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JUNE 18
CARPENTER CUP CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL
Catholic League 9, Chester County 8 (11 inn.)
At Coca-Cola Park, in Allentown
At the risk of being accused of exaggeration
. . . If the CL's two CCC games had taken place in a World
Series, the whole nation would be abuzz! Wait, don't laugh. Twice, Our Guys
have battled back from two-run deficits in the bottom of the ninth inning
-- with two away, even! -- and today's escapade was even
better than Wednesday's because it included a storm-back from an 8-2 deficit
after six full frames. Of course, when a team scores the final seven runs of
the game it's impossible not to focus mostly on the offense. And that'll
happen right here, momentarily. But first, major kudos must be dispensed to
a pair of senior righthanders, Conwell-Egan's Matt Petrizzi and
Wood's Sean McCloskey. They hurled scoreless ball over the final six
innings (three apiece). Though Petrizzi did allow two apiece of hits and
walks, he struck out five and stranded four guys in scoring position.
Niiiiice. No one managed a hit against McCloskey and he helped himself
almost immediately by catching a liner (after an error) and turning it into
a doubleplay. They happen to be the only guys from their respective schools
on the roster, so they likely don't feel as comfortable as the players with
multiple schoolmates on hand. No doubt they earned increased respect,
though. Now for the offense . . . The CL scored two in the first as sr. CF
Mike McLaughlin (Judge) REALLY hustled to beat out an infield single
and collected two RBI in the process. The four-spot in the seventh was
traceable to a laced two-run double into the rightfielder corner by sr. 2B
Mike "Zoom" Zolk (N-G), a looping RBI single to center by sr. 1B
Joe Forcellini (La Salle) and a hard double into left-center by soph LF
Shane Williams (SJ Prep). With one away in the ninth, Zolk and jr. C
Corey Baiada (La Salle) worked a pair of full-count walks and Forcellini
lifted a fly to right. A CRUCIAL foulup followed: the rightfielder tried to
rub out Zolk at third and Baiada seized the opportunity to hustle into
scoring position at second. Williams then flared a two-run single to
right-center and it was extra innings, here we come! In the 11th, Baiada
reached on an infield bobble and Forcellini bunted him to second. It's the
little things, folks! After coming within maybe a yard of posting what
undoubtedly would have been a game-ending hit to the leftfield corner (it
landed foul), Williams slashed a single that landed just in front of the
leftfielder. Baiada was held at third. Good decision. Unless the play had
been completely butchered, he would have been out. Then, on an 0-2 count, jr.
RF Jimmy Kerrigan (N-G) did what guys are ALWAYS told to do in such
situations: he shortened up, just tried to put the ball in play and wound up
with the game-winning single (liner to right). Williams finished 4-for-4
with three RBI while Zolk/McLaughlin halved four RBI and jr. 2B Kyle
Gillen (SJ Prep)/Forcellini did likewise with hits. Though jr. LH
Joey "Roy Rogers" Gorman (I saw him in line at the turnpike Roy Rogers
restaurant on the way back home -- ha ha) permitted four runs, all were
unearned due to a two-out throwing error (UPDATE: These runs were
earned. The key play was ruled a hit/error, though H-E was not flashed on
the scoreboard at the time). He did allow five
hits over three innings in what, for him, was an uneven performance. Sr. RH
Matt Dolan (Bonner) gave up four runs in two-plus innings and one of
those was unearned, also. The game's strangest out was made by jr. RF
Tyler Kozeniewski (La Salle), who was called out for faking a bunt in
the first. Tourney rules prevent bunts of any kind (even fakes) until the
seventh inning. Tyler later wondered whether the pitcher would get credit
for a strikeout. Answer: no. Sr. C Ray Toto (SJ Prep) made a great,
sliding catch of foul popup (after a rather long run) and gunned down a
would-be basestealer. There was verbal byplay between the teams' adult
rooters. The CL guy, at high volume, was advising the CC guy, who'd been
chirping when the lead appeared safe, to stick his foot in his mouth. Even
in Allentown, Philly Pholks have attitude (smile). Gotta love it.
JUNE
15
CARPENTER CUP CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Catholic League 5, Delaware County 4
As the home ninth began, the prevailing thought had to be, "Looks
like this won't work out." Little by little it became, "Looks like this WILL
work out." Well, maybe not to the extent that it did, and definitely not in
such crazy fashion, but when La Salle jr. 3B Colin Pyne batted with
two out and runners on second and third, I fully expected him to get a hit
to tie the game. More much importantly, so did he! Bingo! . . . Hold on,
folks. We're gonna backtrack to the start of the inning for full-effect
purposes. La Salle jr. C Corey Baiada lifted a fly to right. SJ Prep
soph LF Shane Williams singled hard to left. N-G jr. RF Jimmy
Kerrigan looped another single to left. N-G jr. SS Marty Venafro
popped out down the rightfield line. Uh, oh. But wait. Something then had to
happen, by rule, and the umps were on their toes. CCC rules limit pitchers
to three full innings and Rob Gore (Marple-Newtown) had started his
stint by recording the last out of the sixth. He had to go, baby, and he
yielded to Nick Kruzienski (Chichester). I don't know this kid from
Adam, but he's probably a decent pitcher and that means he's a starter and
likely has not faced many true-closer situations. Anyway, his first pitch to
Pyne was slightly wild and it allowed Williams and Kerrigan to move up.
Pitch No. 2 was also a ball. Pitch No. 3? Bang! Pyne sent a shot to left.
With two away and the runners off on contact, it was good enough to tie the
game. But it did much more! It got through the leftfielder and Pyne came
alllllll the waaaaaay arounnnnnd to scorrrrrrrrrrre!! The relay sequence was
respectable, honestly, and the play was somewhat close. But not close enough
to achieve bang-bang status and, as you might imagine, the CL players and
coaches went absolutely berserk right at the plate area. If the CL had lost,
this would have been the seventh first-round washout for city squads in the
tournament's 26 years. But that didn't happen so, happily, it's off we all
go to Allentown Saturday afternoon for a 2:30 quarterfinal vs. Chester
County. The site will be Coca-Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
(Quick thought: Anywhere in this country, I wonder if there's a Diet
Coca-Cola Park?) Now for some other pertinent details . . . The CL's first
two runs scored on a third-inning grounder by sr. SS Eric Frain
(Ryan), which followed a triple by sr. 3B Jim Murphy (Bonner), and a
fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Baiada that brought in La Salle sr. 1B Joe
Forcellini (walk, moved up on a wild pitch and groundout by N-G sr. 2B
Mike "Zoom" Zolk). N-G junior lefty Joey Gorman started the
afternoon by working three no-hit, no-run innings and the victory went to
C-E sr. RH Matt Petrizzi (Conwell-Egan), who breezed through the
ninth except for a walk. Baiada gunned down a would-be basestealer, Frain
turned a doubleplay after catching a bullet right at him and Pyne (normally
a SS) dove to his left to limit a dangerous grounder to an infield single.
Delco had two homers and one of them showed how CCC alignments can be dicey.
The second was a no-doubter; it departed the park in dead left. The other,
an inside-the-parker, featured an all-or-nothing sprawl by Kerrigan, who was
mostly a centerfielder for N-G and said he had not played RF all season. The
ball sliced away from him and went for a four-bagger. The day's most amazing
moments were spent in a conversation with Bonner sr. 1B Rich Young,
who was a starter. (All starters went three frames, then the subs went six.)
I knew of Rich's status as a cousin of Bonner's Haley brothers, Jim and
Joe, who have roughly 115 first cousins. I asked Rich to detail some of
HIS family's dynamics and, oh, my goodness! He's the oldest of nine kids
(six boys, three girls). His mom is one of 15. His dad is one of 13. Total
number of first cousins: 140!!!! After dropping that number, he added, "I
can give you all their first names, too." Maybe another time, Rich. When I
have three hours to kill (smile).
JUNE
13
CARPENTER CUP CLASSIC FIRST ROUND
Lehigh Valley 12, Public League 0
Olympic/Colonial 6, Inter-Ac/Independent 1
Ugh and ugh again. This was not a fun doubleheader, folks. I-A/Indy
mostly went quietly, then the Pub, like almost always, wound up getting
crunched thanks to two bad innings (five runs apiece in the seventh and
ninth) and some other mishaps along the way. As a reporter, I'm not supposed
to care. But I do. It's always enjoyable to see "Our Guys" (Pub/Cath/I-A) do
well in this setting, in part because winning is so much better than losing
and also because extended stays in the tourney lead to more exposure in
front of college scouts. The Pub, of course, has a l-o-n-g history of
frustration in CCC's. It has won just once, in 1990, and has been outscored,
245-72. Also, it has allowed at least eight runs in 16 of its last 18
outings. Ouch. Many of coach Juan Namnun's players were juniors,
including all of his own from Frankford, so maybe next year will turn out
better. We can hope, right? Early, the players were into the game and they
had legitimate hope when the score was only 2-0 through six innings. But as
things deteriorated, those in the dugout mostly concentrated on having fun
and messing around. There was organized chanting/clapping, capped with the
synchronized crossing of legs. And the wolfing down of sandwiches. And a
who's-taller? contest between two of the players. The Pub managed four hits,
a double by sr. RF Mark Gervasi (Central) and singles by sr. SS
Nate Coronado (Edison), soph 1B Kevin Montero (Frankford) and jr.
1B Tyler Criniti (GAMP). Those by Cononado and Montero were posted
back to back with two away in the fourth, but LV threw behind Montero on the
relay and caught him off first. Of the Pub's seven pitchers, only righty
Dom Raia (GAMP, Chestnut Hill College; eighth inning) wasn't touched for
a run. DN ink went to Frankford jr. 2B Ricky Alvarez, who walked
twice, stole a base and had some decent defensive moments. Overall, the best
moment occurred beforehand when Namnun asked me to take a pic of himself and
Frankford's two previous coaches, Bob Peffle and Dick Connolly.
