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St. John Vianney Softball
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Wednesday, October 22
Kommendant is named softball coach at Raritan
By Robert Ziegler • STAFF WRITER • October 21, 2008
Aado Kommendant was approved by the board of education as the new softball coach at Raritan High School on Monday night, Raritan athletic director John Verderosa said Tuesday night.
Kommendant, who won three state championships while serving as the head coach at St. John Vianney from 1998-2004, replaces Janet Citro, who retired from the position after last season.
"He's got an excellent resume, he's had success as a head coach and I liked his energy level," Verderosa said. "He seemed like he was the best person for our team, our players. I think people are going to be really happy."
Kommendant, 41, led St. John Vianney to a 33-0 record, the NJSIAA Parochial A championship and the No. 13 ranking in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 in 2004, but was fired a month after the season.
Kommendant said he sent out "a couple of dozen" resumes to schools since being fired from the Holmdel school, but Raritan was the first to interview him. He was a volunteer assistant at Manasquan the last two seasons, as well as an assistant to Wall coach Tony Vodola with the Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup team.
"I think those were the two big endorsements, and I don't think I'm here now without those two things happening," said Kommendant, who said he's filed a lawsuit against St. John Vianney, then principal and current president Joseph Deroba and athletic director Kenneth Szyarto that is still in the courts.
Kommendant's success at St. John Vianney was undeniable, and he is looking forward to the challenge of building a championship-caliber program at a public school.
"At Vianney, we built up the program to the point where kids would want to come there," he said. "I think the challenge now is to make the Raritan program attractive enough that there will be no other consideration as far as schools go for a student who's interested in playing softball. I want it to be a no-brainer for the kid who's leaving eighth grade. I want the kid in fourth grade waiting for the day when she can be a Raritan Rocket."
St. John Vianney fired Kommendant and charged him with theft after he failed to return the plastic fence used in the outfield during softball games. He removed the fence from school grounds for safekeeping after his and the team's property had been vandalized during the season.
In October 2006, an appeals court reversed two theft convictions from municipal court. Kommendant was also charged with misappropriating funds from a bank account he created in the team's name, but that case was thrown out in February 2007.
Wednesday, October 22
Ex-Vianney coach Kommendant takes over at Raritan
Aado Kommendant, who transformed the St. John Vianney softball program into one of the state's elite before exiting after a record-setting 2004 season, has been hired as coach at Raritan High.
Kommendant, whose hiring was approved Monday night by the Hazlet Township Board of Education, will replace Janet Citro, who stepped down during the summer after a 31-year tenure.
Kommendant had a 170-32-1 record at St. John Vianney in Holmdel, with his teams capturing Parochial A state titles in 2001, '02 and '04. His 2004 team finished 33-0, the best single-season record in state softball history.
He left the school after that season and was then charged by the St. John Vianney administration with stealing a portable outfield fence the players had purchased. He was cleared of those charges by a state appellate panel in 2006 and spent the 2007 and '08 seasons as an assistant coach at Manasquan.
"This is something that I've been hoping for," Kommendant said. "Coach Citro built a solid foundation at the school and Raritan seems like a great place to call home."
- Sean Reilly
Thursday, May 3
Newark Star-Ledger softball notebook
THEY SAID IT
"I went there fearing the demons, but all I found were friends."
-- Manasquan assistant coach Aado Kommendant after being greeted by a former player and a dozen parents of former players who are away at college upon his first visit to St. John Vianney since his controversial firing there in July 2004. He was dismissed about a month after he coached the Holmdel school to a 33-0 record, the best in state history. St. John Vianney also filed various criminal charges related to theft against Kommendant, all of which have been dismissed in judicial rulings in the past six months.
Saturday, April 28
Kommendant finds comfort in Manasquan
By Rob Ziegler
Asbury Park Press
Aado Kommendant wasn't sure what to expect in his return to St. John Vianney, but any nerves quickly disappeared when the former Lancers coach and current Manasquan assistant stepped off the bus.
Kommendant, who also coached bowling and jayvee soccer at Vianney, was first greeted by a soccer player he coached in 1996. Then, once he reached the field, the 39-year-old coach noticed more familiar faces, parents from his 2004 record-setting 33-0 team, the last Lancers club he would coach.
"The minute I stepped off the bus I was surrounded by friends, so any jitters I had quickly went away," Kommendant said after Manasquan's 4-0 loss to Vianney on Thursday. "It was nice to be surrounded by friendly faces and people that have known me for a while, and supported me through thick and a lot of thin."
After leading the Lancers to a No. 1 ranking in New Jersey and a No. 13 national ranking in 2004, Kommendant received theft charges from the school and was fired. He spent the next three years in softball anonymity, focusing instead on clearing his name and record.
Even after an appeals court reversed his two theft convictions from municipal court, Kommendant was unsure of his coaching future, but then Amy Certo called.
"My thought process was there's a great coach out there that has a lot to offer," said Certo, Manasquan's head coach. "To be an assistant and come back into coaching, I thought it'd be a great opportunity for him and for us."
Certo played for Kommendant in a summer league while she was in high school, and his familiarity with her, as well as her other assistant coach, was a deciding factor in his decision to become a volunteer assistant for the Warriors.
"I've known her for the longest time so I'm very comfortable with her and she's very comfortable with me," he said. "There's not a lot of places I'd be comfortable going as an assistant."
But how long will Kommendant remain an unpaid assistant? Surely, there are any number of softball programs in the Shore Conference, and elsewhere, that could benefit from his services.
"Right now, I'm trying to do the best job I can for Amy and for the Manasquan team," Kommendant said. "I don't know what the future holds. I don't know if I'll ever get myself into a position where I can be a head coach again, but right now, I'm very happy."
Sunday, April 22
Vindicated, fired coach starts anew
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER
He has no official title.
No contract or job security.
He's not even getting paid.
But Aado Kommendant's new position as "volunteer assistant coach" for the 2007 Manasquan High School girls softball team is a dream come true.
"I'm having the time of my life," Kommendant, 39, of Howell said of the job.
Such enthusiasm for a second-banana job might seem odd from a man who, just three years ago, was considered possibly the best head softball coach in the state, if not the nation.
In 2004, Kommendant led the St. John Vianney High School girls softball team to an unprecedented 33-0 record, gaining the No. 1 ranking in the state and the No. 13 ranking in the nation.
In fact, the team had just won its third state championship in four years, all under the leadership of coach Kommendant.
But at the end of that 2004 season, Kommendant was thrown a proverbial curveball he might consider it a beanball in the form of theft charges filed by the Holmdel school.
As a result, he was fired, his job opportunities dried up and he spent the better part of three years and more than $30,000 in legal fees working to regain his hard-won reputation.
"The truth is, I was pretty sure I would never coach for a school again," Kommendant said.
More than the fence
Kommendant's three-year ordeal began in 2004, just a few days after the conclusion of that championship SJV season.
That's when Joseph Deroba, the principal of St. John Vianney H.S., asked Kommendant to return to the school a white plastic, portable fence that was used in the outfield during softball games.
The coach had removed the fence from school grounds after the season for safekeeping, he said, citing numerous instances of vandalism directed at the girls' team during the year.
For example, the girls' locker room was trashed, the team's pitching machine was damaged and the fence was smashed and broken. Kommendant's locker in the faculty locker room also was broken into and his clothes were removed.
Kommendant told Deroba he would return the $3,000 fence, which was being stored at the home of a team member's parents, if the school could guarantee its safety.
Deroba said he could not, so Kommendant kept the fence, according to court testimony.
Three weeks later, Kommendant received a summons in the mail informing him that he was charged with theft by the school.
The severity of the charge and its potential impact on his career was not lost on the coach, who was also a substitute teacher. Kommendant returned the fence to the school.
But the school would not drop the charges, and, on July 8, Kommendant was fired.
Kommendant said at the time that "the real issue is not the fence," and claimed the firing was in response to a complaint he filed alleging the school violated federal law by providing unequal treatment and funding of girls and boys sports programs at the school.
But as a private, Catholic school, St. John Vianney receives no federal funds and is not subject to the federal law.
Further, school officials denied the boys and girls teams were treated differently at the school.
Additional charges
After a series of delays and failed attempts to settle out of court, the theft case against Kommendant went to trial in June 2005.
Following two days of testimony, Holmdel Municipal Court Judge Robert McLeod found Kommendant guilty of stealing the fence and several team trophies is his possession. (The trophies also had been returned.)
Kommendant was ordered to pay $316 in fines and costs.
On appeal, a state Superior Court judge in November 2005 upheld the theft conviction.
A month later, Kommendant received more bad news: A Monmouth County grand jury returned an indictment charging him with the misappropriation of more than $9,000 from a bank account he set up in the St. John Vianney team's name.
He was prepared to fight the new charges, but the defense would cost more. And Kommendant, who estimates he had already spent $30,000 in legal fees, was broke.
He was working as a delivery driver for a medical supply company, but because of his conviction, Kommendant was by state law ineligible to teach or coach.
"It would be fair to say I was at the end of my rope," Kommendant said.
That's when he called Jeff Thakker, a Spring Lake lawyer.
In December 2005, Thakker agreed to defend the coach against the misappropriation charges "for peanuts," the coach recalls.
And Thakker also convinced Kommendant to file an appeal of his theft conviction to the state appellate court.
"I felt terrible for (Kommendant)," Thakker said last week. "From what I saw of the fence case, it was an obvious miscarriage of justice."
Total vindication
In October 2006, an appeals court agreed, reversing the two theft convictions from municipal court.
"I'm finally going to get some sleep after 2 1/2 years," Kommendant said at the time.
But less than two months after receiving the good news, Kommendant was back in court, facing charges he misspent $9,000 of team money.
That trial lasted two weeks and led to a hung jury. In February, state Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. then threw the case out, adding that it never should have come to trial.
It was total and complete vindication for Kommendant. A home run.
"I wish the whole world could have heard the judge," the coach said.
In the wake of his court victories, Kommendant has filed a civil action in state Superior Court against the school and the Diocese of Trenton, claiming he was wrongfully terminated.
"(Kommendant) has been subjected to a vendetta of malice and vindictiveness," his new attorney, Richard Schibell of Ocean, said last week.
Neither the school or principal Deroba could be reached for comment.
However, in response to Kommendant's suit, lawyers for the diocese and school filed an answer in court, denying the firing of the coach was wrongful or discriminatory, and claiming the diocese was not involved in the termination decision.
Kommendant also has been cleared by the state Department of Education to teach again. Now unemployed, he is awaiting the reinstatement of his teaching certificate.
But the real reward for Kommendant is his return to coaching, even if it's only as an unpaid volunteer.
And perhaps his biggest game ever will come Thursday, when his new team Manasquan travels to Holmdel to play his old team: St. John Vianney.
"I'm looking forward to going back, to seeing some of the kids and the parents," he said of the game. "And for the first time in a long time, I won't feel embarrassed."
Saturday, February 10
St. John Vianney coach acquitted of theft charges
BY JAMES A. QUIRK; STAFF WRITER
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/10/07
FREEHOLD — Two months after a hung jury prompted a mistrial, a Superior Court judge Friday acquitted former St. John Vianney High School softball coach Aado Kommendant of the charge that he stole thousands of dollars from the team's coffers.
Kommendant, 39, of Howell, was indicted on Dec. 12, 2005, on a single charge of theft by deception. Prosecutors alleged that from August 2001 to May 2005, Kommendant took more than $9,000 from an unauthorized checking account at a Howell bank in the name of "Vianney softball" and spent the money on himself.
Kommendant pleaded not guilty on Feb. 14, 2006. During the course of the nearly yearlong trial, eight witnesses gave testimony, and more than 93 items were introduced into evidence.
"It is clear from the trial testimony that Kommendant was reluctant to turn over monies raised for the school program because of a fear that said monies would not be specifically directed to the girl's softball activity, but would be commingled and used for other school activities," Judge Anthony J. Mellaci stated in his written opinion.
On Dec. 15, a jury of eight men and four women who deliberated the case for nearly eight hours over two days could not reach a verdict. Mellaci declared a mistrial. Kommendant's attorney, Jeff Thakker, quickly filed for acquittal.
Key factors behind the jury's inability to reach a verdict were the prosecution's inability to give an accurate account of the money that he supposedly stole, and Kommendant's own testimony when he finally took the stand, Mellaci wrote.
At the onset of the trial, Kommendant was originally accused of stealing $12,057.64 from the softball team. But after deeper examinations of accounting methods, that amount was recalibrated several times and finally diminished to a claim of $2,119.68.
When Kommendant took the stand, he said that he could not only account for the missing money, but also stated that "if a true and reliable accounting was now inducted, he claimed it would show not only that he did not misappropriate funds, but that he was owed several thousand dollars from monies that he spent that were unreimbursed," Mellaci wrote.
Ultimately, there was not enough evidence presented to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kommendant stole any money, the judge wrote.
"It is clear to this court that Mr. Kommendant, among other things, used poor judgment, is a horrible keeper of records and accounting, and made a mistake in putting monies from two separate entities into one account labeled "Vianney softball,' " Mellaci wrote. "However, he is not a thief or a criminal and did not misappropriate any funds during the course of the time period covered in the indictment."
In December, a state appeals court also reversed unrelated theft convictions against Kommendant, who was accused of removing an outfield fence and five team trophies from the Holmdel school.
The school's administration had claimed Kommendant improperly removed a plastic outfield fence that had been purchased with money raised by team members.
Ordered to return the fence by Principal Joseph DeRoba at the end of the 2004 season, Kommendant declined after DeRoba told him he could not guarantee the fence wouldn't be damaged if left in place at the field. He eventually returned the fence to the school.
Saturday, December 16
Hung jury in ex-coach's theft case
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/16/06
BY KEITH BROWN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
FREEHOLD — The theft case against a former St. John Vianney High School softball coach ended in a mistrial Friday after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Aado Kommendant, 39, of Howell was accused of taking more than $9,000 from an unauthorized checking account at a Howell bank in the name of "Vianney softball" and, from August 2001 to May 2005, using that money for himself, prosecutors have said.
Kommendant was charged with a single count of theft by deception.
But a jury of eight men and four women who deliberated the case for nearly eight hours during two days could not reach a verdict. Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci late Friday declared a mistrial and dismissed jurors, who filed past Kommendant on their way out of the courtroom. Several stopped to shake his hand.
Mellaci set a Jan. 2 conference between both sides to decide if there will be a second trial.
Outside the courtroom, Kommendant and his lawyer, Jeff Thakker, expressed disappointment about the hung jury but said they were prepared for a second trial.
"I had hoped this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Kommendant said.
Thakker — who has said the charge against his client was the result of inaccurate accounting, not theft — called the outcome "unfortunate" but said he was "very much prepared to try this case again."
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fichter, who prosecuted the case, declined to say whether his office would proceed with a second trial.
Jurors began deliberations Thursday afternoon and continued Friday morning. Around 11 a.m., the jury asked for a break and to have Mellaci re-read the charge against Kommendant. After several minutes back inside the jury room, jurors asked for a printed copy of the charge.
The jury reconvened around 1:30 p.m. after a lunch break, and at several points they could be heard shouting from inside the jury room adjacent to Mellaci's courtroom.
Jurors at first asked to be excused for the day around 4:15 p.m. because they said they had not reached a unanimous decision. Mellaci pressed the jury on whether that meant they were close to a decision that could be reached on Monday or if they were deadlocked.
Twelve minutes later, the jury said they would be unable to reach a verdict at all.
Outside the courthouse, some half dozen jurors were talking with Kommendant in the parking lot, but all declined to comment on the trial.
A state appeals court recently reversed unrelated theft convictions against Kommendant, who was accused of removing an outfield fence and five team trophies from the Holmdel school.
The school's administration had claimed Kommendant improperly removed a plastic outfield fence that had been purchased with money raised by team members.
Ordered to return the fence by Principal Joseph DeRoba at the end of the 2004 season, Kommendant declined after DeRoba told him he could not guarantee the fence wouldn't be damaged if left in place at the field. He eventually returned the fence to the school.
Friday, October 27
Ex-coach wins overturning of 2 convictions
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER, Asbury Park Press
A former St. John Vianney High School softball coach, who was convicted last year of theft for removing an outfield fence and team trophies from the Holmdel school, won reversal of those convictions Thursday in a state appeals court.
Aado Kommendant, who coached the girls team to three state championships before losing his job in 2004 in a dispute over the fence, said he was "elated" by the overturning of the convictions and "glad the (appellate) judges saw this for the malicious and vengeful prosecution it was."
"I'm finally going to get a good night's sleep after 2 1/2 years," he said.
The Catholic school's administration had claimed Kommendant im-properly removed a plastic outfield fence that had been purchased with money raised by team members.
Ordered to return the fence by Principal Joseph DeRoba at the end of the 2004 season, Kommendant declined after DeRoba told him he could not guarantee the fence wouldn't be damaged if left in place at the field.
Kommendant sought the assurance after several acts of vandalism against other equipment belonging to the girls team.
The standoff prompted the school to call in Holmdel police, who filed theft charges against Kommendant for failing to return the fence and for keeping five team trophies.
Kommendant, who had just coached the SJV softball team to a 33-0 season, was also fired by the school from the part-time coaching job.
At the time, the coach claimed the firing and the theft charges came in retaliation for questions he raised about equal treatment for boys and girls sports teams at the school.
Kommendant relented and returned the fence to the school, but it did not drop the charges.
In July 2005, a year after the charges were filed, Holmdel Municipal Court Judge Robert E. McLeod found Kommendant guilty of two charges of theft after a three-day trial.
Kommendant appealed to state Superior Court in Freehold, where Judge Edward M. Neafsy upheld the theft convictions in November. The Monmouth County Prosecutor presented the case against Kommendant.
The appeals court ruling Thursday officially overturns Neafsy's ruling and effectively reverses the finding of the municipal court, according to Kommendant's attorney, Jeff Thakker of Spring Lake.
The two-judge appeals panel said there was no proof that the fence belonged to the school. The judges also said that Kommendant's possession of the team trophies did not represent an intention "to deprive SJVHS of them."
First Assistant County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw said Thursday his office has not yet decided whether to pursue the case in the state Supreme Court.
St. John Vianney principal DeRoba said Thursday he was unaware of the conviction reversals and, when informed of the specifics of the ruling, replied: "Whatever. To me, this thing is done. It's over."
