Glory Days: 1999 Governor Livingston High School Baseball

from Livingston Life June 2023

Bucket List....

By Steve Sears

Former Governor Livingston High School Highlanders shortstop, Terence Reilly, has a special ritual.

“June 5, 1999,” Reilly says. “I remember the day. Chris Butler and I text each other every June 5th. It is one of the best days in our lives.”

Eric Cantagallo was a senior catcher, and his identical twin brother Mark was the second baseman. Cantagallo, when asked if he would go back to the date Reilly mentions, does not hesitate. “To have a pair of identical twins on a team, and for the two of us to share that experience together? When that ball was caught fall in left field for the final out and he comes running from second base and just jumps up in my arms and I am holding him up in the air - winning with the team is special, but nobody else on that team knows what it is like to win with your twin brother.”

Chris Roof, then 25 years old and assistant coach for the Highlanders, says, “It was an exciting time.” Roof had played for legendary, 400+ game winner Bill Howard, and now has 400 wins himself as the Governor Livingston head coach. “And we only had 11 guys on the team. That really stands out and tells you how really tight knit this group was. And Coach Howard was my hero.”

For Howard in his 20 years of coaching there had been sectional titles, but never an outright Group state title.

Then came the spring of 1999, and the killed rally against Gateway Regional. Final score, 4 – 2, and Howard and his Highlanders had a Group II title.

Howard recalls, “We got off to a very slow start. We were 2 – 3 or 2 – 4, and then we just ran off a whole string of wins. We won about 17 in a row. And what set that team apart from others is they just had a really close-knit relationship. The best way I would describe them is that they were baseball kids. They wanted to be there as much as I wanted to be there. I do not mean the finals, but just in general, the whole year.

Governor Livingston had defeated both Chatham and Hawthorne high schools to reach the title game at East Brunswick High School against Gateway Regional. A tworun homerun by Mark Hansen had given the Highlanders a slight edge, and a Reilly RBI double had given them a final, two-run cushion, but there were some key defensive plays.

“They created a bit of a rally, and there was a ball hit between left field and over my head,” Reilly says. “I knew the left fielder would not catch it, so I made a desperate, over the shoulder, juggling catch. I remember

The 1999 Group II state champion Governor Livingston Highlanders baseball team (credit: Chris Roof) as a sophomore I had missed an over the head catch in a game against Dayton, and I said to myself, ‘I am never going to do that again.”

Chris Butler, the leadoff hitter, also made a great catch in centerfield. “One of the vivid memories I have is towards the end of that game. It may have been the fifth or sixth inning. There were men on base for Gateway, and somebody hit a gapper between centerfield and right. It was a good shot, and for whatever reason it was the best jump I had ever gotten on a ball. I was able to make the catch fairly routinely, but it was the jump that really was the key. If I did not get that jump, that could have been a double or triple.”

And then there was the rally killing missed squeeze bunt with the bases loaded in an earlier inning. In a prior game against Ridge High School, Gateway Regional had continued on page 10

Glory Days...

continued from page 8 executed a successful squeeze play and scored a winning run. Cantagallo had read about it, saw it coming again, and so did his batterymate. Gateway Regional was ahead, 2 –1, and were looking to add to their lead.

Cantagallo recalls, “When we felt like the other team was bunting, we would have Bobby Phillips throw sliders or curveballs. It was a 2 and 0 count if I remember correctly, and Bobby’s still the best varsity control pitcher I have ever seen.” Phillips threw a curve, the batter fanned on the bunt, the runner charging to home plate from third Cantagallo tagged out, and then he fired the ball to third baseman Dan Bassiculo, who tossed the ball to Reilly who tagged out the runner between second and third base.

A few innings later, after the final out had sealed the Highlanders’ Group II title triumph, the entire team rushed and mobbed Phillips and hugged each other at the mound.

“Then it was just sheer joy,” Howard says.

Now Here’s A Tip

By JoAnn Derson

• Use a mesh bag to hold flowers in place in a vase. Just roll or wad it up and put it down in the bottom of the vase. When you are done with the flowers, you can use a stick to swish the bag around and loosen any gunk inside the vase when cleaning. Launder the mesh or just toss.

• When freezing leftovers, especially soup or stew, consider using zipper-closing bags. They can be filled and frozen flat, then stacked nicely. They take up much less room than standard containers.

• “To make a waterproof mattress protector in a pinch, slit a large garbage bag down the side and bottom, lay it flat over the mattress and cover with a beach towel.

Then put the sheet over that. The garbage bag protects the mattress; the towel makes it comfortable. “ -- U.D. in Tennessee

• “Keep extra liner bags in the bottom of the garbage can. They are handy, so you will be more likely to reline the can as soon as you take the garbage out.” -- K.P. in Massachusetts

• Keep a box of baking soda in the fridge. When it’s time to replace it, dump it down the drain and follow with a small bottle of vinegar and a hot water flush. Keep your kitchen smelling nice and use less chemicals to do it.