Phil Sanfilippo
Youth Takes the Field as Valley Stream North Sets Its Sights on Conference A
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Ryan Manno With Head Coach Phil Sanfilippo entering his 16th season as a varsity head coach and Assistant Coach James Casella alongside him, Valley Stream North baseball begins the 2026 season embracing both opportunity and uncertainty. This year’s team is the youngest North has fielded since 2011 and possibly the youngest in Nassau County, but youth has not lowered expectations inside the program. North carries just two seniors and a small junior class, a reality that ensures teaching and development will be a constant throughout the spring. Still, Sanfilippo believes this group is capable of competing immediately in Conference A. The goal is to be a postseason team with a chance to make noise whe...
Valley Stream North Looks to Return to Postseason Led by 4 College Commits
Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series by Joe Bello Phil Sanfilippo is entering his 15th year as the head coach at Valley Stream North High School and is assisted by James Casella. The Spartans made it to the Conference A quarterfinals in the 2024 baseball season, being eliminated by the eventual county champs, Clarke. “We were glad to be back in the postseason after missing it in 2023.” Sanfilippo said to Axcess Baseball. “Due to construction on a new turf field, we played all but one regular season series away from North and held practices at four different locations throughout the season, so there was plenty of adversity to deal with. We had series victories over Plainedge and Lynbrook, and played a very tight series with Mineola. We dre...
Valley Stream North Focusing on Fundamentals as They Look to Bounce Back
by Aaron Diaz (Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s season preview series.) Valley Stream North 10 Floral Park: 0 WP: Chris Manzi (PERFECT GAME, 10 K) Joe Gisonda was 2-2 with a 2-run HR and 4 runs. pic.twitter.com/SRoiofKZFM — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 29, 2019 After missing the playoffs in 2023, the Valley Stream North Spartans look to rebound with a full pitching staff to get back to their program success. “Last year was a difficult year for us,” said Valley Stream North head coach Phil Sanfilippo. “We got off to a poor start against some excellent teams and we dug ourselves a massive hole and missed the playoffs.” Now looking onward to 2024 in his 14th year, Sanfilippo and the assistant coaches James Casella and Daniel Lod...
Valley Stream North Hopeful to Build Off Playoff Appearance
By Michael Malaszczyk The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and varsity baseball is getting closer. Coach Phil Sanfilippo of Valley Stream North had a lot to say about the upcoming baseball season in an interview with Axcess Baseball. By his own words, Coach Sanfilippo and his assistant, James Casella, are looking forward to a season less-stunted by the coronavirus pandemic than the 2021 season. “The last year was very much impacted by COVID,” said Sanfilippo. “This year, we’re starting very late, but not necessarily due to COVID.” Coach Sanfilippo had plenty of thoughts about his team’s 2021 season, which was very successful considering the circumstances. “After a slow start, we won 3 of our final 4 games, including an important win over Plainedge to qualify for the ...
Valley Stream North Prepared To Rebuild On the Fly
by Zevan Shuster The nature of high school baseball means roster turnover each year. The goal is to capitalize on strong senior classes. Valley Stream North High School Baseball Coach Phil Sanfilippo faces a unique challenge as the 2020 season approaches, Sanfilippo knows that the roster turnover from last year to this year – and the resulting inexperience of his roster – will be something that he hasn’t had to deal with since his coaching tenure began. “We graduated pretty much every starting pitcher that we had and every single starter on the field. They all graduated. Now, in many cases, we don’t always play all of the seniors. We play our best players and lots of times you’ll have a couple seniors on the field ,and guys from other grades, but it just so happened last year ...
