JUNE 21
CARPENTER CUP CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL
Suburban One American/Continental 6, Catholic League 1
  The next time I hear mention of Suburban One anything will be too soon (smile). Those Guys ousted Our Guys by a combined score of 24-1. Last week Inter-Ac/Indy got spanked by National (with Bicentennial mixed in), 18-0, and this morning the CL was dismissed, in relatively convincing fashion, by American/Continental. On the AAU/American Legion trail, the I-A/CL guys will be hearing lots of static this summer (good natured, hopefully) from teammates and even opponents. Only in two innings did the CL advance anyone as far as third base. Not good. The guys did hit some balls hard to deep portions of the outfield, but the opponent always had just enough time to comfortably run them down. The run scored in the second as jr. SS Kyle McCrossen (Wood) singled hard to right, stole second as sr. RF Mike Riverso (N-G) was fanning and scrambled home on a groundball single to center by jr. C Ray Toto (SJ Prep). There were wickedly incorrect calls on the bases, especially at second, and I say that even though the majority probably favored the CL. DN ink went to sr. RH Tim Racek (Roman, Wilmington), who got the start and allowed two runs in three innings. He was the only CL guy to pitch three innings in each appearance (no runs previously). Sr. RH Joe Harvey (K-K, Pitt) entered the game straight from the bench in the sixth inning and was immediately touched for an RBI single, but then retired the next seven guys in order with no balls leaving the infield. There were outstanding back-to-back fielding plays, one by sr. 2B Josh VanHorn (Bonner, charge) and the other by jr. SS Eric Frain (Ryan, up the middle). Toto impressed the coaches with his all-for-one, one-for-all approach. After leaving the game, he could be spotted down the leftfield line acting as a protector for a pitcher-catcher in the bullepn and later, there he was, warming up leftfielder Matt Petrizzi (C-E) between innings. Best of luck to all seniors. PLEASE make the most of your opportunities and if help is needed along the way, don't hesitate to lean on family and friends. Except for the Daily News All-City Team, which is now slated to appear in Wednesday's paper, this wraps up my 39th year of covering high school sports (33rd at DN). As always, thanks for paying attention. Enjoy your summer.

JUNE 16
CARPENTER CUP CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Suburban One National/Bicentennial 18, Inter-Ac/Independent 0
  Shortly after game's end, I walked up to Malvern jr. LH Chris O'Brien and asked, "So, would you like to be the sacrificial interview lamb?" He responded in good natured fashion and off to the races we went . . . When you lose by three TDs (all PATs sailed wide right), you gotta find a way to have fun somehow, correct? As the game wound down, in the dugout, the I-A/Indy guys were discussing the wild and crazy situation that recently caused the resignation of Bryant University's coach . . . while hoping to get on the board, finally. It almost happened. Our Guys had ONE hit through eight innings (ouch), a single in the third by jr. 3B Vince Rondolone (Haverford School). With one away in the ninth, soph CF Nick Bateman (Malvern) guided a one-out single to right and moved up on a balk. Jr. LF Andrew Amaro (Penn Charter, nephew of Phillies' GM Ruben) singled to center, but Bateman was gunned down at the plate. Ugh. The starter was Villanova-bound sr. RH Matt Lengel, who impressively pitched HS to the title. Today, the SOL/Nat./Bicen. guys basically pitched tents at every base. It was almost like the 4th of July. Rockets red glare time. Lengel's velocity was decent, but the hitters kept turning around everything he threw. Matt surrendered eight hits and nine runs (seven earned) in 1.1 innings. Here's thinking he hopes to never again pitch a game with a 9 a.m. starting time (smile). In all, the winners laced 19 hits and six went for extras. Also, the losers committed seven errors and that total probably should have been double digits. Not to be blunt, but it was almost as if these guys had never seen a baseball game, let alone played in many. Truly amazing/puzzling. Just last week, three I-A guys were drafted! (Two out of GA -- SS Sean Coyle, RH Keenan Kish -- and one out of Virginia by way of Malvern -- 2B Phil Gosselin.) And the league sends lots of guys to D-1 programs. DN fun was had with the fact that Obie's dad, Chris, starred in hoops at La Salle and Drexel and his son gets nowhere near that sport; he also plays FB. Also with the fact that PA man Dan Baker announced beforehand -- kiddingly, of course -- that Chris Sr. would sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch. Dan used to announce Sr.'s Drexel games. By the way, this was the worst shutout loss in Triple C history and the third worst blowout overall (behind 19- and 20-run messes). Two other seniors aside from Lengel are bound for D-1 programs -- Chestnut Hill CF Jon McAllister (Maryland) and Malvern SS Ty Young (Louisville). If there are others, just send me an email and I'll note the accomplishment. Good luck to all! (And forget this one as quickly as possible, troops -- smile).

JUNE 15
CARPENTER CUP FIRST ROUND
Catholic League 11, Public League 2
  Going into a game, you always hate to think the result is a given. But in this tournament's 25 years, the Pub has won just once (20 years ago, actually) and we all just knew the Cath would win in anything from comfortable to ridiculous fashion. With an 11-2 score, let's call it something in between. Not much need for blow-by-blow stuff. It does make sense to detail the Pub's second inning, though, because it could have changed the complexion, at least for a while. After sr. C Edimil Brito (Frankford) singled and sr. 3B Chris Blackwell (Overbrook) walked, jr. SS Israel Diaz sent a bolt to DEEP left-center against sr. LH Joe Nestor (Bonner). Sr. CF Rick Reigner got on his horse, big time, and galloped. The end result: a diving catch way out there. Great play! If he doesn't make it, the Pub grabs a 2-0 lead and, who knows, maybe Diaz even circles the bases for an inside-the-park homer. Instead, the CL went ahead, 1-0, in the bottom half on a two-out RBI double by jr. C Ray Toto (sr. 3B Albert Baur, of N-G, had led off with a walk) and a pair of unearned runs sent the sign-of-the-cross guys on their merry way. DN ink went to Toto, who added a rocket of a two-run homer in the fourth and then, in the fifth, gunned down one runner at second (trying to steal) and picked another off first. It was a strong overall performance at a place, Richie Ashburn Field, where Toto feels very comfortable; it's the Prep's home field. The CL had nine RBI in all. Two went to soph 3B Colin Pyne (La Salle) on a single. One apiece on hits went to Baur (double) and La Salle backup catcher TJ Burgmann, a sr. One apiece on "others" went to sr. 1B Alex Liberatore (Bonner, sac fly) and jr. SS Kyle McCrossen (Wood, groundout). Toto was the only CL guy with two hits. The Pub was held scoreless through six innings by Nestor (two innings), Roman sr. RH Tim Racek (three) and Wood jr. RH Larry Brittingham (one). Brittingham and K-K sr. RH Joe Harvey then yielded one apiece in the seventh and eighth on ringing RBI doubles by Central sr. 3B Kevin "Black Pants" Pfeifer and Saul jr. DH Tyler Esbensen. Soph RF Mike Cavallaro (Central) was the lone Pubster with two hits (sorry for the earlier error, "Cavs.") The Cath made two other strong defensive plays: Liberatore caught a foul popup going away and jr. SS Eric Frain recovered a loose ball after an infield error and gunned home to nail Esbensen. In the CL seventh, Kensington sr. 2B Josean Bernard fired home to get an out on a fielder's choice. The Pub has now been outscored, 233-72, in its 26 Carp games and has surrendered at least eight runs in 15 of its last 17 outings. Ouch. Good luck to all Pub seniors. Obviously, a decent percentage came from schools (Central, Masterman, GAMP, etc.) with strong academic profiles. But at many of the "regular" schools, the graduation rate is beyond brutal. Congrats on making it this far and please show that same spirit/dedication as you attend college or head into the work world.

JUNE 10
CLASS AAA QUARTERFINAL
Twin Valley 2, Wood 0
  Anyone have a soapbox? Good, give it here. What’s the one thing kids are warned about again and again? Being late. They’re always told to be on time for school each morning and not fart around when it’s time to switch classes. The penalties for ignoring the rule go from detention to suspension to even expulsion. So today’s game time at Boyertown High’s Bear Stadium was scheduled for 3 p.m. and, guess what, that’s what time the umps walked onto the field. What, you say, is wrong with that? EVERYTHING. The game was scheduled to START at 3 p.m. These guys still had to check bats and helmets. The ground rules had to be conveyed. The complete roster of each team had to be introduced. The anthem had to be played. First pitch: 3:12. Let’s see if the PIAA evaluator on hand has the gonads to report that the game started 12 minutes LATE for one and only one reason: Because these four dudes moseyed on in when they felt like it. I can’t stand that stuff. Baseball is all about routine. Especially for the starting pitcher of the visiting team. He plans his warmup session around the start time. Was the INEXCUSABLE late start the reason jr. LH Jeff Courter struggled through a one-run first inning that could have been worse? He didn’t mention it, but I can’t imagine it helped. I find it curious that he walked two and plunked one in the first inning – and did neither thereafter. Listen, Wood DESERVED to lose. It managed only one hit and failed to take advantage of some other opportunities arising from the milking of bases on balls. Though he surrendered just the two runs, Courter did allow eight hits and a decent amount of balls were hit hard. TV RH Jared Price did not appear to have dazzling stuff, but he certainly rendered the Vikings’ bats close to useless and his fielders made all the plays; the game’s only miscue was Price’s errant pickoff throw. There was an early bad omen. With two away in the first, jr. SS Kyle McCrossen clocked what would prove to be the Vikings’ only hit, a smash off an advertising sign attached to the rightfield fence. However, Kyle was easily rubbed out at second and there can only be one explanation for the fact he was slow getting down the line: He thought the ball was gonna leave. (The other explanation would be flat-out laziness and I can’t imagine THAT was it.) In the fourth, sr. RF Mike Spahits drew a one-out walk and advanced on a wild pitch with McCrossen up. Soon, Kyle would be rung up on a pitch that was decidedly low (see for yourself). Jim DiGuiseppe Sr., coaching at first, did some barking and, by the letter of the law, could have been tossed. He wasn’t. After sr. 1B Matt McAllister grounded out, Sr., still hot about the poor call on McCrossen, yelled into the plate ump, “That’s a disgrace!” The guy removed his mask, walked toward Sr. a little and muttered, "Is there something you want to say about balls and strikes? 'Cause here I am." Sr. knew better than to press the issue. No doubt he would have been banished. We move to the fifth. Jr. 2B Brady McNab and jr. 3B Larry Brittingham (several nice plays) drew one-out walks. What does conventional baseball wisdom say here? Especially if the batter is the guy in the No. 8 hole? Riiiiiight. Take pitches until he throws a strike. Well, DH Brett McCrossen, Kyle’s bro, hacked at the first offering and popped out foul. Jr. C Chris Zikmund then fanned. Wood managed one runner apiece in the sixth and seventh (via walks), but there’d be no late-game heroics. It truly is hard to believe that Wood got blanked. In its previous 20 division and postseason games, it rang up 196 runs (9.8 average). Meanwhile, kudos to sr. LF Jim Fannon. He filled one of the toughest roles in sports – playing in the field, never hitting – and today turned in three nice catches, with one of them being semi-spectacular. With the Vikings AND K-K suffering losses, this means the 2009-10 school year is history except for the Carpenter Cup. By the way, the last hit in K-K’s history was a seventh inning single by senior Greg Guidone. Rather than bother with the traffic on 422 and the Expressway, I took the l-o-n-g way back to the office. Ventured through all kinds of little towns and farm areas in Montgomery County. Wound up weaving through Valley Forge Park. Over through Bridgeport and West Conshohocken. Regular Conshy. Down Ridge Pike to Henry Avenue. Curved along Kelly Drive. Overall, the office was pretty quiet. Many thoughts came to mind. No more K-K. No more Dougherty. No more North. I can’t imagine the emptiness being felt by those schools’ grads. Especially by those who really cared and considered the school a second home and remain proud, to this day, of their ties. My thoughts are with you all. Thanks for decades of wonderful memories.

JUNE 7
CLASS AAA FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF
Wood 10, West York 6
  Down at Ashburn Field, with a start time 90 minutes earlier (2:30, as opposed to 4), Bonner finally ran out of come-from-behind miracles; it had trailed in all four of its postseason wins. Well, Wood impressively picked up the slack, folks. It faced a SIX-run deficit after just one and a half innings, but roared back with five in the bottom half and five more in the sixth to triumph. How many times have you heard coaches implore players to go all out at all times because it can really make the difference between winning and losing? These guys know of what they speak! The Vikings almost certainly are still alive because sr. RH-3B Matt McAllister hauled butt down the line and barely (maybe) prevented an inning-ending doubleplay off a groundball to second. This occurred in the sixth. His hustle tied the score at 6-6 and then, very quickly, it was 10-6. Jr. 1B Jeff Courter followed with a sinking liner to center that became a single/E-8, due to a bobble, that brought in two runs (one RBI). The second was scored by Not Exactly Usain Bolt, a k a McAllister, who kept pushing and pushing as third base coach Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. kept waving and waving. Matt said he was feelin’ it even between second and third, so you can imagine how tired he was by the time he reached the plate. After that play, jr. 2B Brady McNab muscled up for a two-run homer over the fence in dead rightfield. Amazing. Soph pinch-hitter Rich Rosenbaum, usually just a courtesy runner, started the rally with a single to right. Sr. CF Brian O’Grady (Rutgers) then launched a semi-blooper to left that barely found grass in front of the sprawling leftfielder and also went for a single. Honestly, I found the next sequence a little strange. Sr. RF Mike Spahits was asked to bunt not once, not twice, but all three times. He fouled off two, then popped up the third to the pitcher. He’d been called out anyway by plate ump Joe Lieberman for stepping on the plate while offering. He’s a pretty good hitter, with pop, so I expected him to be hacking after the first bunt attempt went awry. At least it all worked out. Jr. 2B Kyle McCrossen then worked a full-count walk. His two-run single had highlighted the largely sloppy second-inning uprising. There were only three hits in that frame. Courter (scratch infield single) and McNab (double over the rightfielder’s head) posted the others. Like all of Wood’s seniors, McAllister had graduated in an 11 a.m. ceremony at Villanova’s Pavilion. Matt said he felt good on the mound, but that didn’t show in his results. After being touched for five in the first and one more in the second, he did get through the third and fourth unscathed. Following a one-out blooper and walk in the fifth, he switched to third and jr. 3B-RH Larry Brittingham moved to the mound. He allowed no hits and two walks during his 2.2 innings while fanning four. Appeared to be bringin’ it, too. The combination of Brittingham’s lights-out late pitching and the clutch come-from-behind hitting, along with help from the call that could have gone either way, made possible by HUSTLE, combined to keep Wood’s season alive.

