Aaron Batista’s teammates were celebrating a walkoff victory around home plate when he made a detour to the mound to console the opposing pitcher, whose balk allowed the winning run to score.
“I didn’t actually see it at first,” Perth Amboy Tech baseball coach Frank Paprota said of Batista’s act of sportsmanship. “We were all celebrating together and I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to lineup (for the postgame handshake).’ All of a sudden, I look over, and there’s Batista. I distinctly remember Aaron with his arm around the kid, patting him on the back, saying ‘It can happen to any of us.’ It was a very touching scene.”
READ: New Jersey National Merit $2,500 Scholarship winners named
As the postgame handshake unfolded, more Perth Amboy Tech players consoled the young hurler from Wardlaw-Hartridge, following the lead of their teammate.
“Even in the midst of celebration, they had empathy for the other guy,” Paprota said. “It was nice to see.”
Wardlaw-Hartridge athletics director Karl Miran, who was not at the road game, said parents and coaches told him afterward that the Perth Amboy Tech players’ gesture “meant a great deal to them.”
Miran said his head baseball coach, Andrew Mulvey, called the act “one of the finest examples of sportsmanship he had ever seen.”
Batista was one of 63 student-athletesfrom the Greater Middlesex Conference who were feted during the 16th annual Dan Hayston Memorial Sportsmanship Awards luncheon at The Pines Manor in Edison on Wednesday.
READ:Colonia's Frank Lehmann voted the GMC Baseball Player of the Month
The event's namesake was a legendary East Brunswick High School boys soccer coach and physical education teacherwho compiled a 358-91-24 record in 23 seasons.
Hayston's wife, Denise, and son, Chris, who continues the family legacy coaching soccer at South Brunswick, attended the luncheon.
“Sportsmanship is carrying yourself in a way that you are not going to embarrass yourself, your team or the opponent that you just beat or lost to,” said Batista, who offered a simple explanation regarding his postgame conduct. “We were happy that we won. I just wanted to talk to him because he seemed a little upset. It could happen to anybody. It could happen to me.”
Former Jefferson High School athletics director John DiCola, author of several articles about sportsmanship in trade periodicals and other publications, and Rutgers University senior associate athletics director Kate Hickey, served as keynote speakers. Radio personality Mike Pavlichko, a Spotswood graduate, was the master of ceremonies.
READ: Franklin High School to memorialize student who died
The conference did not acknowledge any team championships or individual titles during the event, but celebrated something far greater that is rarely recognized.
The honorees, often held to a higher standard as student-athletes, are a credit to their respective sports programs and high schools. They are a reflection of their parents, coaches, teachers and administrators who have molded them to respect the game, its rules and its players. They have created a legacy for the conference’s underclassmen.
“I think we’ve become a community,” Paprota said of the friendships cultivated on the diamond during baseball season. “We play very hard against each other, but these kids, they know each other. Almost every time we are playing somebody, the feeling amongthem is it’s a rivalry, but at the same time it’s like a community.”
“I love the idea of this award and the team sportsmanship award that we’ve had in the GMC,” Miran said. “What we really want to do is not reward the double negative – they weren’t bad sports – but reward the positive things.”
Such as Batista’s postgame act of kindness.
GMC 2018 SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD RECIPIENTS
Bishop Ahr: Ryan Pittari, Morgan Maguire. Carteret: David Pierre, Alyssa DePinto. Colonia: Drew Galea, Samantha Ashton. Dunellen: Alex Dornbierer, Kate Ruskuski. East Brunswick: Christian Tarnofsky, Samantha Balsamo. East Brunswick Tech: RJ Jobin, Brianna Rolon. Edison Academy: Jeffrey Bandara. Edison: Jerome Boyer, Marissa Mellinger. Highland Park: Jonah Silverman, Bailey Nester. J.P. Stevens: Frank DiSerio, Christina Rusk. J.F. Kennedy: Louis Truppa, Madison Buttitta. Metuchen: Sean McCadden, Molly Walters. Middlesex: Jacob Robel, Natalie Devine. Monroe: Nicolas Rios, Angela Oskierko. Mother Seton: Brielle Robinson. New Brunswick: Williams Mejia, Roserny Jimenez Ruiz. North Brunswick: Abhishek Shetty, Carly Lodise. Old Bridge: Emmanuel Wheagar, Julia Sandor. Perth Amboy: Mario Luna, Melanie Diaz. Perth Amboy Tech: Aaron Batista, Daisy Arocho. Piscataway: Larry McCullum, Brooke Moll. Piscataway Tech: Jordan Simpson, Isabella Sosa. St. Joseph: Dan Young. Sayreville: Tyler Barreiro, Ashley Edwards. South Amboy: Stephen Fusco, Jenna Makar. South Brunswick: Matthew Ryan, Alexis Adams. South Plainfield: Billy Keane, Ria Soni. South River: Mark Pacheco, Sophia DiGiovanni. Spotswood: Derek Buhl, Sarah Marotta. Timothy Christian: Jonathan Thiero, Joshlyn Brown. Wardlaw-Hartridge: Shalon Wallace, Priya Golding. Woodbridge Academy: Alijah Vanterpool, Casey Ra. Woodbridge: Dominic Zecchino, Jessica Carvalho.
