Cherry Hill Post 372 captures first-ever state American Legion title
Cherry Hill will now advance to regional competition in Ridge, Maryland from Aug. 6-10.
July 28, 2025 - WOOD-RIDGE - Anthony Alessandroni is admittedly known more for his pitching prowess, but it was his bat that cemented the first-ever New Jersey American Legion baseball state title for Cherry Hill Post 372.
Alessandroni’s walk-off RBI single drove home Luis Sanchez in the bottom of the seventh inning as Cherry Hill defeated Brooklawn, 6-5, in Monday’s American Legion Baseball state championship
Had Brooklawn won, another game would have been needed to decide the champion in this double-elimination tournament. Cherry Hill went 3-0 in the tournament, with two of the wins over Brooklawn. The two also split their two regular-season games in the Camden County American Legion League.
Cherry Hill will now advance to regional competition in Ridge, Maryland from Aug. 6-10. The regional winner will advance to the American Legion World Series Aug. 14-19 in Shelby, North Carolina.
A recent Cinnaminson High School graduate, Alessandroni will attend Rutgers University-Camden, where he said he was recruited more as a pitcher. The fact that he had a 1.99 ERA as a senior at Cinnaminson shows why his future team is impressed with work on the mound.
Alessandroni won the MVP of the tournament, and his pitching had a lot to do with it. On Sunday, he earned a 7-4 victory over this same Brooklawn team, allowing three earned runs in five innings.
In the final day of competition, both teams were short some of their key players. Cherry Hill had just nine position players, so Alessandroni served as the DH, batting ninth in the order.
“I was down 0-1 on a fastball high and I had left guys on base earlier that I could have probably gotten in, but I was not letting that next fastball get by me without taking a swing,” Alessandroni said.
It was quite a swing.
As for being the tournament MVP, Alessandroni was humbled by the honor.
“It feels great, but there are so many guys on this team that deserve this,” he said. “This is a team MVP here, it’s not just me.”
In the seventh inning, Sanchez, a recent Cherry Hill West graduate, worked a one-out walk. He advanced to second when Jordan Henriquez, a 2024 Cherokee graduate, was hit by a pitch. A walk to 2024 Cherry Hill West graduate Brian Martello loaded the bases and then Alessandroni finished matters with the game-winner.
Brooklawn staged an impressive comeback. Early on, this had the look of a rout when Cherry took a 5-0 lead after the first inning.
Recent Shawnee graduate Chris Ahrens led the game off with a bloop single and recent Cinnaminson graduate Noah Harvey followed with a single. They were sacrificed to second and third and Ahrens scored the first run on an RBI groundout by recent Cherokee graduate Brett Chiesa.
That was followed by RBI doubles by recent Cherokee graduate Mason Kelleher and Sanchez, and then after a walk, Martello drilled a two-run double.
Brooklawn held in there getting one run back in the second on an RBI fielder’s choice by recent Camden Catholic graduate Charlie Neal.
A four-run third inning tied the score. Brooklawn received an RBI single by GCIT rising senior Andrew Valay and a three-run home run by Paul VI rising senior Mason Myers to centerfield.
Recent Gloucester Catholic graduate Brody Gates of Brooklawn and recent Cherry Hill West grad Zach Smith of Cherry Hill each settled down and both pitched five innings.
“I thought Brody pitched his butt off after that first inning,” said Brooklawn coach Dennis Barth, the head coach at Gloucester Catholic. “We didn’t give him more support hitting.”
Kyle Bordner, the head coach of Cherry Hill and a Cherry Hill West assistant, had similar sentiments for the way Smith pitched.
“Zach commanded the zone, even when Myers hit that home run in the third inning,” Bordner said. “His curveball was fantastic and what we needed from him was length and that is what he gave us.”
The winning pitcher was righthander Ricky Orlandini, a recent Cherry Hill West graduate, who threw two shutout innings.
“I was pumped up, kind of blacked out in a good way,” said Orlandini, who will continue his baseball career and education at Atlantic Cape Community College. “I had the mentality that I was better than anybody when I am on the mound and that really helped.”
It sure did because Orlandini didn’t appear the slightest bit nervous, something he confirmed afterward.
“There were zero nerves on the mound, none at all,” he said. “I don’t even think about that stuff.”
As for the feeling of winning the title, Bordner summed it up best.
“This is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced, to beat Brooklawn in back-to-back games,” Bordner said. “I have been trying to beat this team for four years and this is a big moment.”
Brooklawn has won a state record 32 American Legion state titles since the team was formed in 1952 (along with four World Series championships), so finishing second is little consolation.
Still, Barth chose to praise the winners.
“I give Cherry Hill at lot of credit, the shortstop (Harvey) played great the whole tournament,” Barth said. “They did a great job and got the big hit when they needed it.”
It’s only fitting to give the guy who got that big hit the last word.
“This is my first year on this team and it has been amazing,” Alessandroni said. “It’s the most fun I have had in the summer in a while.”
Marc Narducci is a freelance reporter for the Courier-Post. He can be reached by email at cpvarsity@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cherry Hill Post 372 captures first-ever state American Legion title