The Bona Fides of Baseball, 2014

BASEBALL'S LOCAL GEM

As we jump into the world of baseball, circa 2014, we are required to pause to acknowledge the singular talent of arguably the greatest hitter to ever play for East Haven High School. Three short years ago, Nick Lamberti's arrival at East Haven High School was a much anticipated one, having had an amazing AAU career with the memorable, nationally known, travel squad aptly named the "Connecticut Naturals." Lamberti had gained reknown as an elite youth baseball player and basketball player.

Despite being the most anticipated Freshman to enroll at EHHS in perhaps 20 years, nothing would have prepared us for what Lamberti would achieve in his high school career. In remarkable fashion, Lamberti batted .415 as a Freshman, .505 as a Sophomore and then, shattered the record book when he hit a blistering .600 as a Junior. Lamberti also broke the record for hits in a season racking up 42 in his Junior campaign, and added the stolen base record when he swiped 21 bags. His marvelous Junior Season saw him finish with an astounding OBP of .740.

Needless to say, Division 1 Colleges filled Lamberti's North High Street mailbox with recruiting pleas and Coach's calls inundated the Lamberti household like mosquitoes at an Annex baseball game. Happily, Nick chose to stay "home" and will attend UConn to play for the Huskies.

YOU HAVE TO GO, YOU REALLY, REALLY SHOULD GO

If the opportunity presents itself, everyone should make their way to an East Haven High School baseball game to see Nick Lamberti hit. Having established himself as the best hitter in the State last season, Lamberti's at bats are worth the trek up to East Haven's baseball complex.

If you go, you will see Lamberti gently toe his way into "his office," the batter's box and he instantly becomes a coiled cobra with an intense stare and a frenetic flicking grip on his bat. Lamberti has the quickest hands and the fastest bat speed in the realm of CIAC competition. He waits on a hittable pitch with the palpable anxiety of an unfed lion coming across a herd of wildebeests. He pounces on an offering with an improbably short, fast stroke, his hands explode through the ball and having a lifetime average above .500, more often than not, the result is a laser-like blur cutting to the outfield grass, and Lamberti eagerly rounding first base looking for more. Any game with Nick Lamberti's name written on the line-up card is a must see game.

HOW DID HE GET THAT WAY

Lamberti has achieved an extraordinary level of success, all the while playing for a program that is remarkable for its continuous mediocrity. Instead of going to an elite baseball school like Fairfield Prep, Notre Dame or Xavier where he would be assured of State Tournament berths and a good chance at a State Title, Lamberti instead opted to stay home and play for a team that, despite having some of the best area baseball talent, struggles just to garner the 8 wins it takes to get to the State Tournament annually. East Haven has been dubbed a "one and done" school, denoting its all to often early exit each season.

JUST A HAPPY KID WEARING A #3 JERSEY

When you meet him, Nick Lamberti is a confident and polite young man who carries himself in an unassuming manner, he is clearly and honestly enjoying where he finds himself. He's a genuine kid who unabashedly professes his love of his family, the art of hitting, his teammates and his Town, East Haven. Lamberti attributes his success to family, hard work and great coaches, in that order. When asked, Nick Lamberti tells you he owes all his success to his father and mother (he quickly adds his brother Michael and sister Gabby as well). Nick's father Mike Lamberti was Nick's first Coach and his biggest inspiration and motivator, it was his dad that would lay a strong fundamental foundation for the success that would be achieved. Nick also singles out Coach Dante Palazzo who refined the tools of a naturally gifted athlete into a player who would become obsessed with the physicality of the baseball swing, with Palazzo added to the mix, Lamberti would commit himself to being the best and to get there by working harder than everyone else. Nick calls Coach Palazzo a baseball lifer who refined his drive and instilled a work ethic that re-enforced what his father had ingrained in him, an insatiable craving for perfection.

A MILLION SWINGS

His swing may look like a typically natural baseball swing, in reality, it is anything but that. Lamberti's swing is something that has been his singular obsession for as long as he can remember. His stance and swing have been tinkered with and honed through thousands of hours of what would seem tedious batting cage work. Hundreds of swings a day, thousands of swings each week, hundreds of thousands of swings each year. No, Lamberti insists, he never bores of working on his swing, he considers it a labor of love, one  that brings him the most joy. Put me in a cage and I can hit all day, he laughs, put me between the lines and I can play from dawn to dusk, if the field has lights, I can play forever. Baseball is like oxygen to me, he insists, I may breathe to live, but I live to hit.

Palazzo currently serves as the Pitching Coach for Eastern Connecticut State University, and has a reputation as one of Connecticut's finest baseball instructors. Lamberti is grateful for having had the chance to play for Coach Ed DiPersio and for the chance to play for EHHS under Coach Butch Johnson. With a smile, he fondly remembers and acknowledges the importance of the time spent with the Late Coach Rusty Zoarski.

YOU GOTTA GO, REALLY, YOU HAVE TO

So get out and catch an East Haven High School baseball game before the clock runs out on the hitting machine that is our own Nick Lamberti. Perhaps Lamberti's bat can carry the team past its annual one and done reputation, perhaps, East Haven baseball can shed its decade long perceived skin of mediocrity. If it does, all his at bats will be added gifts from the baseball gods. In any case, you gotta go see this kid hit, you really do.