The latter, a long-time CCC board member, began his Pioneer stint in 1966,
so those three have been in charge for a combined 46 years! Honored to take
that pic, guys . . . Meanwhile, did you ever think you'd see a Pub squad
with no players from Northeast/Washington? Amazing. NE was down, way down,
this season. Washington could have produced at least two players for the
squad, most likely, but I was told the word about tryouts was never spread
to the players. Sad . . . Speaking of unexpected developments: Penn Charter
had just one player on the I-A/Indy squad, jr. LF Demetrius "Meat"
Jennings. Say what? Two others opted not to play, due to other
commitments, and that was also the case with some other goodies around the
league. Still, though it's small (six teams) and traditionally does not get
much help from the other schools in the partnership, the Inter-Ac usually
has many quality players and I'm surprised any time it exits in semi-meek
fashion. Just three hits were posted -- a double by soph 3B Joe
Poduslenko (Malvern) and singles by sr. CF Nick Bateman (Malvern)
and jr. RF Sam Feirson (Chestnut Hill) -- and just one I-A pitcher,
sr. RH Taylor Wright (Episcopal), managed to keep runs off the board.
The son of Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright worked the final 1.1
innings and allowed no hits and two walks while fanning two. He left four
guys stranded. He received DN ink and we mostly stayed away from the Jay
stuff since I can imagine he gets swamped by it, perhaps even overwhelmed.
The three-sport mainstay (also quarterback, hoops forward) is headed for
Brown and intends to play hoops as a walk-on in addition to baseball.
Anyway, the Catholic League will play Wednesday at 12:30. Will it keep the
city high school year alive? That's the hope, troops.
JUNE 6
CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF
Twin Valley 3, Neumann-Goretti 1
After a team mostly roars to 22 consecutive wins, it’s hard to not imagine
that a rally somehow will be staged to post yet another victory. Then again
. . . TV jr. RH Jared Price had size and ability, and he would
certainly would be a strong contender for an award called Best Pickoff
Artist of 2011. Price works exclusively from the stretch and one can only
imagine how many hours he has spent while perfecting his pickoff move. He
nailed three Saints at first base and got TWO guys in the same inning. N-G
sent four guys to the plate in that second frame and three reached base.
Sounds like great possibilities for an uprising, right? Not when two are
rubbed out. In one of the latter innings, a Saint reached first and a fan
hollered, “Tie him to the bag!” It was THAT kind of day, folks. After weeks
and weeks and weeks of having everything go right, N-G experienced the
downer of, to a large extent, creating its own season-ending demise. After
the game, a number of people wanted to cross-check with me on how many of
TV’s runs were unearned. Answer: two. “That made the difference,” most of
them said. True, but N-G’s run was unearned as well, so TV was also the
winner in “real” runs, 1-0. The Saints broke through in the third and even
that one could have been erased because the second baseman, trying for a DP,
made a bad throw right after being upended on a quality takeout slide by
courtesy runner Justin Rey. Not saying Rey SHOULD have been called
for an illegal slide, but some umps automatically make that call even when
it’s not justified. N-G definitely had chances. It stranded seven total
runners over the last four innings, including the last two at second and
third. With one away in the seventh, sr. 2B Mike “Zoom” Zolk worked a
walk and jr. LH Joey Gorman, on a 2-2 count, sent a hard single
through the left side. Though jr. SS Marty Venafro grounded out, he
definitely did his job because he inside-outed the ball to the right side,
allowing Zolk and Gorman to move up (Rey than courtesy-ran for Gorman). Jr.
CF Jimmy Kerrigan went down swinging, on a curve, and all kinds of
emotions began to flow. N-G had already won CL and City Titles, of course,
and had reasonable expectations of making a state-crown run. As mentioned in
today’s paper, N-G had been the first CL school in 67 years of
basketball/baseball (the latter began in 1945) to have both teams post
perfect records in CL play, including playoffs, in the same school year.
Gorman reached base in three of his four plate appearances with two singles
and a walk. Sr. RF John Snyder singled twice, sr. DH Dom Riverso
(DN ink;
about a major health issue affecting his mother, Vickie, and how the
Saints have rallied 'round her) singled and walked and jr. C Nicky
Nardini drew two free passes. Gorman settled down nicely after TV put
eight guys on base in the first two innings (though two errors were part of
that). In all, Gorman permitted seven hits (all singles), walked three and
struck out nine. Best wishes to frosh 1B Josh Ockimey, who injured
his right knee in a collision while playing defense in the seventh and had
to be carried off. Congrats to Lou Spadaccini and his assistants –
Phil Cardella, Joe Messina and Matt Cella – for the passion they
showed this season and for the obviously strong/caring relationships they
maintained with their players.
JUNE 3
CLASS AAAA CITY TITLE
Bonner 7, Frankford 2
(At Ashburn Field)
One of baseball's biggest charms is that so many goofy, unusual
things can happen. Once they do, the umpires are on the immediate hot seat
and then the vice also gets turned on the people slapping together the
boxscores. As in, "'Hmmmmm. How does THAT play get scored?" It was a shade
before 11 when I started this report and I was still not positive, after
numerous attempts to get a definitive answer, even from national experts on
baseball's official scoring rules, how today's all-timer should have been
recorded. On a hunch/gut feeling combo, I did award an RBI in the official
box that will appear in the Daily News. OK, fasten that seat belt. Here we
go . . . Bonner's batting. Bottom of the first. One out. Bases are loaded.
Jr. RF Joe Haley hits a popup almost to Mars. This baby is WAY up
there. Almost directly above the plate. It's windy and it becomes obvious
pretty early that soph C Eduardo "Cheese" Sanchez is not going to
make the catch. I don't think plate ump Jim Carpino is making the
infield-fly-if-fair call, but someone is. The ball hits the first base line
about 10 feet from the plate and heads into foul territory, where it is
picked up after a decided delay undoubtedly caused by confusion/uncertainty
over exactly what the heck has happened. On infield flies, runners go at
their own risk. Bonner sr. CF Jamie Juisti breaks for home and scores
without much drama. Unless I'm really losin' it (always possible -- ha ha),
the play should have been a simple foul ball because the ball wasn't touched
until it went foul and, of course, it had not passed either bag. But the
infield fly call stood (despite major, understandable yelping from Frankford
coach Juan Namnun and assistant Pete Gabriele), the run was
not going to disappear and the question became, "How the heck is that one
scored?" On an infield fly, the nearest defensive player (Sanchez) gets the
putout. Can this play possibly be considered a sacrifice fly? Even though it
wasn't caught? It's not a fielder's choice. There's no error because no one
butchered the play. It just wasn't made . . . News flash: it's now 11:10 and
I just had a five-minute talk with Jay Dunn, who works for The Trentonian, a
newspaper in Trenton, N.J., and also serves as an official scorer at
Phillies games and minor league games. He was scoring a Trenton Thunder game
and returned my call upon returning home. (Thanks for getting back, Jay!) I
broke down everything for him. His verdict: Haley DOES deserve an RBI and,
yes, there's no specific way to explain it. Somehow, some way, he did
something that drove in a run and, well, that's that. "You could see 1,000
games and not see that again," Jay said, laughing. I then told him about the
unusual play that followed almost immediately. On average, depending upon
how many games you watch, you'll see this one maybe once a season. Jr. DH
Ronnie Scull hit a rocket toward third base that drilled baserunner
Rich Young, a sr. 1B. Oh my goodness! After what turned out to be a
phantom RBI, would we now have a weird base hit? Nope. The play was merely a
foul ball. Reason: Young was in foul territory when hit by Scull's rocket .
. . OK, let's move on. Except for the goofy popup play and some other head-scratchers
involving the umps, this game did not offer too much entertainment-wise.
Just one day earlier, Frankford had won the Pub title and Bonner was trying
to regroup after dropping the CL final to Neumann-Goretti three days
beforehand. Very early, it appeared we might enjoy a rollicking,
back-and-forth contest, but Frankford managed just one hit (of four total)
after the first inning as sr. RH Marty McKeone did a very nice job
despite recording just two strikeouts. DN ink went to Juisti, who went
3-for-4 and joined Joe Haley in the RBI triple column. He's bound for
Williamson Trade and intends to play baseball (definitely) and football
(probably . . . maybe . . . we'll see; he's had three concussions). Soph SS
Jim Haley had a two-run single in the sixth and sr. PH Joe Fuller
sliced a run-scoring single in that same frame (reverse the order on those).
Sr. 3B Jim Murphy got an RBI on a perfect suicide squeeze and sent a
one-hop double off the leftfield fence. Sr. 2B Dan Dougherty singled,
walked and scored twice. Losing pitcher Brandon Gonzalez, a jr. RH,
doubled home a run in the first and four errors enabled the Pioneers to add
another run in the seventh. Today's most famous witnesses were Bonner
disciplinarian
Tom Kehoe
and his son,
R.C., the former Roman point guard who was
recently named the head coach at Holy Family. Basketball, not baseball
(smile). Tom was Bishop Kenrick's coach back in the day and his
brother-in-law is none other than . . . Phil Martelli. Phil's son,
Phil, recently joined the staff at Delaware. Um, didn't R.C. work there
prior to taking the Holy Family job? Indeed. That's why you often hear
references to the coaching carousel. Best of luck, R.C.! Just make sure to
keep The Puckster in the loop (smile).