DeRoba would not say whether the school would consider further legal action.
Charles Rooney, whose daughter Amanda played for the SJV softball team when Kommendant was coaching, said Thursday the conviction reversals were "great news. I'm glad to see that (Kommendant's) name has been cleared and he will be able to go on with his life."
Rooney was one of several parents who, along with Kommendant and team members, removed the fence from school grounds after the 2004 season.
Kommendant, who said the theft convictions made him ineligible to coach in public and parochial schools, was unsure Thursday if the ruling will encourage him to seek a future coaching position.
"I used to be a softball coach, and it's something I always enjoyed," he said. "If (an offer to coach) came my way, I would strongly consider it. But I can't say for sure. A lot of damage has been done."
Kommendant has also filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming his firing was the result of his questions about possible discrimination against girls athletics.
Bob Cullinane: bobc@app.com or (732) 643-4285
Thursday, October 26
The Appellate Opinion
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SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-2101-05T1
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Respondent,
v.
AADO KOMMENDANT,
Defendant-Appellant.
_______________________________
Submitted September 26, 2006 - Decided
Before Judges Weissbard and Lihotz.
On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey,
Law Division, Monmouth County, Municipal
Appeal No. 05-083.
Jeff Thakker, attorney for appellant.
Luis A. Valentin, Monmouth County
Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Mark P.
Stalford, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel
and on the brief).
PER CURIAM
After trial de novo in Superior Court, R. 3:23-8(a), defendant Aado Kommendant appeals his conviction on two complaints of theft, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3(a). We conclude the evidence presented does not support the Law Division’s finding of theft and, therefore, we reverse.
October 26, 2006
2 A-2101-05T1
Since 1998, defendant was the head coach of the NJSIAA Parochial "A" Championship, St. John Vianney High School (SJVHS) varsity softball team. Defendant was not otherwise a faculty member of the school. In the summer of 2003, at defendant's suggestion, the parents and players of "Vianney Softball," a summer league softball team coached by defendant, agreed to commence weekend fundraising efforts to purchase a breakaway portable PVC outfield fence for year-round use.
Monies collected were deposited into a bank account titled to "Vianney Softball" at defendant's address. Defendant was the sole signatory on the account. In March 2004, prior to the softball season, defendant purchased the fence for $3,184.96, using monies raised during weekend fundraising efforts and deposited into the "Vianney Softball" account. The fence was erected on the high school field by the players, their parents and defendant. Defendant expressed his view, at the municipal court trial, that the fence belonged to the players, whose outside efforts afforded its purchase and installation. During spring 2004, tension developed between defendant and the SJVHS principal, Joseph P. DeRoba. Defendant testified that one area of friction centered on what he perceived was DeRoba's unwillingness to prevent future vandalism of the softball team's equipment, including the new fence, which had been knocked down multiple times, and on one occasion, broken.
On June 4, 2004, DeRoba told defendant he desired to move the fence to avoid sprinkler stains when the school maintenance staff watered the outfield grass. Defendant expressed the need to use the fence in preparation of the State Championship game on June 7, 2004. On June 6, 2004, after practice, defendant, the players and their parents removed the fence from the school field, relocating it to a garage. Defendant's witnesses consistently testified about concern for the team's equipment and SJVHS's past failure to prevent its damage, stating the fence was "removed and placed in safekeeping until the following season." When confronted by DeRoba, defendant said he took the fence and would return it at the commencement of the 2005 season. Defendant again expressed to DeRoba his concerns about prior vandalism to the team's equipment, asking DeRoba to guarantee that the fence would be secured if kept at the school. DeRoba did not provide that "guarantee," so defendant did not agree to return the fence. DeRoba issued a written directive to defendant to return the fence by June 14, 2004. Because the fence was not returned, DeRoba instructed the school's resource officer Cpl. David Tuschmann, who was a Holmdel juvenile police officer, to file a criminal complaint for theft of the fence.
The complaint signed by Tuschmann on June 30, 2004, alleges the fence belonged to SJVHS and had a value of "$4,500." Defendant returned the fence on July 9, 2004, undamaged, one day after DeRoba informed defendant his coaching contract would not be renewed. DeRoba also sought from defendant the return of five softball trophies. DeRoba acknowledged defendant did not state he had the trophies, but the two reached "a gentleman's agreement" that the trophies would be returned when the team's celebrations and banquet ended. Months passed. On April 12, 2005, defendant returned one trophy. A parent testified that, in spring 2005, she approached the SJVHS assistant principal explaining she had the trophies and wanted to return them. The parent was advised to wait as he "wanted to follow the proper channels." A second criminal complaint alleging theft of the trophies was issued on April 19, 2005. The remaining four trophies were delivered to the Holmdel police department on April 21, 2005, by a team parent, who was asked by defendant to return the trophies when she received them.
After trial, the municipal court found no distinction between the summer softball team and the SJVHS team, reasoning that "[p]resumably their fundraising efforts were presented as a school function," and "regardless of the loose control of the clubs' and teams' accounts, the money was given to finance a school function." Thus, the municipal court judge concluded "St. John Vianney High School owned the fence" and "[defendant's] statement that the School did not buy the fence, 'the girls bought it[,]' is analogous to declaring the workers in a factory to be the owners of the products they make." The municipal court found defendant guilty of theft of the fence, declaring the "statute contains no requirement that the deprivation of the property be intended to be permanent." As to the trophies, the municipal court amended the complaint, R. 7:14-2, and found defendant guilty of the downgraded charge of theft by failure to make required disposition of property received, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-9, as defendant failed to return the trophies when requested.
Defendant raises numerous issues on appeal. Our discussion centers on the arguments challenging the sufficiency of the State's proofs; thus, we need not address the merits of defendant's Points I, II, III and VII. We also need not reach defendant's motion to supplement the record. The State must establish each element of the offense alleged beyond a reasonable doubt, see In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 362, 90 S. Ct. 1068, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368 (1970), and the trial court must make specific findings of fact regarding each element. See State v. Locurto, 157 N.J. 463, 470 (1999). While the judge need not "articulate detailed, subjective analyses of factors such as demeanor and appearance to support credibility determinations on each and every witness," effective appellate review requires specific findings regarding the elements of the offense. Id. at 475. If the judge is mistaken as to the elements, then the adjudication cannot be affirmed. Id. at 471. Theft of movable property occurs when a person "unlawfully takes, or exercises unlawful control over, movable property of another with purpose to deprive him thereof." N.J.S.A. 2C:20- 3a.
Our review of all evidence discloses the State failed to meet its burden to prove SJVHS was the owner of the fence. No indicia of ownership of the fence by SJVHS was offered, otherthan the mere fact that defendant, the players and their parents erected it on the school's property. The evidence establishes that the money was raised outside of school at a time when the varsity softball team was not yet chosen for the 2004 season; that this money was placed in an account controlled by defendant, which he asserted contained the fruits of the summer team's fundraising efforts; that defendant ordered and paid for the fence, which was picked-up by a parent at defendant's request; and that defendant, the summer players and their parents erected the fence. SJVHS had no involvement in any phase of this transaction, a fact evidenced by the overstatement of the fence's value expressed in the theft complaint and by the fact that SJVHS had no records of its purchase. Our analysis of the record discloses no evidence supporting the municipal judge's assumption that "[p]resumably [the players'] fundraising efforts were presented as a school function," rendering his conclusion that "St. John Vianney High School owned the fence" erroneous. See State v. Castagna, 387 N.J. Super. 598, 604-05 (App. Div. 2006).
Additionally, the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant's purpose in removing the fence was to deprive SJVHS of the movable property. N.J.S.A. 2C:20-1. DeRoba admitted to defendant that he could not assure the fence's safety during the off-season. At the time of the fence's removal, defendant expected to return as the 2005 softball coach. The evidence presented by all witnesses supports the fact that the fence was removed by defendant for safekeeping until the 2005 season. Further, when defendant's contract was not renewed, he returned the fence the very next day. Defendant did not withhold the fence "permanently or for so extended a period as to appropriate a substantial portion of its economic value . . . ." Ibid.
Regarding the trophies, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-9 provides, in pertinent part: A person who purposely . . . retain property upon agreement or subject to a known legal obligation to make specified . .. disposition . . . is guilty of theft if he deals with the property obtained as his own and fails to make the required . . .disposition. [N.J.S.A. 2C:20-9.] Under the statute, "the initial taking [of the property] is authorized but at a later time a theft occurs when the property is converted to the possessor's own use." State v. Dandy, 243 N.J. Super. 62, 64-65, (App. Div. 1990). Here, the State failed to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant had the trophies, and that he intended to deprive SJVHS of them and convert them for his own use. See State v. Altenburg, 223 N.J. Super. 289, 297 (App. Div. 1988). The evidence shows defendant returned the one trophy in his possession prior to the filing of the complaint, while the other four trophies were in the possession of team members or one parent. Thus, our review discloses the required elements of proof for conviction under
N.J.S.A. 2C:20-9 are not satisfied. Reversed.
Saturday, November 12
Judge upholds conviction of ousted coach: Fired, charged for removing fence from high school field
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/12/05
BY BOB CULLINANE
FREEHOLD It was a new judge and a different courtroom, but the same outcome for Aado Kommendant on Thursday.
The former St. John Vianney High School softball coach, who was convicted of theft in June for removing a plastic outfield fence from the Holmdel school, had that conviction upheld Thursday by Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsy, according to Kommendant's attorney.
"The judge essentially reaffirmed the ruling of the Municipal Court," Riaz Mian, Kommendant's attorney, said Wednesday. Mian said the decision can be appealed within 45 days, "but my gut reaction is not to take this further."
Kommendant said the 18-month ordeal has cost him $30,000 in legal fees and lost wages. And he said his coaching prospects are dim, thanks to a criminal record.
"I don't know what I'm going to do now," said the coach, who led the team to both county and state championships in 2004. "I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best, and I guess I got what I expected."
Kommendant said he has not yet decided if he will appeal. If he does not, Wednesday's ruling would conclude the case, which began following the varsity softball team's undefeated 2004 season.
Days after the season ended, Kommendant, along with members of the team and their parents, disassembled and carted away an outfield fence that the team had purchased with money it had collected.
The coach testified at a two-day trial in Holmdel Municipal Court that earlier acts of vandalism had damaged team property, and the team decided to remove the fence for safekeeping.
During the trial, Kommendant and members of the team recounted at least three separate episodes of vandalism targeting the field.
But when the school administration discovered the fence had been removed, it demanded the coach return it. Kommendant said he would comply if the school guaranteed the fence would not be damaged while in school custody.
School officials would not issue such a guarantee, and Kommendant refused to return the fence, leading to the coach's firing and the filing of theft charges against him.
After a brief standoff, the coach returned the fence but the school and Holmdel police refused to drop the charges or reinstate him. Negotiations also failed to avoid a court hearing, and in June, Holmdel Municipal Court Judge John E. McLeod found Kommendant guilty of theft. The coach was ordered to pay $316 in fines for the crime.
Thursday, July 7
Ex-coach who took fence must pay $516
Aado Kommendant may appeal, has said charges were in retaliation
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER
HOLMDEL Aado Kommendant, the former St. John Vianney High School softball coach who was convicted of theft last month for removing a plastic fence and five trophies from the school, was ordered by a judge Wednesday to pay $516 in fines and costs as punishment for the crimes.
"I did what I had to do," Kommendant, 38, said after the sentence was delivered by township Municipal Court Judge Robert E. McLeod, who fined the former coach $100 each on the two counts of theft.
Court costs and payments to the Victim's Crime Compensation Board and the Safe Neighborhoods Program make up the balance of Kommendant's debt to the court.
The former head coach, who led the softball team to numerous local and state championships during his seven-year tenure, was scheduled to be fingerprinted and photographed after the sentencing.
He said he would pay a portion of the fine Wednesday and establish a payment plan for the balance.
Kommendant's attorney, Riaz Mian of Asbury Park, said his client is considering an appeal of the conviction and has 20 days to make such a filing.
If an appeal is made, Mian said, it would likely be under the so-called "de minimus" statute, which essentially provides that the crime in question is so trivial as to warrant outright dismissal, even after a conviction.
In his 10-page verdict, delivered on June 13, McLeod himself raised the "de minimus" prospect and suggested it might apply in the case.
However, when Mian argued Wednesday for the judge to dismiss the charges under the statute, McLeod said he does not have jurisdiction. He said such a ruling can only be made by the Superior Court county assignment judge. In Monmouth County, that is Judge Lawrence M. Lawson.
Wednesday's sentencing came a little more than a year after Kommendant along with members of the softball team and their parents removed the portable outfield fence from school grounds.
According to testimony in the two-day trial held last month, the fence had been one of several pieces of team equipment damaged by vandalism, and was removed on June 6, 2004, to ensure that it wouldn't be damaged.
When school officials noticed the fence was gone, Kommendant was ordered to return it. He said he would comply if the school could guarantee the fence would not be damaged.
Principal Joseph DeRoba said he could make no such guarantee, and Kommendant refused to return the fence.
The school responded by contacting Holmdel police, who filed charges of theft against the coach, and by firing Kommendant.
Kommendant then relented and returned the fence, but the charges were not dropped, and the coach was not reinstated.
Earlier this year, the school demanded that the coach return five trophies won by the softball team over a number of years. After the demand was made, the trophies were delivered to the school by the parent of a team member.
Kommendant has often contended that the theft charges represented a retaliation for his remarks about what he considered the school's preferential treatment of the boys' athletic programs.
"The real issue is not the fence, it's Title IX," Kommendant said Wednesday, referring to the section of a federal law that compels institutions that receive federal funds to distribute them fairly.
As a private, Catholic school, St. John Vianney receives no Title IX funds. And school officials denied any preferential treatment takes place at the school.
The sentence Kommendant received Wednesday represents a fraction of the fines he could have faced. Each count of theft carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
Tuesday, June 14
Judge: It's fence theft but trivial
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER
HOLMDEL Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger, the curious case of the plastic outfield fence "Fence-gate," those involved call it entered the realm of the bizarre Monday when a Municipal Court judge ruled that the removal of the fence by a St. John Vianney High School coach was indeed theft but then immediately suggested that his decision be appealed.
In a written decision that apparently reflects his attempt to reconcile the letter of the law with the spirit of the law, Municipal Court Judge Robert E. McLeod found former Vianney softball coach Aado Kommendant guilty of two counts of theft for removing the plastic outfield fence and for failing to return trophies won by the school's softball team.
But McLeod, who casti-gated both Kommendant and school officials for "behaving like children" in the nasty, yearlong dispute, said the infractions are so trivial that they qualify for dismissal consideration by a higher court. He suggested the case be presented to the state Superior Court assignment judge in Freehold for the review.
"I'm disappointed by the decision," Kommendant, 38, said Monday. "But I felt all along that, even if I was found guilty of the (theft) charges, I don't regret what I did to protect the girls' interest."
The popular coach had worked at the Catholic high school for 12 years and guided the softball team to several state and conference championships. The fence, purchased with money raised by the team, was taken following a season in which the Lancers' softball team had a 33-0 record, winning both the conference and state championships.
Each count of theft carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. No date was set for sentencing if McLeod's ruling is upheld.
During the two-day trial that concluded last week, Kommendant and other witnesses recalled several instances of vandalism of the softball team's equipment that led the coach to remove the fence for safekeeping after the 2004 season.
According to testimony, as many as 15 people helped the coach remove the fence from the school on a Sunday afternoon last June.
But when school Principal Joseph Deroba demanded Kommendant return the fence yet refused to guarantee its safety at the school Kommendant balked.
Holmdel police then filed the theft charge against Kommendant, and the school notified the coach he would not be rehired.
The coach returned the fence and later the trophies, but the charges were not dropped and he was not reinstated.
Kommendant believes the school's actions represent retaliation for comments he made regarding what he said was the inferior treatment of girls' teams at the school.
The school denied any preferential treatment for boys' athletic teams.
"The (Trenton) diocese and St. John Vianney are gratified that the court found in our favor," diocese spokesman Steven Emery said Monday.
"We have the fence. We have the trophies. We have a new coach. We wish Mr. K the best in his future endeavors."
It is a future that likely will include some sort of appeal, according to Kommendant's attorney, Riaz A. Mian of Asbury Park.
"The state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt" that the charges against Kommendant were true, Mian said. "I'm going to meet with my client in the next few days to discuss all avenues of appeal."
Mian said the judge's reference in his opinion to the state's "de minimus" statute which permits a case to be dismissed when the offense is trivial is puzzling because McLeod was in the best position to exercise that option but chose not to.
Instead, McLeod suggested the statute as the basis of a possible appeal for Kommendant, writing that the thefts "were the product of obstinance and defiance rather than malice."
He further states that he is "inviting the assignment judge . . to exercise (his) greater authority and jurisdiction . . . under the "de minimus' statute."
Holmdel municipal Prosecutor Patrick B. Healy sees no contradiction in McLeod's ruling.
"He (Kommendant) could have avoided all this if he followed the advice of his attorney and accepted the settlement (offered by the school)," Healy said. "But he (Kommendant) wanted to go to court. Well, he went to court, and he was found guilty."
Monday, June 13
Vianney coach is found guilty in 'trivial' offense; appeal likely
BY M.A. MEHTA
Star-Ledger Staff
Former St. John Vianney softball coach Aado Kommendant was found guilty on two counts of theft for removing a portable outfield fence and five team trophies from school property, a Holmdel judged ruled yesterday.
In an unusual move, Judge Robert E. McLeod, in his 10-page decision, also suggested Kommendant appeal the ruling to Monmouth County Superior Court based on a de minimis statute reserved for "trivial" offenses.
"In my 15 years of criminal practice," defense attorney Riaz Mian said, "I have never seen a ruling by a judge inviting an argument to raise this statute. What I read it to mean is that I should take it up on appeal."
Mian said he was "leaning towards appealing" the decision that carries a maximum penalty of $2,000 and one year in prison.
Kommendant, 38, who led the Holmdel school to a state title in 2004 before being fired, was charged with removing the fence from school grounds in June of 2004 for 34 days.
