Tony Mielnicki has seen the players on Nutley Little League’s 15-16U Senior League team do nothing, but win in the five years he’s coached them. With such a resume – one Mielnicki compares favorably to any Nutley Little League team – it came as little surprise to him that this same group would continue its winning ways, despite being a year younger than most of the competition.
“This team has been together since they were 10-years-old in Little League. They’re 100% the most decorated all-star team in Nutley history,” said Mielnicki of this group that has won a district title every year and reached the state final last summer as Junior All-Stars. “Probably 80% of the team has played together since they were on the 9/10 year old all-stars.”
Now in the Senior Baseball level, Nutley won the District 8 title and reached the New Jersey Section 2 final before losing to Fort Lee-Cliffside Park in the final.
In the sections, Nutley lost its first game to Fort Lee-Cliffside Park, 7-4, then staved off elimination when it out-slugged Elmore, 11-9. The title hopes were dashed when Fort Lee-Cliffside Park defeated Nutley, 5-1, on July 3 to clinch the championship.
“It’s a big feat,” Mielnicki said. “They’re a young team. They’re back next year so I’m looking for really big things from next year.”
According to Mielnicki, the team’s strength lay up the middle of the field, beginning with a trio of starting pitchers in Kennan Bilotta, Dominic Saladino and Devon Schlitt.
Bilotta, a lefty, kept batters off-balanced without overwhelming velocity, while Schlitt is more of a hard-thrower. Saladino is effective on the mound with a fastball-slider combination, but his future is in the outfield.
Brian Dolaghan and Louis Dellavolpe were both counted on to pitch in multi-inning roles. Jackson Poole and Aydan Hattem brought added depth to the bullpen.
The starting catcher and cleanup hitter was Mikchael Berardesco, who attends Don Bosco Prep. Behind Berardesco were two very capable backups in Adryan Jimenez and Joey Roque, who was the primary third baseman.
Strength up the middle continued on the infield with Brayden King at shortstop and Jack Finkelstein at second base.The duo has been together for years, including this spring on Nutley’s freshman team.
“They’re two very, very quick, dynamic kids,” said Melnicki. “They just read each other well. They’re very smooth out there.”
In centerfield is the most experienced member of the team in Saladino. While most of the Senior team played on Nutley’s freshman team this spring, Saladino started in right field for the Maroon Raiders’ varsity team.
“The kid is very dynamic out there,” Mielnicki said of Saladino. “His speed is off the charts. The way he can read a ball coming off the bat is incredible.Defensively, he’s that good”
In right field was Jackson Poole, who hit a home run during the Section 2 tournament. Andrew Raboy started in left field.
Schlitt, Anthony Raffa and William Christie all saw time in the outfield as well. Schlitt would shift over to first base when Kennan was on the mound and Dolaghan saw time at third base as well.
With the entire roster set to be back, Mielnicki is already looking forward to seeing what they can do next year. Though admittedly, it is a little bittersweet for him, know it will be the last time he gets to coach them.
“I’ve been coaching a lot of these kids since they were nine or 10. They’re a special bunch of kids. They really are. It’s going to break my heart next year when it’s their last year playing for the all-stars. They really look forward to it, being that the baseball season is so short. It’s like eight weeks so they get pumped up about it.”
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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.)