JUNE 2
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL (OVERALL & AAAA)
Frankford 5, Edison 4
(At Richie Ashburn Field)
Let's face it, when a game includes 12 errors it
has to be labeled butt ugly. Nonetheless, this one was highly entertaining,
thanks to assorted twists and turns and the kind of passionate fan
participation that's a given when the coolest people ever, a k a Hispanics,
are involved (lots of signs, chanting, horns, noisemakers; even one that
sounded like a police siren), so you won't hear me complaining in the least.
Thanks for a great battle, amigos! (smile). Ultimately, Edison lost because
this game was postponed from yesterday to today due to
excessive heat/humidity. How so? Well, Edison sr. RH-SS Nate Coronado
crushed two balls to left into the teeth of a very strong wind. Yesterday,
he almost certainly would have had two homers worth six RBI! Today? One was
dropped for a sac fly/E-7 combo and the other was caught. He DID have two
homers in the semi vs. Washington at the same venue. Of course, life is full
of couldas and wouldas and all that matters is exactly what DID happen.
Though decidedly younger, with only one senior in the lineup, Frankford went
the big-boy route and captured its seventh title in the last 12 years. Jr.
RH Omar Cruz went the distance despite allowing six hits in the last
two innings and four in the seventh alone. We'll detail the sixth, then the
seventh, as they were crucial to the outcome. Thanks to a single by sr. LF
Jonathan Maldonado, a walk to soph pinch-hitter Felipe Montalvo
(sr. 2B Lender Vega immediately re-entered the game to pinch run) and
a bobble that allowed jr. CF Joshua Fontanez to reach first, Edison
loaded the bases with two away. Sr. SS-RH Nelson Coronado, Nate's
brother, directed an RBI single to right over the head of jr. 2B Ricky
Alvarez. One problem: Unaware that coach Matt Fischer was holding
Vega at third, Fontanez kept running all the way around to almost third. The
throw from jr. RF Ramon Rosario, though slightly
high, was caught by soph C Eduardo "Cheese" Sanchez.
Multiple Pioneers yelled and Sanchez became aware that Vega was hung up.
Sanchez fired to jr. SS Israel Diaz. Vega broke for home and Diaz'
throw made him an easy out. In the seventh, down by 4-2, the Owls again
rallied. Nate Coronado singled, stole second and scored on a single by sr.
1B Johnny Pagan. Sr. RF Martin Nolasco singled hard up the
middle. Oh, baby. Sr. 3B Miguel Delgado was asked to bunt, but did
not succeed. On the next pitch, he was given permission to hit away and
smacked a hard, one-hopper directly at Diaz. A 6-4-3 doubleplay resulted,
with Pagan advancing to third. Maldonado shot a groundball through the left
side and the deficit was 5-4. Cruz got Vega on a low curve that hit the
dirt. In calm/cool fashion, Sanchez gunned to soph 1B Kevin Montero
to record the final out and begin the hysteria. The DN story focused on how
eight key members of the Olney Redbirds American Legion team were involved
in this game -- three for Frankford and five for Edison, in addition to Owls
assistant Pete Torres. Those guys were: Cruz, Alvarez and jr. LF
Hector Cerda for Frankford; the Maldonados, Fontanez, Pagan and Delgado
for Edison. Frankford scored two in the second and fourth and one in the
fifth and only one run was earned. Cerda had RBI singles in the second and
fourth and finished 3-for-3 overall. Cruz singled home what proved to be the
decisive run in the fifth after Alvarez milked a walk and advanced to third
on a steal/bad throw combo. From the public relations standpoint, it was
probably better for the league that Edison didn't win. The other coaches
were highly hissed that the Owls' lineup included two over-aged
players who'd been approved for an extra year of eligibility by the District
12 committee. According to multiple sources, one turned 20 three-four months
ago and the other just did, too, or is about to. Pretty incredible and/or
ridiculous, depending upon your viewpoint, especially since the PIAA
guidelines clearly state that those granted extended eligibility should not
give that team "a competitive edge." When both guys are returning starters,
how can that NOT be a competitive edge? Duh! The Owls were making
their first finals appearance in year No. 55 of existence. They'd come into
this season with 19 losses in quarterfinals and four more in semis; only
four teams made the playoffs way back in the day. So, this group
definitely should be commended. The schools' most recent coaches,
Frankford's Bob Peffle and Edison's Larry Oliver, were in
attendance. Frankford now meets Bonner for the AAAA City Title tomorrow,
1:30, at Ashburn. Both teams will advance to next week's state playoffs.
MAY 31
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Neumann-Goretti 3, Bonner 1 (8 inn.)
(At Widener University)
How many times have you seen a kid foul off two straight sac-bunt
attempts and thought to yourself, "This dude is beyond selfish. He had no desire
at ALL to get the bunts down. All he wants to do is swing away." Well, after N-G
jr. LH Joey Gorman failed to get down two bunts in the visiting eighth,
due to what I've heard about him and seen with my own eyes, that thought never
remotely entered my mind. Then, my "faith" in this kid was rewarded. Even though
coach Lou Spadaccini signaled to Gorman that it was OK to swing away,
Gorman signaled back that he was still going to bunt. He did, very successfully,
and the TWO runners moved up to third and second, respectively. A pair of RBI
singles followed, Gorman remained in door-is-shut mode in the bottom half of the
inning and three outs later N-G owned its second title in three years. Let's
back track for a moment and attach names to the accomplishments. Against sr. RH
Matt Dolan, mostly in control all afternoon, N-G's No. 9 hitter, sr. RF
John Snyder opened the eighth with a double that hit about two-thirds of
the way up the next-to-last portion (in left-center) of the famed Blue Monster,
not far from the 358-foot sign. Much to his mom's displeasure (smile; she was
taking photos right next to me along the third-base side), North Carolina-bound
sr. 2B Mike "Zoom" Zolk was issued an intentional walk. "Oh, this will be
a great car ride home," she playfully groaned. Gorman's sac scenario followed
and, with the infield up, jr. SS Marty Venafro fired an RBI single
through the left-side hole, then jr. CF Jimmy Kerrigan got another run
home with a bloop single to right-center. Dolan departed to major
applause/appreciation and jr. LH Kevin "No 'r' After the G" Giffin fanned
the only two batters he faced. Bonner went 1-2-3 in its half and the only drama
concerned which outfielder would make the final putout. Kerrigan and jr. LF
Anthony Adams almost came to blows (just kidding) before Kerrigan imposed
his well and made the game-ending snag, thus giving the Saints their second
crown in three seasons and extending their record to 21-0. Er, 21-1. We say 21-1
because Spadaccini called tails and lost a pregame flip to decide the home team.
After the game, a N-G parent bellowed, "That's our only loss all year!. The coin
flip!" Another, obviously a basketball supporter as well, crowed, "We win.
That's what we do at Neumann. We win!" (Hoops boss Carl Arrigale,
assistants John Mosco and Mark DelBrocco and star guard Lamin
Fulton, at a minimum, represented the basketball squad. John had the best
line when he told me, "Ted, your shirt is changing colors." Ha, ha, ha, ha. So
true! Light green to dark green from MAJOR sweat. At one point I almost passed
out from lightheadedness, likely brought on by low blood sugar or dehydration,
and the heart was pumping quickly. Kinda scary. Thanks to those who provided
soda and/or water. The day had begun with roughly 100 minutes in the pregame/ingame
sun at the Frankford-Central Pub semi. Not smart to drink not even one drop of
water while there. What a knucklehead!) With today's triumph, Gorman achieved a
rare hat trick of playoff wins, all in a seven-day period. Five innings vs.
Lansdale, two in relief vs. La Salle and eight today. Final stats: 15 innings,
14 hits, 4 runs (earned), 6 walks and 12 Ks. The DN story, in part, focused on
his former battle vs. severe social anxiety, which caused him to leave SJ Prep
as a freshman. He played for Furness late that school year (while enrolled in a
cyber school), then transferred to N-G for sophomore year and is now the junior
class president. Niiiiiiice! If you get a chance, check out the nomination
letters Joey wrote in 2009 and 2011 as part of our Best Teammate competition.
Amazing! Neumann scored in the second as Kerrigan singled to left, moved up on a
wild pitch and groundout, then scampered home on a groundball single, similar to
Kerrigan's, by soph 3B Joey Glennon. Honestly, mostly in regulation the
Saints gave Bonner sr. C Paul Shepherd a chance to look like the best
defensive catcher in world history. "Shep," so important this season to Bonner
from an emotional/leadership standpoint as the ONLY returning starter from a
title team, gunned down three would-be basestealers with throws that were as
strong as they were accurate. Excellent job! Shepherd also had an RBI groundout
in the first, bringing home the leadoff man, sr. CF Jamie Juisti (walk,
moved to third on soph SS Jim Haley's single). The last out of that
inning was a drive to pretty deep CF by jr. Joe Haley, Jim's brother. If
that one goes just a little farther and gets over Kerrigan's head, who knows?
Bonner mustered little opposition from the fifth inning on; 13 of the last 14
guys were retired. Among today's spectators was long-time NFLer Anthony Becht,
a 1995 Bonner grad. It was great to see him! Also on hand was the legendary
John Mooney, who coached baseball forever at the ol' St. James (Chester) and
then spent time as Bonner's AD after St. James closed in June 1993 (can't
believe it has been that long). Recent N-G baseball stalwarts Mark Donato,
Albert Baur, Joey Armata and Mike Riverso (Dom's brother and part
of the Widener-based ground crew) also made appearances. Thanks to DN sports
staffer Kerith Gabriel for jumping on the Frankford-Central semi, and to
Randy Seidman for handling boxscore duties for that tilt and the
Edison-Washington game that followed. Also, thanks to Bonner student (and
hoopster) Joe Phelan for his wonderful reports on Friars sports this
school year. Both schools will participate in City Titles, then have chances to
make state playoff noise.