"I'm disappointed by the decision," said Kommendant, who filed a Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education last year for gender equity concerns in the St. John Vianney athletic department. "But as I've said all along, even after being found guilty, I don't regret the actions I took to protect the girls' interests."
McLeod called Kommendant's concern for the safety of the fence in light of perceived vandalism acts "commendable," but admonished his removal of school property. Kommendant testified that a handful of parents and the team helped remove the fence off school grounds.
"This case presents a situation in which adults are behaving like children, not maliciously, but simply foolishly," McLeod wrote. "It is a scenario in which the Defendant states that if he cannot have his way, he is taking the ball and going home. The problem is that he does not own the ball.
"The fact that the Defendant and his allies did not like the manner in which the fence was being safeguarded does not give them the right to seize it, to hold it as a hostage for improved security."
McLeod, who adjourned the case on May 18 before it concluded on June 6, said the school owned the fence even though the team collected money through independent fund-raising efforts.
Municipal prosecutor Patrick Healy did not return calls for this story. St. John Vianney principal Joe Deroba referred all queries to the Diocese of Trenton.
"The diocese and the administration at St. John Vianney are gratified that the court has found in our favor regarding the disputes with Mr. Kommendant," said Diocese of Trenton spokesman Steven Emery. "We have the fence. We have the trophies. We have a new coach. We wish Mr. Kommendant the best in his future endeavors, and we look forward to putting these incidents behind us."
St. John Vianney, No. 1 in the Star-Ledger rankings for much of the season, fell short of its bid to repeat as state champions after losing to Red Bank Catholic in the sectional finals last week. Red Bank Catholic defeated Mount St. Dominic, 3-0, to win the Non-Public A championship this past Saturday.
Tuesday, June 7
FORMER COACH TESTIFIES: Players, parents helped him remove fence
HOLMDEL MUNICIPAL JUDGE: To decide if act was an outright theft
2-day "Fence-gate" trial ends
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/7/05
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER
HOLMDEL Exactly one year after a plastic outfield fence was removed from the St. John Vianney High School softball field, former softball coach Aado Kommendant told a judge Monday that he and more than a dozen team members and their parents indeed removed the fence from the school on a Sunday afternoon last June.
Now Municipal Court Judge Robert E. McLeod will decide if removal of the fence was an act of outright thievery, reasonable prudence or simple frustration that grew from a bitter feud between the coach and the school administration.
"I'm just relieved the trial is over," Kommendant, 38, said Monday at the conclusion of his trial on theft charges in connection with the removal of the fence. "I don't want to say I feel confident or anything like that. I'm just glad it's over."
McLeod said he would issue a written decision in the case but did not indicate when his decision would be released.
Kommendant's testimony Monday ended a two-day trial and a yearlong saga that some associated with the case have labeled "Fence-gate."
It began on June 6, 2004, when the plastic outfield fence used by the softball team was removed from the field. The softball season had just concluded with the team finishing 33-0 and winning both the conference and state championships.
But the perfect season had been marred by several acts of vandalism that resulted in damage to the teams' locker room, equipment and fence, testimony showed. The fence had been purchased with money raised by the team in a series of fund-raisers outside local supermarkets.
To ensure its safety, Kommendant, players and parents disassembled the fence after the season and placed it in a secret location, which was later revealed to be a parent's home.
When the absence of the fence was noticed by the school administration, Kommendant, who was head coach at the school for seven years, was ordered to return the fence. He said he would comply if the school could guarantee the fence would not be damaged.
Principal Joseph Deroba said he could make no such guarantee, Kommendant testified, so the fence was not returned.
The standoff led to the filing of theft charges against Kommendant by Holmdel police and his dismissal as coach by the school. Kommendant then returned the fence 32 days after taking it but the school said it would not drop the charges or reinstate the popular and successful coach.
"Other issues" cited
Kommendant testified yesterday that he was told by Deroba that there were "other issues" preventing his return as coach. In earlier testimony last month, Deroba said the removal of the fence "was the straw that broke the camel's back" but did not elaborate.
Kommendant has contended that much of the tension between himself and the school administration developed from his remarks about alleged inferior treatment of the girls teams at the school. He has pointed to the lack of a dugout, a scoreboard and outfield fence for the softball team, all of which are provided the boys baseball team.
Shore Regional High School softball coach Nancy Williams testified Monday on behalf of the defense that Kommendant had approached her about his concerns of inequality at Vianney and asked her advice.
Williams, a softball coach for 25 years, added that another Vianney coach, who was also the wife of the school's vice principal, also approached her about the same kinds of Title IX issues, which refers to the section of a federal law that compels institutions receiving federal funds to distribute those funds fairly.
Williams also testified that she routinely takes softball equipment home with her, especially equipment paid for by fund-raisers "that the school wouldn't necessarily replace" if lost or damaged.
With Kommendant on the stand, Holmdel Municipal Prosecutor Patrick Healy asked a series of questions about the coach's use of funds in a bank account titled "Vianney Softball." It was from that account, funded by contributions and fund-raisers, that the $3,000 fence was purchased.
Transactions defended
Kommendant defended the transactions he alone made with the account and said he provided the school a list of purchases made from the account.
Principal Deroba later testified that in the spring of 2004, all coaches at the school were advised such accounts were not permissible and that Kommendant had attended the meeting in which that directive was issued.
Kommendant countered that the school had no formal policy for the handling of fund-raising accounts and that the new guidelines mentioned by Deroba were to take effect later in 2004, well after the purchase of the fence.
Kommendant also said Deroba and other school officials took no action when formally informed of at least one act of vandalism.
The coach produced an e-mail he had written to Deroba describing vandalism to the fence. Kommendant said that he never heard back from the principal and that the episode dissuaded him from reporting later acts of vandalism.
Finally, Kommendant produced an unsigned document titled "Settlement Agreement and Release," which he said he was presented by school officials last December.
The document states that the school will drop the theft charges against the coach if Kommendant "forever releases and discharges SJV . . . from any and all claims, demands, obligations, causes of action and liabilities."
Kommendant's lawyer, Riaz Mian of Asbury Park, said the agreement, which the coach refused to sign, represents the school's true motivation in filing the theft charges.
"They wanted him to waive his rights to civil action," Mian said in his closing statement. "The school knew about the Title IX (issues) and tried to use the criminal charges (of theft) as leverage.
"But (Kommendant) wasn't willing to sign away his civil rights."
Tuesday, June 7
High schools: Trial and tribulations for a coach and school
BY M.A. MEHTA
Star-Ledger Staff
The strangest year of Aado Kommendant's life ended in a quiet courtroom, not too far away from where he built a softball dynasty. He spent much of yesterday afternoon shuffling papers to his attorney in whispered conversation.
A year ago, the man everyone at school calls Coach K lifted a state championship trophy to the sky after leading the St. John Vianney High School softball team to the most prolific season (33-0) in state history. Yesterday he placed his left hand on the Bible, retracing all of the events that led him to Holmdel Municipal Court.
As the St. John Vianney team, currently No. 1 in The Star-Ledger rankings, prepared for its sectional final against Red Bank Catholic tomorrow, its former coach tried to avoid a maximum of one year in jail and $2,000 in fines.
The trial against Kommendant, 38, concluded after Judge Robert E. McLeod adjourned the case on May 18. The prosecution leveled two criminal charges of theft for a portable outfield fence and five team trophies against the former coach. McLeod will issue a written decision on the case in the next few weeks.
Kommendant spent an hour talking about fund-raising, his personal bank account and his character. He detailed heated conversations with school administrators, expressing his frustration with gender-equity issues.
Even on the witness stand, Kommendant still couldn't believe how the past year unfolded. The firing. The theft charges. The inability to find another coaching job.
"It was hard to think about anything else," Kommendant said. "Whether it was thinking about not coaching or the legal issues involved, it was almost a 24-hour-a-day thing."
Kommendant testified that the team moved the fence to a parent's nearby home exactly one year ago "for safe keeping" because of a spate of vandalism acts, but returned it to the school 32 days later.
"It was a move, not a theft," defense attorney Riaz Mian said in his closing argument. "It was a temporary rehousing of property. He cared about his work ... about the equipment."
He also cared about his team.
Kommendant, the junior varsity coach for five years before taking over the varsity in 1998, parlayed his meticulous methods into three state titles in the past four seasons. He earned Eastern Regional Coach of the Year honors and was a finalist for the National Coach of the Year award after the Holmdel team finished 13th in the national rankings last year.
He was celebrated and adored, a portrait of success with one simple core belief: The girls should be treated the same as the boys.
On the surface, everything seemed peaceful, perfect. But beneath the smiling faces, lost in the hugs and handshakes, a simmering feud and power struggle was about to crack the program's foundation and scar a once beautiful memory.
"There were always some problems," catcher Lauren Incorvaia said. "We were always aware that there were people not getting along. But we never knew the full story of what was going on. Coach K didn't get along with some people. You always heard things."
It wasn't long before the whispers grew louder.
The sound of loose change dropping into those cans was music to their ears. In the summer and fall of 2003, the girls of Kommendant's summer team camped outside supermarkets across Monmouth County, hoping to raise enough money for a new portable outfield fence to replace the weathered one the school used for nearly a decade.
Kommendant collected the donations and purchased a plastic fence, a standard white PVC model that came in 32 eight-foot-long pieces, from the Signature System LLC company in New York. The coach stuffed the receipt for $3,184.96 into his pocket.
Kommendant perceived a pattern of indifference toward girls' sports programs at St. John Vianney. His complaints to the administration about things such as equipment, he said, were largely ignored.
"All I wanted was what was fair," said Kommendant, who also coached the boys and girls bowling teams. "I didn't want to be treated any better. The athletic director would give me things that he didn't have to give me, like allowing me to make my own schedule. But the stuff he should have given -- like equipment -- he didn't. We were always a 'B' sport. Boys were the 'A' sports."
Asked before the trial and after yesterday's proceedings, principal Joe Deroba and athletic director Ken Szyarto said they would not comment on Kommendant's claims until the judge renders his decision.
Acts of vandalism trailed the softball program from 2003-04. The team returned from a late-season tournament only to discover banners torn down in the team locker room, former player Amanda D'Alessio testified. The day after St. Johnny Vianney lost the 2003 state championship game, Kommendant's personal locker in the coaches room was ransacked. The door to the coaches room, however, was not broken.
The summer brought more break-ins and odd occurrences. Charlie Rooney, father of a current player, testified that the wires on the pitching machine were rewired. The new fence was damaged, its spikes uprooted.
By the end of the 2004 record-setting season, both sides were exasperated. Kommendant testified that the team and a few parents removed the fence from school grounds on June 6, 2004, because of vandalism concerns.
School administrators leveled theft charges against the coach with the Holmdel Police Department after the coach refused to bring the fence back.
On June 17 -- 10 days after the Holmdel school put the finishing touches on its perfect season Kommendant filed a Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, detailing gender-inequity concerns in the St. John Vianney athletic department. The Department of Education later informed Kommendant it could not investigate the matter because the private school did not receive federal funding.
"He was trying to fight for us," senior shortstop Jaime Tupino said. "He was trying to get equal treatment, and we felt we needed to support him. We knew what he was doing. He told us he knew the consequences of raising the Title IX issues. We really appreciated what he was trying to do."
Kommendant knew his days at the school were numbered when Deroba called for a meeting on July 8, 2004.
On the day he was fired, Kommendant did not go away quietly, refusing to resign at the principal's request. Deroba testified that Kommendant was fired for "refusing to follow school procedures." According to the principal, Kommendant exhibited a pattern of insubordination, and the alleged theft of the fence was "the straw that broke the camel's back."
"The fence belonged to us," Deroba testified. "We should be in possession of the fence."
The Holmdel Police Department did not drop theft charges against Kommendant after the coach returned the fence the following day.
"The fact that property was recovered does not take away that there was a theft," Prosecutor Patrick Healy said in his closing argument.
By August, the players were outraged at Kommendant's dismissal enough to submit a letter to the school's administration expressing their anger and confusion:
Lately, many of Coach K's accomplishments have been overlooked. His character as a coach has been ignored. The coach that led the number one team in New Jersey to a perfect season will not get that opportunity next year. How is it possible to tell this type of coach that he will not be coaching the team he built next season?...
He has instilled values in each of us both on and off the field that we will carry with us through our lives. Despite the issues regarding his dismissal, the grounds for letting our coach go have not been completely explained to us therefore leaving us wondering why. ... As far as our team is concerned, there is no other coach that can fill the shoes of Coach K.
"He was always protecting us, fighting for us," Incorvaia said. "We owed it to him (to write the letter). We had to do what we could in our power, because it was unfair."
The parents' repeated attempts to reinstate Kommendant through phone calls, letters and e-mails to Deroba proved fruitless.
"The girls wanted him back," said Bob Reingle, father of star pitcher Tricia Reingle. "We tried everything on our end. It didn't work. The school wanted what they wanted. It's kind of like fighting city hall."
The fall brought uncertainty. The girls, puzzled by their coach's firing, were still without a coach. Kommendant was no longer an option.
By mid-September, a 23-year-old woman just out of college passed through the school's front doors into a cauldron of controversy, ready to take over a softball dynasty.
The players found out early on their new coach was a bit quirky.
Maybe it was the first time Kim Lombardi insisted that her team only cheer in the dugout after practices. Maybe it was when everyone noticed that Lombardi purposely misspelled Lauren Incorvaia's name on the lineup card because she had accidentally done so in the first game and the team won. So why ruin a good thing?
Lombardi, a former star pitcher at Red Bank Catholic and recent Monmouth University graduate, landed the high-profile -- and high-pressure -- job even though she lacked head coaching experience.
"She came in with some great ideas," Szyarto said. "And we were excited about that."
It didn't take long for Lombardi to ease her players. Those first few moments of awkwardness receded, the seeds of doubt slowly disappeared.
"I thought it was going to be rough at first, but the girls were pretty receptive to me," said Lombardi, an assistant coach at Holmdel High School last season. "I knew it was going to be a tough year for them, so I didn't want to come in here like some kind of drill sergeant."
The team wasn't about to bury its new coach, but Lombardi needed to build a trust.
"We wanted to give a chance to anyone coming in," Incorvaia said. "It was going to be tough for them, too. She had big shoes to fill, and she gave us confidence in her that first meeting."
St. John Vianney won its first 18 games of the season with Lombardi. The Lancers' winning streak swelled to 51 games -- tied for the second longest in state history -- before their only loss of the season.
"Things happen. Things changed," Tricia Reingle said. "You can't live in the past. Coach Lombardi has worked out really well. I don't know if I'd change anything right now. What was meant to happen happened."
The world between the white lines looks like a replica of last season, even if its edges are stained. The girls are laughing, the parents smiling. The principal and coach aren't fighting.
The conflict between Kommendant and the school likely isn't over. Kommendant, who didn't coach this season, hinted at a civil suit pending the judge's decision in the criminal case. He walked out of the courthouse smiling, even though his fate remains uncertain.
"I'm relieved," Kommendant said. "Having to wait for a decision isn't the worst thing that's happened to me in the past year."
Thursday, May 19
Fence at center of Holmdel school's case against softball coach
BY BOB CULLINANE
STAFF WRITER
HOLMDEL It might not possess the glamour of the "Maltese Falcon" or the gum-cracking tension of a Mickey Spillane novel, but the case of the "Purloined Plastic Fence" is shaping up as a classic whodunit with colorful characters, surprise twists and now, an absorbing courtroom drama.
The fence at the center of story is a simple, white, PVC model that was used in the outfield of the St. John Vianney High School girls softball team during its spectacular 2004 championship season.
Its mysterious removal from the field last June at the conclusion of the season resulted in charges of theft against the team's coach, Aado Kommendant, which were filed by Holmdel police at the urging of the school administration.
The incident also resulted in the coach's dismissal.
And though the fence was returned to the school 32 days after its disappearance, the police and school officials refused to drop the theft charges or reinstitute the coach, and told Kommendant he could expect to see them one day in court.
That day came Wednesday when, after repeated attempts at negotiation failed to bring a settlement, Kommendant faced trial on charges of theft before Holmdel Municipal Court Judge Robert E. McLeod.
Seven witnesses testified during the trial; much new information was revealed, and at least one of the darkest mysteries in the case was solved.
But time ran out before all witnesses could testify, and Judge McLeod decided that the trial would need to resume at a yet-undetermined date.
Kommendant, 38, who proceeded with the case despite his attorney's advice to settle, said after the proceedings: "I feel better than I did this morning before the trial started. This whole thing has been a matter of principle, and I felt my actions were right. Even if I get convicted, I won't feel any differently."
Testimony Wednesday came from school officials, parents of softball players, a former member of the team and the Holmdel police officer assigned to the Catholic high school.
Their collective statements served to portray a softball team that, while finishing the season 33-0 and winning both conference and state championships, was hampered internally by several acts of vandalism against it and a growing tension between the coach and the school administration.
During his testimony, Principal Joseph Deroba said this tension was fueled by Kommendant's "continuing pattern" of insubordination and that the removal of the fence "was the straw that broke the camel's back."
Deroba recalled the June 9, 2004 afternoon when he asked Kommendant where the fence was.
"Kommendant said he took it," Deroba said, "and that he was not returning it."
Kommendant has said previously that he removed the fence for safety's sake, citing several acts of vandalism at the school apparently directed at the softball team property.
Charles Rooney, a parent of a player, recalled one such incident in which he said a pitching machine was damaged.
A former player, Amanda D'Alessio, recalled another instance when the team's locker room was trashed.
And another parent of a former player, Jeffrey Vreeland, said the coach showed him damage to a batting tee and two helmets that Vreeland testified "looked intentional."
Deroba, the principal, said that conversation with Kommendant on June 9 devolved into an angry argument and that Deroba then went back to his office to draft a letter insisting the coach return the fence or face charges.
With the letter in hand, and accompanied by the school police officer, Cpl. David Tuschmann, Deroba confronted Kommendant.
"I gave (Kommendant) the letter and told him the officer was a witness and (Kommendant) said, "Witness this' and threw the letter in the garbage," Deroba said.
Cpl. Tuschmann corroborated this exchange in his testimony.
Charges of theft were filed approximately three weeks after the confrontation, and the fence was returned shortly after that.
Questions to witnesses from Municipal Prosector Patrick B. Healy and defense attorney Riaz Mian also focused on the removal of the fence and the parties involved, a process that has been a mystery up to now.
