Back-to-back champs!
By Mike Matvey
Longtime Saratoga Central Catholic baseball coach Alphonse “Phonsey” Lambert made a bet with his team at the start of the season: If the Saints — who won their first state championship in baseball last season — won back-to-back titles, he would shave his head.
The Saints (23-3) continued their amazing run of baseball and captured their second-straight Class C state title with a 4-1 win against Kendall at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton on June 13. And later that night, Lambert made good on his bet.
“Every March we go to Florida and the tradition is that we have this outfielder and his name is Martin Elie and he has a nice head of hair and the tradition is (the players) shave his head,” Lambert said. “So (senior captain) Carson (Moser) says to me, ‘Coach, if we win (the state title again), can we shave your head?’ I said, ‘Yeah, fine,’ not thinking anything. And we are on the bus ride home (after winning) and Carson says, ‘Coach, remember the Martin thing?’ And he says you are going to get shaved tonight. Each kid got a swipe but it was all good.”
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