Cignarella bestowed with scholarship

Tyler Cignarella, of Hopewell Valley, has been awarded the American Legion Baseball Scholarship for 2009.
Tyler is a recent graduate of Hopewell Valley High School, where he was a varsity starting pitcher and all-purpose infielder for three years and was named MVP as both a junior and a senior on the squad.
Tyler was recently selected as Student-Athlete of the Year by the US Army ROTC, received the HV Soccer Association scholarship, the Jeanne Erickson Memorial Scholarship
A member of the National Honor Society, Tyler received a Hopewell Valley Testamur (awarded to students as evidence of completion of course requirements and a grade point average far in excess of New Jersey State graduation requirements).
Tyler was named to the All-CVC (Colonial Valley Conference) first team and All-Area second team. He played for two years with Hopewell Post 339 and one year for Ewing's Legion Post 314 last summer (when Hopewell Legion did not field a team).
Tyler was a member of the 15-year old District Baseball team which won the first-ever 15-year-old District title for HV, and a member of the American Legion All-Star team.
This summer, in addition to his play with Hopewell Post 339, Tyler was selected to play for the Mercer County team at the Carpenter Cup Baseball Tournament, along with other high school all-stars chosen to compete in this tournament, which is sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies.
On June 16, in the opening round of the 24th annual Carpenter Cup at Meiklejohn Stadium on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, with Mercer trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, Tyler stepped up to the plate with two runners on and one out. He ripped a line drive into the right-field corner and raced around for a two-run triple to bring the Mercer County team ahead.
"With one out, I just wanted to be aggressive and hit the ball to the outfield and knock in at least one of the runs," Tyler was quoted as saying in an area news publication.
His at-bat pushed Mercer into the lead, which they maintained to win the game 8-1.
The son of Rich and Harriet Cignarella, Tyler will receive the American Legion Scholarship from Mercer County League Officials at a picnic this Wednesday, July 15 at 6 p.m. at the Lawrence Legion Hall.