"I was present" said Rooney, the parent of a team member, who said that he assisted in disassembling the fence in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon.
"It took about one hour," he said of the process, in which he testified he was aided by team members and other parents.
D'Alessio, the former team member, said she, too, helped that day and estimated the "whole team" pitched in.
Both said the fence was loaded into a pickup truck, but neither knew exactly where it taken. That mystery that was cleared up by the next witness.
Patricia Reingle, whose daughter is a current player on the team, said the fence was placed "in a field, locked up, with a tarp on it."
"A field?" Judge McLeod asked quizzically.
"Yes, a field," Reingle said, adding that it stayed there "at least two days, and then it was moved."
In addition to the fence, Holmdel police last month filed charges of theft against Kommendant for failing to return five trophies won by the softball team during the 2003 and 2004 season.
The trophies were returned to police by Reingle soon after the charges were filed. When asked how the trophies came into her possession, Reingle injected yet more mystery into the case.
"They just showed up" at her house, she said of the trophies.
Saturday, May 21
Trial opens as ex-Vianney coach Kommendant refuses plea deals
BY M.A. MEHTA
Star-Ledger Staff
HOLMDEL -- The case against former St. John Vianney softball coach Aado Kommendant finally got under way in Holmdel Municipal Court yesterday. Kommendant, who was fired and charged with theft last July for removing a portable outfield fence, refused two plea offers earlier in the day.
"This whole thing has been about principle," said Kommendant, 37, who coached at St. John Vianney for 11 years. "When I coached softball, I always preferred the girls to go down swinging instead of taking the third strike. Even if I'm convicted, I still feel I did the right thing."
The prosecution, which presented its case before the trial was continued to an unspecified later date, leveled two criminal charges of theft for the fence and five team trophies. Kommendant, who in 2004 led the Holmdel school to a state title and 33-0 record -- the most victories in state history, could face up to one year in prison and $2,000 in fines if convicted.
The prosecution's star witness, St. John Vianney principal Joe Deroba, testified that he had "an adversarial relationship" with Kommendant in 2004 and that the coach was fired for "refusing to follow school procedures." The alleged theft of the fence, Deroba said, was "the straw that broke the camel's back."
"The fence belonged to us," Deroba said under oath. "We should be in possession of the fence."
Athletic director Ken Szyarto, vice principal Steve DiMezza and Holmdel police officer Dave Tuschman, the school's resource officer, also testified for the prosecution.
Kommendant, charged with stealing the fence on June 6, 2004, returned it to the school July 9, 2004, the day after Deroba informed the coach that his contract would not be renewed for the following season. Kommendant, who did not coach this season, said all along that he wanted to store the fence in a safe place so that it would not be vandalized. There were several acts of vandalism against the softball team during the championship season, Kommendant said.
Charlie Rooney, whose daughter Amanda plays for the team, testified that the team's pitching machine was vandalized in May 2004, and that he was part of a group that moved the fence on June 6. "I was asked to move the fence to secure it for winter storage," Rooney testified.
Amanda D'Alessio, a former player and current student at St. John Vianney, estimated that "16 or 17" people helped to move the fence so that it could be safely stored.
Kommendant filed a Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights on June 17, 2004, for alleged gender equity violations by the school. (The office did not pursue the investigation since St. John Vianney does not receive funding from the Department of Education as a private institution).
"He wasn't a part of the old boy network," said Jeff Vreeland, a retired Union County police officer whose daughter Jessica played for Kommendant last season. "I've never seen anything like this except when a coach commits a serious criminal act. To me, this has really tarnished the image of the school."
Sunday, August 22
FIRING BACK
Undefeated H.S. softball team rallies around deposed coach
by Kevin Kernan, New York Post
Wall, N.J. - Aado Kommendant was back where he belongs this week - on a softball field with his players.
You've probably never heard of Kommendant, who was named after his uncle, an Air Force co-pilot killed in Vietnam, but you should. Kommendant's team was 33-0 this season as it won its third state championship in the last four years. No New Jersey high school softball team had ever before compiled a 33-0 record.
That perfect season, though, has had an imperfect ending.
The girls on that team deeply admire their coach who has taught them to respect one another and play with pride and purpose, all the lessons parents would want their children to learn in athletics. For his tireless efforts, Kommendant was named the Eastern Regional Coach of the Year by Speedline and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. He was one of five finalists for the prestigious National Coach of the Year award. The team ranked 13th in the nation.
All that is outstanding, except for one thing. Kommendant was fired as coach of the St. John Vianney high school team in Holmdel, N.J. last month. The school also leveled charges of theft against him because he had taken the plastic outfield fence off school property. Kommendant said he did that to protect the fence from vandalism that the team has encountered the past two seasons. The fence was purchased with money raised by the team last winter in can collections outside local stores.
"A lot of days, the girls stood in the freezing cold to raise that money," says Kommendant, who eventually did return the fence to the school but still faces charges in municipal court next month. "I wasn't about to see that fence ruined."
Not like his locker, which was sledgehammered and his belongings tossed into the parking lot in June of 2003. The girls' team room was vandalized after the final game of that season, too.
"When they walked in the locker room and saw what had happened, some of the girls were in tears," Kommendant recalls. There have been other acts of vandalism. Wires were cut on the pitching machine. The fence in question was damaged in early May.
This past season, Kommendant, a substitute teacher, worked at other schools to ease the tension at SJV. With each negative turn, though, the girls grew stronger. They have taken on the school's administration in an effort to get their coach rehired. These young women have shown the kind of courage a major-leaguer would admire.
"Coach K built a team that would inspire anyone with a heart for softball to want to be a part of," explains pitcher Tricia Reingle, who was an amazing 30-0 last season as a junior. "If he's not there next season, it's going to be upsetting for everyone."
Kommendant is devoted to every player.
"When I had a problem hitting," says sophomore Kelly McGinniss, "he would always stay after practice and help me. He treats everyone equally."
"There is no way we could have had the season we had without Coach K," adds junior Laura Aniello.
"One of the things that hurts the most besides him being fired is that we didn't really get the chance to enjoy the success we had this season," says junior Amanda Rooney.
Parent Pat Reingle notes, "He's a wonderful coach who goes above and beyond for the girls."
Kommendant has two pasions, softball and the Yankees. He has fought for his team during his seven-year tenure as head coach. In June, he raised Title IX issues, claiming the school does not have equal facilities, equipment and staff for girls' teams as it does for boys' teams. Some parents believe that the administration would rather have a coach who doesn't care as much, one who won't rock the bureaucratic boat.
"Every time he argues for the girls, he created more work for the administration and they didn't like that, " says Jerry D'Ambrosi, a longtime supporter of softball in the Monmouth and Ocean County area.
SJV principal Joseph Deroba refused to answer any questions about the situation, saying, "I'm not talking about personnel issues. I have no comment." Athletic director Ken Szyarto did not return calls.
The players and their families point out that Deroba hasn't given them any answers, refusing to meet with them. The players are also waiting for the championship rings and jackets that were promised them in June.
Some parents have even considered removing their children from the private school.
"You can't ask for a better person to play for," says parent Charlie Rooney. "He's worked seven years to build this program up and now you are just going to throw it all away."
It's a vendetta against him," Rooney adds. "They found a non-issue to make it an issue. The athletic director just wanted to get rid of him."
Kommendant presses forward. His spirit was strong last week when he met with his old team at an All-Star Gamelast week. In his heart, he believes he will not get his old job back, but just as he taught the girls to never quit on the field, he's not about to tell them to quit now. "What I did with the fence and Title IX, some things are worth fighting for," Kommendant says.
He knows his team is down to its last out. He also knows one other thing about how his team has stayed together in tough times.
"This," he says proudly, "may be the most important game they've ever played."
Friday, August 6
Softball coach reflects high school's motto
Published in the Asbury Park Press 8/06/04
Friday letters to the Press
Softball coach reflects high ...
Tuesday, August 3
Fired coach has court date
Published in the Asbury Park Press 8/03/04
By BOB CULLINANE
Charges of theft against Aado Kommendant, who was recently fired as coach of the St. John Vianney High School girls' softball team, will be heard in Holmdel Municipal Court at 9 a.m. on Sept. 22, court administrator Mary Lou Donnelly said.
Kommendant, who coached the Lancers to a 33-0 record and both conference and state championships in 2004, was fired after removing a plastic outfield fence from the school grounds following the conclusion of the season in June. He has since returned the fence, but school officials have not dropped the charges or reinstated the coach.
Kommendant said he originally removed the fence, which was purchased with funds raised by the team, after school officials said they could not guarantee its safety. A previous fence, as well as other softball team equipment, was the target of vandalism during the season.
Meanwhile, members of the softball team have written to school Principal Joseph Deroba asking for Kommendant to be reinstated as coach. He also was dismissed as coach of the boys and girls bowling team.
"The grounds for letting our coach go have not been completely explained to us, therefore leaving us wondering why," the letter states. "All that the Vianney softball team asks is for our school to reconsider (its) recently made decision regarding our coach, and that he be reappointed as the varsity head coach for the 2005 season.
"He deserves to continue coaching the Vianney team for he is the one who built up this program. How can someone else finish what he started?" the letter reads.
School officials could not be reached for comment.
Kommendant has been coaching softball at SJV for 12 years -- seven as head coach -- and led the team to a state championship three of the last four years. Along the way, he has won the loyalty and support of many players and parents.
"(Kommendant) has been nothing but wonderful for the girls and the team," said Pat Reingle, the parent of a player. "Everyone is upset (by the firing.)"
But the coach said his relationship with school's Athletic Director Ken Szyarto has been strained for several years over the coach's contention that boys' athletic programs at the school receive better facilities and equipment that the girls' teams.
This dispute boiled over in June 2003 when Kommendant and Szyarto engaged in a screaming match, the coach said. Not long after, Kommendant and the team were the targets of several episodes of vandalism, including one that damaged the outfield fence on the softball field, he said.
The team conducted fund-raising drives over the summer of 2003 and purchased a portable fence with the proceeds; members of the team, their parents and Kommendant then installed the fence on the field.
But the new fence was also vandalized, and at the end of the 2004 season -- on June 6 -- the coach dismantled the fence and stored it at a secure, off-campus location.
On June 9, Kommendant was instructed by Deroba and Szyarto to return the fence, the coach said. But when Kommendant asked for assurances that the fence would be safe, the school officials said they could not make any guarantees, he said, and he refused to return it.
In the meantime, on June 17, Kommendant wrote to the U.S. Department of Education, Office For Civil Rights, asking that it investigate what he claimed were "violations of the Title IX rights of female student-athletes" and offered several examples of what he said were inequities between the boys' and girls' programs at Vianney. The department said it would review the case.
Two weeks later, Kommendant received a summons from the Holmdel Police Department which charged him with theft of the fence.
Then, on July 8, the coach was called to the school for a meeting with the principal and athletic director, and was again asked to return the fence.
According to Kommendant, he said he would return the fence but was told that he would no longer be coach of the team. He later returned the fence, but the charges are still pending.
Two weeks ago, the case was reviewed by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, which is standard procedure for criminal charges involving theft of more than $200, Assistant Prosecutor Donald Peppler said.
According to the summons, the fence is valued at $4,500.
Peppler said he reviewed the charges against Kommendant and, "We made a decision that (the charges against Kommen-dant) were better fitted for a local court and remanded the case to (Holmdel) Municipal Court. That's where we felt justice could be done with this case."
As far as the charges with the Office of Civil Rights, the coach was informed last week that the office has terminated the investigation because the school, as a private institution, does not receive funding from the Department of Education.
As such, the office has no jurisdiction over the school.
Kommendant received one more bit of news last week. He was named Eastern Regional Coach of the Year by Speedline and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
Kommendant is now one of five regional finalists being consid-ered for the Speedline/NFCA National Coach of the Year Award.
Tuesday, July 27
Former Vianney coach Kommendant honored
Aado Kommendant, who coached St. John Vianney High School's softball team to a 33-0 record, the Parochial A championship and a national ranking of 13th, yesterday was named Eastern Regional Coach of the Year by Speedline and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
Kommendant, who was told by the school that he was not going to be rehired for next season, is now one of five regional finalists being considered for the Speedline/NFCA National Coach of the Year Award.
Tuesday, July 27
Kommendant named NFCA, East region Coach of the Year
Friday, July 23
SJV's Vreeland Helps Softball Team To 3 NJSIAA Championships
SJV outfielder Jessica Vreeland was a four-year varsity starter as Lady Lancers won three state titles.
Big ...
View the NFCA All-American squads
Friday, July 16
Reingle named All-American by NFCA
Louisville Slugger/NFCA High School All-America Teams Announced
07/16/04 - NFCA Release
Fort Bend Elkins (Missouri City, Texas), which finished the 2004 season ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25, placed three players on the Louisville Slugger/NFCA first team All-America squad.
Stanford-bound catcher Erin Howe helped the Knights to a 39-0 record and the Texas 5A state championship. Howe hit .366 on the season with 15 extra base hits and 30 RBIs. She retired 17 of 18 potential base stealers. Shortstop Jamie Hinshaw, a Texas A&M signee, also helped Elkins at the plate, hitting .554 for the season.
Pitcher Ragan Blake paced the Knights in the circle with a 29-0 record while compiling an impressive 0.08 ERA. The Mississippi State signee struck out 257 batters in 176 innings while walking just ten.
Three players achieved back-to-back first team All-America honors. Notre Dame (Salinas, Calif.) junior pitcher Kim Reeder led her team to the league and section championships, and a No. 9 final ranking in the USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25. Reeder went 27-1 in the circle, compiling a 0.24 ERA.
Another California prep hurler achieved her second first team accolades. Vanden's Angelica Selden, a UCLA signee, won 26 games while compiling a stellar 0.03 ERA. Selden was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Arizona signee Adrienne Acton also garnered first team honors for a second consecutive year. The second baseman from Marana (Ariz.) High School hit .580 and was 36-for-37 on stolen base attempts.
Clovis (Calif.) senior pitcher Jennifer Reynolds is a first-team at-large selection after being named second team All-America in 2003. The Penn State signee went 38-2 with a 0.46 ERA, striking out 278 batters.
Crowley (Texas) pitcher Meagan Denny earned first team honors after leading her team to the Texas 4A state championship. The Gatorade state player of the year, Denny was 24-1 with a 0.04 ERA. The Texas signee fanned an amazing 407 batters in just 187 innings pitched.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) junior catcher Kristen Pocock, who was also tabbed Diamond Sports Catcher of the Year, hit .447 and slugged .685 in leading her team to a league title. Pocock threw out 9-of-11 potential base stealers and fielded .993 behind the plate.
Deer Valley (Phoenix, Ariz.) junior first baseman Laine Roth led her team to the Arizona 5A state title. Having already committed to Arizona, she hit .402 and belted 11 home runs and 44 RBIs.
Olathe East (Kansas) junior Valerie Chapple, one of the most touted recruits in the Class of 2005, was tabbed first team third baseman. Chapple hit .598 and slugged .978 to lead her team to a state crown and a No. 19 ranking in the final USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25. The junior tallied nine doubles and ten triples last season.
The first team outfield consists of Farmington (N.M.) junior Benita Sanchez, Central Cabarrus (Concord, N.C.) sophomore Destiny Covington and Brenham (Texas) junior Katie Bush.
Sanchez hit .537 in leading her team to the state championship. Covington was the only underclassman named to the first team. Covington hit .454 and had 11 home runs to lead Cabarrus to the state title. Bush led her team to a 35-3 record, hitting .644 and going 50-for-55 on stolen base attempts.
Midway (Waco, Texas) senior utility Brooke Saulters, who signed with Angelo State, led her team to a 21-2 record. Saulters hit .541 and went 11-1 in the circle with a 1.28 ERA.
Tricia Reingle, the Gatorade state player of the year in New Jersey, helped lead St. John Vianney (Holmdel, N.J.) to the state championship and an unbeaten season. The junior tossed 23 shutouts, had four no-hitters and two perfect games.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association awards more than 300 first, second and third team All-Americans in NCAA Divisions I, II and III as well as in NAIA, NJCAA, California Community Colleges, Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges and high school.
Sunday, July 18
Team was unbeaten, but he gets the hook
By BOB CULLINANE
It's hard to imagine a more spectacular season than the one recently completed by the St. John Vianney High School girls softball team.
St. John Vianney softball coach Aado Kommendant, who was recently dismissed, heads back to the dugout after a trip to the mound during a state playoff game this spring.
The Holmdel squad finished the year at 33-0, winning, among other things, the Monmouth County Conference tournament, the Shore Conference tournament and the state Parochial A championship -- their third state crown in four years.
It was a storybook season, yet one that, it now seems, was shadowed by a simmering conflict between the team's coach -- Aado Kommendant -- and the school administration that played out behind the scenes in screaming matches, vandalism, accusations of discrimination and criminal charges.
Finally, that dispute boiled over and, two weeks ago, the well-liked, widely admired and successful coach was fired.
"The principal (Joseph Deroba) told me I was being fired because of the fence," Kommendant said last week, referring to a portable outfield fence he removed from the softball field when the season ended.
"But after I returned (the fence), the principal said I still would not be hired back. He said there were 'other issues' that had come up."
Kommendant wonders if the "other issues" include a complaint he filed with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, charging that St. John Vianney violated laws that require equity in boys and girls athletic programs.
"I have been vocal for years about what I think are inequities in the girls program," said Kommendant, who coached at the school for 12 years and was head softball coach for seven. "And though no one at the school told me they knew about the complaint letter I filed, I'm not so sure. I mean, what could the 'other issues' be?"
Officials at the school could not be reached for comment, but a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton, which oversees Catholic schools within the diocese, said there is no link between Kommendant's firing and the complaint letter.
"Both the school and the Diocese of Trenton were unaware of the filing of a complaint," said Audra Miller, director of public relations for the diocese.
Miller said the diocese is aware of the gender equity mandates required by federal law -- often referred to as Title IX -- and said that diocesan schools follow the guidelines.
Still, questions linger, especially for some players and their parents who have supported the coach. Though the dispute failed to hamper the team's remarkable performance, it now hangs like a cloud over the school, the team and the championship season.
