Pizzano looking to take his game to the next level

LYNN – If Dario Pizzano never picked up a baseball in high school, he’d still be one of Saugus’ favorite sons.When he and his teammates on the 2003 Saugus American Little League All-Star team stole the hearts of even the most cynical of sports fans during their ride through the Little League World Series, they pretty much guaranteed that short of robbing a bank, their place of honor in the town’s history was guaranteed.As much as Pizzano treasures that experience and those memories, he also made sure that it marked the start of what he hopes will be a great baseball career and not the end.The newly-minted Malden Catholic graduate is ready to take his game to the next level, and judging from his performance in the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Sectional All-Star Game Tuesday at Fraser Field, he should do just fine.Click here for a photo gallery from the game.Pizzano, an outfielder, was named Most Valuable Player in the North vs. West game, and he was picked to play on the Massachusetts All-Star team that will face the Connecticut All-Stars June 28 at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. Joining Pizzano on that team will be a couple of other local players – Tony Serino of Saugus/Malden Catholic; Hunter Gordon of Swampscott; and Chris Carmain, St. John’s Prep. Mike Calzetta, a junior from Lawrence High, was named the top pitcher of the game. He threw two perfect innings, striking out three.Pizzano and the other local players, including fellow Saugus American Little League All-Stars Joe Kasabuski (St. Mary’s) and Tyler Calla (Saugus High), as well as Roberto Reyes (Lynn English), played for the North team, which won, 5-2.Pizzano put the North on the board in the top of the second inning when he hit a booming triple to the left-centerfield gap to score two runs. Later in the game, he had a single and scored a run. Beverly’s Peter Kalas also had an RBI single.”It’s a real honor (playing in this game),” Pizzano said. “All these guys are the best in the state ? Coming here, I was hoping to do something good, and it worked out.”Pizzano capped off a very successful career at Malden Catholic with a big senior year. He hit .552, drove in 37 runs, had two home runs, and was the Catholic Conference’s top batter. He was also the Catholic Conference Most Valuable Player, and he was named to both the Globe and Herald All-Scholastic teams.Pizzano will take his game to an even bigger stage this fall when he begins his freshman year at Columbia University.”After Little League, I thought, ‘How can it get better than this?'” Pizzano said, adding one of the things the World Series experience did for him was to make him want more, to push himself to the next level.”That was a stepping-stone,” he said of the Little League run. “I’ll have that for the rest of my life, but I want to make a new name for myself at the next level.”One person who has plenty of confidence in Pizzano’s ability to make it at the college level, and possibly beyond, is Steve Freker, his baseball coach at Malden Catholic.”He’s a very committed, very hard-working kid,” Freker said. “The morning after we were eliminated from the state tournament, he was at the school in the weight room, working out.”Freker said Pizzano is just as competitive in the classroom as he is in athletics.”He approaches academics the way he approaches athletics,” Freker said. “He’s always trying to get that extra point.”