JUNE 7
CLASS AA FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF
Kennedy-Kenrick 2, Delone Catholic 1
  If you happen to look at the last pic in the photo set, you’ll be muttering, “What the heck is that?” Well, lemme tell you . . . K-K is about to leave us, but for these two, maybe love is about to blossom (smile). This game, which started at noon at Richie Ashburn Field, zipped by in 1:21 and my next tilt, Wood-West York, wasn’t going to start until 4 o’clock at La Salle High. So instead of just heading right up there, I decided to write the K-K story, or at least get a good head start on it, by camping out inside the McDonald’s a couple blocks from the Schuylkill Expressway's Passyunk Avenue exit with the good, ol’ company laptop. These folks wound up in a booth right behind me. After just a comment or three, what was going on was obvious: They’d “met” on an online dating website for seniors and had decided to see each other for the first time right here. I was trying to concentrate on breaking down sr. RH Joe Harvey’s pitching mastery, and these folks were talking about family and religion (the woman’s not Catholic; he is) and all kinds of stuff and the dude even acknowledged his profile pic is four years old. Violation! Ha, ha. They seemed to be getting along great, though, so maybe they'll upgrade for their second date and opt for Pizza Hut. I wish them the best. (The pic was taken from the parking lot, as I began to head out for La Salle. And before drippings from a bacon-cheese angus left three nice stains on the front of my shirt – ugh.) Anyway, Harvey was a stud while sustaining K-K’s baseball existence. Not surprising. After all, he IS a Division 1 signee (Pitt). He allowed just three hits (all singles) and struck out 10 with a repertoire that included fastballs, fastballs and, oh, more fastballs. OK, he did throw occasional off-speed pitches, but truly not many. Never before this season had a Kenrick/K-K pitcher fanned as many as 10 in a postseason contest. Now it has happened thrice: Harvey twice and sr. RH Jimmy Volpe once (all 10 times). Hey, don’t close this place! They're gettin' the hang of it (smile). Coach Tom Sergio’s club scored one run apiece in the fifth and seventh. Sr. 3B Matt Moloney opened the fifth with a hard single to the right side of center. Jr. SS AJ Koscelansky moved him up with a bunt and jr. 2B Rob Barth followed with an RBI line-drive single over the second baseman’s head. The bottom of the order was again clutch in the seventh. Barth, the No. 8 hitter, drew a leadoff walk and then jr. RF Alex Frederick moved him up with another sac. Nice! It’s the little things, folks. Sr. LF Cullen Rota, already 2-for-3, was issued an intentional walk and sr. CF Sal DiPrinzio spanked a shot to left-center to win it/end it. DC had scored in the sixth on a walk, passed ball and two groundouts. There was real good baserunning on that second one as Brett Smith broke for home the instant Moloney fired to sr. 1B Dave Custer; there was no real chance to get him at home. A followup single got sr. C Ed Kelly off the hook in terms of the run being unearned. Kelly then racked up his second caught stealing of the game. (Before the game, he said he always wanted to ask me what’s the deal with the Boston College hat. Kristen & Kevin liked the color and bought me one maybe 10 years ago. Now I have five and just rotate them. Some are lookin’ a little seedy, admittedly. Wonder if Wal-Mart still sells ‘em? Or should I change to another school?) In the DN story, fun was had with the fact that Harvey, while walking around barefoot Sunday night in Ocean City, N.J., as part of Senior Week (K-K had graduation last Wednesday), got a very small hunk of glass stuck in the ball of his left foot. He tweezered it in the dugout before the game. You won’t see it on eBay. Might still be somewhere in the first-base dugout, though, if you think this is a K-K souvenir you really gotta have (smile).

JUNE 3
CLASS AAAA CITY TITLE
Bonner 11, Central 4
  So, do you think Bonner’s coaches might go for this new rule? . . . All of their team’s games MUST begin with a 3-0 deficit. Not likely they’d approve that one, right? But here’s the fact: Bonner trailed by 3-0 after the first half-inning of the CL championship game. And that was again the score after the first half-inning of this tilt, played in sweltering conditions at La Salle High’s Ward Field. Matter of fact, the Friars have trailed in all four of their postseason contests, but they now boast a scoring average of 10.5 runs. Not baaaaad. They rapped 12 hits in this one and while only two went for extra bases, they were triples. Both came in the fifth inning, the second of two frames that yielded five runs. Sr. 3B Matt “Rug” Ruggieri lashed the first, good for two runs to left-center, and sr. CF Rick Reigner had the other, good for one to the same location. If I remember correctly from an interview with Rick after the CL final, both guys are bound for Philadelphia University. The first five-run outburst was more of a small-ball affair. Ruggieri started that one with a walk and then sr. 2B Mike Haley, the No. 9 hitter, sent a bunt maybe halfway to the mound. Sr. RH Kevin Pfeifer rushed in and tried a full-out forward dive, but he couldn’t quite make the snag and it went for a scratch infield single. Reigner also bunted for a hit and the first run scored on a bases-loaded walk to sr. SF Sam Christie. Two of the pitches in that at-bat looked pretty darn good – from the side, admittedly – and the Central folks did some barking. A wild pitch brought in the second run, then sr. RF Matt Mullen drew another free pass to reload the sacks. Sr. 1B Alex Liberatore, a lefty swinger, inside-outed a hit to leftfield that wound up bringing home two more runs (though the second was traceable to a bobble). An infield single by sr. C Paul Shepherd tallied run No. 5. Central did make two solid defensive plays in the inning: a 6-2 job by jr. SS Dan Quinn/soph C Julien Blancon and an 8-5 goodie made possible by a strong throw from soph CF Mike Cavallaro. The Pub often gets mocked by CL folks for its supposedly inferior play and, let’s face it, the Cath IS far stronger. But it was good to see Central have some excellent moments on defense and commit just one error (after there were no miscues, total, in the Pub final). An infield pinch single for an RBI, courtesy of sr. Bill Lake, was the highlight of the sixth inning. DN ink could have gone to a few guys, but I opted for sr. Joe Nestor, mostly because of how he regrouped after the first-inning miseries and was basically effective through the next four. Plus, there was a chance to have some fun with the fact that his 6-year-old brother, George, the batboy, is quickly becoming the most legendary Friar (smile). Joe played along and made some nice comments about the situation, showing he didn’t mind being upstaged by a kid one-third his age and one-third his size. Jr. RHs Matt Dolan and Jim “Msgr.” Bonner worked the sixth and seventh, respectively. This one started at 2:30 as a concession to the fact that Central’s senior prom was tonight. The festivities wound up causing an issue, too. RF Adam Hoskins, a senior and the cleanup hitter, was running late after running some prep-for-the-prom errands and he did not arrive before coach Rich Weiss was asked to submit his lineup. Hoskins wound up watching the first two innings and when he did take a spot in the order, it was No. 8. Jr. 3B Pete Rowe and Pfeifer crunched back-to-back RBI doubles in the first and jr. 1B Mark Gervasi followed by getting another run home with a groundball single to right. In the fifth, Rowe rifled his third hit to left, stole second and came around as Pfeifer laced a run-scoring single down the leftfield line. Both teams will appear in the state playoffs, starting Monday. La Salle coach Joe Parisi operated the scoreboard, assistant Bob Peffle served as his sidekick and school employee Tony Lopez earned major props by driving fans up and down the hill in a golf cart. Taking into consideration the fact that Bonner isn’t exactly around the corner from Drexel Hill, Bonner had pretty good fan representation, even among students. Nice. The day’s MVP, meanwhile, was DN lensman Dave Maialetti. For their celebratory team photo, the Friars at first were facing the field and the sun was looming behind. Lots of parents/friends were on the field and, like mine, I can’t imagine their pics looked too good. Finally, Dave asked everyone to please turn around and face the sun. All rrrrrrriiiiiiight! The players/coaches obeyed – thanks, guys! – and we all got respectable pics.

JUNE 1
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Bonner 13, Ryan 3 (5 innings)
  Call me a softie, but the best moment in this game occurred shortly AFTER the game. Bonner’s players gave a kid the championship plaque, hoisted him toward the sky and sang Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs. It wasn’t the pitcher. Wasn’t a guy who’d manned another position. It was 6-year-old George Nestor, brother of rotation hurler Joe Nestor, and he has served all season as the team’s batboy. Very, very cool, guys. You are to be congratulated for showing that kind of love to a little kid, who will never forget being part of such a special moment, and then being toasted on top of that. If anyone out there is presenting any kind of Teenagers Who DO Get It Award, these Friars deserve it. Anyway, at the very beginning, few would have predicted a shortened game with a 10-run differential in Bonner’s favor. As the visiting team at Widener, Ryan batted first, of course, and sr. RF Mark Golic began the proceedings with a chopper up the third base line that stayed fair and stayed fair and stayed fair and, bump, rolled into the bag. It was amazing! Talk about good fortune. Sr. 2B Sean Kovacs drew a walk, jr. LF Kevin Mack sent an RBI single to left, a misplayed grounder produced a second run and, three batters later, sr. LH Steve Markle made it 3-0 with a hard RBI single to right. You had to wonder whether sr. RH Anthony DiGalbo, with so much at stake, would even get through the first. Well, not only did he do that, he pitched a complete game, surrendering six hits total but just two after the first frame. He fanned just one, but there were no more miscues behind him and no one advanced beyond second base. So, did Bonner respond right away? Um, not even close. The Friars were retired 1-2-3 in the first and that raised some eyebrows, considering that sr. CF Rick Reigner, sr. LF Sam Christie and sr. RF Matt Mullen had combined to go 11-for-17 in the first two playoff games with a combined eight RBI. In the second, the carnage began. A drilled double to left-center by sr. 1B Alex Liberatore (“I guess he’s finally out of my shadow,” joked older bro Colin Liberatore, our Best Teammate ’06 honoree and Villanova basketball manager stalwart) got things started and the Friars tallied four runs. They were just getting warmed up, folks. Thirteen batters went to the plate in the third and nine runs resulted. Mullen started that uprising with a groundball single to center. Markle lasted six batters, soph RH Eric Ruud faced five (retiring none) and Kovacs finished up. In the two innings, Reigner contributed an RBI double and an RBI single. Liberatore posted his double, a walk and a run-scoring single. Sr. DH Steve Markus walked, hit into a fielder’s choice comebacker to Markle that became a two-run error when second base wasn’t covered, and lashed a two-run single. Sr. SS Josh VanHorn pounded a two-run double to right-center in the second. Sr. 2B Mike Haley, he of many siblings and hundred-plus first cousins (rough estimate), singled in each inning and the first yielded one RBI. The bright light of Ryan’s pitchers on this day was Mack, who struck out the side (with one error mixed in) in the fifth. He’d pitched 6.2 innings on Friday, so he was working on three days’ rest. A long performance would have been unrealistic, but the fact that he did so well in his one inning does make one wonder. Bonner has had some decent teams through the years, so it’s hard to believe this was the Friars’ first title since 1989. Coach Joe DeBarberie’s squad averaged 10.3 runs in its three playoff games and the five playoffs involving Bonner and Ryan produced 79 total runs! If you hear rumors during the offseason that one CL school is pushing to have the final removed from Widener, expect it to be Ryan. The place is not kind to the Raiders. In the ’07 final, they were sliced and diced by SJ Prep, 19-0. It rained off and on and came down quite hard a few times and I’d have to think a stoppage was moments away. Thank goodness the rain was not accompanied by lightning, as any sighting would have necessitated a half-hour delay, by PIAA rule. I spent the game on top of the press box, taking pics, doing play-by-play for Joe Malizia’s DVD and keeping the regular scoresheet (in times inside a plastic bag – ugh). At times the photos had to be put on hold. It was just raining too hard. Sorry about that, and apologies for the fact that many of the pics have screen bars/netting in the way. Couldn’t be helped. Congrats to Bonner, of course, but I hope Ryan’s guys still feel special, too. When it came to chemistry, the Raiders were also top notch. MAJOR thanks to Ryan's Anthony Magallanes (kept Ryan's scorebook, provided non-stop dugout support) and Bonner's Brian Nestel (saw him after the game in the nearby Wawa; the ham-and-cheese sandwich was decent, I just could NOT eat another cheeseburger, sorry McDonald's, I promise to be back tomorrow) for their great reports on this game, and their work in general. It's pretty amazing that the only teams with website baseball reporters this spring were the ones that made it to the championship game. Hmmmmmm. Does that give anyone ideas for next season? Smile.