Incidents of vandalism
"It all started last year," Kommendant said of the dispute and an argument he had with St. John Vianney athletic director Ken Szyarto in June 2003. "It was a heated argument -- shouting -- and, to be honest, I could have handled myself better."
The argument concerned the scheduling of the softball teams' games in a local tournament, which was being handled by Szyarto, Kommendant said.
Szyarto could not be reached for comment.
Kommendant said he became upset when Szyarto scheduled the team for a potential doubleheader that would have resulted in the team playing a semifi-nal game and, if they won, the final game on the same day.
"He did it without consulting me," Kommendant said, "and it could have been avoided. I found out later that another team refused to play" such a doubleheader.
Kommendant also said he felt the scheduling was indicative of a pattern of indifference by the administration toward the girls athletic programs.
"I had been telling the athletic director for years that I thought the girls teams were not being treated as well as the boys," said Kommendant, 37. "The boys' baseball team has dugouts, and we have metal benches. The boys' team has a fence and a scoreboard; we have no scoreboard, and the fence had become torn and tat-tered. The boys team had more access to the batting cages. It just seemed to me that things weren't fair, and nothing was ever done."
The Lancers played the double-header; they won the first and lost the second game. But besides the rare loss, Kommendant said other, unusual things began happening.
"I had been (at the school) for 11 years up to that point and my personal belongings had never been messed around with or vandalized or damaged or stolen," the coach said.
But two days after his argu-ment with the athletic director, the softball teams' locker room was vandalized, he said.
"We had been at a game, and the locker room was locked," he said. "When we came back, it was in shambles."
He said streamers and posters were torn down, and magnetic locker tags displaying the team members' names on the lockers were damaged.
"The lock (on the room) wasn't broken, so it must have been done by someone with a key," Kommendant said.
Four days later, Kommendant's personal locker, which was in the locked coaches' room, was vandalized.
"Someone took a sledgehammer to my locker," he said. "All my stuff was thrown around in the room, and I found some of my clothes in the parking lot."
He said that no other coach's locker was damaged, and that when he reported the incident to principal Joseph Deroba, a police report was filed.
But that didn't stop the vandalism. A few days later, the pitching machine used by the girls softball team was damaged.
"Someone opened up the control panel and cut the wires," Kommendant said.
The damaged fence
The final episode of vandalism came during the most recent season, when the outfield fence on the softball field was knock-ed over and broken.
The Lancers, who set a state record for most softball victo-ries in a season this spring, were named by newspapers as the top team in the state, and were ranked 13th nationally by USA Today.
And two weeks ago, the team celebrated the championship season in a ceremony with Gov. McGreevey at the gover-nor's mansion in Princeton Township.
Speaking of the damaged fence, Kommendant said, "It was not the wind because the legs were broken and stakes were pulled up from the ground. It was clearly vandalism."
The fence was purchased with the proceeds of a fund-raising drive by the team, primarily by soliciting donations outside a local supermarket during the summer.
"The team bought the fence, and it was the girls, the parents and myself who put it up," the coach said. A parent estimated the cost of the fence at $3,000.
After the vandalism, which came in the middle of the sea-son, Kommendant repaired the fence. "There were no school funds used in the purchase or the repairs," he said.
After the season and team prac-tices ended last month, Kom-mendant dismantled the fence with the help of four people and placed it in an off-campus loca-tion where, he said, "I could ensure its safety."
He said he removed the fence on Sunday, June 6. On June 9, when the team gathered on the field for a team portrait, Kommendant was approached by the school principal, Deroba, and the athletic director, Szyarto, the coach said.
"They came out and congratulated me on the season," Kom-mendant said, "and then they told me I had to return the fence." He said he doesn't know how the school officials knew he removed the fence.
"I said, 'Mr. Deroba, I would be more than happy to return the fence but, considering all that's gone on, I need a guarantee that if anything happens to the fence, it will either be replaced or repaired.' (The principal) said he couldn't do that."
So Kommendant said he would not return the fence.
"I was worried every day," Kom-mendant said of what he thought might happen as a result of his refusal. "People said to me, 'It's only a fence,' but it was more than a fence. It represented the hard work, the teamwork and everything it took for the girls to acquire that fence."
Kommendant did not hear anything more about the fence until the first week of July, when a summons arrived in the mail informing him that he was charged with theft by the Holmdel Police Department. The summons ordered Kommen-dant to appear in municipal court on July 21.
Title IX complaint filed
Before that summons was written, Kommendant had written a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, in New York. In the letter, the coach alleged that St. John Vianney "has violated the Title IX rights of female student-athletes and the athletic teams in which they take part. In particular, the rights of fe-male softball players and fe-male bowlers have been disre-garded."
Kommendant also coached the boys and girls bowling teams, positions he no longer holds.
In the letter, dated June 17, he cited a lack of dugouts, a fence and batting cages as examples of the discrimination, and added, "the girl's softball coaching staff consisted of three coaches while the baseball team had a total of five, including three on varsity."
He said he wrote the letter be-cause "I realized at this point that my attempts (at gaining equity) were futile and it was time to go through the proper channels." He said the letter was not in retaliation for potential action the school might take against him in regard to the fence.
The Office for Civil Rights re-sponded on June 21 with a let-ter stating it would review the allegations and determine if an investigation was warranted. He has not heard from the office since then.
A few days after receiving the police summons, the school administration called Kommendant and asked him to attend a meeting at the school on July 8.
"It was the principal, the athletic director and me," Kommen-dant said of that meeting. "They asked me about the fence. I said I would bring it back tomorrow, because I think I've shown you how important it is to me and the team."
Despite his vow to return the fence, Kommendant was informed by the principal, Deroba, that the school and the coach "would be parting ways," Kommendant said.
"He never said I was fired, but he made it clear I would not be back," the coach said.
Kommendant said the principal then asked him to resign.
"He said, 'If you resign, I can give you a good recommenda-tion and none of this has to come out,' " Kommendant said.
Kommendant declined. "There's no way I'm going to tell the girls I'm walking away," he said.
The coach then asked that the school drop the theft charges when he returned the fence.
"But the principal said, 'I'm not going to drop the charges because there is something else going on and I want to see where it leads,' " Kommendant said.
Praised by other coaches
The story of Aado Kommendant's firing brings back memories for another Shore coach, Nancy Williams of Shore Re-gional High School.
"In 1995, I filed a Title IX com-plaint," Williams said last week, "after I had gone through years and years of complaining without any result."
But four months after filing the complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, Williams, who coaches field hockey and softball at Shore, was fired.
"It took me six months to get my job back," she said. She says that now, almost a decade later, the struggle was worth it.
"We now have dugouts and assistant coaches like the boys," she said. "It's still not totally equal, but it's better. That's because you can change laws, but you can't change attitudes. There is a still a good 'ol boy syndrome out there that firmly believes that boys and girls sports are not equal."
She said Kommendant, whom she knows from competing against St. John Vianney teams, "is an extremely dedicated and hardworking guy."
"We love to play against his teams -- they are well-schooled and play hard, but fair."
Williams doubts his dismissal was caused solely by the removal of a fence.
"Is it a coincidence that he was fired after filing the (Title IX) complaint?" she asked. "The whole fence thing is ridiculous. I take equipment home all the time for the same reason -- so it won't get stolen or vandalized."
Janet Citro, the softball coach at Raritan High School in Haz-let, said she, too, is baffled by Kommendant's firing.
"Aado is a great guy who has been good for the sport and good for the school," she said.
She said she rarely runs into gender equity issues at her school "because we've had discussions about those issues and address them when they arise. Raritan does a pretty good job making sure the girls get what the boys get."
Parents want answers
Though the firing of Kommendant may be final, parents of players are still waiting for the answer to their most pressing question: Why?
"We're pretty much in the dark," one parent, Pat Reingle of Aberdeen, said.
Reingle's daughter, Tricia, will be a senior and is a pitcher for the Lancers.
"Everyone is upset -- the kids, the parents," Reingle said. '(Kommendant) has been nothing but wonderful for the girls and the team."
Charles Rooney of Aberdeen, whose daughter Amanda plays for the team and will be a junior this year, is also lavish in his praise.
"I don't think there's another coach in the whole country who puts as much into the job as he does," Rooney said.
He said his daughter "has been very down about this."
Rooney also said he witnessed first-hand what he said was a discriminatory attitude toward the softball team following a heavy rainstorm.
"I went to the softball field to help clean up, and a maintenance man said that he was instructed not to clean the girls field until the boys varsity and boys jayvee fields were cleaned," Rooney said. "The maintenance guy said he was told that the girls field was the third priority, and that he might not even get to it at all."
Another parent, Pam McGin-niss of Aberdeen, said her daughter, Kelly, "was in tears" when she heard of Kommendant's dismissal.
"Though she went to Vianney for the academic program, it didn't hurt that Aado was there," McGinniss said. "The parents have been hearing that he was fired because of the fence, then we heard it was because of the Title IX complaint. We would love to know the real reason."
Some parents have sent letters and e-mails to the principal asking for a meeting. Deroba, who is on vacation until Tuesday, has not responded, accord-ing to several parents.
Unsure of his future
For his part, Kommendant doesn't expect he'll return to the school and is uncertain of his future in coaching.
"I'm not really looking around for anything else," he said last week. "I haven't even thought about coaching elsewhere."
Several months before his firing, Kommendant stopped serv-ing as a substitute teacher at Vianney in the wake of the vandalism incidents. He has since been teaching in another school district.
He is awaiting the outcome of the theft charges and the Title IX complaint. He contends there is little he could have done to change the situation.
"I believe in doing the right thing," he said. "It's more important to me than money or coaching. And I think, in this case, I did the right thing."
Tuesday, July 13
Coach filed Title IX complaint
By NEIL SCHUMAN
There might be more behind the recent firing of St. John Vianney High School softball coach Aado Kommendant than the actions he took involving a temporary outfield fence.
The Asbury Park Press has learned that prior to his dismissal, which occurred on July 8, Kommendant had filed a Title IX complaint with the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that alleged inequities in treatment of male and female athletic teams at the high school, perhaps New Jersey's most-renowned for its excellence in girls sports.
Kommendant's letter to the OCR claims that the rights of players on the school's softball and girls bowling teams, both of which he coached, have been disregarded. He specifically cited the coaching situations involving the school's baseball and softball teams. The baseball program had five coaches this past season, including three on the varsity level, while the entire softball program was allotted a total of three coaches. The letter also stated that the baseball field has a permanent fence, dugouts and a working scoreboard, while the softball field has a temporary fence, metal benches and no scoreboard and that the baseball team had convenient access to batting cages, while the softball team didn't.
Kommendant also noted that the girls bowling team isn't permitted to enter tournaments, while the boys team, which he also coaches, is permitted to do so.
According to Kommendant, the outfield fence which was purchased with funds raised by team members, was vandalized late in the season. After the team's 33-0 state and conference championship season concluded, Kommendant says he removed the fence from school grounds because he was concerned for its safety. Over the past year, team equipment and Kommendant's personal belongings had been vandalized.
When school officials asked him to return the fence, he claims to have asked for a guarantee of its safety, which he says he didn't receive.
When Kommendant then refused to return the fence, the school filed charges with the Holmdel Police Department. At a meeting with Vianney principal Joseph DeRoba on July 8, Kommendant was informed that he was not going to be rehired for next season. Now he is suspicious that information of the Title IX complaint might have been leaked to school officials and could have had something to do with his dismissal.
"When I asked for them to drop the charges if the fence were brought back, they said 'No, because there is something else going on,' " Kommendant said. "Based on the timing of the dismissal, you can't help but wonder if (the complaint) had anything to do with it. Based on information I received over the weekend, although the OCR hadn't contacted (the school) they were notified by another source. I can't comment further on that matter based on advice I've received."
The OCR acknowledged the receipt of the complaint and has informed Kommendant that it is reviewing the matter.
As of press time last night, neither DeRoba nor athletic director Ken Szyarto could be reached for comment.
Nancy Williams, long-time Shore Regional softball and field hockey coach, is familiar with Title IX, having leveled the playing field at her school with a past complaint.
"Any time a complaint is filed, the OCR sets up its investigative team, which includes a lawyer and a government investigator," Williams said. "They interview the person filing the claim and those it was filed against. If the school receives any federal funds, even one dime, it must comply with Title IX."
Saturday, July 10
Vianney is honored at governor's office
By TONY GRAHAM
It must have seemed somewhat surreal yesterday for former St. John Vianney High School softball coach Aado Kommendant and the players from his 2004 championship team.
Some 24 hours after being informed he would not be re-hired as coach, Kommendant and the Lancers were honored in Gov. McGreevey's office for a state record 33-0 season which included the NJSIAA Parochial A and Shore Conference titles.
"We're trying to separate the two events so we don't spoil one thing thinking about the other," Kommendant said.
"It was kind of bitter sweet," said Katie Eder, a sophomore first baseman. "It was nice we were getting our pictures taken with the governor. It was also kind of sad, the first time we've seen him since we found out."
Kommendant said he e-mailed players Thursday night after he said he was let go earlier in the day at a meeting with Joe DeRoba, Vianney principal, and Ken Szyarto, the athletic director.
Reached last night, Szyarto said he would have no comment at this time. Calls to DeRoba were not returned.
"They never came out and said, 'We're letting you go because . . .' " Kommendant said. "There were a lot of issues talked about. The fence was the major issue along with the vandalism and my reaction to it."
Kommendant said an outfield fence that team members had raised funds to purchase had been vandalized. He said after the season he removed it from school grounds for safe keeping, then balked at bringing it back when he said its repairs and safety weren't guaranteed by school officials.
"I didn't resign," Kommendant said. "The word fired was never used. The words were more like, 'parting ways, parting company.' But I got the point."
He said he returned the fence yesterday morning.
"We tried to make it as happy a day as we could," Eder said. "We were getting honored. It was supposed to be a good day. It was bad timing is what it was."
"I know I was shocked, I was very upset," said junior Tricia Reingle, the team's ace pitcher who won 30 games. "Honestly, I had trouble sleeping (Thursday) night. We went 33-0."
Kommendant completed his seventh season as Vianney coach this spring, building his record to 170-32-1. The mark includes the Lancers' third Parochial A title in the last four years and its third Shore Conference championship to go along with two Monmouth County championships and six Shore Conference divisional crowns.
"We had such a successful season," said Amanda D'Alessio, a junior left fielder. "But it's hard to be able to enjoy it now. We're hoping the school reconsiders its decision and rehires him. Coach K loves the game and would do anything for our team."
Kommendant said his future is undecided.
Friday, July 9
SJV softball coach Kommendant fired on heels of 33-0 season
Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/09/04
By NEIL SCHUMAN
On the heels of a record-breaking 33-0 season and on the eve of a ceremonial meeting with Governor McGreevey, St. John Vianney softball coach Aado Kommendant was fired yesterday.
The firing stems from an incident involving an outfield fence team members raised funds to purchase that had been vandalized. Earlier in the season team equipment and Kommendant's personal belongings had been vandalized, but the incidents went unsolved.
After the end of the season, in which the Lancers won a state-record 33 games en route to winning their third state Parochial A title in the last four years, Kommendant, concerned for the safety of the fence, removed it from school grounds. When told to return it, he was asked for a guarantee of its safety and that it would be repaired if damaged again. When no such guarantee was given, Kommendant held onto the fence. The school filed charges last week with the Holmdel Police Department.
Kommendant met with Vianney principal Joseph DeRoba yesterday to discuss the incident. During the meeting at which athletic director Ken Szyarto was also present, DeRoba informed Kommendant that he wasn't going to be brought back next season.
"I'm disappointed for (Kommendant)," said Ocean softball coach Mark Frankel.
"I know how hard he worked; he put everything he had into the program.
"No one outworked him. Whenever you went to a game, he was there observing, scouting, videotaping. People can say he had a lot of talent at St. John Vianney, but he's a talented coach and it takes a combination of the two to get a team to that level."
"I loved competing against teams he coached," said Shore softball coach Nancy Williams.
"He was very thorough and made sure his players knew all aspects of the game . . . I'm sorry to hear (about his firing)."
It was an otherwise banner week for the Lancers' softball team, which will be honored this afternoon in Trenton by McGreevey. On Tuesday, Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year Tricia Reingle threw out the first pitch at a Lakewood BlueClaws game.
"I told the team today via email, because it's so hard to get a hold of everyone at this time of year," said Kommendant.
"Regardless of all the success we had last season, this was a group that I looked forward to coaching in the future. St. John Vianney gave me the opportunity to coach a great group of kids for seven years. I was given a lifetime of memories in those seven years."
DeRoba and Szyarto could not be reached for comment.
2004 NFCA All-Region Teams (click to view)
Wednesday, July 7
Vreeland, Reingle named NFCA 1st Team, East Region
Louisville Slugger/NFCA High School All-Region Teams Announced
Top-ranked Fort Bend Elkins (Missouri City, Texas) placed three players on the first team All-South Central Region squad as announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Wednesday.
Pitcher Ragan Blake, who led the Knights with a stellar 0.08 ERA, was honored along with battery mate Erin Howe and shortstop Jamie Hinshaw. The trio will all play softball at major Division I programs - Blake at Mississippi State, Howe at Stanford and Hinshaw at Texas A&M.
St. Amant (La.) claimed its third consecutive Louisiana 5A title, and placed a national-best four players on the first team All-Region squad. Pitcher Leah Heintze, infielders Sloane Laiche and Kellie Eubanks, as well as outfielder Rachel Cook were tabbed first team All-South region.
Pacifica (Calif.), who ended the season ranked No. 3 in the final USA Today/NFCA High School Top 25 had a pair of first team honorees in the West. Pitcher Brittany Weil and Crystal Vieyra were each honored.
Mount Zion (Ill.) placed three on the first team All-North region squad, while undefeated St. John Vianney had a pair of players tabbed first team All-East region.
Tuesday, July 6
St. John Vianney ranked 17th in USA by StudentSportsSoftball.com (click for article)
Friday, June 25
Vianney makes history with perfect 33-0 mark
BY GEORGE ALBANO, THE HUB
HOLMDEL It was the ultimate "Dream Season."
That might be the only way to describe the kind of season the 2004 St. John Vianney High School girls softball team had this spring. All the Lady Lancers did was compile a perfect 33-0 record, win the Shore Conference, the Monmouth County title and the NJSIAA Parochial A state championship.
