Nutley American Little League coach John Macari was hesitant to call out any individual players when describing the reasons for the success the 12U All-Stars have enjoyed in recent weeks. Instead the head coach and history buff elicited the words of a former U.S. President to describe the selfless play of this group.
“I love history and I love Harry Truman, and he has this quote that says ‘It’s amazing what you can accomplish where you have people who don’t care who gets the credit,’” said Macari. “I kind of feel like that’s where they are as a group.
“They really play for each other and it’s a blessing to be around. I really don’t see any egos and I really like that quote holds water with this group.”
With the play Nutley American has played of late, there’s been playing of credit to go around. Nutley American dominated the District 8 Tournament, winning four consecutive games by a combined margin of 36-9. The final, a decisive 16-1 victory over Nutley East on July 6 at Livingston.
During this run, Nutley American has turned to four different arms to handle the bulk of the pitching. Macari’s son, also named John, as well as Rich Jasnowitz have been two main starting pitchers with Grayson McCann and Anthony Andres coming out of the bullpen.
McCann has been the primary catcher for this group with Macari, who won the District 8 Home Run Derby, taking over when McCann comes on in relief.
Gregory Brown is the starting first baseman for Nutley American.
Guin DiPaolo and Jasnowitz share second base. DiPaolo, the lone girl on the roster, is quickly making her mark as one of the top girls baseball players in the country after being one of just 96 players selected to play in the Maria Pepe Little League Baseball Legacy Series this past June.
Michael Urbanovich is the starter at third base with Evan Della Fave at short. Della Fave has also seen time at third with Jasnowitz moving over to shortstop.
In the outfield, Charlie Smith has been the main centerfielder for Nutley American. Joining him have been Giovanni Beyer and Antonio Algieri in left field and Andres and Chase McGee in right.
Smith, Macari, Jasnowitz and McCann are all making their second appearance on the 12U All-Stars after playing last year as 11-year-olds.
Nutley American endured a rough start to the Section 1 Tournament in Bloomfield when it was defeated by Elmora, 10-0, in Saturday’s opener. Nutley American bounced back the next day with a 2-1 victory over North Arlington to stave off elimination and set up a second matchup with Elmora that was scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m., after The Observer’s print deadline.
Nutley American’s win on Sunday eliminated North Arlington from the tournament. North Arlington lost its opener on Saturday to Palisades Park-Leonia, 11-1.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)