MAY 28
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Ryan 9, Wood 8
   Who woulda thunk it, eh? Rather than all-Blue, we’ll have an all-Red final Tuesday when the championship is decided, 3:30, at Widener University. Wood and Neumann-Goretti probably do boast the two best squads, but each lost the wrong game at the most inopportune time and the title will go to someone in the large-enrollment division. This one, played at La Salle High’s Ward Field, way at the back of the campus, hard by Route 309, under gray skies with almost not even a hint of wind at ANY point during the game (very weird), provided entertainment mostly throughout and buckle-your-seatbelts tension in both the home sixth and seventh as Wood battled back from a 9-2 deficit. The last out was made about 360 feet from the plate, disappointing two guys who were just dying to frolic home, from second and first, with the tying and winning runs. Since we’re here, we’ll stay here. A one-out double by soph 3B Kyle McCrossen and a two-out double by jr. LH-1B Jeff Courter advanced Wood within 9-8 and jr. LH Kevin Mack tried his best to end it. But with the count at 3-2, he drilled jr. 2B Brady McNab and coach Ron Gerhart strode quickly to the mound to summon sr. Sean Kovacs from second base. The hitter was jr. 3B-RH Larry Brittingham and, man, did he jolt one. WAY out there to dead center. It’s a good thing Ryan sr. CF Pat “Patty K” Kwiatkowski is kinda tall. It’s also a good thing he only slipped slightly, and not completely, when he hit on the edge of the grass/warning track on his last step just before reaching up to make the catch. Anyway, catch the ball he did and the Raiders, understandably, were pretty darn joyous as they gathered between the mound and plate to celebrate. OK, let’s head back to the start. Ryan jumped to a 1-0 lead on a looping single to left by sr. RF-2B Mark Golic and a blast of a triple to right by jr. SS Eric “Hector” Frain. Wood’s response? Immediate. Sr. CF Brian O’Grady reached on a scratch infield single and sr. RF Mike Spahits, a lefty swinger, powered a homer over the fence in dead left. A pair of interesting defensive plays by Wood highlighted the next two innings – Brittingham’s clean snag tight to the line and strong/true throw from far behind the bag on Golic’s grounder in the second, and Courter’s oh-baby! spearing of Kovacs’ coulda-maimed-him liner to start the third. Then it happened. Ryan exploded for eight in the fourth against Courter and Brittingham. A major playah was the recipient of DN ink, sr. C Colin Budny, who always talks a great game, as far as spirit and leadership, and often makes the more tangible contributions, too. His one-out single, hammered to left, got things started and his one-run double, also smoked (to center) as the 11th of 12th batters, completed the outburst. Walks to sr. LF Steve Markle and soph 3B Mike Anusky followed Budny’s first hit, then Kwiatkowski got the first run home with a looper to left. Golic crunched a three-run triple to center, Kovacs hit a grounder that became a run-scoring error, Mack beat out a well-placed bunt, Frain fouled out to first, John "Milk" Rizzo doubled into the rightfield corner and Budny followed with his second hit of the frame. Wow. Not only was Ryan ahead, it was far ahead, at 9-2. Effectively mixing his pitches and locating them pretty much at will, Mack mostly sailed through the fifth. But he plunked McCrossen to start the sixth and McAllister blooped a single to right and, yes, the Vikes were beginning to stir. A foulout brought out No. 1, but McNab drove an RBI single to left-center, Brittingham absorbed a pitch to load the sacks and next came a VERY important sequence. Frosh DH Brett “Bert” McCrossen, Kyle’s brother, doubled to center and one, two, three runs scored. Oops. Make that just two. Running for Brittingham, in a courtesy capacity, was soph Kevin Sullivan. Somehow, he got hung up around the bag (maybe missed a stop sign?) and wound up being erased in a rundown that featured Budny and Anusky. Budny was the one who applied the tag. How gigantic was the play? Well, jr. C Chris Zikmund followed with a semi-moon shot of a homer to left-center, but the damage was just two runs rather than three. You already know what happened in Wood’s seventh. Like always, it was great to see La Salle coach Joe Parisi and assistant Bob Peffle, the former Frankford boss, who combined to prepare the field. Also, Joe reported that it’s now (hopefully) assured that CL baseball will remain a two-division affair, with two games against each foe, for 2011. The most legendary spectator award goes to ’09 La Salle grad Tyler Freeman, now starring for Burlington County CC. I told Tyler, a true character, that the league hasn’t been the same since he left . . . Then again, Budny does exhibit the same type of personality, so I’d love to hear a conversation between those two (smile). While N-G’s season is over, Wood will play Pub rep Franklin Towne Charter for the AAA City Title on June 3. It’ll be Esperanza vs. K-K in AA and the Central-Frankford winner vs. the Bonner-Ryan survivor in AAAA. It’s expected that the times will be noon, 2:30 and 5, but the order and even the site are not determined. Could be La Salle High. Could be Richie Ashburn Field. Though the order preference is AA, then AAA, then AAAA, minor details such as SCHOOL events (yuk) could get in the way. The nerve of those educators. Putting anything before sports . . . ha, ha. Enjoy the holiday weekend, folks!

MAY 28
EXTRA TEDBIT
  In the seventh inning of the Frankford-Washington semi, Frankford's No. 9 hitter, soph 2B Ricky Alvarez was issued an intentional walk to load the bases. There was one out and soph CF Augusto Ortega hit the first pitch into a doubleplay, 6-4-3. You know how my mind works: always looking for the goofy/unusual. So I got to thinking last night. Was Ricky the smallest kid in high school baseball history to be issued an intentional walk? I emailed Frankford coach Juan Namnun to check on Ricky's dimensions. Here's his response . . . "Can't be an inch taller than 5-3 and weighing in at a hefty 110." So, do you think Ricky holds the record? Ah, probably not, but who can say for sure? And if he's not the recordholder, he's gotta be in the Top 10 or even Top 5, right? By the way, Ricky had a two-run single in the second inning and lined out to shortstop in the fifth while going 1-for-3. Maybe Juan can make sure on Ricky's  dimensions today at school by taking him to the nurse's office. And can make sure Ricky's shoes are off before he measures the height. And can make sure no rocks are in his pockets before he checks the weight (smile) . . . UPDATE: Juan reports that Ricky stands 5-2 3/4 without his mini-afro and weighs more than rumored, at 121 pounds (or 8.64 stones -- smile).

MAY 27
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Central 6, GAMP 3
  Overall, of course, nothing beats batting last in a baseball game and teams fight all season to have that advantage (as the higher seed) come playoff time. But part of me believes that the visiting team is the one with the edge at the start of semifinals because the team on defense is much more likely to be affected by early jitters, especially in big-field environments. (That happened in Frankford-Washington as Washington self-destructed in the very beginning.) In this one? Both teams were feelin’ it early, but GAMP’s miscues were more voluminous and wound up hurting to a larger degree. Eight of the game’s nine runs were scored in the first three innings and all but one of the contest’s eight errors were committed, including all five of GAMP’s. Only half of Central’s runs were driven in by hits, and the leader in that category, with two, was soph CF Mike Cavallaro, who’s back to being himself after missing much of the season with a pulled hamstring suffered in the very first game. He was the only returning starter from a championship team, so that could have been a devastating blow. Instead, the New Crew played hard and smart under rookie coach Rich Weiss and, well, now has put itself into position to claim another crown Tuesday against Frankford. (3:30, also at La Salle University). Cavallaro had an RBI single to center in the second and a matching hit (to left, though) in the third. That brought in run No. 2 of that frame and sr. RH-3B Kevin Pfeifer followed with a run-scoring hit to center. Unfortunately for Central and Kevin, that would not be his most noteworthy act of the afternoon. In the fifth, Pfeifer sent a hard grounder to 3B Joe Garafalo. Joe bobbled briefly, but recovered and fired across to 1B Joe Coppola. Ump Jim Carpino called out Pfeifer – it was a VERY close play; I thought he had him, as did other neutral observers I spoke with; looks as if we were WRONG . . . click here – and Kevin, a tough-nosed football linebacker with more than a little feistiness, responded by whipping his helmet and, according to several guys with knowledge of the situation, yelling, “Are you kidding me??!!” Bang, see ya. Pfeifer was ejected and, by PIAA rule, will be prevented from playing in the championship game. There are many lines of thought here . . . Among Weiss’ on-the-record comments was, "To do that to a senior, with the championship game coming up, that's not right.” The fact that Pfeifer is a senior, if Carpino even knows that, has nothing to do with anything, of course. Especially in a setting where his job performance is being evaluated, how Carpino handles situations could have a bearing on whether he receives a positive evaluation and is chosen to ump in future important games. PL baseball chairman Dave Connolly was on hand, as was evaluator Steve Kupsov. If the outburst occurs back in April away from the spotlight, maybe Carpino talks to Pfeifer and there is no bad fallout. Connolly said that the throwing of equipment, by PIAA rule, calls for automatic ejection. If a guy is mad at himself for striking out, say, and whips his bat a few feet while returning to the dugout, honestly, that’s likely going to be overlooked. But if the puts on a display such as Pfeifer did, and it’s directed specifically at an ump, well, in my opinion the ump’s hands are tied. He must follow the letter of the law. (One more variable: Central was up, 6-3, at the time. I could see anger over a close play if your team is trailing. Not when you’re “comfortably” up and things are going well; it was just poor judgment and I feel bad for Kevin that he displayed that at such an inopportune time.) . . . OK, back to the usual . . . Jr. SS Dan Quinn went 2-for-3 with a walk, two steals and two runs scored. Jr. 1B Mark Gervasi had singles in the two-run second and three-run third. Pfeifer pitched three-hit, two-run ball over the first three innings and then switched places with third baseman Pete Rowe, a jr. Rowe allowed two hits the rest of the way. The most impressive was a ringing triple to right-center, starting the fifth, by jr. RH Dom Raia. Though Raia did score on a wild pitch, Rowe followed by recording three straight whiffs. GAMP stirred with one out in the seventh as a single by sr. SS Anthony DiVincenzo and an infield bobble brought the tying run to the plate. Coppola hit a grounder toward the left side of the shortstop hole. Quinn had to charge and used his momentum to keep right on going and tag out DiVincenzo maybe 15 feet from third base. Opting for a play at second or first would have required a tough, across-his-body heave, so Quinn’s play was BIG. A groundout ended it.

MAY 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 10, Carroll 4
  Let’s start with the good. Through the many years of Catholic League baseball, only nine guys have slugged two homers in the same postseason game. Mark Donato did so today. Also, in that same vein, only eight guys have struck out as many as 14 batters. Donato also did THAT today. Five of those high-whiff performances occurred in back-in-the-day City Title contests, when the games were scheduled for nine innings. The record is a whopping 20, accomplished by Egan’s Dennis Yesenosky against Southern in the ’68 CT, played at the Phillies’ long-gone (but STILL missed, at least by me) Connie Mack Stadium. That game lasting 11 innings and was won by Egan, 1-0. Jones, who later played in the Phillies’ farm system, fanned 16 in that contest. Whew! Yesenosky, by the way, fanned “just” 12 in the first seven frames. In CL playoffs, Carroll lefty Keith Conway holds the record with 16 in a ’91 second-round game while La Salle righty Matt Zielinski managed 14 at the same juncture in ’07. So, what we’re saying is, Donato, who bats and throws lefthanded, turned in one spectacular performance! The distance down the rightfield line at N-G’s field, located on the site of the old Neumann (26th and Moore), is 360 feet. There’s no permanent fence, but this year coach Lou Spadaccini, in part because his squad has so many lefty swingers, had a low, flimsy, rubbery “fence” installed. I can’t imagine it’s any more than four feet high; maybe only three. The first homer was to what we like to call dead right. Maybe just a shade to the right of where sr. RF Mike Santoleri was standing when the pitch was thrown. The other was more to exact right-center. Both times the balls received big-time jolts. Each was a solo homer. On the mound, Donato, who’s committed to Indian River CC, in Florida, but would be an easy sign for any major league team that would draft him, struck out two batters in every inning but the sixth. (A doubleplay prevented an opportunity there). He made up for it by whiffing three guys in the third. His velocity, at least in these eyes, was significantly better than it had been a week ago in the Saints’ regular season loss at Wood and his slider had serious tightness. He was reached for a pair of clutch, productive hits – Santoleri’s ringing, two-run double to right-center in the first and an inside-out, two-run triple down the rightfield line by sr. 1B Seamus Finnegan (3-for-4 total) in the fifth. Meanwhile, the five-RBI squad in postseason games involving CL players now sports 14 members and the newest is N-G soph SS Marty Venafro, and he joined with the help of only three at-bats. While going 3-for-3, with every hit going to center, he produced a one-run grounder in the first, a rocketed three-run double in the third (a shade toward RC) and a one-run shot in the fourth. I’d written a sizable feature story about Donato a while back, so today’s ink went to Venafro, and we talked about the relationship between Marty and his, um, demanding (smile) brother, Anthony, a third team All-City SS for GAMP in ’07. (Marty attended GAMP through the eighth grade.) Marty, who’s usually very reliable, and started even as a freshman, booted the one ball hit his way and, yes, he figured that would be the first thing mentioned by Anthony, who was among the spectators . . . OK, on to the bad. Pretty much a game-long source of frustration, even anger, for Carroll coach Fran Murphy and assistant Fr. Ed Casey, who happens to be the school president, was the fact that about 75 of N-G’s fans were “in play” throughout along the leftfield line. Some were VERY close to the line and a decent number were sitting on the ground or perched in lawn chairs. Murphy contended that jr. 3B Eric Nardelli would have been putting himself in danger on any mad dash in pursuit of a foul popup/semi-liner – not to mention the fans, too – and that the area should have been completely cleared. Or at least everyone should have been forced way back to the fence right next to the sidewalk. Instead, after listening to PA announcements, they’d move back slightly, then of course edge right back pretty much to where they’d been. Later, N-G’s athletic director, Pat DiPilla, a former football assistant at Carroll, did stand at the outer edge of the group and try to maintain some order. Base ump Gene Otto said he needed to worry about making calls, not looking over there non-stop, and that it was up to N-G officials to remedy the situation. Later in the game, word was swirling that Father Casey would be filing a formal complaint over the situation with the Archdiocese. He preferred not to comment, however. Murphy’s ire could be traced to an early checked swing that was NOT called a strike. Here’s the pic of that swing by sr. 1B Mike Riverso. You be the judge (while realizing it's a pic, not a video and there could have been more of a swing immediately thereafter). Plate ump Joe Cassidy handled the call himself. Riverso then walked and Venafro followed with his RBI single (look how close some people are to the line, especially one guy in a chair. He could reach down and touch it.) At one point later, when Murphy went to the mound to talk to his pitcher, he lingered and lingered and lingered and it was easy to tell what was happening. He wanted “Cass” (my long-time friend and head basketball coach at Rowan University; formerly an assistant at Drexel; happens to be a Carroll grad) to come to the mound, to try to hurry things along, so he could express more, in-retrospect displeasure. That version was not at high volume. Pitchingwise, Carroll’s bright spot belonged to small frosh LH Joe Sparacino, who worked the sixth and recorded two K’s in a 1-2-3 frame. He fanned Donato AND the cleanup hitter, sr. 3B Albert Baur, so perhaps he’ll be the toast of the school for a while (smile).

