Alumni coaches behind Cup run
Ted Plessl has been involved with local baseball almost his entire life and has coached for at least 45 years.
The 1969 Allen High School graduate coached at Palmerton High School for 30 years and spent the last 27 years working with Joe Pirro, an Emmaus High teacher, with the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup program.
Plessl, the Lehigh Valley field manager, and Pirro, the team’s general manager, were justifiably proud of the area’s recent run to the Carpenter Cup championship game at Citizens Bank Park.
But what made the experience for them even more gratifying was that they got to share the three-game win streak into the finals with six assistant coaches who were Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup alumni.
Tom Plessl, Joe Candelmo, Cody Weiss, Evan Marushak, Jordan Hildabrant and Jeremy Gigliotti have combined for 13 years of Carpenter Cup playing experience and used their knowledge and expertise to help Lehigh Valley post its best showing since 2013.
“All of these guys have approached us with the idea of wanting to coach in the Cup, so as Joe Pirro and I are getting older it’s great to see the whole staff have Carpenter Cup experience,” Plessl said. “We’re starting to see them jell and mature as really good coaches. It was just incredible to watch them communicate and connect with the kids. They took what I was trying to get out and communicated it extremely well.
“In fact, before our last practice, Pirro said to me ‘Let the kids run it’ meaning our young coaches. They knew what we wanted and they really did a nice job.”
Plessl said he not only appreciated how his young coaches communicated with the players, but also what they added to the whole decisionmaking process.
“They felt comfortable enough to tell me what they think about this or what they think about that,” Plessl said. “That really helps when you have a staff willing to offer suggestions. If you take them, they feel good about it. If you don’t, they just keep offering. They don’t just sit back and say nothing then.”
Tom Plessl (Ted’s son), Weiss and Candelmo all graduated from Parkland in 2008 and remained friends through their college baseball careers. After getting out of college, they got into coaching Keystone State Games teams with Ted Plessl, Dale Weiss and Greg Candelmo.
“When I needed a junior group of Keystone coaches I talked with [Parkland varsity coach] Kurt Weber and he suggested the three of them,” Plessl said. “Kurt said they know baseball and they’d be great for that level. They were sitting in my house at the time and Kurt said you have the three of them right there. He said they’d be good. They took off with it. They had over 10 years of coaching Keystone and then they had a fall team, the ABE Hawks, and did that for four years, a collection of players they met through Keystone and Cup.”
Gigliotti is a former East Stroudsburg University standout and coaches at Pleasant Valley.
Hildabrant, a standout at Pius X and a former head coach at Pen Argyl, is an assistant coach at Freedom.
Marushak, who served as an alternate coach, is an Emmaus graduate who was on the team each of the last three years.
“Jordan has a good message because he tells kids you don’t have to worry about being from a small school; if you work hard you can achieve a lot of great things no matter where you are from,” Plessl said.
The other young coaches are in the professional world and don’t have an opportunity to coach high school, so the Carpenter Cup experience gives them a chance to stay connected to the sport they love.
Plessl said the whole staff is involved for virtually the entire year cultivating a roster and preparing the team for a run in Philadelphia.
“Gigliotti and Hildabrant see kids that played for them and against them in high school and they get a look at them in game situations,” Plessl said.
“It gives us a heads up. The other guys get out there and scout as well. I am not into radar guns, exit velocities and launch angles, the sabermetrics. I like to see the kids play and I am with the other coaches a lot of times just to watch.”
Plessl said he started his coaching career at age 24 and he sees the young coaches have the same love of the game and the desire to teach that he had.
“It’s a real good mix of guys with great backgrounds and I hope they will stick with it,” Plessl said. “Joe Pirro and I are proud of our program and what we’ve been able to accomplish and having former players come back and do so well as coaches is one of them. It’s just great having these guys come back and want to be involved. They want to coach. They’re excited about it. They’re hands on with what’s going on and it makes my job and Joe Pirro’s job that much easier.”
Keystone tryouts: Tryouts are coming up for the Lehigh Valley scholastic baseball team in the Keystone State Games.
The tryouts will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. July 9 and July 11 at the Palmerton Towamensing Athletic Association Field at 690 Summer Road in Lehighton.
Players entering grades 9 to 12 from Lehigh, Carbon, Monroe or Northampton counties are encouraged to try out both nights or just once. Players who make it will represent the Lehigh Valley in the Pennsylvania version of the Sumer Olympics. The KSG is an eightteam tournament and showcase set for Aug. 1-4 at venues throughout the Luzerne County. For more information, contact Kelly Bollinger at 610249-3483 or yankees7@ptd.net.