickets are $10 for the cocktail reception and $35 for dinner. The evening will conclude with a formal introduction of the inductees along with a ring presentation.

The South Jersey Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2010 will be inducted on April 25 at Shannon's Country House in Atco. The honorees are Shanna Green-Benjamin, Jeff Haines, Tibor Kobolak, William Ruvo, Sergio Torres, Timothy Cammarota, G. Timothy Lenahan and Bruce Ogden.

Audubon head coach Rich Horan had to check the records.