MAY 21
PUBLIC CLASS A AND DISTRICT 12 FINAL
GAMP 3, Masterman 2
  So, we're in the visiting seventh and our DN photo intern, Jimmy Viola, says he has some pretty good shots and is about to take off.  Respecting the time-honored baseball superstition, I suggest that he hang around because "something special might be happening momentarily, and there could be pretty good celebration." But I don't spell things out completely. The something? A no-hitter! Not that anyone connected with GAMP realized it . . . Shortly after the game ended, Will Patrone, the uncle of jr. RH Dom Raia, asked me,  "How many hits?" My response, with an Arlen Specter emphasis twist thrown in: "Zeeeeero." Patrone said excitedly, "Yeah! All right!" By this time, the Pioneers were heading toward an area in shallow rightfield to meet with the coaches. Assistant Anthony "Meat" Benedetto asked, "Did you have them for any hits?" And I told him, "Nope, there was really nothing even close." Jimmy the Intern was nearby and he snapped away as the Pioneers talked and coach Art Kratchman finally mentioned the no-no. Honestly, the potential special occasion didn't really hit me until the sixth inning. The reason: Raia walked five and plunked two and there was also a crucial error, along with two runs for Masterman, in the very first inning, so it wasn't as if baserunners were scarce. Dom fanned eight and the seventh was rather uneventful against the final three guys in the order. Soph CF Nate Vahedi fanned, jr. 1B Chris Woods flied out foul to right and soph DH Josh Godbolt took a called third strike on an 0-2 curve. Raia said he didn't realize he'd spun a no-hitter, nor that he'd permitted seven baserunners on BBs/HBPs. Truthfully, I believe he threw slightly harder in the game against Edison nine days ago, but his curve was good and his velocity did increase toward the end, for whatever reason. Masterman came close to hits just twice. Late in the first inning, frosh 3B Harry Taggart sent a sinking liner to soph RF Tyler Criniti. The catch wound up being no problem, but still the ball was hit hard and it wasn't right at Criniti. Taggart came close to another hit in the fourth, sending a smash toward third that ate up jr. 3B Joe Garafalo. Luckily for GAMP, the ball bounced over toward sr. SS Anthony DiVincenzo and he gunned to sr. 1B Joe Coppola. Masterman scored its two runs, in the first inning, this way: frosh SS Joey Powell drew a one-out walk, sr. 2B Tyler Hunt was plunked, both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and sr. C Billy Powers got two runs home with a bobbled grounder; it had a good chance to be a DP. The rest of the way, only two guys advanced as far as second base. GAMP responded with one in the first as sr. 2B Nick Coppola singled to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch with Raia, the cleanup man, at bat with two away. Dom singled to right to plate Coppola and then Criniti strolled to the plate. What the heck?! He was listed as the sixth batter on my lineup sheet. He singled, then the No. 5 hitter, Joe Coppola, Nick's cousin, came up in the six hole. He fanned. After that I scurried over to Masterman scorekeeper Laura Hildebrandt and asked to see HER scorebook page for GAMP. She also had Coppola fifth and Criniti sixth. Next stop: GAMP's dugout, where I mentioned the snafu to "Kratch/Archie." He approached the umps and they talked things over and the guys batted in their correct spots thereafter. Imagine if one of the out-of-order guys had driven in a crucial run! GAMP scored two in the third. Again, N. Coppola started the uprising with a single. Jr. CF Sal Giafaglione grounded to Powell and he opted to go for a DP. Hunt was late in heading toward the bag, though, and Coppola was called safe. DiVincenzo bounced into a fielder's choice, with Coppola going to third, and then DiVincenzo scampered to second when, for unknown reasons, he wasn't held on. Raia fanned, then J. Coppola sent a looping two-run single to right. Jr. RH David Ashbridge pitched all six innings for Masterman. He has good size, without being fat, and I could see his velocity really increasing over time; it's pretty good already. Frosh LF Jack Christmas made a good defensive play for Masterman, tracking down jr. LF Anthony Retallick's basehit down the line and gunning him out at second. This is the sixth year for District 12 and GAMP has won all Class A titles. The Catholic League, in its second year of PIAA competition, has no A squads. The Swenson-Prep Charter AA semi was held before this one on the same field. I arrived just as the fifth inning was winding down and took pics thereafter.

MAY 17
CATHOLIC BLUE
Wood 9, Neumann-Goretti 8
  Facing a 4-0 deficit after a half-inning, and with sr. LH Mark Donato on the mound for N-G, things did not look good for Wood. Then again, they also didn't look so hot with N-G holding a 5-2 edge heading into the home sixth and/or with an 8-6 pad heading into the home seventh. But as afternoon turned into night and the predicted rain drew ever closer (luckily, it didn't arrive until a shade after 7, at least on my windshield heading down I-95), the Vikings pulled a hairy-victory rabbit out of their collective hat, thus moving to 14-1 in division play and dropping N-G to 13-2. As entertaining, even amazing, as this game was, it was a little disconcerting, even disturbing, to see so many runs scored against ace pitchers for the two teams most consider to be the CL's best. Plus, the fact that there was occasionally loose play -- with most of it coming from surprising sources -- was a negative. N-G suffered three total losses: the game and two players to injuries. Soph Jimmy Kerrigan, slated to start in RF, messed up his (right) throwing elbow merely making a toss in infield-outfield. He was in great pain and was very upset. No wonder. He was just coming off a broken ankle. In the seventh, star sr. 1B-OF Mike Riverso twinged a hammy making a slide into third. He later semi-limped out of the field area; not sure of his status. Best wishes to both guys. Because so much happened, thus deciding the outcome, we'll move to the final 1 1/2 innings. Wood scored four in the sixth against Donato and sr. RH Albert Baur, N-G responded with three in the seventh against sr. RH Matt McAllister and soph LH Joe Monaghan, and Wood closed out with three in the bottom half against Baur. The winning run scored on, of all things, a two-out, 0-2, bases-loaded wild pitch to jr. 2B Brady McNab. Dashing home was jr. SS Kyle McCrossen, who'd earlier delivered a two-run single to center on a full-count pitch, and in the sixth had fired an RBI double into the leftfield corner. McCrossen's hit was what greeted Baur in the sixth. Two batters later, jr. 1B Jeff Courter stung a two-run groundball single through the leftside hole. Donato went five-plus. He struck out five, but none after the third inning and I can't say his stuff was ever eye-popping. Mostly effective, yes, but never dominant. Then again, two bad errors gave the Vikings a five-out fourth and they scored twice without the benefit of a hit. Both when Donato and McAllister were pitching, there was very little of the here's-my-best-heat, now-try-to-handle-it mindset. Donato battles occasional arm tenderness and I'd have to think there's again an issue. McAllister gave up some hard hits in the first inning, but then was mostly in control until the seventh. His velocity was respectable, but a very sharp curve was his out pitch. He fanned seven, including the leadoff man in the seventh. He departed, in favor of Monaghan, after yielding consecutive well-smoked singles to jr. 2B Mike "Zoom" Zolk and Donato. Monaghan also allowed two hard hits in a row -- RBI singles by Baur and Riverso -- and then a sac fly to soph SS Marty Venafro. Zolk (double), Baur (RBI single), Riverso (RBI triple to dead center; sr. CF Brian "Birthday Boy" O'Grady almost made a sensational sprawling catch) had big hits in the first, and Venafro added a sac fly. Sr. RF Mike Spahits (spay-its) had an RBI single in the sixth and DID make a sprawling catch. Maybe the key hit of the game, in subtle fashion, was notched by jr. Mike Zikmund, who pinch-hit to lead off the Wood sixth and fired a groundball single to right. The hit was noteworthy because of some unusual circumstances. The Vikings trailed by three and he jumped on the first pitch. If he makes an out, maybe Wood goes quietly. Who knows? Frosh DH Brett McCrossen, Kyle's brother, led off the seventh with an infield hit. Kudos to maybe 30 Wood students for turning out to support their team. They occupied a spot beyond centerfield, near the scoreboard, and first had to wait until one of their guys weed-wacked the tall grass to make the area semi-presentable. All kinds of legends in attendance. Names that are coming to me (apologies to those I forget): Ed Brodbine, Walt Grady, Stu London, Jim Ricci, Joe Sette, Norm Eavenson, Dave Schultz, Tom Zulewski, Al Baur, Chris Crawford, South Philly Roger, Frank Carr, Ed Kerrigan (base ump) . . . The best line was uttered by N-G coach Lou Spadaccini at a particularly emotional juncture. "You play for games like this!" Another time, with runners on first and third, Louie Spads instinctively yelled "Go!" when a ball skipped past the catcher. He then added sheepishly, "Not you," to the kid standing nearby at third base. Of course, he'd wanted the kid on first to go. This day began with a crazy pic-taking session. Of the Wendy Williams Show. From my sofa. My daughter Kristen went to NYC to see the show. Unfortunately, I didn't know where she'd be sitting, so any time they showed the audience, snap, snap, snap. She was in the last row, as it turned out, but she does appear in a couple of fuzzy pics. Memory of a lifetime! Ha, ha, ha. Wood co-coaches Jim "Sr. and Jr." DiGuiseppe were their always jovial selves. It's always good to see them, and especially to see how they give their players a positive experience.

MAY 14
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Malvern 7, Chestnut Hill 2
  The theme of some games is a little more subtle. CHA wound up taking 30 strikes, 40 strikes, 50 strikes? It could have been that Malvern soph RH Joe Ravert was a master at painting the corners. Or that plate ump Mike Finney had a slightly expanded strike zone. Or that the young Blue Devils are not yet confident hackers and just flat-out take too many pitches. Whatever the case, five of Ravert’s strikeouts required the ever intriguing backward K and from a very early juncture, spectators had the sense Malvern was going to win, if not cruise. Ravert, who boasts a strong, um, trunk, went the first six innings and permitted nary a run. The BDs left seven guys in scoring position against him and, again, they just weren’t aggressive enough. Ravert’s catcher was his sr. brother, Ed. While taking pics, I was reasonably close to the plate for roughly five of the seven innings. Strangely, I can’t remember hearing even a hint of chatter between them. Ed let Joe pitch and that was that. I’d have to assume they talked in the dugout between innings about the ins and outs of each batter, but who knows? DN ink went to sr. SS Ty Young, a Louisville signee with all the goodies you look for in a SS – quick feet/hands, strong arm and savvy. Though he did make two errors, each was borderline (slightly bad hop on one; bit of indecision on the other on whether to go to for a doubleplay or just the out at first) and his lefty bat produced an RBI single and a one-hop, ground-rule double over the low rightfield fence. We had some fun in the story with the fact Young’s metal bat has a two-inch crack at the sweet spot. Say what? Yes indeed. It’s damaged goods, but still produces base hits. Two Friars launched homers. A two-run job by sr. Sean Walsh was of the titanic variety. The ball kissed the tops of the trees beyond the left-center fence, maybe 40 feet (??) above the playing surface. Blast and a half, troops. A solo shot by soph CF Nick Bateman rattled off the scoreboard in dead LF. E. Ravert went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles. He and sr. 3B Chase Gunther (also the QB) are headed to Salisbury for baseball. Soph 2B Drew Hayes opened the game with a double to deep left-center that somehow wasn’t caught by sr. CF Jon McAllister. The speedy J-Mac (Maryland) seemingly has made catches down by the skating rink, or on the third floor of the building across the street, so it was shocking to see him make a long run and not get to one. At bat, he went 1-for-3 with an infield single, walk and one hard out (liner to center). Malvern’s pitcher in the seventh was small soph RH CJ Costalas. He was one strike away from posting a scoreless frame when sr. 3B Tom Devlin, a lefty swinger (he made two quality defensive plays), spanked an RBI single down the rightfield line. Soph C Dan Hull followed with a one-hop, ground-rule RBI double over the fence in left. Sr. RF Erik Hubbard, also the team’s No. 1 starter, managed to collect two hits, including a double, and a walk. At one point a CHA player sent a foul ball up, up, up toward a group of CHA parents perched at the top of the hill. Ernie Barile stood up, reached and . . . no go. (In fairness, he really had no chance. The ball was far enough beyond him.) Ernie played catcher for Penn Charter back in the day and when he looked down toward where I was standing, I held up the camera to indicate I had his moment on “film.” He laughed and shot back, “I would have caught that 30 years ago!” No doubt. Maybe with his eyes closed (smile). It was also great to see former Temple coaching legend Skip Wilson!