MAY 28
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Bonner 5, Wood 4 (11 inn.)
(At La Salle High)
Is that all there is to the conclusion of a wildly entertaining game?
With one away and the bases loaded in the home 11th, Bonner sr. 3B Jim Murphy
took a first-pitch curveball from jr. DH-LH reliever Rich Rosenbaum on
the left knee and . . . It seemed as if everything and everybody momentarily
froze. It was as if the participants and witnesses needed a second or two to
realize this completely crazy game, with all kinds of twists, twins,
controversies, interesting plays, etc., had ended on something as mundane as a
hit-by-pitch. Soph SS Jim Haley finally trotted home, and did a mini-jump
while touching the plate, while Murphy made sure to head down to first and make
contact with that bag. Soon, the Friars were jumping for joy in various locales
as the realization sank in more and more: the defending champs had advanced to
another final after, among other things, slicing a 4-2 deficit to 4-3 with one
out in the seventh (on an RBI single by jr. RF-RH reliever-RF again Joe Haley)
and creating a 4-4 tie on a two-out single by jr. DH-RH reliever Ronnie Scull.
Let's stay in the home seventh for a moment. Here's what happened: Jim Haley
(Joe's brother) walked, sr. 1B Rich Young (the Haleys' cousin) doubled to
left (on a ball that barely twisted away from jr. LF Joey Monaghan),
making it second and third and causing the departure of sr. RH Sean McCloskey.
The next pitcher, moving over from 3B, was sr. RH Larry Brittingham. Sr.
C Paul Shepherd popped out to sr. SS Kyle McCrossen (Temple). Joe
Haley followed with his clutch hit, a looper to center. Murphy struck out
looking. Scull singled hard through the left side and it was obvious from the
start there'd be a chance for a play at the plate. The throw came in, Young
slid, and the call was . . . safe! Within seconds, Brittingham was being ejected
-- yes, ejected -- by plate ump Bill "Babs" Haines. Yes, with two outs in
the home seventh of a now-tied game. As he admitted later, Brittingham used
inappropriate language in responding to the call. Several times during the game,
Haines, who was terrific throughout a spirited contest on a very hot day, had
warned both teams about blurting out curse words (mostly in frustration; not
over calls) and making derogatory comments directed at the opposition. If Wood
had won, Brittingham would have been ineligible for the final. With that in
mind, I don't think Brittingham should have been tossed UNLESS he used the curse
word in reference to Haines, the person. "What was with that bleeping call?" (if
that's what was said; or something similar) is much less serious than "You're a
bleeping idiot!" In his defense, Haines has his previously mentioned X-factor:
He HAD warned everyone about continued use of salty language. Rosenbaum, the
starting DH, had been warming up anyway, so at least he wasn't thrown into the
situation completely cold. He walked sr. LF Kevin Tarpey to reload the
bases and that brought up the No. 9 hitter, sr. 2B Dan Dougherty.
Dougherty was ordered to bunt. Yes, with two outs and the bases loaded. Though
he got the ball down, it didn't go far at all and soph C John Santospago
was able to make tag on Joe Haley as he tried to score. The highlight of the
eighth was Scull's great diving catch of a popped up bunt, which he followed
with an easy toss for a doubleplay. Scull offered more heroics in the ninth.
Soph RF Brett McCrossen was on second with two away when Scull turned as
if he'd be attemping a pickoff. McCrossen, as is every runner's tendency, turned
his back while returning to the base. Gotcha! The Friars yelled "ball!!" and
McCrossen thought Scull had whipped the pill into centerfield. After a slight
hesitation, he broke for third and Scull wound up tagging him out. In the 11th,
K. McCrossen rifled a leadoff double to right-center, but there he died as Scull
milked a flyout and then posted two Ks. Wood scored its runs in the second (one,
on a groundout by Monaghan) and fourth (three, RBI single by Rosenbaum and
two-run double by sr. 1B Jeff Courter, who's headed for Villanova). A
promising sixth lost steam when Brittingham was picked off second by Shepherd
(though Murphy made the tag near third after taking a toss from Jim Haley).
Bonner suffered the indignity of having runners picked off first by Rosenbaum in
the ninth and 10th. When the game began, the crowd was smaller than you'd
usually see at a regular game right after school. It grew slightly, but was
certainly nothing special. Neither school had many students on hand. Best of
luck to Wood's departing seniors. And congrats to Bonner's for staying alive.
MAY 27
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Edison 9, Masterman 0
So much for the notion that only St. Joseph's Prep is capable of
ending embarrassing/frustrating sports droughts during the 2010-11 school year.
Last night, after dropping seven consecutive Catholic League lacrosse finals to
archrival La Salle, the Hawks finally broke through to capture the title by
beating that same school. And back in the fall, after 15 title-game setbacks
stretching back to 1975, the Hawks finally captured the soccer crown with a 2-1
win over Wood. Well, check this out: Edison's baseball teams had fallen 19
consecutive times in quarterfinals going back to 1978!! Blown out in many. Barely edged
in some. Never able to experience joy. So, how was the skid finally halted? In
easy fashion. Sr. RH brothers Nate and Nelson Coronado, who played
for Northeast in 2010, combined on an easy-as-pie one-hitter. Nate, consistently
showing an 85 MPH heater in his first lifetime pitching start, blew away 10 in
his five-inning stint and he surrendered the hit, a groundball single to center
by sr. CF-RH David Ashbridge four batters into the home first. Nelson had
no difficulties. In fact, he also experienced what his brother said was a
lifetime first: an inside-the-park homer (worth two runs). The ball was hit so
far, Ashbridge was just picking it up as Nelson reached second base. He scored
with no sweat. This was my first look at the Owls, mostly because almost all of
their Division B games were not worth seeing (ample blowouts; though they did
lose one to Kensington). Edison was in B only because mass forfeits in 2010
(ineligible player) caused a last-place finish at 0-16. There's some controversy
this year, too, because the starting lineup includes two players, allegedly, who
are 20 or damn close to it. The guys were approved by the D-12 eligibility
committee and, no offense, but that's pretty much a joke. The guidelines on how
to handle situations involving overaged players clearly state that such
approvals should not provide teams a competitive edge. If your team includes two
guys who started last year and then were granted ANOTHER year, how is your team
not gaining a competitive edge? Imagine if a 20-year-old cracked open the face
of a 15-year-old with a misplaced fastball. Think that lawsuit would be a
classic? Anyway, good-guy, first-year coach Matt Fischer, a former star
catcher at Conwell-Egan and Widener, cannot be charged with tricky
string-pulling here. He was appointed late to take over the Owls and, even now,
is not completely sure about everything that happened. Bu take this to the bank:
The coaches of the other prominent teams are hissed that these two kids are
still playing (by the way, they're NOT the Coronados; don't want any
misunderstanding about that). One source told me D-12 chairman Robert Coleman
voted no in one of the cases, but was overruled by the other four members of the
committee who attended that day's hearings. One of those four noted, "I guess I
got soft in my old age." Annnnnyway, Masterman's pitcher was jr. RH Nate
Vahedi, who actually did a respectable job. As for his fielders, well, they
could have left their gloves and/or arms at home. The Blue Dragons were guilty
of NINE errors and only two of the runs were earned. Coach Alex Dejewski
was able to dress just nine players. Second baseman Augie "The Destructive
Doggy" Legido, the kid whose foul ball broke my old camera four days ago,
was away on a trip with his parents. Other kids were injured and one of the nine
who did play, soph RF Malcolm Carrington, was seeing his first action of
the season due to shoulder miseries. The Blue Dragons gave off strange
vibrations, as in, "We really don't feel like being here." Dejewski several
times had to make pointed comments/requests just to get infield-outfield drills
accomplished. Lucklily, Masterman's season did not end on this serious downer.
The BDs will compete down the line in the state playoffs as D-12's A champ.
Nelson Coronado and sr. RF Martin Nolasco managed to switch-hit even
though both Masterman pitchers were righthanders. Coronado hit his homer
righthanded after starting the game lefthanded. Nolasco had his two-run single
lefthanded after previously batting righthanded. Sr. 1B Johnny Pagan
powered a triple deep to center and sr. 3B Miguel Delgado had an RBI
single. Edison had decent fan support in Fairmount Park, including some teachers
and former players of both Edison and Frankford, where assistant Pete Torres
formerly worked before switching to Edison. Among them: Edwin "Tito"
Rohena, Chris Lopez and Juan Carlos Torres. Neumann College coach
John Fleming also was in attendance. By the way, this will NOT be Edison's
first trip to a semi. Back in the day, the Pub had four small-sized divisions
based on geography and those division champs would advance straight to semis.
The school's record in semis? Four losses, no wins. Hmmmmmmm.
Edison's Streak of Quarterfinal Losses . . .
1978 - Germantown 8-3
1979 - Bartram
4-2
1980 - Washington 12-10
1984 - Central
13-1
1990 - Roxborough 12-2
1991 - Washington 3-0
1992 - Frankford 12-0
1993 - Central
6-5 (9 inn.)
1994 - Frankford 10-7 (8 inn.)
