H.S. baseball: Emotional farewell for Emerson coach Carcich

by | May 29, 2014

Bob Carcich

May 29, 2014
By MARK J. CZERWINSKI
STAFF WRITER
The Record
EMERSON — Bob Carcich did a pretty good job of holding his emotions in check Wednesday afternoon at Doc Sweeney Field. Then Emerson senior center fielder Joe Fisco hit a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
    That’s when Carcich, coaching third base in the last half inning of his illustrious 27-and-a-half-year career with the Cavos, put all his emotions on display.
   “Get out,” Carcich said, waving his arms as the ball headed over the left field fence, “Get the hell out of here.”     When the ball cleared the fence, Carcich spun around and clapped, saying, “That’s all I wanted. That’s all I wanted.”
He explained to Waldwick coaches standing near the dugout that Fisco had hit a home run in his first at-bat as a freshman and now in his last at-bat as a senior.
   “Storybook,” Carcich said before turning away and suddenly wiping tears from his eyes.
“That was really important to me,” Fisco said. “I wanted to do that for him.”
   It wasn’t a game winner —  Waldwick won 15-11 — but it was a wonderful exclamation point on day that celebrated one of the legendary coaches in Bergen County baseball history.  Carcich never had a losing season with the Cavos, winning back-to-back Group 1 state titles in 2000 and 2001 and finishing with 539 career wins.
“This has been bittersweet,” Carcich, 61, said before the game. “I’m glad it’s over, but I’m not glad it’s over.     “All I asked for myself this year was to have a good group of kids, have fun, and have a successful season. I had it all.”
  This game wasn’t originally on the schedule, but Waldwick coach Frank Clark agreed to play so the Cavos could make up a rained-out senior day and honor Carcich. The Warriors did that even though the Cavos knocked them out of the North 1, Group 1 tournament last week.