Solé wins Yastrzemski Award

They called out the name of the pitcher of the year (Remy Janco), and Alec Solé clapped enthusiastically.

They announced the winner of the iTunes gift card (Janco again), and Solé kept his head down.

Then they revealed the winner of the 19-inch TV (yup, it was Janco). Solé, at this point, was shaking from head to toe.

Solé, a Sachem North senior, had waited a year to win the Carl Yastrzemski Award, given to the most outstanding player in Suffolk County, but it was the last 10 minutes -- full of raffle prizes and general merriment -- that proved the most unsettling.

"I was shaking so hard, the table was moving," Solé said. "It was nerve-wracking . . . My friend started making fun of me."

Allow Solé the brief bout of nervousness after a season in which he was unflappable.

After batting .505 with 29 runs, 28 RBIs and 46 hits and going 6-2 with a 1.25 ERA, Solé earned the Yastrzemski Award, Suffolk baseball's most coveted prize, Saturday at the Suffolk County Awards Banquet at Villa Lombardi's in Holbrook. The shortstop was instrumental in a brilliant postseason run in which Sachem North (21-5) powered all the way to the Long Island Class AA championship game before falling to Carey.

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The other finalists were Janco (Hills West), Michael Hewson (Sayville), Anthony Gatto (Smithtown West), Tommy Kastelan (Deer Park), Tim Caputo (Glenn) and Rocco Pascale (Mercy).

"Since last year, this has been his goal," coach Tom Gambino said of Solé. "He works hard for it. He's a very gifted natural athlete. He wanted to be an elite player in the county and he's constantly getting better. I don't even think he's reached his full potential."

Solé, who will attend the University of St. Louis, has his goals set high. He's expected to start at shortstop as a freshman and has his sights set on reaching the major leagues. Winning the Yastrzemski Award, he said, was one more step among the hundreds it takes to make it to The Show.

"The people on this list are special," he said of the past award-winners, including numerous former and current major-leaguers. "I want to be there someday, and maybe this will give me a chance to get there."

It was a big deal for Solé, who said he knew he had a chance to go a little further with his baseball career about the time he was 6 or 7 years old. He was playing in a travel league full of 12-year-olds, and he was keeping up with them. "I guess I realized the talent I had," he said. "I had brothers, too. They're a lot older and I would always strive to keep up with them."

If there were any question about whether baseball is a family affair for the Solés, one needed to look no further than his brothers, Marc and Eric, and their handheld video camera; his sister, Brooke, who playfully mocked him as he was interviewed, and his parents, Bob and Lynn, who posed for pictures with him.

"We would go anywhere we needed to go for baseball," Alec said. "Especially with my mom and dad, there was so much support, and I love them for that."

Saturday's trek wasn't too far, and the Solé siblings turned out in full force for their little brother. "They had no choice in the matter," Bob Solé said. They didn't seem to mind.