1995 - Northeast 11-2
1998 - Washington 7-5
1999 - Northeast 15-1
2003 - Frankford 9-4
2004 - Central
7-6
2005 - Washington 15-0
2006 - Northeast 11-1
2007 - Northeast 5-2
2009 - Frankford 13-1
2010 - Central
14-3
Outscored by . . . 187-55
MAY 26
PUBLIC CLASS AAA FINAL
Franklin Towne 14, Phila. Electric 8
Count the number of letters in the surname of Towne's ultimate hero,
sr. 1B-LH Aron Litostanski, then multiply by three and add three to that
number. Did you come up with 36? That's how many minutes were required to play
the first inning and when it ended, PET owned a 7-0 lead. Oh, baby! Due to its
bye to the final, and the crappy weather, Towne had been waiting around for
almost two full weeks and coach Kyle Riley said beforehand he was worried
about rust, cobwebs, whatever. Smart man, that Mr. Riley (smile). Wakeup calls
don't come much larger than 7-0 and the Coyotes ultimately stormed to victory,
scoring one in the first, four in the third, four again in the fourth and five
in the fifth. Just as impressively, if not more, soph RH Damian Padilla
worked the final four frames in very hot/sticky conditions and was borderline
brilliant, allowing just one hit and one free pass while fanning six. Thanks for
restoring order, dude. Otherwise we might have been on the Vogt RC premises
until midnight (smile). If not for a left-ankle injury, which caused him to miss
roughly a half-dozen games (it happened during an ice hockey tryout),
Litostanski would have experienced a big senior season. Today he went 3-for-5
with a double and four RBI in the cleanup spot and all three of his hits came in
the big-outburst frames. He was not the starting pitcher, as Riley figured his
best move, with the greater good in mind, was to go with soph RH Tim Hart
and save Litostanski for a quarterfinal matchup tomorrow vs. Central. That idea
blew up, big time. Hart lasted just five batters (three singles, two walks) and
Litostanski eased over from first base. He matched Hart's performance (two
walks, three singles) over the rest of the inning and wound up being charged
with three runs (along with one more in the third). Soph LH Tommy Hicks
surrendered all 14 runs for PET and that was truly a surprise, considering his
output this season. He played some catcher recently -- yes, as a lefty -- so
maybe that affected his pitching in a negative way. He's not a big guy, so maybe
the weather drained him. Truthfully, many of Towne's hits were mediums or even
bloopers and there was some shaky fielding as well. Sr. LF Markus Malave
was a game-long threat, turning two hits and two walks into four runs scored
with the help of four stolen bases. He's the classic pain-in-the-butt leadoff
man and today he did his job VERY well. Jr. CF Angel Lazu posted two
singles, a walk, two steals, two RBI and three runs scored. Jr. C George
Klein had identical stats! Litostanski batted cleanup and was followed by
sr. RF Tyler Landis (two RBI) and sr. 3B Matt Kubacki (3-for-3, walk, two
doubles, three RBI). The last three guys combined to go hitless, oddly. Hicks
did go 3-for-4 with an RBI double. Jr. RF Kevin Zayas had a two-run
single. At one point I heard Litostanski referring to Padilla as Double D. Say
what? Last time I looked, Padilla starts with a P. I asked him to break it down
and Aron said, "It stands for Dirty Damian. You know I come up with mostly
idiotic stuff." PET sr. SS Chuck Fitzgerald finished his career with a
1-for-4 performance; the hit was a bloop RBI single in the first. Beforehand,
Riley asked PET's coaches if Fitzgerald was ever going to graduate and they
mentioned how, at the coaches' All-Pub meeting, Fitzgerald's name was
automatically written down right at the start. Indeed, he's a three-time All-Pub
honoree (though he was listed as a soph in '08; also made it in '10 as a
"senior" . . . hmmm). Congrats on a great body of work, Chuck. Towne visits
Central for a Friday quarterfinal. The starting pitcher will be . . . none other
than Tim Hart.
MAY 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 13, Lansdale Catholic 3 (5 inn.)
This will likely sound utterly ridiculous, especially in light of the
victory margin, but it's possible ONE pitch played a vital role in deciding this
game. With one out in the home third and sr. RF John Snyder (HBP) on
first, Lansdale still owned a 1-0 lead over the mighty Saints (18-0 coming in)
when top-shelf star Mike "Zoom" Zolk, the sr. 2B bound for North
Carolina, took a fastball on or just off the inside corner. Zolk was recently
credited with an .805 batting average so one has to wonder, had he started a
game 0-for-2 even once all season? Heck, had he even made two consecutive outs
all season? (smile) Only jr. LH Jon Motts, sr. C Eric Lewandowski
and sr. CF Rory Clemens, though way far away, had the perfect angle on
the pitch aside from the plate ump, but everyone affiliated with the Crusaders
moaned and/or barked about the non-strike call. Zolk, thanks to his second
chance, followed with an infield single. Jr. LH Joe Gorman flied out, jr.
SS Marty Venafro spanked an RBI single to right, jr. CF Jimmy Kerrigan
drew a walk and frosh 1B Josh Ockimey unloaded a three-run triple over
the head of jr. RF Kevin "Goretti" Neumann to make it 4-1. The Crusaders
proved to be cooked. Now thoroughly loose, N-G posted six runs in the fourth and
three more in the fifth (before an out was even recorded) and the game was over
in a shade under two hours. If Zolk is rung up there and the Saints go scoreless
for a third consecutive inning, on their home field, against an opponent that's
a definite underdog, who knows? . . . Just a thought. DN ink went to Ockimey,
who added a two-run single in the fourth to finish 2-for-3 with five RBI. The
6-2, 205-pound lefty swinger (and thrower) is one of the CL's few
African-American players and he's also part of a (fraternal) twin combo.
However, Michael, who's older by 1 minute, attends Bonner because his
primary sport is football and he figured that school would be his best bet. Josh
only plays baseball and he was familiar with many of N-G's guys from the youth
trail. Zolk, meanwhile, finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored.
The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, soph 3B Joe Glennon and Snyder, joined Ockimey
in the two-hit club and Snyder outdid Glennon in the runs-scored department,
3-2. Gorman, often scintillating this season, turned in a human performance.
Showing some rust, he was reached for seven hits and three walks, and he plunked
a guy, too. One other thing he did was pick a runner off first and that caused a
highly visible/audible blowup between coach Rick Norwood, coming across
the field out of the third base coach's box when the inning ended three batters
later, and an assistant who'd been coaching at first. Norwood thought the guy
had not properly performed his duty of alerting the runner (his son, jr. 1B
Rick, though I'd like to think the identity of the runner had no bearing; he
doesn't come off as a play-favorites type) about the need to get back to the
base. Very uncomfortable situation. Not sure I've EVER seen/heard anything like
it, especially so out in the open. I hope the guys involved are able to get past
it. LC's first RBI went to sr. DH John Welch on a dart of a single to
left. Lewandowski (groundball single to center) and Neumann (rocket of a double
to left-center) had the RBI in a two-run fifth. Sr. 3B Stefan Swaintek
and Welch were retired on DEEP flies to center that kept going and going, and
going some more, until they were run down by Kerrigan. Like always at N-G, the
plate ump and coach Lou Spadaccini multiple times had to order/beg the
fans to back off the leftfield line. Oddity time: When it appears there'll be a
play at the plate, you know the on-deck batter is the guy who jumps out to that
area and signals to the runner whether he should slide or stay up? Well, check
out the photos. N-G's signal guy, again and again, is No. 11, jr. Dean
DeJesse. Designated Director of What Guys Should Do As They Near Home Plate
in Either-Or Situations. Gotta love that job description (smile).
MAY 24
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FIRST ROUND
La Salle 12, Roman 1 (5 inn.)
Tyler Freeman is all powerful. At least when I'm around (smile).
Freeman, star SS two years for La Salle, always seemed to hit like crazy when I
happened to attend and today HE was in the house to watch his old school meet
the Cahillites. So, I guess we should not have been surprised when the current
SS, jr. Colin Pyne, laced RBI doubles in his first and second at-bats. In
fact, by the time Colin flied out to center in his third at-bat, I'm pretty sure
Tyler had departed. Hmmm. Pyne, who also made a spectacular defensive play,
getting a bang-bang out at first on a hard charge-and-gun after a ball glanced
off sr. RH Nick Burns, was hardly alone among La Salle's offensive
heroes. Jr. RF Tyler Kozeniewski smacked a three-run homer over the
rightfield fence and added a run-scoring single for four RBI. Oddly, jr. C
Corey Baiada, sr. 2B Jules Arici and sr. 1B Joe Forcellini --
the luck of the Irish be with you, too -- all lofted sac flies in the first two
innings, which produced nine runs. Kozeniewski, jr. 3B Mike Piscopo and
sr. RH Nick Burns all managed RBI singles in a three-run fourth. In
another oddity, Burns allowed four hits and all came in succession. That
happened in the fourth and the third of those, by sr. 3B R.J. Vaughan,
plated a one-out run. There's a reason a team goes 4-8, of course, so I can't
say surprise about this result is rampant. However, Roman had notched three of
its four division wins against teams that finished above it (Bonner, Ryan and La
Salle), so there were hopes for a competitive game. They went the ol'
dashed-early route. It was great to see former Roman all-timer Harry Carr,
but the uniform was quite the stunner. He's now an assistant at La Salle (after
a stint at Roman). Two former La Salle hoops coaches, Mike Osborne and
Bernie Fitzgerald, also were in attendance. Today was Day One for the new
camera. Again it's a Canon, though a little heavier than Old Standby Now in
Camera Heaven. I only had to go to SIX stores to find it: Target in Voorhees,
Walmart in Magnolia, Sears in Lawnside, another Walmart in Audubon, then Best
Buy and P.C. Richard (ding, ding, ding!) in Mt. Laurel/Moorestown/Whatever It
Is; they're side by side. At the Target, I was going back and forth between two
cameras and the store clerk, who knew which two I was checking out, said, "I'll
go help some other people. Just let me know when you decide." Cool. So, I
finally make the decision and he says, "Ah, man, sorry. That one's out of
stock." Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! (It was the same one I ultimately bought at Richard.)