MAY 12
PUBLIC A
Edison 5, GAMP 3
  Though this game was pretty darn decent, especially considering the forget-April, more-like-March weather (cold, mildly windy, rainy enough toward the end to force an eight-minute delay), I couldn't help but let loose a hmmmmmm after it ended. As in, how legendary could this game have been had the relievers started? Jr. RHs Dom Raia (GAMP) and Martin Nolasco (Edison) pitched three and two innings, respectively. They struck out six batters apiece and allowed just one ball to leave the infield; a semi-bloop single to center, vs. Nolasco, by sr. SS Anthony DiVincenzo. While watching Raia fare so well, I had to ask coach Art Kratchman why he hadn't been the starter. "Kratch/Archie" said he'd usually been using Raia in relief this season and that, though he'd struggled in a recent start vs. Central, beforehand he'd fanned 35 guys over 17 innings. Not bad, eh? DN ink went to sr. C Chris Lopez, his team's far-and-away leader and a transfer from Frankford (after playing for Edison as a soph). Batting cleanup, he went 2-for-4 with one RBI and showed nice guidance for Nolasco and Edison's starter, jr. RH Jonathan Maldonado. Soph LF Joshua Fontanez also had a nice outing for the Owls, going 3-for-4 with a two-run single in the fourth. Sr. 3B Jose Sosa sent a big-time blast to left to start that frame, but the wind held it up and it only went for a double. GAMP sr. RH Jimmy Coin didn't pitch badly, despite surrendering all five runs (four earned). Of the nine hits he allowed, five were of the infield variety and most of those were perfectly placed. Even Fontanez' hit came close to being an out as DiVincenzo almost snagged it with a dive to his right. GAMP's first run, in the third, resulted from a hard groundball down the rightfield line by jr. CF Sal Giafaglione. It scored jr. 2B Joe Garafalo, who walked and stole second. What happened before Joe walked? Well, his contact came loose between pitches and plate ump Jim Carpino gave him time to briefly leave the field, remove his batting gloves and put it back in. When Joe returned to the batter's box, Jim told him with a smile, "If you strike out, don't blame me." In the sixth, hard singles by Raia and sr. 1B Joe Coppola (Raia to third) began an uprising. A grounder by soph RF Tyler Criniti was bobbled (he still received credit for an RBI) and coach Larry Oliver removed Maldonado in favor of Nolasco. A WP/E-2 combo slightly gummed up the works, but Nolasco retained his cool to record three straight strikeouts. A walk to Garafalo and DiVincenzo's single opened the seventh. Not only did Nolasco decline to crumble, he pushed out his chest and mowed down GAMP's 2-3-4 hitters, thus ending it in impressive fashion. The field at 7th and Packer now boasts a regular infield after ditching the all-dirt look. A two-story, storage/press box building is being erected right behind the backstop. Nice. Kratch said he began working on the field at 6:30 (or was it 7:30?). It was still a little muddy/clumpy around the plate, but otherwise everything was decent. Good hus. Edison has won five in a row and could be dangerous in the playoffs.

MAY 10
PUBLIC D
Boys’ Latin 12, Randolph 0 (5 inn.)
  Everybody wants me to come see their teams on Monday or Tuesday because that’s when the No.1 starters usually pitch. So today I head to this one expecting to see BL soph RH Omar “Papi” Ortiz vs. Randolph frosh RH Justo Rodriguez or even jr. RH Kevin Butler and . . . no go. Well, BL coach Joe Dunn did make a late switch and send Ortiz to the hill (thank you, sir), but Randolph went with No. 3 starter Manny Duran, a frosh RH. And the result was a mess. This is no lie: At least a half-dozen of Duran’s pitches (and I’m likely being conservative) sailed behind batters and a few more could have been hit only by Wilt Chamberlain. A few of his pitches were OK, but he appeared to be nervous overall and shaky fielding behind him did not help even a little. With one out and the score 8-0 in the third, coach Erik LeBlanc visited the mound and summoned Rodriguez from shortstop. OK, not bad. I WILL get to see the kid who struck out 21 (of 22 total outs) in a no-hitter against University City. Pffffffft. One batter. See ya! Rodriguez, who throws from directly over the top, complained of a tender shoulder and headed to shortstop, with Butler, who doubles as Dobbins’ QB, going to the hill. Butler allowed no hits the rest of the way and struck out five. Alas, he also walked five and drilled one, and surrendered two runs in the fourth. BL collected eight hits, and the big ones were two-run homers by the Davenport brothers, frosh SS Brandon and soph 2B Bryan. Brandon’s came in the second inning and it traveled a good distance to left-center. Bryan’s, in the third, carried into the trees in dead left. Soph C Jordie Ortiz (no relation) bagged three RBI on a beat-out bunt, a sac fly to center (nice shot; even better running catch to his left by frosh CF Dajuane Timpson) and a HBP. Brandon Davenport and Omar Ortiz halved four hits and frosh 1B Malik Saunders crunched a double to left-center. Omar Ortiz is the son of former City Councilman Angel Ortiz and already ranks as the squad’s franchise player. He bats third and plays third or catcher when not on the hill. His dad was in attendance – one of six total spectators, counting two people who were standing far away and might not have even been watching (I was in a generous mood – smile) – and a couple of his comments were worked into the DN story. Dad mentioned that he played shortstop for a Seward Park High team that advanced to a NYC championship game in 1960. I poked around on the internet a little. SP was in Manhattan and its building is now being used by five small high schools. Weird. Among SP’s grads are Walter Mathau, Tony Curtis, Satch Sanders, Jerry Stiller, Keenen Ivory Wayans, etc. Legendary. As the 5-7, 195-pound Omar acknowledged, and his pop emphasized, he’ll need to redefine his body a shade as he gets older. It looks as if he won’t get much taller. He hits lefthanded and shows a good swing. Omar came within one pitch of throwing a one-hitter. With a full count to frosh pinch-hitter Malik Crawford, he grooved a fastball and a groundball single to left resulted. Timpson then sent a lazy fly down the leftfield line. It managed to fall inside the lack-of-a-line and also went for a single. Backup jr. OF Azeme Fitchett fanned to end it. Ortiz had taken a no-hitter two-thirds of the way through the fourth. A groundball single through the left-side hole broke it up; Timpson did the honors. Randolph committed a few bad errors and there was also a display of suspect behavior. After bobbling a grounder, one of the guys threw to first and the ball was dropped. Bobbler then hollered at Dropper. Not good! You made the first mistake, son. (He knows who he is.) The plate ump, who worked alone, did a nice job. He kept things moving and had encouraging words for players on both sides. After one of Randolph’s batters took a very weird swing, third base coach Chris Silva, who played for Dobbins, hollered in, “You’re not chopping trees!!” This field sits behind (and down a hill) from Cobbs Creek RC, at 63rd and Spruce (across 63rd, Spruce becomes Marshall Road, leading into Upper Darby). It’s a nice atmosphere with trees all over and you’d never guess that busy streets are right nearby. There wasn’t a hint of chalk anywhere, though. No baselines. No batter’s box. Nothing. Why do Pub kids continually get short-changed?

MAY 7
CATHOLIC BLUE
West Catholic 4, Dougherty 1
  Well, this was almost certainly Dougherty’s last chance at a major-sport win and the Cardinals, who'll face mighty N-G in their final two games, were still within major shouting distance, facing only a 2-1 deficit, as West batted in the sixth. Then an easy groundball trickled through an infielder’s legs, allowing two more runs to score, and the seventh provided an all-time memory – for VERY negative reasons. A decision was made to let frosh Chris Kaminski pinch-hit in the No. 8 hole for senior RF Craig Orlick. Soon, an assistant was bellowing about another player, who’d allegedly called the change “ridiculous,” and he refused to let up as Kaminski and two more players fanned, thus ending the game. He ridiculed the comment-maker and then wound up pointing out how the Cardinals had made endless errors all season. He also noted to the players that if they wanted to verbally challenge him about his take on the situation after the game, they could come at him “three at a time.” The quarters are tight at Sunoco Field and the ground-level “dugouts” are close to the plate area and baselines. Everyone in that area, and even beyond, had no problem hearing his tirade. A good 10 minutes later, maybe even more, I happened to walk out with other coaches and the kid, apparently, who’d made the negative comment that had ignited all the sparks. The guy saw this and yelled inside from Moore Street, “Don’t put that kid’s name in the newspaper! He doesn’t deserve it!” The kid had not yet walked outside to the team bus because, honestly, he was fearful the guy had more negativity in mind. Later, I spoke with the guy outside the field and tried to make this point: While his team was trying to mount a rally and stay alive, there was NO WAY, no matter what he’d heard, that he should have put on such a display. How could the batters not have been distracted? Or even disheartened? He said he understood and we later talked again, briefly, as I was heading for my car and he was driving down Moore Street toward the expressway. He traced it all to season-long frustration. Listen, this was my first time seeing Dougherty. I have no idea  what has occurred all season. Maybe certain players are “problem children.” I do know this, though: Other Dougherty coaches and/or the home plate ump should have made sure to halt this circus early on. This school will close next month and for anyone who heard/saw it, THIS will be the lingering baseball memory. Very, very sad. (By the way, the assistant is not in the before-game or after-game team photos. He arrived after the game started and quickly left the bench area when the game ended) . . . OK, I’ve taken a deep breath. Or seven. Let’s move on. West’s primary hero was a football big’un, sr. RH Jake Zuzek! Jake skipped baseball these past two years and hadn’t logged a pitching win since the seventh grade. The 6-2, 295-pound Navy signee, a first team All-City honoree, went the distance while allowing two hits and striking out seven. Only one of the hits was legit, so to speak – an RBI single to center in the fourth by losing RH sr. Colin Strapp. The first safety, by sr. SS-CF Joe Bozzelli, came in the first inning. A little popup spun off his bat and headed up the third-base side. The ball was spinning like crazy and no doubt would have rolled foul, but Zuzek picked it up in fair territory. Infield hit. Zuzek twice helped himself in the field, starting a 1-4-3 doubleplay in the second and taking a relay throw, which followed Strapp’s hit, and firing to sr. 3B Kevin Sessa to erase a too-frisky baserunner who’d rounded the bag. Sessa aided Zuzek’s cause in the first by slicing a two-run double down the rightfield line. Scoring were sr. CF Ryan Murtagh and jr. LF Albert Campbell; each had walked. There were no hits in West’s two-run sixth. Jr. SS Eric Bradley hit the misplayed grounder. I got to this one only about 15 minutes before gametime. Reason? I first went to Dougherty’s home field, at Lawncrest RC. Thank goodness West AD/FB coach Brian Fluck answered his cell phone and confirmed the error of my ways. It was only 2:35, so even with wicked traffic on Rising Sun Avenue and the Expressway, there was enough time to avoid lateness. Sunoco Field is VERY nice, but man oh man, more fencing in the plate area is needed. Many of the foul balls enter inaccessible areas and they’re lost for good. Assistant Don Pizzo said the Burrs go through about three-dozen balls per game. Phew! Some facts about the Burrs’/Cardinals’ struggles: West is 6-154 in CL play over the last 10 seasons and dropped 81 in a row prior to topping Dougherty, 9-5, last May 11. Dougherty’s CL record over the last six seasons is 7-86 and it dropped 46 in a row before topping -- you got it -- West, 7-5, two years ago tomorrow. Dougherty’s Monday game at N-G won’t begin until 4:30 and will feature a picnic/celebratory atmosphere. Best wishes to Dougherty sr. pitcher Joe Halbherr, who is out for the season after recently taking a batted ball off his leg vs. Wood. He still needs crutches to get around.

