By Anthony DiCocco
On a beautiful April day, the Commack Cougars’ power was on display both on the field and as a community to raise funds for the district’s 25th Annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony.
Players from across the Cougars’ junior varsity and varsity baseball and softball teams gathered at Commack High School on Tuesday to compete in the inaugural Commack Diamond Club 9/11 Memorial Home Run Derby Fundraiser. When all was said and done, Commack reeled in $5,000 to go toward its 2026 remembrance ceremony and the FDNY Family Transport Foundation.
Six weeks ago, Debbie Virga, who is the head of Commack’s community relations department, reached out to Diamond Club President Justin Oland looking for help. Virga also runs the school’s 9/11 committee, and to honor the lives lost in 2001’s terrorist attacks 25 years later, she decided to go all out by commissioning a drone show and the Tunnel to Towers Mobile Exhibit at a significant cost.
With an ample amount of negotiations, it took Virga two years to finally get her idea off the ground.
“We promised the people of 9/11, all those heroes and victims, that we would never forget and I’m extremely passionate about that and people,” Virga said. “So how do we never forget? We put on a very patriotic, somber, 400-drone show for this community.”
Virga and the district do not use any taxpayer money to fund the ceremony, meaning they raised $64,000 from local business and sponsors to cover the cost of the drones. However, she still needed to make a dent in the museum cost.
That’s where Oland and the baseball team came in.
One Saturday afternoon, senior Dean Kirschbaum, juniors Sam Kay, Nate Montaldo and Luke Krzemienski and Zack Oland — a sophomore and Justin’s son — gathered around Oland’s dining room table and decided on a home run derby with all ticket and t-shirt proceeds going toward the ceremony. Along with the idea, those five players helped organize the event and design logos before partnering with the FDNY Family Transport Foundation, as they figured they would have carry-over funds to donate to them.
“When we heard about the 9/11 event the school was running in the fall, we thought we could expand on that idea with one of our own to raise money for both them and the firefighters transportation service,” Zack Oland said.
Kay further elaborated on the decision-making process.
“We wanted to come together and have something fun that brings the community, our entire team and the varsity and JV softball teams together,” Kay said. “We decided on a home run derby because we thought everyone could get involved, come watch and have fun with it.”
None of the players that participated at the event were born at the time of Sept. 11, 2001, but the five players who helped create the event take great pride in ensuring the heroes and victims of that tragic day do not fade with their generation. Even nearly two and a half decades later, lives are still being lost due to the effects of 9/11.
Even after stating that Commack has the “most compassionate and caring people,” Virga was still blown away by the five student-athletes’ involvement in setting up the event and sang their praises for taking action.
“This event is about these kids coming up with an idea and how to bring it to fruition,” Virga said. “It teaches them a lesson and then they realize why this is so important. They’re helping people and this is the generation that is going to have to carry this on.”
As for the event itself, attendees were treated to free pizza and pretzels supplied by Mema’s Little Italian Kitchen and the Philadelphia Pretzel Factory, respectively. A plethora of other businesses donated gift cards and free tickets to giveaway as well.
Robbie Mascia won the baseball derby by blasting four homers over the fence while Maddie Johnson totaled 10 over cones set up in the outfield to become the softball champ. Staff also participated, as Travis Krzemienski clubbed 11 bombs to earn bragging rights there.
With the event being a grand slam in its own right, Justin Oland revealed that there are already talks of making it an annual event to aid other causes.
“Just by making a few phone calls, we were able to raise a few thousand dollars,” Oland said. “Every year, we’re going to look for a different cause, whether it be mental health or senior citizens.
“We’re hoping that for this group of boys, this will be their lasting memory and their lasting impression on the school. Our goal is for this to run for decades to come with us laying the groundwork to build upon.”