With all the running around, I wasn't caught up on the various nuances (like how
to control shutter speed), so some of the early pics are slightly fuzzy. Sorry
'bout that. Later, my shots were back to being their usual medium quality (ha
ha). This camera has 12 pixels as opposed to 7, so they are a shade, um,
meatier.
MAY 23
PUB/D-12 CLASS A FINAL
Masterman 2, GAMP 0
Like the Big Fella, the Pub works in mysterious ways. When the regular
playoffs finally commence with quarterfinals Friday (weather permitting), one of
the league's best teams will be absent. Poof! Just like that the season is over
for GAMP, a long-time factor in the best division despite its low enrollment.
The quarters will still feature five AAAA schools and one apiece from AAA, AA
and A. Masterman, one of the all-time upstarts (in the program's five-year
history, it has stormed from Division D to regular season champ in Division A
while going 52-5 in league play), is, for the moment, the league's kingpin of
tiny-school programs and GAMP is collecting uniforms. Hard to believe, but true.
This one featured a vintage pitching duel between sr. RHs David Ashbridge
of Masterman (Dickinson) and Dom Raia of GAMP (Chestnut Hill). Though
Raia recorded 15 of his 18 outs on whiffs, he also free-passed six and yielded
as many hits. Ashbridge allowed just three baserunners and two of them reached
on infield singles. Only two guys, jr. 1B Tyler Criniti (groundball
single to center) and Raia (fly to right) even sent the ball beyond the infield.
Ashbridge showed good hump-it-up ability; meaning, he was able to increase his
speed in moments when the Pioneers were thinking maybe they could time him. DN
ink went to soph SS Joey Powell, who managed two singles (one for an RBI)
while adding a walk, two steals and a run scored. He also made a diving catch of
a line drive. In the first, when Raia gave off a slightly-too-amped aura, Powell
walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored an on error. In
the sixth, after a single by sr. C Chris Woods and walks to 1B Jack
Christmas and RF Terrell Skipper loaded the bases, Powell managed an
infield single to bring home an insurance run. There was not even a hint of
late-game drama from the GAMP standpoint; the final 14 Pioneers were retired in
order. It'll be strange to see GAMP go forward without Raia and the Garofalo
brothers, sr. C Dom and sr. SS Joe, as well as those kids'
parents. Class acts, all! The one big downer occurred in the third when
Masterman 2B Augie Legido took a late swing at a Raia heater and fouled
the ball fast and hard to the right of the batting cage. Bang! Right off my
camera lens, which perhaps was sticking a shade through the fence. Or at least
was even with it. The camera went flying and landed on the sidewalk near GAMP's
bench maybe 8-10 feet away. I picked it up and . . . ugh! The camera, complete
with off-kilter lens, was stuck in the open position. There was no hope of
getting it back in working order. Dammmmmn. Later, Ashbridge kidded that Legido
would be getting his allowance next week and would buy me another camera. This
one took 91,000-odd pics. I can't believe it's gone! Augie Legido, you are NOT
the man! (ha ha ha) I guess my Tuesday will include a trip to Target or Walmart
or someplace similar.
MAY 22
CATHOLIC RED
O'Hara 5, Judge 4
The game ended and the turning of wheels began. Within moments, the
coaches -- O'Hara's John Grossi, Judge's Tim Ginter -- were
meeting at home plate to flip a coin. Grossi tossed, Ginter called, tails it was
and, at that moment, it appeared Judge would be meeting Roman tomorrow and
O'Hara would be meeting SJ Prep in the beginning of a mini-tourney to break the
four-way tie for fourth place in the CL Red. Then, within maybe an hour, things
had changed! In a good way, I might add. League honchos opted to scrap the
mini-tourney, award fourth to Judge and fifth to O'Hara (they did better in the
prime tiebreaker, going 4-2 against the tied teams) and have just one preplayoff
. . . for sixth between Roman and Prep. That'll take place tomorrow, 3:45, at La
Salle High and the loser's season will be over. Instead of what could have been
two days, the first round and quarterfinals will be pushed back just one day
each (to Tuesday and Wednesday) and the honchos also found a way to avoid making
another move they were considering -- a coin flip to decide sixth after Day One
of a mini-tourney. That would have been rough. This way, no team can say it
didn't have a chance. Meanwhile, as harsh as it sounds, I would have supported a
move to pull the plug on all four teams. Should the seasons of four teams with
.333 winning percentages really still be alive? In the Blue, McDevitt is playoff
bound (for just the second time ever) with a 2-10 mark. Say what? Further proof
that the CL is more and more like the Pub evvvvvvery year. Anyway, O'Hara needed
this win to rise to 4-8 (and drop Judge to the same record) and was able to play
on its own field even though Judge was the "home" team; its field is still a
mess from recent rains. The Lions were going quietly (five straight outs)
against jr. RH Rob Walmsley until jr. 2B-RH reliever John Kane
ripped a single to left. Jr. DH Steve Trainor also singled to left and
the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, CF Sean Rogers and 3B Mike Sciasci, drew
walks (ugh) to force in a run. Next up was sub jr. LF Peter Gbur (guh-burr,
not guh-bore or goober), who was in the game already because sr. LF Nick
DiMarco had crumpled in a heap at first base after running out a grounder to
start the game; he hit the bag in awkward fashion. Gbur sent a two-run single to
center and wound up with DN ink. (I didn't properly introduce myself when we
began the interview and he soon blurted out, "Am I going in the paper, or
something?" I told him yes and then which one and he said, "Awesome!" -- ha ha
ha) Jr. C Devin McCann had a sac fly in the third and soph RF Nick
Donovan roped an RBI single in the sixth. McCann also made a nice catch/tag
of a relay from sr. 1B Jeff O'Reilly to cut down sr. SS Kevin Elmer
at the plate in the fifth. That play was VERY close, as were the players'
bodies. O'Hara's starter was soph RH Mark "Sticks" (or "Stix"?) Onimus,
who throws reasonably well now and could get much better. He lasted four-plus,
then yielded to Kane, a funkyballer who got through the fifth and sixth with no
further damage. Jr. SS-RH Mike Schneider (good actions, decent size, nice
possibilities) handled the seventh and Judge came oh-so-close to forcing extras.
An error started the frame, then sr. 3B Kurt Sowa (Rider) milked a walk.
Sr. 2B Shane "Stosh" Malone contributed a perfect move-'em-up bunt, then
Judge got a freebie as McCann tried to pick sr. CF Mike "Stink" McLaughlin
(supposedly, stink is part of his email address) off third and instead whipped
the ball into left. Sowa took third on the foulup. With sr. CJ Felthaus
pinch-hitting, a pitch got away and dribbled maybe 15 feet from home plate. Sowa
stayed put. A commitment right away to go might have worked, but I'm not
guaranteeing it (smile). Felthaus walked, then a strikeout ended it. Judge soph
RH Mike O'Hanlon, a lefty swinger, did great in the leadoff spot
(4-for-4, double, two runs scored, hits to all fields) and one of McLaughlin's
two hits was a bolt to dead center (just short of the 370-foot sign). Sowa had a
ground-rule double to left. This one started 17 minutes late (at 1:47; today was
Sunday) because the original plate ump trekked to Judge. Oh, baby. An emergency
call was placed to Bill "Babs" Haines, who lives not far from O'Hara and
has long been a top-drawer arbiter. Babs mentioned that he has just finished
work for his college degree. Congrats!
MAY 17
MY BRUSH WITH SATCHEL PAIGE
In the late summer of 1968, the Atlanta Braves signed the legendary
Satchel Paige to act as, ostensibly, a player-coach. He never did appear
in game (fuzzy records indicate he was 62 at the time!), but he did provide
guidance to the Braves' pitchers and act as a goodwill ambassador and during a
game against the Phillies on Aug. 28 he did warm up in the leftfield bullpen at
Connie Mack Stadium. Click
here
for a normal sized version of the front page of the ol' Philadelphia Bulletin's
sports section, which featured a photo. And
here
for a giant sized version. I'm second from the left. All the way to the left is
good friend Paul Tucker, who was heading into his junior year at Cardinal
Dougherty. In '69, with the regular starter suspended for missing practice,
Paul, a righthander, pitched the City Title game against Olney -- also at Connie
Mack Stadium -- and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning! The guy who broke up
the no-no was Charles Sumter, until recently the Pub's basketball
chairman. Small world! Click
here
for a story about Paige's stint with the Braves.
MAY 16
PUBLIC LEAGUE CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND
Phila. Elec. 11, Franklin 0 (5 inn.)
MAY 13
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Haverford School 9, Germantown Academy 6
MAY 11
CATHOLIC BLUE
Lansdale Catholic 9, Carroll 5
MAY 10
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Malvern 6, Chestnut Hill 3
MAY 9
PUBLIC A
Central 14, Washington 4 (6 inn.)
MAY 6
PUBLIC C
Bracetti 7, Furness 3
MAY 5
CATHOLIC BLUE
Neumann-Goretti 11, Wood 7 (8 inn.)
MAY 3
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 11, Episcopal 6
MAY 2
PUBLIC A
Franklin Towne 12, Northeast 2
The first legendary sight of the day . . . Northeast soph CF Luke Charry,
who's on crutches due to a broken ankle, arrived at FT's field with his
teammates and noticed that a somewhat steep hill led
down to the bench area. Rather than try to peg-leg it down, he tossed aside his
crutches and did a drop-and-roll down the hill!! Ha, ha, ha. Then, he spent the
ENTIRE game lounging on the hillside, surrounded by the Vikings' female managers
-- Jessica Mack, Samantha Horn and Tathyane Vilela. The
gals
wrote notes on his cast and even drew colorful designs on his belly with
magic markers.