But what really made what they did so special, what really set this past season apart from any other, was the 33 victories. No other girls softball team in New Jersey state history has ever won that many.
"Were the first team in the state to win 33 games," head coach Aado Kommendant proudly boasted. "Were about the 15th or 16th team to go undefeated, but we had the most wins of all of them."
It could be a record that stands for a long time, too. Just playing 33 games in a single season is pretty hard to do, what with rainouts and all.
"We were lucky enough to play every game on our schedule," Kommendant pointed out. "Thirty-three games is the most games we could have played. Going into the season, we knew we couldnt play any more.
"So its almost impossible to top that the way the playoffs are set up. Unless they change the playoffs, a team cant play more than 33 games. A public school could, but not a parochial school."
But even if a team was to play as many as 33 games, or more, it would have to win all of them to tie or surpass the Lancers record. Thats the tricky part.
The St. John Vianney girls softball program certainly knows a thing or two about winning. The state championship was the Lancers third in four years. They also won the Parochial A title in 2001 and 2002, and only a 3-0, 12-inning loss to Immaculate Heart Academy in last years state final prevented a three-peat.
This years Shore Conference championship was also the Lancers fourth overall and their third in Kommendants seven years as head coach, to go along with the crowns he won in 1999 and 2002. Kommendant was an assistant coach with the 1997 team that also captured top honors.
Of course, no team can go 33-0 without contributions from a number of players. Theres no question, however, the key to this years success was junior pitcher Tricia Reingle, who went 30-0 with a 0.07 ERA and a school-record 364 strikeouts in 194 innings.
"She set the record as a sophomore and broke it as a junior," Kommendant noted.
Reingle, who had 26 shutouts, was also named first-team All-Shore Conference, All-County and All-State, and was selected as the 2004 Gatorade New Jersey Softball Player of the Year.
"Weve always been very fortunate to have very good pitchers," Kommendant said. "We had Kathryn Bucco, who graduated in 1999, and she was replaced by Jackie Adelfio, who graduated in 2002. So weve been fortunate to have good pitchers.
"But the year Tricia had on the mound this year topped them all. She had good speed, but what made her a cut above the rest was her off-speed pitch and her control."
Kommendant and the Lancers are fortunate they will have another good pitcher next year, too. Her name is Tricia Reingle, who will be back for her senior year.
"It would be hard to top what she accomplished this year," Kommendant said. "But I wouldnt discount the possibility she gets even better next season."
In fact, most of this years St. John Vianney softball team will be back. The Lancers lose only one senior, center fielder Jessica Zreeland, who batted .363 with two home runs and 27 RBIs.
But while her loss will be felt, the rest of this years starting lineup consisted of four juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen, all of whom return next season.
"Were already looking forward to next softball season," Kommendant said.
Who knows, maybe that 33-0 state record will be tested after all. The Lancers certainly have some big sticks coming back, led by Katie Eder, a sophomore first baseman this season who led the team with a .400 batting average and 33 RBIs while belting a pair of homers.
Amanda Rooney, another sophomore who played right field, led the club with four HRs while hitting .346 and driving in 18 runs. Jaime Tupino, a junior shortstop, hit .315 and scored 21 runs.
Then there was freshman second baseman Katie DeBlasio, who had some key RBIs throughout the season, and junior left fielder Amanda DAlessio, who provided stellar defense. Another defensive stalwart was sophomore third baseman Lauren Galladay.
"She stopped just about everything that came her way," Kommendant said.
Junior catcher Lauren Incorvaia and freshman designated hitter Kelly McGinniss rounded out the talented lineup.
The experience the St. John Vianney team gained this season should also be invaluable next year. The unbeaten Lancers were tested a few times during the season, including in their two biggest games, which also happened to be their last two games.
In the finals of the Shore Conference Tournament, St. John Vianney edged Toms River East 1-0 in nine innings, scoring the games only run in the top of the ninth when, with two outs, Eder singled, DAlessio pinch ran for her and stole second, and Zreeland singled her home.
Then, in their next game, the Lancers faced Mount St. Dominick in the state finals and also won that game 1-0. They scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh when Reingle singled and Eder walked to put runners on first and second. Zreeland then laid down a two-strike bunt that was misplayed into an error as pinch-runner Laura Aniello raced home with the winning run to cap St. John Vianneys 33-0 state championship season.
"We won our last two games in our last at-bat," Kommendant said. "And Jessica Zreeland won both of them in her last two games as a senior. That was quite a finish for her. She deserved it."
But perhaps the Lancers were never tested more than in their 10th game of the season against Matawan. They trailed 2-0 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when Eder and Zreeland hit back to back doubles to make it 2-1.
Then after the first two batters made out in the last of the seventh, Galladay singled, Aniello pinch ran for her, and McGinniss, on a 1-2 pitch, hit a pinch-hit RBI double to tie it. Reingle then won it in the bottom of the eighth with a home run to keep the Lancers unbeaten record intact.
"Ive always thought the true test of a team is how it reacts to adversity," Kommendant said, "and this team passed the test."
The Lancers passed 33 tests in all, some harder than others, on their way to the record book. It truly was a "Dream Season," the likes of which may never be seen again.
"Two years ago, we went 28-3 and won the same championships the Shore Conference, the county and the state championship," Kommendant said. "We called that the season of our lives. But this really was the season of our lives."
Thursday, June 24
St. John Vianney ranked 13th in USA by NFCA/USA Today (click for article)
Sunday, June 13
TEAM OF THE YEAR: For Vianney, the perfect season
BY SEAN REILLY
FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
Jess Vreeland began to realize something from the time St. John Vianney opened its season with a 4-0 victory over Middletown South on April 5.
"We were always calm," the senior center fielder said. "And ever since the first game, we had confidence that we were going to win something."
As it turned out, the Holmdel team won everything.
St. John Vianney became New Jersey's 15th undefeated team and first to complete a season 33-0. It clinched the state record for victories in a season by scoring in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Mount St. Dominic, 1-0, in the championship of the NJSIAA Parochial A tournament.
Coach Aado Kommendant's team also won the Monmouth County and Shore Conference tournaments as well as a divisional title in the Shore Conference and finished as the No. 1 team in The Star-Ledger Top 20.
Of the 222 innings that it played this year, it trailed in just eight.
"It was unbelievable," said sophomore first baseman Katie Eder, who joined the team this year after her family moved from Texas. "It was a perfect season. We had a great team and we all got along. We didn't plan or expect something like 33-0, but it happened."
Vreeland was the only senior who took the field, but the team also received contributions from two other 12th-graders. Team manager Darylynn Sargent was a three-year presence on the bench, while Mike Stevens was a right-hand man to Kommendant, helping each day with practice and in scouting future opponents. Kommendant had no varsity assistant this year.
"There was a lot of chemistry from the freshmen on to the seniors," said junior left fielder Amanda D'Alessio. "Jess Vreeland did an excellent job of leading the team. She always pulled through in the clutch and we'll definitely miss her. Darylynn was also a big part of our team and Mike didn't have to do any of the things that he did, but really helped us a lot."
"It was never just one person," said junior right-hander Tricia Reingle, who went 30-0 and ended the season with a 53-inning scoreless streak. "Everyone contributed in some way during the course of the season."
Kommendant assembled the hardest schedule he could find for his team. Among the non-conference opponents St. John Vianney faced this year were Montclair Kimberley Academy, Roselle Park, New Egypt and Jackson. And if the state championship matchup with Mount St. Dominic had a regular-season feel, it was because the teams had already played twice during the season.
"Coach K goes out and finds hard teams for us to play," shortstop Jamie Tupino said. "That's also something that made us better."
The best display of St. John Vianney's mettle took place in its 10th game, a regular-season matchup against Matawan on April 23. An earned run in the first inning and an unearned score in the fourth put St. John Vianney behind, 2-0.
Things looked bleak in the sixth, until Eder hit a two-out double and Vreeland followed with a double off the wall in center to cut the deficit to 2-1.
With two outs and nobody on in the seventh, eighth batter Lauren Galladay singled and pinch hitter Kelly McGinnis followed with a game-tying double on a 1-2 count.
Reingle set down Matawan in the top of the eighth, and she then led off the bottom of the inning with a home run over the field's temporary fence.
"I don't know if that was the turning point, but our confidence level just rose after that game," D'Alessio said. "It gave everyone a lot of confidence and hope for the rest of the season."
St. John Vianney was behind in just two other innings all year -- it spotted Red Bank a run in an 11-1 decision on April 28 and fell behind early when it defeated Neptune, 10-2, on May 18. Reingle didn't start in either game.
"After Matawan, someone told me that it was the kind of game that told you something special was lying ahead," Kommendant said. "Little did I know what that something would turn out to be."
Monday, June 7
33-0 Vianney victorious, 1-0; No. 1 team takes title
BY SEAN REILLY
Jess Vreeland of St. John Vianney was given a second chance at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning of a scoreless battle against Mount St. Dominic last night in the NJSIAA Parochial A final.
What followed will be a source of contention for years to come.
Vreeland, a senior center fielder, swung and missed at a 2-2 pitch from Katie Norton with nobody out and runners on first and second. But behind her, the home plate umpire had raised his hand prior to Norton's delivery to indicate that time was out, so the delivery was called a no-pitch.
"I didn't call timeout, so I guess he wasn't set," said Vreeland, the only 12th-grader on the St. John Vianney roster. "I definitely felt like I was given a second chance."
Despite the 2-2 count, Vreeland got the bunt sign from coach Aado Kommendant, and controversy followed.
She successfully put the pitch in play, and the throw from the plate to first base glanced off her left arm and caromed toward second base, enabling courtesy runner Laura Aniello to easily score from second and give St. John Vianney, No. 1 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, a 1-0 victory over No. 11 Mount St. Dominic at Toms River East.
St. John Vianney completed its season 33-0, eclipsing the 1991 Ramsey team (32-0) and the 1986 Hammonton squad (32-3) as the winningest in state history.
Mount St. Dominic argued vehemently for an interference call on the final play, saying that Vreeland strayed into the base line, but the umpires conferred and let the play stand.
"I ran down the line like a normally do," said Vreeland, who sported a bruise on her left arm above her elbow. "I wasn't even thinking about getting in the way, because my objective was just to move the baserunners."
"We played a great game and disappointingly it was decided out of our kids' hands," said coach Lorenzo Sozio of Mount St. Dominic (24-9), which lost its third game of the season to St. John Vianney. "I can't complain about our effort. We played a great game. It's just a heartbreaking way to lose a state final."
The game was a pitchers' duel between junior right-hander Tricia Reingle (30-0) of St. John Vianney and senior righty Katie Norton (19-8) of Mount St. Dominic.
Reingle finished with a three-hitter, with 12 strikeouts and one walk. She didn't allow a runner to reach second until Val Belfiore singled with one out in the seventh and advanced when Jamie Gardella reached on catcher's interference with two out. Reingle then got her final strikeout on a full count to end the inning.
Norton pitched two-hitter, with nine strikeouts and one walk. St. John Vianney was hitless until catcher Lauren Incorvaia singled with two outs in the fifth.
Reingle, who bats second in the order, led off the bottom of the seventh with a clean single to right field on a 1-2 count. Aniello took her place as a courtesy runner.
Katie Eder, who had struck out in her first two at-bats, then coaxed a walk on the eighth pitch of her at-bat when a 3-2 pitch was high and inside. The base on balls put runners on first and second -- doubling St. John Vianney's baserunner total for the game.
Vreeland followed with the bunt that ended the game and gave St. John Vianney its third state title, all in the past four years and all by one-run totals.
Reingle, who ended the season with 53 consecutive scoreless innings, was ecstatic to help her team gain a significant state milestone.
"My pitches were working well," she said. "There's not much more you can ask for than finishing like we did. We've always played well as a team, and that's why we were able to go 33-0. It doesn't matter who gets the job done as long as someone does, and somebody was able to do it for us in every game."
Saturday, June 5
Ceremony aside, SJV eyes state softball title
Published in the Asbury Park Press 6/05/04
by NEIL SCHUMAN
They had to make some special arrangements in the proceedings for this morning's commencement ceremony at St. John Vianney.
Normally someone whose name starts with "V" would have do some waiting to receive their diploma. However, in the case of Jess Vreeland, an exception is being made.
Shortly after the 10 a.m. ceremony begins, Vreeland will be the very first member of the school's Class of 2004 to get a diploma.
And then, "I'm just getting my diploma and walking straight onto the bus to Toms River," said Vreeland, who is the captain, a four-year starter, the center fielder, the cleanup hitter and the lone senior on Vianney's softball team.
Vreeland, who will be wearing her uniform under her gown, and the entire Lancer team, which will be attending the ceremony -- all in uniform -- will then board that bus for Dover Township looking to end a perfect season with a championship. By 12:30 p.m., the Lancers will be on the field at Toms River East, playing Mount St. Dominic for the NJSIAA Parochial A championship.
Vreeland is no stranger to these games, having already played in three of them, quite often figuring prominently in the proceedings.
"It's probably the biggest thrill I've had here, so far," Vreeland said of being a part of the first Lancer team ever to win a state title. Her freshman season Vianney captured Parochial A for the first time, beating Paramus Catholic 1-0. Vreeland's 10th-inning drive to deep left center was misplayed, allowing the winning run to score.
Her sophomore season, the Lancers made it two titles in a row by beating favored Immaculate Heart 1-0. Vreeland doubled and scored the only run in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning she threw out a runner at first base from right field, with an IHA runner on third base.
Vreeland was a first-team All-Shore selection as a junior, when the Lancers came up short in their Parochial A threepeat attempt, losing to Immaculate Heart in the final.
And she's continued her trend of coming through in the clutch in two championship games within the past week. On Wednesday her two-run single broke open the South Jersey Parochial A title game in which the Lancers beat Red Bank Catholic 5-0. The next day, her ninth-inning single pushed across the winning run in a 1-0 Shore Conference Tournament championship game victory over Toms River East.
"Jess came through in big spots as a freshman and she's continued that right through the next-to-last game of her career," Lancers coach Aado Kommendant said. "There's no surprises there. Jess never surprises me. I expect a lot out of her and she never lets me down."
In addition to it being the final game of her high school career, today takes on even greater meaning for Vreeland, who will attend San Diego State in the fall but is unlikely to continue playing softball.
"Since I'm not playing in college, this is going to be my last competitive game of softball," she said. "It would be awfully nice to go out with another championship. My four years went by really quickly and it would be great to end it the same way I started it."
Shortly into the season, Kommendant moved Vreeland from right field to center field and inserted Amanda Rooney into right. That made Vreeland the anchor of both the batting order and the outfield.
"I was used to dealing with balls slicing toward the line," Vreeland said. "There are no slices in center, which is nice."
One thing Vreeland did have to leave behind was the outfield assists she routinely got, throwing out runners at first base from right field.
"I really miss that play. I love that play," she said. "But with Rooney there, we're in good shape. She's great at that play."
This year's edition of the Lancers has been called perhaps the deepest in the program's history. Vreeland enjoys the increased protection she has in the lineup with the emergence of players like Katie Eder and Katie DeBlasio. But she's more appreciative of the bond between teammates.
"It's nice to know when you get up there's going to be someone on base and to know when you get on base that there's some-one who can bring you in," Vreeland said. "But more im-portantly, I think we're a lot closer as a team this year. We're together off the field a lot more. And during the games, we're louder and more enthusi-astic."
If you ask Kommendant, a lot of that goodwill among Lancers has a lot to do with the pres-ence of Vreeland.
"She is good role model for the younger kids," he said. "This team will be feeling the effects of having had Jess Vreeland around for the next three years at least. The players she's touched will probably in turn touch other players, so the long-lasting effects of her pres-ence will be here for a while."
from the Asbury Park Press
Published on June 5, 2004
Thursday, June 3
Vianney edges TRE in 9th for title, 1-0
by ANDREW BELL
For the Star-Ledger
To remain unbeaten and earn the No. 1 spot in The Star-Ledger Top 20, St. John Vianney has battled through its share of one-run games -- six in all. One of those games, against Matawan, even went into extra innings.
But yesterday Toms River East did something no other opponent had done this season. It held St. John Vianney scoreless after seven innings.
That was little consolation by the bottom of the ninth, though.
Jess Vreeland singled up the middle in the top of the ninth, scoring pinch runner Amanda D'Alessio and giving St. John Vianney a 1-0 victory over the defending champion in the Shore Conference Tournament final at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.
St. John Vianney (32-0) will look to complete a perfect season when it takes on Mount St. Dominic tomorrow in the NJSIAA Parochial A final at Toms River East. The first pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
Despite its offensive struggles against Toms River East, St. John Vianney remained confident throughout.
It finally got things going with two outs in the ninth, when Katie Eder started the rally with a single up the middle. She was replaced by D'Alessio, who stole second base to set up the winning run.
"I was just looking for a hit anywhere to move the batter around," said Vreeland, the only senior for St. John Vianney. "With two strikes on me, I was hoping to put the ball in play. I had confidence we would score a run."
Despite putting only three runners on base through the first seven innings, St. John Vianney hung on through the pitching of Tricia Reingle.
Reingle was able to control the game from wire-to-wire with a season-high 19 strikeouts. She allowed just one hit, one walk and hit one batter. At the most decisive moments of the game, Reingle was at her best.
The junior struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh and eighth, and closed out the game with two strikeouts in the ninth.
"There was never any pressure, because I believe in my teammates," she said. "It was a close game the whole way. As the game goes longer, you want to win more. You need to have the same attitude throughout the game."
Toms River East (20-8) had its best opportunity in the fourth, when Meghan Murray broke up the no-hitter with a slow ground ball to third. Murray reached second on a groundout by Andrea Gregory. But Reingle got out of the jam with two strikeouts.
Murray also reached second in the first, this time on a walk, only to be left stranded. Every time Toms River East had a runner on base, Reingle ended the inning with a strikeout.
"She pitched a fabulous game from beginning to end," Toms River East coach Debbie Schwartz said. "There were two talented teams on the field. Unfortunately for us, it was won on a crucial hit. We just couldn't get a big hit. You have to congratulate the other pitcher."
Danielle Olsen and a stonewalling defense kept Toms River East in the game. Olsen allowed four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Amanda Rooney finished with two hits for St. John Vianney.