MAY 6
PUBLIC B
Phila. Elec. 14, Phila. Academy 5
  I won't be taking the Subway any time soon. Not the train version. The place-to-eat-lunch version. Today's choice was tuna and it kicked me in the a--/tummy. Phew! I made it through five innings before handing PET assistant Gator McCoy my cell phone number and asking him to please have the winning coach call me later with details and a number for the interview subject. PET led at the time, 8-3. Coach Mark Olkowski did call later, provided some highlights from the sixth and seventh frames and then sr. RH Elias "Eli" Crisostomo came onto the phone; they must have been riding the team bus back downtown. (Gator, Mark and another assistant, Matt Pooler, are all Huck's boys.) Thanks for bearing with me, guys, and my apologies for having to miss the last two innings. If I'd stayed, it would NOT have been pretty (smile). Anyway . . . Crisostomo is only 5-4, 150, but he's originally from the Dominican Republic (here since age 9) and has a good presence along with leadership skills. His other position is SS. He allowed eight hits while fanning 12 and helped himself immensely in the fifth, just as PAC was making threats to get back in the game. With one out, jr. 2B Tim Given, the leadoff man, crushed an inside-the-park homer to left-center. No doubt at least slightly rattled, Crisostomo issued just his second walk (to sr. CF Rich Llamas) and soph 3B Jorge Martinez followed with a pop to left that fell in for a single. Llamas, who'd pilfered second, had to hold up, but made it to third and Martinez eased into second on the throw. Then, just like that, the uprising died. Crisostomo picked Llamas off third and fanned sr. C Martin Flynn. PET roared to three quick runs as frosh 1B Tom Hicks, a lefty with a nice, quick swing, doubled deep to center; he finished with a pair of two-baggers. Eli fanned, but jr. SS Chuck Fitzgerald bombed an RBI ground-rule double all the way out into the bushes/trees in left, frosh C Danny Laport sent a bad-hop single to center and jr. LF Ariel Almonte directed a two-run groundball single to left. Fitzgerald had two-run singles in the second AND fourth. Almonte added a one-runner in that latter frame and a two-run job in the seventh. Soph RF Joe Piacentini had a triple down the leftfield line in the fifth. Given turned a nifty step-on-second, throw-to-first DP. Though PAC's pitcher, soph RH Brian Walsh, got hit around, I do like his potential. He worked quickly and had decent stuff. Just has to get it down. Spent some time talking with former Mastbaum player John Newcomb, whose sons, jr. Trevor and frosh Kyle, toil for PAC and Central, respectively. Luckily for him, he stayed upwind (ha ha). As for lunch tomorrow, I guess it's back to peanut butter and jelly. Or ham and cheese. Or anything but tuna from Subway.

APRIL 27
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Haverford School 9, Penn Charter 2
  With apologies to the grammar police . . . Anybody got a cup of hot chocolate? Brr and more brrrr. OK, so it wasn't brutally cold, but any time the sun hightailed it behind the numerous clouds, which was early and often, the HS property seemed to be transported from Pa. to maybe upper New York State. After four innings, a trip to the car for retrieval of a hooded sweatshirt was necessary and more than once during this 2 1/2-hour tilt, I could have sworn I heard teeth clicking. Oh, yeah. They were my own. This one had a strange early development. After two innings, HS sr. RH Matt Lengel (Villanova) had faced the minimum number of batters, yet half of the six had reached base. After leading off the game with a scorched double down the leftfield line, soph SS Demetrius "Meat" Jennings was rubbed out at third by sr. C Matt Lipson on what would have been a wild pitch. The first two batters of the second, jr. 2B Andrew/Andy/Drew Amaro (forgot to ask his preference) and jr. CF Robert Friskey, walked and then were promptly picked off. As he comes to the set position, Lengel places his left leg at maybe a 30-degree angle toward first, if not more. He has a great move (borderline balk). When I interviewed Matt earlier this season, after a game in which he did NOT pitch but starred at bat, he said he'd been clocked at 89 and hoped to reach 90. No radar guns were on hand today, but his velocity did not appear to be eye-popping. That might have resulted from the cold and/or the fact his control was off. Though he allowed just the one hit in four innings, he did walk seven and the lone run against him was scored on a wild pitch. (Great baserunning by Amaro -- nephew of Ruben and son of David, also a former PC star and minor leaguer. The ball did not squirt THAT far away from Lipson, but Amaro, who sports many of Uncle Ruben's mannerisms, headed for the plate in bullet fashion.) For whatever reason, Lengel's best heaters appeared to come in the third inning. Soph RH Eric Close, another big, strong kid, went the final three. He served up singles to three of the first four batters (Jennings, sr. RH Dan McDugall, RBI for Amaro), but got out of that fifth on a nifty 4-6-3 doubleplay and achieved perfection in the sixth-seventh. PC boss Rick Mellor used three hurlers, McDugall (four innings), frosh RH Ted Foley and soph RH Jared Massaro (one apiece). Soph RH Kenny Koplove, so impressive last year, is dealing with flipper miseries and another would-be ace is no longer enrolled. McDugall showed battler tendencies, but did surrender eight hits and four walks. Sr. 2B Will "Kill Watzka" Katzka (some of the kids were calling him that -- smile), out of the No. 3 hole, went 3-for-3 with a walk and a pair of two-run singles for four RBI. The first was smoked. The second was a blooper on which Amaro made a leaping attempt. It ticked his glove and then he almost caught it a second time on the way down, while sprawling. Jr. 1B Nick Craig, sr. RF Ricky "The Barber" Troncelliti and Lengel also bagged two hits apiece. Craig made a nice contribution in the fourth, when the game was still in doubt. With two out and frosh LF Steve Fitzgerald (error, steal) on second, the lefty swinger beat out a perfect bunt to keep the inning rolling. Katzka (for two runs) and Troncelliti (for one) followed with base hits for runs and, just like that, the Fords were up 5-1. Their second inning counter had come on a b.b. of a homer down the leftfield line by jr. CF Mike Washington. Craig had a strong overall outing. He made good decisions in a rundown that resulted in one of Lengel's pickoffs and also thieved two bases, one in slight-delay fashion. There was almost a tragic moment early in the game. At the instant assistant Larry Shane, once the head coach at Villanova, happened to be walking down the third base line, not far from the coaching box, jr. 3B Vince Rondolone crushed a foul ball in that direction. It barely hooked around the end of the restraining fence and came within inches of hitting Larry in the back of the head. And I do mean inches! Here is a pic of the ball hitting the bat. Larry, wearing a grey sweatshirt, can be seen just about emerging from behind the fence. Phew! Thank God it was only one of those "almost" occasions. Now part of PC's staff is former FB-baseball headliner Kenny Devenney ('01). He remembered how I drove to his house one time, and took him downtown to the office, so we could get his picture for the Daily News. It took a half-inning or so, but I was able to describe to Kenny where he lived and where the turn off Ridge Ave. had to be made to get to his house. Even that his house wasn't too far off The Ridge. Hey, I'm only half as senile as I look (smile).

APRIL 16
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Haverford School 14, Chestnut Hill 0
  Oddity Week concluded with yet another entrant. Not in the goofy sense, but definitely in the uncommon. Major blowouts are not prevalent in the Inter-Ac, especially ones that feature zilch in the runs department for the losing squad. You know how things are in late-week games: The teams aren’t using their aces and one can never be sure what the second-line guys are going to offer. Well, HS soph RH Eric Close, who goes about 6-5/6-6 and appears to have wonderful potential, was in command throughout while CHA frosh RH Tim Menninger experienced rough going, in part, because the Fords’ field features a short outfield fence, especially in CF, and the winners showed tremendous aim. HS tallied two in the first, five in the third and seven in the fourth and there were four shots worth two runs apiece along the way. Sr. 2B Will Katzka fired a two-run homer over the fence in right-center to get things started. Sr. 1B Matt Lengel, a 6-4, 225-pound RH bound for Villanova (and the DN inkman), went deep to dead center in the third, jr. RF Ryan Blake did likewise two batters later (ball went a little further) and sr. C Matt Lipson mashed a double into the leftfield corner in the fourth. Lengel’s homer was memorable because it was nothing much more than a flyball, truthfully. Sr. CF Jon McAllister (Maryland), who just a shade earlier had gunned down a runner at third, eased back to the fence, braced himself, soared and . . . hey, did he catch that?! Most folks seemed to think so and everybody on the field momentarily halted. But then the truth came out . . . McAllister had NOT caught the ball. He later said it had “nipped” his glove. Menninger departed after Blake’s homer and was followed by two righties, jr. Greg Kozemchak and Anderson Good (cool name). Kozemchak had control problems while poor fielding kept Good from restoring order. The game lasted only a shade over 90 minutes and the sun was long hidden by the time it ended. I felt one single raindrop on my left arm on the next-to-last pitch and soon it was raining somewhat steadily as I waited to interview Lengel. Rrrrrring. It was the cell phone and budding legend Famous Amos Leak was calling to report a basketball commitment -- star Dobbins jr. Jerrell Wright to La Salle. That was handled back at the office. Thanks, Amos! Also eating up part of the waiting period was a conversation with base ump Joe Cassidy, who’s the basketball coach at Rowan University, in South Jersey, and a long-time friend going back to his days as Carroll’s No. 1 fan (he was also the Hawk at St. Joe's). The other half of the Blue Crew was Nick Chichilitti, who just last year was North Catholic’s coach (and a vacuum cleaner shortstop during his playing days at Ryan). “Chic” said he’s staying away from the Catholic League this year, umping-wise, and is only doing the Inter-Ac. I literally can’t remember any of his strike-ball calls being second-guessed today. Soph SS Andrew Landolfi reached base four times on a HBP/BB/infield single/BB sequence. Katzka also singled and absorbed a plunking. Sr. DH Rick Troncelliti went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jr. 3B Vince Rondolone had no official at-bats (HBP, BB, BB) while Lipson also had a single. McAllister led off the game by beating out a grounder to Lengel. Soph 3B Dan Hull collected two hits, both up the middle, soph 1B Matt Primavera stung the ball twice, also up the middle (lineout, single), and jr. C Nick Barile had an infield single. Barile’s dad, Ernie, was a starting member of Penn Charter’s ’81 powerhouse featuring future major league RHP Mark Gubicza. Also in attendance was Jose Dones, who earned first team All-City honors as an outfielder for Mastbaum in ’86. His son, Brian, is CHA’s starting second baseman (and a feisty FB player as well, despite his lack of size). Star LB Tom Devlin, the DH, said he’ll be attending Delaware Valley College to play football (with the baseball door also being left open). Congrats to CHA assistant John McArdle on his recent induction into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, City All-Star Chapter. PC coach Rick Mellor was also inducted. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

APRIL 15
PUBLIC B
Olney 16, Bok 3
  Well, Oddity Week continues. Today's newest wrinkle: In a span covering the last two batters of the home fourth through the entire sixth, 13 of 14 Bok batters struck out or walked. The only who did not, frosh SS-RH Augustin Gil, grounded out to short to end the fifth. Oh, wait, there was one other bit of off-the-wallness. Bok sr. RF-1B Faison Perry, a football headliner, batted lefthanded in his first three plate appearances, then righthanded in his last even though all Olney hurling was done by righthanders. His sequence went: K, K, BB, K. This game had early potential as the score was only 2-1, favor of Olney, through four innings. However, there was a weird aura because the picthers were VERY slow workers and the game was seriously dragging even though not much was happening. Things unraveled from there as Olney scored five, three and six over the last three frames. Only two of those runs was earned as Bok committed nine errors (ouch). The most impressive Trojan was soph 3B Runeyon "Rush" Holness. Not so much for how he played third, but for how he performed in the leadoff spot. He's a lefty swinger with good speed and, better yet, instincts and enthusiasm. He singled twice, reached base two other times, stole four bases, scored four runs and must have clapped his hands, trying to distract the pitcher, 1,000 times (smile). I picture him as an outfielder down the line. Jr. RH Johnny Pagan, a kid with decent height and girth, worked the first five innings. He did OK until losing his focus in the fifth, when he walked four guys. He finished with eight strikeouts total. Jr. RH Victor Maldonado pitched the last two frames in what was his first-ever Olney mound appearance. His performance was uneven, but he does have arm strength. Maldonado started the seventh with an infield single and capped it with a slicing, two-run double down the rightfield line. Maldonado was also part of a funny moment in the fifth. He was standing on first base when coach Barry Strube yelled over to him from third, "Vic, I'd like you to steal now!! . . . Is that better??!!" He ran on the next pitch and made it as the ball got stuck in the glove of frosh C Chris Almonte. After the inning, Strube explained to Maldonado that he'd missed the steal sign four times up to that point in the game. Bok's starter was soph RH Derek Gregg, and he shows good potential. Without using his body too much, he already throws reasonably well. He has a strong trunk, so when he makes the necessary adjustments, his velocity should really improve. He allowed just two hits through four while fanning 10. He did allow the messy fielding in the fifth to get to him. Gil worked the final 2.2 innings and got NO help. Gregg and sr. CF Gary Jackson, Bok's top running back, collected doubles and Almonte managed two RBI on a walk and single. Bok coach Roscoe Natale is currently recovering from surgery and is running the team. FB coach Tom DeFelice hung out briefly and at one point kiddingly made a call to Roscoe to ask him, "Yo, what's the steal sign? The kids need to know." Steve Kupsov worked this one by himself and called balls/strikes from behind the mound. And MANY pitches he had to call, as this one lasted 3 hours, 13 minutes. When a late borderline pitch was called a ball, Strube quipped, "At 6:22, that's a strike." Upon arrival, I walked toward the field with Perry and he was saying how Bok has had very few practices this season because of the continuing joke of a field situation in South Philly. The diamond in the northwest corner of the Bigler Street property can't be used because proper fencing to protect the backs of houses along 13th Street doesn't exist. This is only year No. 2 this situation has existed, I say sarcastically. You think some of these nitwits could figure out a way to erect a proper batting cage? Phew! Only in the Pub!! It never ends, folks. Never comes CLOSE to ending.