At one point I walked over and told him something like, "Once kids find out how
much fun you're having today, they'll ALL want to be injured." No idea whether
Luke can play, but I strongly suspect this squad might be the, um, least
proficient in Northeast's mostly glorious baseball history. Look it this way:
"Towne" was winless and did a 10-run number on the Vikings. Plus, the last three
runs were scored on two HBPs and a walk. Ouch. The
Vikes
had just
two
seniors in uniform, LH Tyler Layfield and SS Luis Contreras, and
both experienced struggles. (The would-be top guys, the Coronado
brothers, transferred to Edison.) Anyway, DN ink went to sr. RF Tyler Landis,
who went 3-for-4 with one RBI and a hard line drive out to center. Jr. C
George Klein also had a strong performance with a walk, RBI single, leadoff
triple and another walk. Also, he twice erased Contreras from the basepaths,
once at third and again at the plate on attempted steals. VERY strange decisions
to run in those two instances, especially since he made the last out both times.
Coach Sam Feldman said he was merely trying to make something happen for
a team that is largely lifeless. In the fifth, however, soph RH Tim Hart
was wavering badly. He'd already walked three in the inning and had
free-passed in
a run. Overall, Hart pitched pretty darn well. He did not allow a hit until
frosh 2B John Alford sent a groundball single to center with two way in
the fourth. Hart fanned one guy in each frame and finished
with a two-hitter. As mentioned, Klein twice bailed him out. Also, sr. 3B
Matt Kubacki made a semi-leaping catch of a liner and sr. LF Markus
Malave ran hard to his left to snag another liner. Kubacki also bagged one
RBI apiece on a single and double. Malave singled twice for one RBI. Jr. CF
Angel Lazu stole two bases and scored twice and sr. 2B Bobby Lopez
went 2-for-3 with a walk and one RBI. Hart had an RBI single. Soph Damian
Padilla, who would have pitched the sixth, pinch-hit for Hart in the fifth
and got drilled in the lower leg by the first pitch. He wasn't around at the
start of the game because he needed to attend a post-school conference with a
teacher. Then, when he did show up, he wasn't in uniform. Luckily, he lives
close by and hustled home to fetch his duds. After Padilla got plunked, Landis
cracked, "That's what he gets for being late." Malave also had a good line.
After ducking out of the way of an up-and-in fastball, he said, "Prom's coming
up." When the unemotional Hart stopped at first after his RBI single,
coach/injured player Aron Litostanski told him, "Nice hit, but you gotta
change your face once in a while."
Finally, while Northeast soph C Ramon Class was batting
in the second, a teammate yelled in to him, "Let's go, Wendy's girl." Class
chuckled, then sent a flyball to center.
APRIL 27
PUBLIC B
Prep Charter 0, Kensington 0
So, when was the last time you saw a game with only ONE hit? Then again, when
was the last time you saw a "game" that lasted only four batters? A violent
thunderstorm, complete with rain that turned the field into a mess, halted this
one after Prep Charter went scoreless in the top half. This game was played at
Bath & Buckius, at the back of
Bridesburg RC. The rec's address is popularly
known as Richmond & Ash. R&A is in the front part, though. Bath & Buckius is the
intersection right behind home plate. Anyway . . . Kensington's pitcher was sr.
RH Ken Searle. PC's at-bat went like this: CF Carmen DeCarlo
grounded out to sr. 3B Jose Morera. RF Michael Lyons fanned. 2B
Mike Borelli inside-outed a double down the rightfield line. After Borelli
moved to third on a wild pitch, C Mike Sandefur fanned. LH Robert
Freer was warming up when the droplets started coming down slightly harder
and base ump Steve Kupsov, having witnessed lightning in the distance,
halted the proceedings at 2:55, 10 minutes after the game began. Quickly, it
began raining much harder and everyone scattered. No team buses were nearby, so
the PC players mostly piled into parents' cars. Kensington's mostly headed
across the field for the rec center. Not sure why, but PC coach Rob Hale
sat down on a plastic bucket right under a tree. He got THOROUGHLY soaked. When
the rain let up briefly, Kupsov and plate ump Jim "Scotty" Scott emerged
from their cars and headed back to the field. Steve gave the that's-it-for-today
signal and walked over to my car to explain that the game would be continued
from that point forward (who knows when?).
Bang!!!
Lightning crackled right overhead! And I do mean RIGHT overhead! It was scary. I
advised
Steve to forget the explanation (he was pretty much finished anyway) and get
back to his car. As I was pulling away shortly thereafter, Steve and Scotty
posed for a quick pic. The playground is very close to the Betsy Ross Bridge, so
I decided to just head home. Guess what? The bridge wasn't wet at all and there
was no
hint of
rain
anywhere on the Jersey side.
Later, I heard on KYW that the storm had pretty much roared right up I-95.
Meanwhile, close to home, I passed an accident scene. Wasn't serious, but one
car
somehow
wound up being pretty much shredded. Of course I had to take pics (smile).
They're posted, too.
APRIL 26
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Chestnut Hill 7, Haverford School 4
APRIL 25
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Frankford 16, Central 7
APRIL 20
CATHOLIC BLUE
McDevitt 5, West Catholic 3
APRIL 18
CATHOLIC RED
La Salle 8, Judge 2
APRIL 14
CATHOLIC RED
Bonner 7, Ryan 0
APRIL 11
PUBLIC A
Masterman 4, Washington 3
APRIL 7
CATHOLIC RED
O'Hara 4, Roman 0
The day's best achievement was posted by sr. RH Jeff O'Reilly,
who not only sniffed a no-hitter at Boyce Bandbox, er, Field, but also laced a
solo homer to dead center. You know how we roll, though: Strange occurrences
usually leave more of a lasting impression. Today was not a safe one for
feet/legs. Roman jr. SS William Dougherty fouled a ball off his leg.
Roman jr. CF Dan Sowisdral fouled a ball off his foot. Roman jr. 1B
Colin Cooke ripped a foul ball off the foot of guy coaching first base
(sorry, forgot to get his name). And then, near the end of the game, O'Hara jr.
C Devin McCann ripped a hard grounder down the third base side. Seated on
a small portable stool was DN photographer Steve Falk. He was using a
camera with a long lens and thus was unaware that the ball was coming right at
him. I was standing nearby and hollered a warning, but, pow!, the ball hit him
right on the big toe on his left foot. At about 9 o'clock tonight in the office,
Steve said his toe was starting to throb and that the pain was kicking in. Let's
hope he's all right, along with everyone else. Back to O'Reilly, who, come to
think of it, had a bit of a strange outing himself: He notched "just" five
strikeouts, all in the first three innings, and every one resulted in a backward
K. (Meanwhile, O'Hara's batters fanned eight times total and half of those were
"lookings.") Though the 6-2, 235-pound O'Reilly is O'Hara's No. 1 starter, he
was felled by a stomach virus Sunday and Monday and thus got the call for game
No. 2 in this series. He did a good job of painting corners and changing speeds
and the fielding was mostly respectable, and he was part of that. O'Reilly drew
a bases-loaded walk to get home the first run in the third and McCann followed
with an RBI single. A double by sr. LF Nick DiMarco plated run No. 3 in
the fourth and O'Reilly led off the fifth with his shot. At times, jr. RH
Erik DeLone showed a curve with good movement. He also left a few up,
however. I don't remember that many were laced, but they did hurt from the
count-advantage standpoint. Sr. LH Matt Stoffere worked the sixth and
seventh. He allowed no hits and whiffed three. Leading off the sixth, it was
also Stoffere who broke up the no-no with a ringing triple over the head of RF
Bob Smith. O'Reilly impressively kept the shutout in tact by retiring
Dougherty and sr. 3B R.J. Vaughan on comebackers and getting sr. 2B
Rich Houck on a fly to center. Dougherty had some wonderful moments at SS.
His best play came on a bad-hop grounder, when he recovered nicely to snatch the
ball with his bare hand and gun to first. Also for Roman, sub jr. RF Steve
Minuto made a sprawling catch. The DN story on O'Reilly began with the fact
that he's wearing sunglasses while pitching AND batting. Reason: They're for
protection. He was hit in the left eye last May by an errant throw in practice.
Thankfully, there was no permanent damage. Houck's uncle, Craig, pitched
the Cahillites to the CL title in 1978 (1-0 over Egan) and Dougherty's uncle,
Art, was the first baseman on that team (his dad, Kevin, was a star SS
a few years later). Jr. DH Paolo Gambaro
is the son of Paolo Gambaro, a soccer all-timer (and I mean MAJOR star)
for Roxborough in the mid-1970s. Not sure about this, but maybe Minuto has a
link, as well? In 1977, a guy named Art Minuto pitched Washington to
victory in a Pub semi. Meanwhile, what Roman team over the last 30 years has NOT
featured someone named Stoffere? (John Stoffere, Matt's uncle, was the LF on that '78
team. Matt's dad, Chris, was on the same St. Joe's University baseball
team with Jamie Moyer. Another uncle, Dan, was the second team
All-City QB in 1985.) Roman's roster includes four guys with names of
CL schools -- Dougherty, sr. Tom Carroll, sr. Scott O'Hara and sr.
Christopher Woods. OK, so Dougherty is now closed and Wood the school
doesn't have an "s" on the end; close enough. Roman's new coach, Anthony
Valucci, was an assistant last year at Lansdale Catholic. I knew he looked
familiar (smile).
APRIL 6
PUBLIC A
GAMP 18, Esperanza 8 (6 inn.)
So, have you ever seen a 49-28 baseball game? The 10-run rule would
have intervened, of course, but this game was on that pace after ONE inning and
the GAMPsters were not in the lead. That's right. The Pioneers scored four in
the top half and the Toros roared back with seven in the bottom half. For the
former, the frolicking was only beginning. GAMP sent 28 men to the plate in the
first three innings! Nine, 10, then nine again! Holy Bat-Around! The run totals
were four, four and five. The first three innings required 2 minutes short of 2
hours and the whole game required 2 hours, 43 minutes. I was kidding about
having to post 400-500 pictures and not being able to make our first deadline,
which hits at 10:30 each night. Dom Raia was everyone's savior. The sr.
