By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
BRIDGETON — Michael Valella graduated from Arthur P. Schalick High in 1994 — 30 years ago.
A baseball addict, he pitched a no-hitter against St. James in 1993 for the Cougars. After graduation, he studied at Rowan University, where he got his teaching degree.
What stood out about Valella during his scholastic days was that his knowledge of the game was nearly unmatched for a high school student at the time.
You can just ask his high school coach, Chuck Tortella.
“Mike has great knowledge for the game,” coach Tortella said. “When I was coaching him in his upperclassmen years, I would let him call the pitches. He has a true passion for the game. People don’t realize how good of a coach he is based on his record, but I would put Mike up there with any other coach in South Jersey. Let me put it this way — the highest compliment I can give him is that I would have no problem with him coaching my grandkids. He has knowledge for the game.”
Valella started his coaching career with Bridgeton in 2003 and has been there ever since, serving as the head varsity baseball coach and history teacher at the high school.
“Our experience here is a lot different from other schools,” Valella said. “You take a school like St. Augustine, Mainland, Vineland, or Millville; those kids have gone into their high school careers with a foundation already. They played little league ball and there’s not a whole lot they don’t already know about the sport.”
You could count all 10 fingers on your hands and that would be more than the total number of victories the Bridgeton varsity baseball team has won in the past two seasons. In that time frame, the Bulldogs have a 7-39 win-loss record. Dating back to 2010, the most triumphs they’ve had in a season is just five.
For Valella, though, it’s not about wins or losses. It’s about teaching the game of baseball to young men who have rarely picked up a glove before going to high school. He’s a teacher of the game.
“One of my favorite stories to tell is that in one of my first years, I told the guys, ‘let’s roll a pair right now,’ and they didn’t understand what roll-a-pair was,” Valella chuckled. “We have to teach them everything from the ground up. Our kids learn more through our program than they do at the other programs.”
One of those is current senior Dominic Ketterer. He’s played pitcher and catcher all four years under Valella.
“He’s very passionate and takes the game seriously,” Ketterer said of his coach. “He always encourages us to be better, even when we’re not doing our best. For me, personally, he’s told me to ‘always give my all’. Never stop trying, always keep going even when you’re not doing the best.”
Valella is a well-known sports fanatic, especially when it comes to baseball. An interesting fact that he takes pride in is that he’s been to all 30 MLB ballparks. His true love, passion, and knowledge for sports and teaching is what makes his team successful, no matter what the record says at the end of each season.
“Obviously, we haven’t had the results, but I think the kids have a really good baseball experience here from the time they step on the field as a freshman to the time they graduate,” Valella added. “I enjoy it. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it would be a lot easier if the performance and outcome was different. There’s no lie there, but we do the best with what we have. We do the best that we can.”
It goes beyond the scoreboard. Valella prepares his players for life. And that experience is something everyone respects about Valella and his baseball program.
