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One of the constants over the last 20-plus years of my life was that Lou Cesario would be the baseball coach at Amador Valley High School.
Cesario started when I was the local sports editor at the Tri-Valley Herald, and has stayed through my leaving the Herald and resurfacing at the Pleasanton Weekly.
When spring sports rolled around each year, I would look forward to our conversations relating to not just baseball, but life in general.
I am sure moving forward we will continue to talk, but it just won’t be about Amador Valley baseball. In June, Cesario made the decision to step away from the Dons program, opting to head up the program at Northgate High School.
More than anything, it’s a logistical decision.
“I am retiring from teaching next May, but I still wanted to coach,” Cesario explained. “I live in Walnut Creek and our house is right by (Northgate). The job came open, I applied, and was offered the job.”
The timing may not have been perfect, but it was a move he needed to make.
“I would have loved to have one more year at Amador, but if I didn’t take the Northgate job this year, it wouldn’t have been there. I didn’t want to leave but this is a good thing for me,” he said.
In his 24 years at Amador, Cesario built a highly respected program, winning a pair of North Coast Section titles and putting out one of the top playing fields in the East Bay Athletic League.
“It was always a grind to keep those playing fields in great shape,” Cesario said.
The first NCS title came in 2010, with arguably one of the top teams Cesario coached.
Behind players like Chris Keck, Tony Olguin, Tommy Pluschkell, Nick Piscotty and Michael Mallory, the Dons finished 25-3, beating Foothill 12-1 in the NCS finals.
The second NCS crown came in 2013 and was a different title run. The Dons finished 7-7 in EBAL play and was the No. 4 seed in NCS. This team caught fire at the right time, beating top-seeded Granada — the Mats were 24-1 and ranked No. 1 in California — by a 9-7 final.
In the title game Amador faced No. 2 De La Salle, and the Dons got their second NCS title in four years with a 5-1 win.
This group was led by Bradley Pluschkell, Jake Dronkers, Michael Echavia, Daniel Jackson, Connor Casperson and Chase Hennings.
One thing moving forward that Cesario will, and won’t, miss is coaching in the talent-laden EBAL.
“It is relentless — you can never take your foot off the gas,” Cesario said of the EBAL schedule. “But, coaching in the EBAL makes you a better coach. You always have to figure things out. You can play well and lose for three to four weeks. It’s the best league around.”
One of Cesario’s favorite memories of his time at Amador was also one of his first, and it involved a big piece of humble pie.
He came to Amador from Alhambra in Martinez where he found a level of success albeit in a league not as tough as the EBAL.
“I thought I was a hot shot,” Cesario said of when he came to Amador. “I was thinking I was going to tear up the EBAL. Then we had our first game at San Ramon Valley and coach Rick Steen. We got no-hit and lost 12-0.”
Now the challenge lying in front of Cesario is vastly different. Northgate was 3-21 last year, including a 0-10 mark in the Diablo Athletic League. The year before the Broncos went 9-15.
Cesario has got a blank slate in front of him.
“It’s a program in need of some strong direction,” Cesario said. “It’s all new — it’s been incredible so far. The school has some good bones, and it has pumped some life into me. It’s new faces, new schools and new rivals.”
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