RHP-SS, who's bound for Chestnut Hill College, began the game at SS. However,
frosh RHP Jacob Kurtz was unable to retire any of the first eight batters
and coach Art Kratchman brought out the hook. Raia wound up pitching a
complete game with an asterisk. He allowed three hits (two of the infield
variety) and struck out 10 and showed pretty good hop on his fastball. Not
ridiculously good, mind you, but decent (especially for a cold day). DN ink went
to jr. RF Tyler "Tyrope" Criniti, who went 3-for-4 with a walk, triple
and five RBI. He and jr. 3B-SS Desmond Drummond smashed two-run triples
over the centerfielder's head. Criniti also bagged two RBI on a single to center
and one on a fielder's choice and he came close to a sixth in the fifth, when he
notched a bad-hop single past the third baseman. Alas, Raia was thrown out at
the plate. Raia wound up with three hits, including a double, and one RBI. Sr.
CF Anthony Retallick, sr. 1B Sal Giafaglione, sr. 2B Joe
Garofalo and Drummond collected two hits apiece. For Esperanza, soph 2B
Mike Perez went 3-for-4 with one RBI, jr. OF Victor Nunez smacked a
two-run single and sr. SS Felix Torraca-Dedos turned two hits into one
RBI. When soph 3B Joe Brinkman broke his (aluminum) bat, one of the
Pioneers bellowed, "Sell it on eBay! Nobody'll know!" In the fourth, I got to
umpire! For one pitch. Kinda. When Nunez checked his swing, sr. C Dom
Garofalo instinctively pointed his glove toward first, hoping to get a
strike call out of the base ump. One problem: Only one ump had worked this game
throughout! (smile) At this point I was standing at the edge of a restraining
fence about 60 feet up the first-base line. The plate ump pointed at me and
yelled, "Ted, did he
go!!??" My verdict was no. Do I get paid? Even a nickel would be nice. Dom
Raia Sr., once an All-City infielder for Southern, is now helping Kratchman.
He said he was hoping to keep watching the games from beach chairs, and now
finds himself gulping down Maalox as a post-game beverage. In the visiting
sixth, Kratchman was not exactly Mr. Sign Flasher down in the third base coach's
box. In fact, he was mostly on his cell phone trying to make sure the School
District would fiiiinally send a bus to pick up the Pioneers. One did arrive. It
hurts to see how crappy the main field at Front and Erie has become. Back in the
day, promise, the infield was as nice as ANY in the major leagues. Today there
were not even chalk lines, and there were notable ridges where the dirt ended
and grass began. Oh, well . . .
APRIL 4
CATHOLIC BLUE
Neumann-Goretti 9, Conwell-Egan 1
Deciding which player to highlight for Daily News purposes is
often a tough decision. Let's face it, lots of guys contribute to victories.
Today's verdict came down to sr. 2B Mike "Zoom" Zolk or jr. LHP Joe
"Not Joey Anymore" Gorman. Overall, Gorman no doubt "did more" in light of
the fact he went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI AND spun six innings of shutout
ball with 13 strikeouts and just two hits. Plus, just one ball left the infield
through the first five frames. Major kudos to Gorman, but my semi-ample gut told
me to go with Zolk. First, he's a senior while Gorman's a junior. Next, he's
bound for the University of North Carolina and how great is THAT for a city kid?
Plus, the story of how he drew interest from the Tarheels, and how quickly
everything came together, is pretty amazing, and that's a major part of the DN
story. Here, in the interest of balance (smile), we'll go more with Gorman. Joe
had an interesting first inning. After fanning sr. CF Nick Niatis on
three pitches, the thought was, "Hmm, that was pretty impressive." Then he
walked the two next hitters, sr. 2B Tim Verdeur and sr. SS Matt Wagner
(Rider), and it was, "Hmm, where's this gonna go?" Gorman quickly regrouped to
record two more whiffs and he was juuuuust getting started, folks. He notched
just one K in the second, but racked up eight from the third through fifth. He
gave up a one-out single to the 6-4 Wagner in the sixth and two stolen bases
followed. Gorman then fanned the cleanup hitter, sr. RHP-INF Matt Petrizzi,
and got the next guy, sr. CF Mike Kitchen, on a liner to right.
Meanwhile, Gorman's two hits were hard singles to center. Like Gorman, Zolk is a
lefthanded hitter. He led off the first with a groundball single to center,
stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an inside-out
grounder to first by jr. SS Marty Venafro. With the score 2-0 in the
fifth, frosh 1B Josh Ockimey (his twin, Michael, is a budding athlete at
Bonner) and sr. LF John Snyder milked leadoff walks. Rather than swing
for the fences, Zolk decided to bunt for a hit/sac, depending on how things
turned out, with the hope of maintaining the momentum. The throw was wild and
two runs resulted, effectively breaking things open. (It was scored as a
hit/error, as Zoom appeared to barely beat the throw.) Zolk also thumped a hit
in a two-run sixth. Oh, and afterward, he grabbed a rake and smoothed the
basepath between third and home. Venafro went 2-for-3 with a sac fly and two
RBI. Sr. DH Dom Riverso bagged two RBI on a single and groundout. Soph RH
Joe Kinee pitched the seventh and was greeted with a ringing, tomahawked
triple to right-center by jr. 1B Beau Fleming. When sr. PR Tyler
Custer toward third to run for Fleming, the partial big-'un, obviously
winded, smiled and said, "That's good." Sr. Matt Brach got the run home
with a sac. (Not a squeeze. Just a regular bunt.) N-G used all kinds of
pinch-runners and courtesy runners. First base was like a revolving door
(smile). In the fourth inning, with sr. CR Justin Rey on first, roughly a
dozen throws were made to that bag by Petrizzi and sr. C Daulton George
(East Stroudsburg). In the sixth, Gorman did a great job fouling off some tough
pitches and the balls kept flying up onto the 25th Street railroad bridge. Coach
Lou Spadaccini told him, "Keep fighting! We'll keep buying balls!" A
nearby fan added, "There's lots of money up there." C-E is tough to figure.
Usually, this team has one or two (or more) characters per season and there's
lots of noise/personality in the bench area. These guys were pretty quiet.
Rich DuPell/Dupell (either one is fine with him -- smile), starting catcher
and leadoff man for C-E's 2006 CL champs, is now assisting coach Bob Wagner.
A couple innings into the game, a group of young school girls happened to walk
past the field. They chanted a few times, "Let's go, blue team, let's go!" C-E's
bench happened to be closest to where they were. I doubt there was any anti-NG
sentiment (ha ha). One last thing: while polishing off the DN story, I called
Spadaccini to cross-check one fact. We talked briefly and he later texted me
some comments about Zolk . . . "Zoom is the ultimate ballplayer. Plays the way
the game should be played -- HARD ALWAYS -- never takes a day off. Great
teammate, leader, and an even better kid."
MARCH 29
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Fels 15, Bartram 0 (4 inn.)
Nothing like starting the season with a vintage
Only in the Pub moment (smile). This one ended with nobody out in the bottom of
the fourth on a grand slam by jr. RH Eliantonio Martinez, who was also
the No. 3 hitter. It was NOT a conventional salami. Martinez hit a shot into the
leftfield corner, not far from the 315-foot sign. The ball landed fair, bounced
into foul territory and stopped dead not TOO far from the foul line. Soph LF
Hassan "Happy" Goines, having moved there from CF two batters earlier,
put up his hands and didn't make
a play on the ball,
thinking it had rolled dead out of play. Martinez kept running --
trotting, more like it, since he could see what was happening -- and easily
circled the bases. Base ump Joe Lieberman walked out there and the ball
was clearly visible. He did the circle-the-index-finger routine and said as he
walked back toward the infield, "I'm not putting (Martinez) back at second just
because (Goines) didn't feel like picking up the ball." I was standing near
third and he asked, "That's 15 runs, right?" Indeed. "Line up to shake hands,
guys," Lieberman said. Since it was somewhat cold and often very windy, no one
bitched. Fels scored three in the first, five in the second, one in the third
and six in the fourth. The Panthers scored ALL of those runs on just five hits.
Inexperienced Bartram had major difficulty making even routine plays and jr. RH
Donovan Crawford became distracted early when many of his pitches,
delivered with decent velocity, were mishandled by a catcher, soph Darryl
James, who almost certainly does not have much behind-the-plate experience.
Jr. 3B Michael Moya went 2-for-2 with a walk, two singles and three RBI.
Sr. C Miguel Guadalupe, the No. 8 hitter, had the best hit of the day
aside from Martinez' slam -- an inside-outed, two-run triple into the rightfield
corner. The leadoff hitter, sr. SS Santiago Bravo-Tejada, scored three
runs and thieved as many bases. Sr. SS D.J. Edwards had Bartram's lone
hit with a groundball single to center in the third inning. Martinez recorded
all 12 outs on whiffs -- his velocity was OK, nothing sensational -- and walked
six. Considering the weather, Fels had decent fan support and the Spanish was
flowin', big time. At least three-quarters of Fels' players are Hispanic.
Meanwhile, what's with some of the numbers on Bartram's guys? Frosh OF
Sanassi Kane wore No. 70. A bench guy, soph Isaiah Smith, was sportin'
No. 83! Legendary. Spent maybe the last two innings hanging out with Fels'
basketball coach and AD, Mark Heimerdinger. Never a boring moment when
The Ding's involved (smile).