APRIL 14
PUBLIC A
Central 7, GAMP 6
  Methinks we’re looking at Oddity Week on the trail. Monday’s game included just one walk – tell me how many times you’ve seen that at any level, let alone high school – and today’s featured FIVE sacrifice flies, including one to the second baseman. Kudos to jr. SS Dan Quinn for a great piece of baserunning as he had the presence of mind to tag up as frosh 2B Joe Brinkman pursued a blooper into shallow right-center. Brinkman made the catch no more than 10 feet onto the outfield grass while heading toward the right-field line and Quinn’s mad dash was so successful, there wasn’t even a play. That run was one of three for the Lancers in the second inning and it followed a doozy by three batters. After reaching on an error, frosh 3B Tom Benek rounded third after Quinn doubled to left and, whoa, coach Rich Weiss applied the brakes. One problem: Benek didn’t pick up Weiss, a good way down the line, until it was too late and ran right through the stop sign. At the end of a three-man relay, jr. 3B Dom Raia made a perfect throw to jr. C Dom Garafalo and Benek was out by 463 feet (slight exaggeration). Right then, a Lancer stepped around the side of the batting cage and yelled, “The ball’s on the ground!” Plate ump Jim Scott maneuvered his way around to the other side, took a look and, sure enough, there it was. Safe! Garafalo told coach Art Kratchman that Benek had kicked it free. (By the way, Benek’s brother, Jim, was a prominent Lancer in recent times. Jim Taylor, Mastbaum’s basketball coach, is their uncle.) So, those were two of the nutty moments. Another one came in GAMP’s fourth when jr. INF Joe Garafalo, Dom’s twin, received credit for a two-run triple down the right-field line. Um, beyond it actually. The ball clearly didn’t glance off sr. Dante Lammendola’s glove until after he ventured slightly into foul territory. (I don't have any pics of the sequence because the camera batteries died right beforehand! Ugh!) Weiss went mildly crazy, even pointing out that GAMP parents were laughing in their spots in the nearby stands. Though I headed to this game expecting to see Central soph LH Mike Cavallaro vs. Raia, neither one pitched. Owing to a hamstring issue, “Cavs” didn’t play at all. Assumedly, Raia will pitch Thursday’s game against Washington. GAMP endured its own injury scare right away as sr. 2B Nick Coppola, the leadoff man, tripped over the bag while beating out an infield single and suffered what appeared to be a  severely sprained ankle. Let’s hope he’s OK because he’s an important cog for Kratch. (Nick’s cousin, Joe Coppola, is the starting first baseman.) Jr. Pete Rowe started for Central and surrendered four runs (none earned). He departed two batters into the fifth after a single and error and he was coming off a 1-2-3 inning, so the hook was a little surprising. Maybe he was on a pitch count? Or maybe Weiss planned all along to work in some other guys? Pitcher No. 2 was the starting 1B, jr. LH Mark Gervasi. He, too, was victimized by an error and the two runners wound up scoring, though he allowed no hits. Weiss sent me this via email: Rowe threw 90 pitches. He told me he wanted to go one or two outs in the 6th; didnt want to tax his arm this early. Beside, Gervasi had throwing well in recent games. That was the plan. Gervasi ran into problems in the seventh as sr. LF-RH Jimmy Coin (two scoreless innings in relief) singled to right-center and sr. RH-SS Anthony DiVincenzo, who pitched the first four innings, blasted a double to deep left-center. Raia sent a sac fly to right, jr. CF Sal Giafaglione reached base for the fourth time on his second walk (also two hits) and Weiss again brandished a hook, this time summoning sr. RH Kevin Pfeifer from left field. It would be Pfeifer’s first PL mound appearance and only his second ever for Central (both this year). I liked how this kid played linebacker last football season, in brassy fashion, so the fact that he was able to notch a save was not surprising. Things did get quite hairy, though. He walked J. Coppola, soph RF Tyler Criniti fired a sac fly to pretty deep center and jr. OF-INF Anthony Retallick was able to milk a walk after soph C Julien Blancon allllllmost caught a foul tip to end it. As he mentioned during the interview, Pfeifer somehow felt confident right after that because he knew he’d found his arm slot. He fired three straight fastballs at J. Garafalo and a called third one ended the game. For the record, Central’s three SFs went to soph DH Gabe Buchanan (also a two-run double and single), frosh 2B Kyle Newcomb and sr. OF-1B Adam Hoskins. GAMP’s have already been mentioned. One of the GAMP kids had a good line to a batter during the seventh inning rally. “If he puts it in your kitchen, you cook it!” It might have been tiny frosh Andrew “Cuzzy” Angiolillo, who performed some catcher warmup duties along the way, because he definitely had a good one while Pfeifer was warming up and J. Coppola was waiting to hit. From his spot right at the front corner of the cage, he yelled over to Joe, “You’re a hitter, Joe! You came out of your mother’s womb hitting!” Joe said, "Even before that, I could hit." Ha, ha, ha. One last thing: Killing some time before the game, I determined that the last names of GAMP’s starters had 33 vowels to 19 for Central’s. When I playfully mentioned that to some of the GAMP kids, one of them piped up with, “That’s because we’re Italian.” Um, I think I knew that (smile). That was why I counted all the vowels in the first place. I knew GAMP would win THAT competition in a crush job. (The wife is Italian. Her maiden name has four. A mere pittance compared with Giafaglione’s six. And check out Raia. Three in a row! Gotta love it! Smile.)

APRIL 12
CATHOLIC RED
SJ Prep 2, North Catholic 1
  It’s not often you see a WORLD record tied! Well, kinda tied. A baseball game can’t have fewer walks than zero, folks, and that could have been (probably was) the case today in a terrific duel at Richie Ashburn Field between sr. RHs Pat Carbone of the Prep and Ryan Etsell of North. With the Phillies’ home opener taking place off in the distance, Etsell walked nobody and Carbone’s lone free pass was highly questionable. It came in the first inning with cleanup hitter Elijah Resnick, a jr. 1B and lefty swinger, at bat. He was waved down to first by the plate ump with the count at 3-2. As base ump Pete DeIuliis explained after the game to Prep assistant Dennis Hart, it’s not his duty to speak up about count issues unless his assistance is sought. He said he did have 3-2 on his indicator, though, and that count was also reported to Prep coach Chris Rupertus by the kid who was taping the game from the dugout. He insisted he’d taped every pitch of the at-bat. Oh well . . . The Hawks’ coaches were none too happy when jr. SS Dan Venuto followed with an RBI single to right (jr. C Tommy Ditro, batting second, had doubled to right-center and moved up on a groundout by the lefty-swinging Etsell.) Since Etsell had breeeeeezed through the top half of the first with three impressive strikeouts, hitting 86 to 88 on a radar gun brandished by a Phillies’ scout, one almost had to think, “That one run could be enough.” Instead, it was Carbone, who’s bound for D-3 Trinity, who turned in the day’s best pitching performance. Just one batter reached second base after the first inning and Carbone wound up yielding four hits while striking out five and retiring the last 13 guys in order. He didn’t throw as hard as Etsell, but his fastball was still effective and he mixed in quality curves/changeups. Plus, he competed like hell while truly relishing, as he emphasized afterward, the chance to go against a 6-5, 180-pound prospect bound for Marshall and, who knows, maybe the play-for-pay version of the sport. Etsell is the kind of guy the scouts usually LOVE because his velocity is achieved with an easy motion and his body is nowhere close to being finished. In other words, he “projects” like crazy. I guess you could say today’s moral was: Guys going on three days rest should be shut down after four innings. The Prep collected five of its seven hits in the fifth and sixth. Backtracking momentarily, the Hawks’ run in the second scored on a ringing triple to right-center by Carbone and a looping single to center by jr. 1B Kevin Melone. The sixth looked VERY promising as the last three guys in the order, sr. DH Bill Mancini (looper to right), soph 2B Skyler Mornhinweg (low liner to center) and jr. LF James Stewart (beat out a 4-1 play), all singled to load the bases. Etsell rallied to whiff sr. CF Tyler Veterano on a looking third strike and get sr. 3B Greg “Buddy” Brooks on a not-far-away foul pop to Ditro. Sr. RF Rob McCabe, who’s bound for UMBC, opened the sixth with a hard groundball single to right. Jr. C Ray Toto got down a bunt, but the athletic Etsell executed an impressive pounce-and-gun and McCabe was forced at second. Toto yielded to sr. CR John Nedbal, who moved up as Carbone chopped out to Resnick. The first pitch to Melone skipped off Ditro’s glove and, in my opinion, rolled far enough away that Nedbal could have made third. Then again, two were out and he was in scoring position anyway. Etsell came inside and Melone was ready, sending a rocket directly toward sr. LF Luis Rodriguez. L-Rod slightly misjudged the ball and it sailed over his head for a tie-breaking triple. North went quietly in the seventh. Some mid-70s legends were part of this one. Etsell’s dad, Jeff, who pitched North to the ’77 Catholic League and City titles, is now the Falcons’ head coach in the school’s final year of existence. His assistant, Bill Zitomer, pitched Central to the ’76 Pub title and one of his teammates that year, Matt Melone, is the father of . . . yup, Prep hitting hero Kevin Melone. Matt had a homer in the Lancers’ 14-13 loss to Judge for the City Title in that same ’76 season. As I was getting ready to leave, Matt came over to introduce himself and Bill and Jeff were standing nearby. I detected no interaction between Bill and Matt. Did they even know each other was there? Not sure. Bill was wearing sunglasses and I surely didn’t recognize him; it was Jeff who mentioned shortly before gametime, “You know Bill Zitomer’s on my staff, right?” Maybe Bill and Matt had exchanged pleasantries before this moment. Not sure. Would be interested to find out. Meanwhile, Mancini and Mornhinweg were headliners on the Prep football team coached by Gil Brooks. Buddy is Gil’s son and the latter was in attendance. Though, as everyone knows by now, Gil was fired after declining to resign, don’t assume his ties with his players have been severed. He’s still helping kids find schools and he was thrilled to report early this morning, via email, that sr. WR Colin Rogers had finalized plans to attend Dickinson. I venture to say that NO high school coach in Philly history, in any sport, worked harder to find his players college opportunities.

APRIL 8
PUBLIC B
Swenson 15, Overbrook 5 (5 inn.)
  It's not too often that a team can turn each of its hits into three runs, but that was what happened today. Yes, the Lions bagged their 15 runs on just five safeties and only one went for extra bases. A goodie it was, though. As the 10th batter in an eight-run third, jr. SS-P Jeff Durkin powered a shot to dead left. It went a long way in the air, and then on the ground, and Durkin had no trouble legging out a three-run homer. He'd started the frame with a hard single to center and he wind up as the only Swenson player with two hits. He also pitched the fourth and fifth innings and the two runs against him were unearned due to a two-out bobble on a grounder. Sr. CF Stacy Nesbitt looped an RBI single to left and another run scored on a throwing miscue, then soph Matt Brewer, the backup RF, made THE defensive play of the game: a sliding snag of blooper to right-center. Coach Shawn Williams' starter was sr. RH Javier Sanchez and he cruised through the first 2.2 innings. In fact, he owned six consecutive strikeouts when we issued a walk to 'Brook sr. RH Chris Blackwell, who went the distance and threw about 300 pitches! OK, maybe half that (smile). Still too many for this early in the season, very warm weather or not. Sr. SS Joe Clements, the Panthers' No. 1 starter, followed with a shot to the left part of centerfield. It was a true blast and he, too, had no trouble circling the bases for an inside-the-parker. Soph C Percy Allen followed by inside-outing a double down the rightfield line and jr. 1B Mark Dawson laced an RBI single to left. Sanchez settled down from there and then gave way to Durkin for the final two innings. By the way, Durkin is not related to Swenson's basketball and softball coach, Pat Durkin. PD was on hand because his squad was practicing right next to where this game was played -- along the Boulevard a shade south of Grant Avenue. Blackwell, a tall, thin kid who's about three-quarters legs, walked 11 and was victimized by his teammates' seven errors. Well, six. He had one of them. A few of them occurred on very routine plays, honestly, and the Panthers have to do better. A bases-loaded walk to soph 2B Jon Fox, who'd picked up an RBI on a nice squeeze bunt in the first, ended the game with one away in the home fifth. Frosh RF Eric (or maybe Erik?) Krok reached base in all four of his plate appearances: RBI single, walk, K/E-2 combo, another walk.   Williams reported that Krok's dad is named Ray, then added quickly, "Not the McDonald's founder." That guy, Ray Kroc, passed away 26 years ago. 'Brook coach Phil Beauchemin has an interesting approach. He doesn't go out to coach at third base unless something is brewing. Otherwise, he remains right by the cage, providing advice and encouragement. Obviously, he feels his time is better spent there with a team short on experience and true players. Williams, meanwhile, is a big, affable guy who makes things fun for his kids and even hits them with trivia questions to cut down on the boredom factor. This one ended a shade before 5:30 and, as I got close to my car, I noticed a squirrel wolfing down part of a cracker, or something. I was hungry anyway, then I really started jonesin' for a burger. Luckily, there's a McDonald's no more than, what, 300 yards north of the field? Could life BE any better?

