Cooper City Set To Turn Heads With Young Talent

Wayne Stofsky knows that there is a lot more that goes into building a successful baseball program than just hitting, throwing and catching.

The Cowboys second-year manager is happy and excited heading into the spring knowing that his young team is beginning to buy into the team’s design. Stofsky is at the end of his first full year with his guys now, after getting a late start when he was hired just before the start of the 2013 season. With the exception of the departed seniors, he has had enough time to learn his squad since then.

“I came in with four weeks to go before tryouts; there was no fall program and there was no strength and conditioning program,” said Stofsky. “Now I’ve had a full year with these kids. We had most of them playing with us this summer, they were all playing with us in the fall, and they are starting to get into it. What I mean by it, and the program, is what is not just learning and thinking about how to win awareness on the field. It’s also what you do in the community, in the classroom.”

The team graduated 10 seniors and returns a much younger varsity roster. The task now is to teach young guys the game of baseball. Yet despite their youth and inexperience, Stofsky has been pleasantly surprised. He believes they will compete in their new district with Cypress Bay, South Plantation, Piper and Western.

For the team to soar to the height that Stofsky believes they can, they must first learn to come together and rally behind leaders that set them all on the same goals. The team has come a long ways as a group in comparison even to a year ago, and the returning guys have noticed that transformation. Now their skipper is asking for those core players to set the tone and bring this squad together. The Cowboys have the right pieces in place to be successful, with strong starting pitching and defense to compliment a potent offense.

“It’s a work in progress, but they can’t be afraid to make a mistake,” said Stofsky. “You can’t take a bad at bat to the field and you can’t take an error on the field to the plate. I find myself talking more than I want to, so I’m asking for someone to step up and become that leader.”

Success comes with execution; and in high school baseball that typically starts and ends on the mound. Cooper City has a nice compliment of hurlers to carry the load in 2014. Pitching is always the key to any successful high school team, and the Cowboys have much depth on the mound this season. The starting rotation is experienced and ready to prove their mettle in their tough new district.

Junior Joey Cutrone leads the starting unit, returning to take on a big role by eating up innings and throwing strikes. Senior lefties Chris Diaz and Johnny Haney also return with a full season in the current system, and both are ready to build off of promising results from a year ago. Rounding out this staff is a very talented and dangerous freshman in Israel Cordero, a poised right-hander who throws three pitches for strikes and has the ability to shut down most hitters.

“We have guys who can throw strikes, and if you can throw strikes and defend the ball you can compete,” said Stofsky. “We have a host of guys out of the bullpen that we didn’t have last year. We did a lot more strength and conditioning so that our pitchers don’t get sore arms and we aren’t gassed in the seventh inning of a game. For these kids high school baseball is a grind.”

At the back end of the staff waits senior captain Niko Saltare, the team’s closer and anchor of the infield defense when he is not on the mound.

The Cowboys are ready to grind out a tough season and let their strong conditioning keep them going just as well at the end of the year. For perhaps the first time in program history, they brought in a true professional and focused on getting in better shape. The team went through a baseball boot camp designed to make them all stronger, while also getting them all working together and coming together as a group.

A big key to any young team comes in finding leadership from the catcher position, and the Cowboys are deep at the position with the addition of junior Brett Marks and the growth of returning junior Hunter Kelly. The pair will split the duties at the dish, and on this young team they are some of the juniors who have stepped up to play the role typically held by seniors.

“Catcher is my favorite position, and I just try to get everybody into position and act like a father figure,” Hunter Kelly said. “We’ve definitely gelled more together and we all work together as a team. Its fun playing for Coach Stofsky; it’s more of an upbeat game. The whole team as a group is more energetic. We want to do things, and whatever coach says we just do it.”

The confidence is a result of the extended playing time the group has now logged together. The program’s younger guys won a national championship during the summer and they have learned each other’s tendencies. The mental awareness has drastically improved and the guys are learning how to win together.

“There is a trust factor between a pitcher and a catcher, a shortstop and first baseman, knowing that they are all on the same page,” said Stofsky. “I don’t know if that happened before. Now if a pitcher is delivering it on a bunt he has the confidence that his third and first basemen know where they have to be, that the catcher will make the call. That’s a big thing as a team. You don’t really have control of those guys; baseball is an individual sport played by teams. You’ve got to trust that the other guy is going to be in the right place at the right time.”

Being in place when it matters most will also be the key to an offense that does not figure to showcase tons of power. Stofsky feels with the change in the bats a few years ago it has changed all the teams in the county, noting that even the powerhouses such as St. Thomas Aquinas flourish more by aggressiveness and lots of running than by overpowering offense. The team will focus on bunting, hit-and-runs and stealing bases as part of their base approach.

One thing that has begun to emerge within the offensive identity is the way the team gets hot and stretches the score with big, high-scoring innings. The lineup feeds off one another and the guys have learned what their teammates can do on the bases to help the hitters at the plate as well.

“That’s how baseball is; you get one thing and you just add onto it,” said Kelly. “It’s contagious and that is how we’ve been playing. One person gets on and everybody gets behind him. We just work, work, work to get more runs on the board, to get that ‘W’.”

Of all the returning batters, it is Kelly who posted the best numbers a season ago. The junior hit .310 with nine RBIs and seven runs, and Johnny Haney represents the only other returning hitter who logged much time at the plate. Haney hit .273 in 44 at bats, earning a starting position by season’s end.

Although the hitters are new to the team, there is plenty of talent. Brett Marks notes how the teams improved conditioning has led to better results at the plate. Since the team is younger they have focused more time on their hitting, and the results have been very positive.

“It’s about being more focused at the plate,” said Marks. “Once we get a rally going we don’t stop. We want to be known as one of those tough teams this year, and we want to be put on the map. Our goal is to get past districts and get to states.”

To push one another everyday along the way, the team has begun using the saying “state-bound” as a means of motivation. A state run is a special moment that teams earn by working, believing and creating some magic in their favor. The Cowboys know every program has the same goal, but the ones who get there are the ones who truly believe they can do their part to make it possible.

One of the new members of the club is their starting shortstop, Steve Dipuglia, who transferred from American this year after being a part of a run to the state tournaments with the Patriots in 2013. The junior knows his team did a lot of good things and he is hoping he can bring that same recipe to his new club. Dipuglia hit .308 with 11 RBIs and seven runs for American last season, and he hit .333 down the stretch as he got to enjoy the ride to the state tournament at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers.

“I have no words to say how great it was going to states,” Dipuglia said. “Nothing can beat that. It was probably the best experience of my life so far. I try to give my team confidence, and we say ‘state-bound’. Maybe we might not make it, but we can try. It’s tough, but I feel like we can do it.”

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