Wednesday, June 2
Rooney sparks No. 1 Vianney to crown, 5-0
by ANDREW BELL
For the Star-Ledger
Last week, sophomore Amanda Rooney broke up a no-hitter and helped St. John Vianney win a quarterfinal game in the NJSIAA South Jersey, Parochial A tournament.
Yesterday, Rooney did it again, hitting a homer that sparked unbeaten St. John Vianney, No. 1 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, to a 5-0 victory over No. 12 Red Bank Catholic in the South Jersey, Parochial A final in Red Bank.
The teams were involved in a scoreless duel for the first three innings with St. John Vianney star Tricia Reingle (28-0) allowing one hit and one walk, while Natalie Cruz (22-5) was equal to the task for Red Bank Catholic with a no-hitter in progress and one walk. That baserunner was wiped out by Cruz after she induced the next batter to hit into a double play.
Different players have been stepping up all season for St. John Vianney (31-0) with Rooney taking her turn again. In the quarterfinal against Holy Cross, the St. John Vianney right fielder broke up a perfect game with a single in the fourth.
This time, Rooney came through with a lead-off homer in the fourth that broke up a scoreless deadlock and ignited the St. John Vianney offense.
"I was just looking for a lead-off single like I always do," said Rooney, whose fourth homer of the season was her third in the last four games. "I felt the ball off the bat and thought it had a chance. It was only a matter of time until the team would start to hit. Once we get the first hit, the rest of the team usually comes around."
St. John Vianney broke it open in the sixth with a four-run surge. Rooney ignited the rally with a lead-off single. Jess Vreeland, the only senior on the team, produced the big hit with a two-run single and Katie DeBlasio and Kelly McGinniss both drew walks with the bases loaded.
Reingle stymied Red Bank Catholic (23-5) with a three-hitter, striking out 11 and walking three, including one intentional pass.
"A lead gives you a lot of room to work with," said Reingle, Gatorade's New Jersey Player of the Year. "I thought the defense played extremely well, especially Jaime Tupino. After the home run, I think the whole team relaxed and gained confidence."
Kate Marvel twice singled for Red Bank Catholic, stole second base each time but was left stranded as Reingle wiggled out of each jam.
The only other threat to Reingle's shutout bid came in the fourth when Kalynn Davies led off with a single and moved to second when Ali LoBello was intentionally walked. But the inning ended when Liz Curley flied out to deep left field.
Saturday, May 29
Lancers buzz by Caseys into SCT finale
by NEIL SCHUMAN
HOLMDEL -- Pitchers have few options when trying to find somebody safe to pitch to in the St. John Vianney lineup when it hits buzzsaw mode.
From leadoff to ninth, anyone can make you pay for any mistake pitch, so it comes down to picking your poison. The hitting spread like wildfire through the Lancer lineup in the fourth inning yesterday, quickly turning what had been a pitchers' duel between Vianney's Tricia Reingle and Red Bank Catholic's Natalie Cruz into an all-but-done deal.
The Lancers pounded the ball throughout the six-run outburst that did the bulk of the damage in an 11-0 Shore Conference Tournament semifinal victory that has them back in the SCT title game after a one-year absence. On Wednesday at 4 p.m., they'll face Toms River East for the championship at Brookdale Community College.
Katie Eder started the uprising with a single to right field, taking second on an error. She capped it by blasting a two-run single to center. Two innings later she made things official with a three-run homer that quickly cleared the fence in right-center, ending a game in which she went 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs and five RBI.
"I've seen Tricia Reingle hit a few of those homers and it looked kind of exciting and I always wished I could do that," Eder said. "There are a lot of good hitters on this team and we have fun and once someone does well, everyone else gets pumped up. I guess it's like a little rivalry where we all say, 'I can't let her get a better hit than mine.' "
Katie DeBlasio gave the Lancers (30-0) the lead when she led off the second inning by homering to right center.
"I knew that was just going to start it," said DeBlasio, who also walked and scored on an error in the fourth. "I had a feeling that eventually we would start pounding the ball."
The score remained 1-0 until the fateful fourth, when Vianney sent 11 hitters to the plate, had five hits and drew three of the seven walks they received. Jess Vreeland's hit-and-run single scored Eder making it 2-0. Vreeland scored when Kelly McGinniss walked with the bases loaded and McGinniss scored on Jaime Tupino's single.
The Caseys (22-4) threatened early as Kate Marvel led off the game with a single and took second on Erica Benn's sacrifice. Kalynn Davies walked and both runners advanced on a passed ball. But Reingle (five strikeouts, two walks, three hits allowed) pitched her way out of trouble then, and again in the third when Benn crushed a double to left-center.
The Lancers and Caseys play again on Tuesday in the South Jersey Parochial A final. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Central Regional but has been moved to Red Bank Regional.
from the Asbury Park Press
Published on May 30, 2004
Saturday, May 29
Eder powers #2 Vianney by #8 RBC in SCT semifinals
Katie Eder, who went 3-for-3 and drove in five runs, ended the game with a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth when St. John Vianney, No. 2 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, ousted No. 8 Red Bank Catholic, 11-0, in the semifinal round of the Shore Conference tournament yesterday in Holmdel.
St. John Vianney (30-0) became the 18th team in state history to reach the 30-victory plateau. It had also beaten Red Bank Catholic, 8-0, in the championship of the Monmouth County Tournament on May 15. And the teams will clash again on Tuesday for the championship of the NJSIAA South Jersey, Parochial A tournament in Bayville.
Top-seeded St. John Vianney earned a date with third-seeded Toms River East (20-7) for the Shore Conference tournament title on Wednesday at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. Toms River East reached the final with a 6-4 victory over Ocean Township on Friday.
St. John Vianney took a 1-0 lead in the second when Katie Deblasio led off with a home run over the fence in right center. Jaime Tupino added a two-run single in the fourth inning when a six-run uprising extended the lead to 7-0.
Tricia Reingle (27-0) pitched a three-hitter for the victory. She struck out six and walked two.
Thursday, May 27
VIANNEY SURVIVES PAUL VI, ADVANCES TO FINAL
St. John Vianney scored its only run of the game in the fourth inning and held on to defeat Paul VI 1-0 in a NJSIAA South Jersey Parochial 'A' quarterfinal game. Katie DeBlasio's flare to shallow rightfield fell in and Laura Aniello scored when two Paul VI fielders collided on the play. Tricia Reingle struck out 14 and allowed just one hit in posting the shutout. Vianney advances to its 6th consecutive sectional final on Tuesday, June 1st when it will face 2nd-seeded Red Bank Catholic in Berkeley. Vianney improves its record to 29-0.
Thursday, May 27
VIANNEY KEEPS CLIMBING IN NATIONAL POLL
Vianney Softball continued to climb its way up the National Fastpitch Coaches Association/USA Today Super 25 softball poll, improving from 22nd to 19th for the week of May 20th and jumping from 19th to 17th on May 27th. Vianney was joined by another school from the Northeast as Amity High School in Connecticut made its debut at #21. Fort Bend Elkins (TX) remains the top team in the country. The final poll will be released on June 10th.
Wednesday, May 26
LANCERS MARCH ON IN SCT
St. John Vianney advanced to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Manchester in Holmdel. Vianney rightfielder Amanda Rooney broke up the shutout bid with a home run leading off the fourth inning. Rooney has homered in the last three games, all Vianney victories. Vianney added two runs in the sixth when Amanda Rooney and Trish Reingle each singled with two-out and Katie Eder added a two-run double. Reingle picked up her 25th victory of the season, striking out 11 and allowing only 2 hits. Vianney will now face 4th-seeded Red Bank Catholic in a semi-final on Friday.
Monday, May 24
LANCERS DOWN LANCERS
The Lancers of St. John Vianney defeated the visiting Lancers of Holy Cross 5-0 in the opening round of the NJSIAA Parochial 'A' South Tournament in Holmdel. Holy Cross starter Kristie Gola was perfect through three innings but Vianney scored four times in Gola's second trip through the order. Amanda Rooney led off the fourth with a single and moved to second when Tricia Reingle's infield grounder was misplayed. Katie Eder followed with a double to plate Rooney. Jess Vreeland knocked in a pair with a double to right and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Lauren Incorvaia. The final Vianney run came in the fifth on a solo home run by Amanda Rooney. Vianney improves to 27-0 and will face Paul VI in a sectional semifinal on Thursday.
Saturday, May 22
LANCERS DROP JACKSON
St. John Vianney improved to 26-0 on the year, defeating Ocean County Tournament champion Jackson 2-1 in Holmdel. Lauren Galladay knocked in the game winning run when her hard hit groundball deflected off the pitcher and was turned into an out, scoring pinch-runner Emily DiMaso. Jackson had tied the game in the fourth inning when Kristen Hennings knocked in a run with a two-out single to center. Vianney scored in the first inning when Amanda Rooney homered on the first offering by Jackson pitcher Kristen Hennings. Vianney completes its regular season and now will concentrate on the two remaining tournaments of the spring.
Friday, May 21
VIANNEY SCALPS BRAVES, ADVANCES IN SCT
Top seeded St. John Vianney exploded for 10 runs to advance to the quarterfinal round of the 2004 Shore Conference Tournament. Amanda Rooney led the Lancer attack with a 4 for 4 performance. Rooney also added four runs to the ledger. Trica Reingle knocked in 5 runs on the day, including a three run, sixth inning home run that ended the game. Vianney will meet ninth-seeded Manchester in a quarterfinal round match-up at home on May 26.
Saturday, May 15
VIANNEY CAPTURES MONMOUTH COUNTY TITLE
St. John Vianney plated 5 runs in a first inning outburst to capture the inaugural Monmouth County Tournament with an 8-0 victory over top-seeded Red Bank Catholic. Vianney took advantage of three walks and three Casey errors in the opening frame to break the game open. Tina Philburn provided the crushing blow when her bases loaded single was misplayed for an error, allowing three runs to score. Trish Reingle allowed two hits in a complete game effort, striking out thirteen. The county championship is the program's third overall and first since 2002. Vianney has appeared in five of the last seven title games. Five Lancers were named to the All-tournament team, including; Tina Philburn, Katie Eder, Jess Vreeland as well as Jaime Tupino, who was named Outstanding Defensive Player and Tournament MVP Tricia Reingle. Vianney enters the Shore Conference Tournament as the top seed and will face 16th seeded Manalapan in first round action on May 19 in Holmdel.
Saturday, May 15
MCT SOFTBALL: Lancers capitalize on miscues
by NEIL SCHUMAN
WALL -- St. John Vianney is a dangerous enough team without being handed any gifts.
Teams that allow the Lancers additional baserunners on walks and errors quickly find out the true meaning of opportunism. Last night St. John Vianney took advantage of nearly every break Red Bank Catholic sent its way on the way to handing the Caseys an 8-0 drubbing in the championship game of the Monmouth County Tournament at Harry W. Rash Field.
One run would have been plenty, considering the way Tricia Reingle was pitching for Vianney. Reingle tossed a two-hitter, striking out 13 and walking one. But the Lancers (21-0) struck for five runs in the top of the first inning, with just one hit, benefiting from some early Natalie Cruz wildness and some sloppy fielding by the Caseys (18-3). Amanda Rooney and Jess Vreeland drew walks, sandwiched around a one-out error that allowed Katie Eder to reach, loading the bases.
When Katie Deblasio worked out a walk, the Lancers were in front to stay.
"She had just walked two batters before me, so I knew I had to be patient at the plate," said Deblasio. "It was a big rally starter. We had a very good offensive game, as far as jumping on our opportunities."
With a drawn-in infield, Tina Philburn then bounced a double through the hole, clearing the bases and pushing the lead to 4-0. Philburn, who took third on a throw to the plate, scored on Lauren Incorvaia's fielder's choice.
"It was totally unexpected, especially from me," Philburn said. "And when I saw what was happening, I decided I might as well go to third. We were going to take advantage of every little thing we could to unmotivate them and motivate ourselves at the same time."
The second inning brought another run, when Eder blasted a two-out double to the right-center field gap, scoring Rooney, who drew her second walk of the game.
Reingle smashed a two-out single up the middle in the fourth and Laura Aniello, her courtesy runner, came all the way around to score on an error.
Meanwhile, the Lancers continued to back Reingle with flawless defensive play and they gave her another insurance run in the fifth inning without the benefit of a hit. Two errors wrapped around a pair of wild pitches sent Deblasio around the bases with the game's eighth run.
Considering Reingle entered the game having allowed just four earned runs on the season, the Lancers' early outburst gave them all the confidence they needed and them some.
"Having played an exceptionally tough schedule with some tight games, we know there are times when we aren't going to get a lot of scoring opportunities, so we need to take advantage of whatever we get" said Lancers coach Aado Kommendant. "It's an awfully nice feeling having Trish out there to defend a five-run lead."
from the Asbury Park Press
Published on May 16, 2004
Thursday, May 13
VIANNEY INCHES UP IN NATIONAL POLL
St. John Vianney improved its national ranking from 25th to 22nd when USA Today and the National Fastpitch Coaches Assosiation announced its new softball rankings today. Fort Bend Elkins (Texas) remained first in the nation. Vianney is the only New Jersey team and the lone Northeast representative in the rankings.
Saturday, May 8
VIANNEY DEFEATS OCEAN, ADVANCES TO COUNTY FINAL
St. John Vianney advanced to the championship game of the inaugural Monmouth County Tournament with a 2-0 semi-final victory over 3rd seeded Ocean. Tricia Reingle allowed 2 first inning singles and was perfect thereafter, retiring the final 19 batters in notching the shutout. Lauren Galladay and Jaime Tupino scored the runs in the third and fifth innings, respectively. On May 15, Vianney will face top seeded Red Bank Catholic, winner of the other semi-final against Wall. Vianney improves to 19-0 on the season and will face Red Bank, Jackson and Neptune this week.
Thursday, May 6
VIANNEY CRACKS NATIONAL RANKINGS
USA Today announced its "Super 25" National High School softball rankings today and Vianney Softball made the list at #25. Vianney is the lone New Jersey representative and is the only state representing the Northeast portion of the United States. Fort Bend Elkins of Missouri City, Texas is #1 according to the poll and is currently 33-0. The "Super 25" is announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Wednesdays and appears in USA Today in a late week edition.
CLICK THE USA TODAY ICON TO SEE THE ENTIRE POLL
Sunday, May 2
VIANNEY MARCHES TO JOUST CHAMPIONSHIP
St. John Vianney defeated Mt. St. Dominic 1-0 to capture the second Lancer Joust @ St. John Vianney. Laura Aniello, running for Tricia Reingle, stole second and third base before racing home on a Jess Vreeland first inning single. That lone run would stand up as the Lancer defense, led by Amanda Rooney would pitch in to assist winning pitcher Tricia Reingle in defeating the Lions for the second time this year. In the preliminary round, Vianney upended the New Egypt Warriors 3-0, using the second perfect game of the season by Tricia Reingle to lead the cause. Amanda Rooney scored 2 runs and Katie Eder knocked in two. Vianney improves to 17-0 and looks to clinch the B-North championship with a win over Monmouth on Tuesday.
Friday, April 30
VIANNEY SCALPS BRAVES
St. John Vianney advanced to the semifinals of the Monmouth County tournament with a 4-0 victory over Manalapan. Amanda Rooney drove in two runs and Lauren Galladay picked up a pair of hits to lead the Lancers. Trish Reingle fired the shutout to pick up her 13th win of the year. Vianney improves to 15-0 and awaits the winner of the quarterfinal game between 3rd seeded Ocean and #11 Matawan.
Wednesday, April 28
VIANNEY WINS, VIANNEY WINS
St. John Vianney won both games of a day/nite doubleheader as it defeated Red Bank 11-1 and Rumson 10-0. The victory over Rumson advances Vianney to the Monmouth County Tournament quarterfinals where it will face 7th seeded Manalapan on Friday, April 30th. Jess Vreeland went 4-4, hit 2 home runs and drove in six runs in the opener against Red Bank. Katie Eder pitched a complete game, picking up her second victory of the season. Trish Reingle pitched a no-hitter and struck out 13 in the MCT opener against Rumson. Only a sixth inning error prevented a perfect performance. With the sweep, Vianney improves to 13-0 on the season and faces Raritan in a B-North contest on April 29.
Tuesday, April 27
VIANNEY STINGS HORNETS
Using the combined pitching efforts of Tricia Reingle and Kelly McGinniss, Vianney softball registered a 7-0, no-hit victory over the Holmdel Hornets. Katie DeBlasio drove in two runs with a 4th inning single while Tricia Reingle was 2-4 and knocked in three runs, including a two run, 4th inning homer, her second of the season. Amanda Rooney scored 2 runs from the leadoff spot. Vianney improves to 11-0 on the season and next will play a day/night doubleheader on April 28. The Lancers face Red Bank in B-North action and then will travel to Rash Field to face 18th seeded Rumson in opening round Monmouth County Tournnament action.
Friday, April 23
HEROES O'PLENTY AS VIANNEY COMES BACK
Trailing by a run with two outs and no one on base in the 7th inning, the chances of a Vianney comeback appeared slim. The powers that be however, failed to notify the Vianney softball squad of that fact. Lauren Galladay walked to the plate and calmly ripped a single up the middle to extend the inning. After the basehit, two members of the team were summoned off the bench and entered into the game. Laura Aniello replaced Galladay on the bases and Kelly McGinniss entered as a pinch-hitter with the potential tying run at first base. After falling behind in the count 1-2, McGinniss slugged a double down the leftfield line, scoring Aniello and tying the game. The Vianney defense would retire Matawan in order in the top of the eighth and would win the game when Trish Reingle's deep fly to rightfield fell over the fence for a home run after a simultaneous collision between the rightfielder, ball and fence. Vianney improves to 10-0 on the season and will face 18th seeded Rumson in the round of 16 of the Monmouth County Tournament at Rash Field.