APRIL 8
INTERESTING FAMILY BLURB
  Received an email about a rarity involving children of former city baseball brothers Stu (Washington) and Howard Drossner (Northeast) . . . On April 6, Stu's son, Jake, a 6-3 soph lefthander who's already drawing recruiting interest, bagged his first high school win as Council Rock North beat Central Bucks South. That same day, Jessica, daughter of Howard, got the win as Penn Charter's softball squad bested Germantown Academy. She's only a frosh.

APRIL 6
CATHOLIC RED
La Salle 12, Roman 8
  How often does a courtesy runner wind up as a baseball hero? Especially when his legs have nothing to do with his importance? Well, it happened today. Say hello to Colin Pyne, a La Salle soph who, according to coach Joe Parisi, runs 60 yards in a VERY quick 6.5 seconds. He began the tilt as the CR and emerged as the hero thanks to a HR. (It was a day for initials. SIX of the game's participants go by initials rather than first names and each one is Something J.) As anyone who has ever made a visit to Boyce Field, in Roxborough, knows all too well, the shortest part of the field is in dead center. Pyne officially entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the fifth and then, with two away in the seventh, after a single to left-center by sr. LF John Sczepanski and perfect sacrifice bunt by another sub, soph 3B Mike Piscopo, there Pyne was, with the game in his hands. Smack! A first-pitch homer to dead center, up and over the fence that's maybe 25 feet high. That made it 10-8 and the Explorers added two more runs without the benefit of a hit. Those four runs were crucial to the victory, of course, but so were the six they tallied in the fourth to erase an 8-2 deficit. Sr. C T.J. Burgmann highlighted that outburst with a grand slam to . . . you got it, dead center. The first two runs in that rally scored on a HBP (sr. OF A.J. Rodriguez) and infield bobble (ball put into play by soph CF Tyler Kozeniewski. Hey, quick thought, did North close early and send some of kids to La Salle? Sczepanski. Kozeniewski. There's also a Piotrowicz on the roster. As in Kevin, who also plays hoops. Three Polish kids, assumedly, on a team not named North. Is that allowed? Smile.) Burgmann also ripped a RBI single in the first, lined out to right in the third, came within a few feet of another homer to right-center in the sixth and was issued an intentional walk in the seventh. In a weird development, Sczepanski went 3-for-3 to lead off innings and made two outs, on whiffs, as the 10th and final batter of frames. The win went to sr. RH Garrett Nesbitt, a strong kid who showed decent pop in his four-inning stint. He allowed just one hit, and it didn't come until there was one away in the seventh. Parisi said Nesbitt is a backup goalie for some club-team hockey power that's headed to a national tournament in Chicago. Maybe even as you read this. Sr. RH C.J. Burns was reached for seven hits -- five for extras -- in his three innings (and some errors did not help his cause). Sr. C A.J. Vagliani powered a two-run homer to you-know-where. Jr. Rich Houck, who began the game as Roman's DH, was the only Cahillite with two hits -- two-run double off the fence in you-know-where-again and single to left. He also did a respectable relief job until La Salle wrecked his day in the seventh. Note to oldheads: if the surname "Houck" is familiar . . . Rich's uncle (sorry for messing that up, earlier), Craig, a feisty righthander, pitched Roman to the '78 Catholic League title (1-0 over Egan in eight innings. He set down Egan's 3-4-5 hitters in order to end it in the eighth. MAJOR brass.) Roman's starter was sr. RH Tim Racek and, whoa, he was REALLY bringin' it early. Had to be in the low '80s, if not mid. He never quite found his curve and his fastball velocity appeared to vary widely, but his best ones were golden. He bears watching. Here's an all-in-one-place list of all the initial guys -- for La Salle, A.J. Rodriguez, T.J. Burgmann and C.J. Burns. For Roman, A.J. Vagliani, sr. CF C.J. Appenzeller and jr. 3B R.J. Vaughan. Wonder if every guy is a Junior? By the way, I liked how Appenzeller gathered his teammates before the home seventh and tried to return them to Positive Mind-Set Ville. He was brief, yet emotional. Good job. Major thumbs down to the umps, who arrived late and didn't bother to perform their required duties -- checking bats, etc. -- before the game. Plus, despite their tardiness, they showed no hustle while making the long walk from the deep rightfield corner to the plate area. If they'd moved any slower, they would have been standing still. Not good! The teams had finished infield-outfield at least 15 minutes earlier. Aside from his nifty bunt, Piscopo had a strong moment at third base. After a slight bobble, he recovered quickly, maintained his poise and showed the day's best throw while getting the out at first. After Pyne's homer, Parisi bubbled, "I love how aggressive my sophomores are at the plate!" Roman is wearing Vegas gold unis for home games. I like the design -- Cahillites is underlined -- but not the color. Sorry, folks. I like regular yellow. Why have La Salle, Penn Charter, Roman, Washington, etc., gotten away from that? Was there a vote that I missed? Did Notre Dame do it at one point and everyone just blindly copied? As I told Roman coach Joe Tremoglie, I still can't even get used to seeing Neumann-Goretti NOT in Neumann's old orange. Oh, well. I'm an old fart. I ain't changing my ways at this juncture. I like what I like.

APRIL 5
PUBLIC A
Frankford 21, Northeast 10
  Let’s play two! Oh, they did? Not quite, but it definitely seemed like it. Look at that score again – 21-10. Like something out of football, right? Maybe Tim Freiling’s appearance had something to do with it. Tim spent the previous school years starring as a kicker-punter for Northeast (and as a baseball player) and he’s currently taking a semester off from college (Kutztown) after having to undergo surgery for an infection in his throat; I think that’s what he told me. Anyway, all the best, Tim. Just try to avoid making future baseball games, merely due to your presence (though he did leave very early, come to think of it) wind up with football scores, OK? (smile) This tilt lasted 3 hours, 9 minutes, and boy, was it messy. There were 24 hits (Frankford stroked 15) and 23 walks (Frankford milked 18) and eight errors along with MANY other plays that should/could have been made, but weren’t. The sun in the eyes of outfielders was part of that. Frankford overcame deficits of 5-4 after two innings and 10-8 after four and expanded an 11-10 lead with 10 in a 15-batter visiting seventh. Somehow, small soph RH Omar Cruz went the distance for Frankford, though his pitch count might have topped the number of pics I posted (173). He was actually very good over the final three innings, though, notching five of his 12 strikeouts and allowing no hits, no runs. DN ink went to sr. DH Francisco Bonilla, who goes 6-foot, 240, and moved to Philly from Puerto Rico last September. He went 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, a plunking and five RBI. He almost homered in each of his first two at-bats, but committed a serious no-no on No. 2. He watched the ball and wound up with only a single. He owes coach Juan Namnun some punishment running. Another big kid, frosh 3B Kevin Montero, walked four straight times, singled twice, then walked again. This was game No. 3 for Frankford, and there’d been a couple of scrimmages during a mid-March trip to Florida. On the flip side, this was Northeast’s first game and coach Sam Feldman said sloppy field conditions prevented practice all last week. Sam has only recently returned to school after suffering shoulder injuries last summer in an accident. He still can’t do the windmill, race-home gesture, so an assistant is coaching third. Jr. RH Ivan Pichardo and soph LH Walt Archer pitched three innings apiece, then sr. RH Esai Vargas worked the seventh. Four Frankford batters posted hits worth two RBI in that frame – soph SS Israel Arroyo-Diaz, sr. 2B Gabriel Cedeno, Bonilla and soph LF Ricky Alvarez, a backup. Arroyo-Diaz finished 4-for-6 with two doubles, a walk and three RBI out of the leadoff hole. For Northeast, sr. CF Dario Perez clubbed a two-run homer to dead left while Pichardo and soph SS Nelson Coronado had a pair of hits apiece. Nelson and his jr. brother, Nathaniel, the third baseman, arrived here from the Dominican Republic only three months ago. Soph 1B Howard Lynn made the best defensive play with a sprawling catch of a foul popup. Both teams were CRUSHED by graduation. Northeast returns no starters. Frankford’s only experienced starter is Cedeno. Central also was largely cleaned out, so this could be a wide open (and not exactly pristine) title race. Ah, it’s early. We’ll see. I did love Northeast’s late-game spirit. Even though the Vikings trailed by 11 runs, starters who’d been removed from the lineup gave great vocal support to pinch-hitters. There were numerous, ahem, discussions about rules and lack of calls, etc. And there was even a delay when the plate ump walked to the stands and requested a halt to the dropping of F-bombs; it was mostly one guy and he left shortly thereafter. It’s amazing how many Hispanic players are representing these two teams – 13 of Frankford’s 15 and eight of Northeast’s 17. As recently as the 2002 season, the total was three (all at Frankford). Thankfully, I know a decent amount of Spanish and can understand most of their funny chatter. Always a treat!

APRIL 3
CATHOLIC BLUE
Neumann-Goretti 11, Conwell-Egan 0 (5 inn.)
  The drama departed early and then . . . whoa, it returned! Would sr. RH Albert Baur actually spin a no-hitter, even a shortened version? Nah. With two away in the fourth inning -- admittedly, not exactly MAJOR drama -- Baur still owned a no-no and C-E had sent only one ball beyond the infield. Jr. C Daulton George then hammered a low liner to center. It reached jr. CF Dom Riverso on one bounce and there went the possibility of an early-season memory-maker. N-G already led, 11-0, at that juncture and the game ended one inning later when C-E failed to cut the deficit below 10 runs. The Eagles' other hit was a hard single to right, leading off the fifth, by sr. 2B Ron Moyer; he'd made the early solid contact on a liner to left in the second inning. Baur struck out seven and walked two. C-E actually made a lot of contact early -- albeit in the form of foul balls -- but Baur eventually did a better job of directing his fastballs to the lower part of the strike zone. The hits and the liner were the only balls to leave the infield. The Saints scored three in the first, five in the second (against sr. RH Andrew Schaefer) and three in the third (vs. jr. RH Matt Petrizzi; he also worked a 1-2-3 fourth). N-G returns many of its headliners from last season and has added two goodies by transfer, jr. 2B Mike "Zoom" Zolk (North Catholic) and soph LF Joe Gorman (Furness, though he was home-schooled, if I remember correctly). They bat second and first, respectively, and hit lefthanded like the four guys behind them. Gorman absorbed a pitch to start the home first and Zolk, on a 3-2 count, crackled an RBI double to left. Sr. 1B Mark Donato followed with a high blast to exact right-center, good for another run. N-G's field, located on the property of the former Neumann, now has a flimsy, rubber fence running from dead center to the right field line. In the old days, this ball would have kept rolling and might have resulted in a homer. But it hit the fence on a short hop and Donato settled for a double. He later scored on a wild pitch that featured controversy. Netting covers much of the backstop and it includes a couple of holes for ventilation. Well, the ball hopped into one of those holes and got stuck BEHIND the netting. George couldn't get to it. No matter. The ball was still "live." Weird. And unfair, right? Back-to-back, two-run doubles by Donato (great piece of hitting; smashed an 0-2 pitch to left) and Baur (shot to center) highlighted the second. The third inning runs scored on Zolk's RBI single to right and Baur's two-run shot to right (after Donato was issued an intentional walk). So, Baur took a no-no into the fourth and collected four RBI. Not a bad outing, right? Gorman reached base in all three of his plate appearances and never did post an official at-bat (HBP, two walks). Sr. RF Mike Riverso fired an RBI single to center. His brother, Dom? Um, well, did you have to ask? (smile) He had the misfortune of ending each of the first three innings by making outs (popout, groundout, backward K). Don't worry, he'll do well later on. Frosh 3B Pete Piccoli stroked two hits out of the No. 9 hole. There was a nice turnout, thanks to the beautiful weather, and the music provided by a DJ near N-G's bench kept things interesting. N-G hoops boss Carl Arrigale was among the spectators and he said his entire squad, in a gesture of support, will be attending an upcoming game. Nice! When I saw a name on C-E's roster, Matt Brach, I had to ask the kid, "Are you related to Stanley Brach?" Turns out Stanley is Matt's father and he holds a place in city baseball history. He was a catcher for Judge and his big moment was a downer for what was then Bishop Egan. One of the city's first magnitude stars in football AND baseball in the early '80s was Ricky Burns, who could run 60 yards in 6.7 seconds. Spanning the last part of the '81 season (16) and deep into '82 (49), Burns stole 65 consecutive bases. Yes, 65 in a row! Well, Stanley gunned down Ricky -- at third, no less -- in Egan's final game of the regular season and there went the streak. Matt said, yes, his dad had mentioned that to him (smile). C-E's new coach, replacing the legendary Rich Papirio, is Bob Wagner. Note to long-time followers of city sports: Not THAT Bob Wagner. The "original" BW was Egan's football coach in the mid-1970s, and later the head man at Roman and Kenrick. This one is no relation. Well, as far as I know. N-G will host Germantown Academy on Tuesday in what shapes up as a classic. Donato, who has committed to Indian River CC (Fla.), is expected to start vs. a squad that boasts two high-profile players in righthander Keenan Kish and infielder Sean Coyle. Scouts should be plentiful. Well, the journey on the baseball trail has begun. Something tells me this weather won't last -- I'm smart like that (smile) -- but it was much appreciated today.