Saturday, April 17
REINGLE PERFECT, VIANNEY TOO
Tricia Reingle has never had a perfect game in 3 years on the varsity bowling team. Tonight in Roselle Park, Reingle made up for that in a big way. Reingle outdueled fellow All-State pitcher Becky Riccatelli as Vianney walked away with a 2-0 victory under the lights before a crowd of 500. Reingle struck out 15 in pitching the first perfect game of her Vianney career. She earlier tossed a no-hitter against Middletown South in her first start this spring. Vianney opened the scoring with a single run in the fourth. Katie Eder singled with one out and was sacrificed to second by Katie Deblasio. With two outs, Eder stole third and scored when the throw reached left field. In the fifth, Tina Philburn singled to right and was replaced on the bases by Laura Aniello. Aniello stole second and scored from there when Lauren Galladay's bunt single trickled thru the infield. Vianney improved its record to 6-0 and will face Neptune on Tuesday.
Saturday, April 17
Vianney tops Roselle Park
BY PAUL BRUNO
Becky Riccitelli continued her dominance on the mound but it was not enough as Roselle Park, No. 9 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 3 St. John Vianney last night in Roselle Park.
Riccitelli, an All-State selection last spring, scattered three hits, struck out 13 and didn't issue a walk. But she was overshadowed by another All-Stater, St. John Vianney's Tricia Reingle, who pitched a perfect game to earn the victory. Reingle, a junior right-hander, finished with 15 strikeouts, including six of the last nine batters she faced.
"I wish the outcome would have been better," said Riccitelli, who led Roselle Park to the state Group 1 championship last year. "We'll learn from this. Maybe we were a little nervous but and maybe we felt some pressure facing the No. 3 team in the state.
"I pitched my game but Tricia was perfect."
Reingle got all the support she needed in the fourth as St. John Vianney (6-0) opened a 1-0 lead. Katie Elder, who batted cleanup, singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Katie Deblasio. With Lauren Incorvaia at bat, Elder attempted to steal third. The ensuing throw sailed into left field and Elder took off for home and scored when the throw to the plate went wide.
St. John Vianney also scored in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Lauren Galladay. Roselle Park is 2-1.
Sunday, April 11
Eder leads Vianney
BY SEAN REILLY, for the Star-Ledger
When St. John Vianney coach Aado Kommendant set up a team website four years ago, he never imagined it would pay off the way that it did yesterday at the Mount St. Dominic Invitational in Caldwell.
The site was viewed last year by Texas resident Bob Eder, a New Jersey native who was about to relocate his family back to the Garden State. His daughter, Katie, was a talented softball player, so he surveyed the internet as a part of his search to find her a new parochial school in the Central Jersey area.
That's when he found the Vianney softball site. One thing led to another, and Katie Eder enrolled at the Holmdel school as a sophomore last fall.
After totaling three hits in nine at-bats while her team won its first three games, the first baseman and cleanup hitter went a combined 7-for-8 yesterday as St. John Vianney defeated Montclair Kimberley Academy, 8-0, and Mount St. Dominic, 5-1, in the eight-team event where each team played two pre-determined games.
"It's been tough at times, but I've gotten used to it here," said Eder, who moved from Middlesex County to Texas when she was a 3-year-old. "I was able to play with the girls here last summer, so that helped. The level of competition has also been about the same as it was in Texas."
Eder's performance at the plate backed the powerful pitching of junior All-Stater Tricia Reingle. The right-hander allowed three hits, with 15 strikeouts and three walks, to handcuff Montclair Kimberley. She followed with a one-hitter, with 13 strikeouts and one walk, against Mount St. Dominic.
Eder, who fouled out in her first at-bat of the day, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the top of the third against Montclair Kimberley.
After falling behind 0-2, she fouled off two more pitches before taking a ball from pitcher Jamie Piela. Eder then sent the next delivery to deep center field for a three-run double. St. John Vianney added another run in the sixth and scored four more times in the seventh. All but the final-inning runs were unearned.
In its second game, St. John Vianney (5-0) scored three times in the sixth for a 4-1 lead over Mount St. Dominic. An infield error on a ball hit by Katie DeBlasio scored the go-ahead run with one out. Tina Philburn followed with a fly ball that was dropped in the outfield for a three-base error and 3-1 margin. Jaime Tupino added a RBI single to deep shortstop with two out.
Eder's emergence has been especially beneficial for St. John Vianney, which graduated most of its infield after finishing runnerup in Parochial A last season following consecutive state titles in 2001 and '02.
"It's been nice to have someone with experience like Katie come in and fill one of those spots," Kommendant said. "When I set up the website, it was intended to give the players something to look at and also to give them access to other information. This became an unintended bonus."
"Katie came up big in both games," Reingle said. "It's definitely an advantage having her in our lineup. She helps us to become a better hitting team and she's also a real team player."
Leadoff batter Lauren Nisivoccia had a leadoff bunt single in the fourth for Mount St. Dominic (1-2).
Wednesday, April 7
VIANNEY SHOOTS DOWN ROCKETS
St. John Vianney posted an 11-0 victory over Raritan today in a B-North match-up in Hazlet. Katie Deblasio knocked in 2 runs and posted a pair of doubles to lead the Lancer attack. Amanda Rooney pitched in with 3 RBI's including a 2nd inning, 2-run triple. Tricia Reingle picked up her 2nd victory of the season with 4 innings of shutout ball. The Lancers will face undefeated Monmouth Regional in another B-North contest today in Tinton Falls.
Monday, April 5
INAUGURAL MCT SEEDED
The first edition of the Monmouth County Tournament was seeded today in Wall and Red Bank Catholic, the 2003 winner of the final Lady Buc Tournament was seeded 1st. St. John Vianney was seeded 2nd and will face the winner of #18 Rumson and #15 Monmouth. Vianney's first round game will take place at Rash Field on April 29th at 6:15PM. Should Vianney advance, the quarterfinals will take place on April 30 at 8PM while the semifinals will be played at 5PM on Saturday, May 8. The championship game will be contested on Saturday, May 15th at 7PM. The complete seedings are as follows:
1-RBC, 2-Vianney, 3-Ocean, 4-Freehold Boro, 5-Wall, 6-Middletown South, 7-Manalapan, 8-Manasquan, 9-Middletown North, 10-Raritan, 11-Matawan, 12-Freehold Township, 13-Howell, 14-Shore, 15-Monmouth, 16-St. Rose, 17-Red Bank, 18-Rumson, 19-Marlboro, 20-Holmdel, 21-Colts Neck, 22-Keansburg
Friday, June 22
2007 Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup Team Announced
Jersey Shore announced its roster for the Carpenter Cup to be played next week at FDR Park in Philadelphia. Asbury Park Press first-team All-Shore selections Kate Kuzma (Colts Neck) and Danielle Murphy (Mater Dei) will lead the 16-player roster that also includes Mater Dei's Tess Gagliano and Sara Cline, Rumson-Fair Haven's Brittani Seeman, Lacey's Katie Morrissey and Vicki D'Anduono, Southern's Samantha Deixler, Shore's Alissa Francisco and Ally Roma, Monmouth's Gina Falcone, Colts Neck's Sarah Leder and Nicole Wisniewski, Wall's Kiersten Burke and Kelsey Higgins and Neptune's Samantha Mayer. Head coach Tony Vodola (Wall) will be assisted by Wall assistant Brad Hansen, Manasquan assistant Aado Kommendant and Greg Kapalko. Jersey Shore will play its first game in the double-elimination tournament, which begins Monday, on Tuesday at 9 a.m. against Inter-AC/Friends, a league comprised of Philadelphia-area private schools.
Friday, June 29
Diamonds in the Rough
While lacking the big names that frequently made headlines during the regular season, the Jersey Shore representatives in the Carpenter Cup Softball Tournament advanced into the winner's bracket finals with three wins on Tuesday.
By - Scott Clayton - Senior Staff Writer, ShoreConfernceSports.com
PHILADELPHIA - After a year in which the top Shore Conference softball teams delivered dominance game after game, a casual follower of the local high school season may not have known that a little farther down the rankings and standings there was still a lot of talent to be found on the diamonds. After the Jersey Shore entry to the Third Annual Carpenter Cup won all three of its games on Tuesday, it is apparent that, while many big names said, "No thanks," head coach Tony Vodola and his staff put together quite a roster from among those that were willing and able.
Hosted by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Carpenter Cup is a tournament in which 16 all-star teams from areas of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware compete in a double-elimination bracket at Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, in the shadow of Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia. Unlike the baseball tournament, the softball rosters must be filled with underclassmen.
Jersey Shore began the day with a 7-5 win over InterAc/Friends, a collection of Philadelphia area private schools. That win earned them a date with a combined team from the Tri-County (Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland) and Cape-Atlantic leagues of South Jersey. A 1-0 win there pitted Vodola's squad against Delaware South, a game in which Jersey Shore rattled off five straight two-out hits to key a four-run third inning on the way to a 6-4 win. Jersey Shore will face Lehigh Valley, the only team to escape Monday's action unscatched, for a berth into Thursday's final.
"You have 16 girls that want to play," Vodola said. "No matter who would be here - other kids had other obligations and we understand that - it was these girls' time to shine."
So it came to be that Mater Dei's Sara Cline and Colts Neck's Nicole Wisniewski, and not either of the two underclassmen pitchers that headlined the ShoreConferenceSports.com all-star team, became the rocks inside the circle for Jersey Shore. Cline headed up a five-girl Class B Central contigent that made contributions up and down the lineup as well as in the field. "I think we're gaining the respect that we deserve," Cline said. "Our B Central has a couple of great players and we just need to be noticed. I think me, Tess (Gagliano) and Danielle (Murphy), we've been doing a great job of showing that."
In addition to Cline's Mater Dei teammates Gagliano and Murphy, the Shore Regional tandem of Ally Roma and, especially, Alissa Francisco, proved dangerous with the bat. Francisco provided the only RBI of the second-round game as her second-inning double over the right fielder's head scored Southern's Samantha Deixler from first-base. Cline and Wisniewski combined to strand six Tri-Cape runners in that contest, while striking out nine. In the third game, a winner's bracket semifinal, Francisco's third-inning single through the right side plated a pair. She would come around, along with Wall's Kelsey Higgins, to score on Gagliano's double down the left-field line.
"We're trying to gain our respect," Francisco said. "Nobody thinks we can produce any good players, but I think we proved a lot."
Cline had one of the team's two hits against Tri-Cape and went 2-for-4 with a run scored against Delaware South. Her first-inning triple to left-center and subsequent run erased Jersey Shore's only deficit of the day, a brief 1-0 disadvantage. Francisco stroked a team-high four hits on the day, going 4-for-6. Roma connected for a triple against InterAc/Friends and a double against Delaware South. Murphy, meanwhile, made her biggest contribution with her glove, back-tracking swiftly to haul in a long fly ball that appeared destined for extra bases in the sixth inning against Delaware South.
"I guess these kids feel comfortable playing with anybody," Vodola said. "I think they want to represent the Shore and they're showing their colors. It's kind of nice. They stepped up and they want the Jersey Shore to be noticed."
While Cline was brilliant as the starter against Tri-Cape, with five strikeouts and just three hits allowed in her four innings of work, she lacked the same dominant stuff against the potent Delaware South lineup. Pitching for the third time in a brutally hot day, Wisniewski again slammed the door on a Jersey Shore victory. On the day, the Colts Neck junior threw for 10 innings, giving up nine hits and no earned runs, while striking out 14 and walking just one. "She just put the lid on it," Vodola said. "We're short about four pitchers. Pitchers just decided not to show up."
Vodola expects to go with Cline and Wisniewski again on Wednesday against a Lehigh Valley team that won its three Monday games by a combined score of 27-2. The winner will advance directly to Thursday's 1 p.m. final, while the losing team moves on to the Thursday 11 a.m. losers' bracket final.
The hero of the opening-round game was Neptune third baseman/outfielder Sam Mayer, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.
"We saw potential in this team," Vodola said. "(Assistant coach Aado Kommendant) and I spent a lot of time discussing strategy and as the day went on we got better at substitutions with the lineup and the defense, and the girls followed suit. It made it easy for us to make adjustments." Despite defensive alignments switched regularly in the second and third games, Jersey Shore played error free ball against Tri-Cape and committed just a pair of miscues against Delaware South.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid987453499/bclid769355791/bctid1078717183
Monday, April 5
VIANNEY OPENS SEASON WITH VICTORY
St. John Vianney opened the 2004 season with a 4-0 victory over Middletown South in Holmdel today. Tricia Reingle twirled a no-hitter and was nearly perfect in shutting out the Eagles. Jess Vreeland drove in 3 runs and Jaime Tupino scored a pair for Vianney. The win is the fourth consecutive opening day for Vianney. The Lancers will next face B-North rivals Raritan in a road game on Thursday, April 7.
Friday, June 29
Train Keeps A-Rollin'
Led by closer Nicole Wisniewski of Colts Neck, the Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup softball team continued its surprising run with a 10-3 victory Wednesday over Lehigh Valley to reach the final.
By - Scott Clayton - Senior Staff Writer, ShoreConferenceSports.com
PHILADELPHIA - The roster was finalized on Friday, for a tournament that began just three days later. It is apparent, however, that the weekend for the Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup softball team was spent developing the kind of chemistry that is rarely found in all-star squads.
With just one player on its roster who earned ShoreConferenceSports.com first-team all-star honors this spring, and just five more named to the second or third team; With players like Sarah Jane Leder and Tess Gagliano learning new positions on the fly; And with opponents that look as though they rolled right out of central casting for softball all-stars, Jersey Shore has forged an improbable run through the winners' bracket. Tuesday's three wins earned the locals a game with defending champion Lehigh Valley, which had outscored its three Monday opponents, 27-to-2.
All the underestimated Jersey Shore squad did was erase a 2-0 first-inning deficit with three 3-run innings to cruise into the tournament final with a 10-3 win. Once again, Mater Dei's Sara Cline got the start, allowing just two unearned runs in her four innings of work, and Colts Neck's Nicole Wisniewski handled the final three innings.
"The first thing Sara (Cline) said to me was that we've got to go up there hitting because this team looked like it could hit the ball," second baseman Tess Pagliano of Mater Dei said. "And she was right."
Lehigh began the game with three straight hard-hit singles to score a run. While an error in the field led directly to their second run, the defense also picked up Cline as catcher Kiersten Burke cut down a base stealer.
With the bats in their hands, the Jersey Shore team showed the would not be intimidated. Vicki D'Anduono of Lacey started the bottom half of the inning with a line drive single over shortstop. Colts Neck's Katie Kuzma had the big blast of the inning with her triple to deep right-center. Neptune's Sam Mayer, who was in the middle of the action on the base paths all game long, brought Kuzma home on a fielder's choice. After advancing to third base, Mayer scored to make it 3-2 when Lehigh Valley pitcher Alex Maclean could not get a handle on Alissa Francisco's soft line drive.
"We just came out and took it to them," Mayer said. "We seem to hold it together when teams get ahead of us."
Lehigh got one run back to tie the score in the top of the second, but Cline brought home D'Anduono with a two-out double to center to give Jersey Shore the lead for good.
"That team hasn't lost in a while and what's the first thing you do, you put their back to the wall and see what they're made of," an ecstatic Tony Vodola said to his squad after the game.
Jersey Shore knocked Maclean from the game in the third inning. Mayer singled up the middle and came around to score from first on a double to right-center by Sam Deixler of Southern. Francisco, who is tied with Mayer for the team lead with five hits, singled home Deixler and advanced to third as her line drive was misplayed in left. Gagliano brought Francisco home with a soft liner over the third-base bag.
"All I kept saying to myself was to keep it going, because I knew that there was only one out," Gagliano said. "Alissa was on third and we needed to score to keep things going."
As they did on Tuesday, the Class A Central contingent, Cline, Gagliano and Danielle Murphy of Mater Dei and Francisco and Ally Roma of Shore, led the way with their bats, going a combined 5-for-10 with 6 RBIs.
"It's good because nobody ever thinks of us at all," Gagliano said. "They think, 'Oh, they're in a crummy division. They can't do anything.'"
In a three-run fourth inning, Mayer eluded a run-down to score from third on a Kelsey Higgins squeeze bunt to the third baseman. Roma then drove a single up the middle that scored Deixler and Higgins and finished the scoring.
In a role she has now grown accustomed to, Wisniewski finished off the win with three scoreless innings. In the four tournament games, Wisniewski has thrown 13 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 15.
"Our team is really jelling together really well," Wisniewski said. "I know that if I give up a hit that the defense is diving for the ball and making the plays."
Saturday, April 3
RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, STOP RUINING OPENING DAY
For the third consecutive day, rain washed away the opening game of the 2004 season. Rain forced postponement of the home opener against Middletown South on both Thursday and Friday and wet field conditions forced the cancellation of the road game versus Holmdel on Saturday. Vianney is now scheduled to meet Middletown South on Monday, April 5 in Holmdel as the Lancers look to open defense of its B-North title.
Wednesday, November 5
VIANNEY ANNOUNCES 2004 SCHEDULE (click to view)
Vianney Softball announced its 2004 schedule today and for the fifth consecutive season it ranks among New Jersey's strongest. The 2004 line-up includes match-ups with 2003 State Champions Roselle Park as well as the traditionally strong programs from Montclair-Kimberly Academy and Mt. St. Dominics Academy. 2004 will also feature the second Lancer Joust @ St. John Vianney. Hillsborough, New Egypt and defending champions Mt. St. Dominics all return for the event. Middletown South and Raritan highlight the B-North schedule while RBC and Jackson will meet the Lancers in non-divisional play. Vianney finished the 2003 season with a record of 26-4.
Wednesday, November 5
VIANNEY SCRIMMAGE SLATE FINALIZED
St. John Vianney Softball, hoping to make its fourth consecutive state championship game appearance in 2004, have announced its challenging scrimmage schedule for the month of March. Multiple scrimmage days are the highlight of this year's slate. Beginning on Saturday, March 13 the Lancers travel up the Garden State Parkway to play a tripleheader against Lenape Valley, Fair Lawn and Paramus. The following Saturday (March 20) finds Vianney at home as it takes on Allentown and for a second time, Fair Lawn. Manalapan welcomes 4 teams on March 27th and the Lancers will be taking on Brick, New Egypt, Northern Burlington and the host school in the final weekend of scrimmage action. A doubleheader at Cedar Grove will take place on Sunday, March 28. Single scrimmages against Shore, MonDon, Hunterdon Central, Ocean and South Plainfield will round out the schedule. Vianney will open the 2004 season at home on Thursday, April 1st against perennial power Middletown South.
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