Huck's Corner

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Ed "Huck" Palmer is one of our trusty statisticians/observers. He is not to be confused with Tom "Puck" McKenna. (Huck is normal. Puck is not even close). He will make occasional reports on games he sees. You may contact him at TEDDYCAT10@aol.com.

MAY 23
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
GAMP 1, Northeast 0
Usually when attending most Public League games you should brace yourself for a long afternoon. That was not the case in this pitchers' duel, which resembled Greg Maddux vs. Pedro Martinez. Pioneer sr. RHP Chris DeMarco and Viking sr. RHP Jesse Bulicki worked fast and furiously, as the game lasted a mere 83 minutes. Both were around the plate all afternoon, and did a spectacular job of keeping opposing hitters off-balance. Ironically, one of the few mistakes that Bulicki made, in the form of a wild pitch, set up the game's lone run. GAMP soph. RF Mario Malatino (2-for-2, BB) led off the third with a single. After Jr. SS Jimmy Postiglione grounded weakly to second, Malatino moved up to second. Bulicki's wild pitched allowed him to move to third. Next, leadoff hitter soph. 2B Anthony Caines dribbled a ball in front of home plate. NE sr. C Chris Hymes failed to give Malatino a quality look as he threw Caines out at first. Malatino broke as the throw was released and scored on a semi-close play at the plate. DeMarco was brilliant from start to finish, allowing only one infield single, while walking none and striking out seven. He was bulldogish throughout, using a sneaky fastball to go along with a quality curve. DeMarco threw 77 pitches, including an incredible 53 strikes. He was most effective against NE's meat of the order as he easily handled jr. LF Dave Firth and cleanup hitter sr. 1B Steve Josephson in all six plate appearances. NE's Bulicki was equally as effective scattering 7 hits, while walking one and striking out seven. Bulicki threw 80 pitches, including an astounding 58 strikes. Bulicki showed a lot of brass when he got out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth. The Vikings managed to have only one baserunner reach second base. Also, for GAMP sr. 1B Mike Sacco went 1-for-3, but stung the ball hard in his two outs.

APRIL 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Carroll 8, O'Hara 4
On a gorgeous afternoon for baseball, the Patriots put a four-spot on the board in the top of the first, and never looked back. Jr. RHP Mike Costanzo kept the Lions off-balance throughout, allowing just one earned run. Costanzo went the distance, scattering six hits, walking two, and fanning eight. Costanzo threw reasonably hard and went with his fastball about 80% of the time. Costanzo starred with the stick as well, banging out three hits. Jr. C Jim Gillin hammered a two-run triple in the first, and later lined a single to left. Sr. CF Anthony Altomare added two hits, including a double. Jr. 3B Bill Alburger added a key two-out, two-run single in the fifth to give Carroll a more comfortable 7-2 lead. Soph. 2B John Gardner (single, 2 walks) made a great diving play between first and second in the bottom of the first, to halt a Lions' rally. O'Hara scored a run in the bottom of the first without a hit. Their first hit came courtesy of Jr. 1B-LF Mark Barrar. With two outs in the home fourth, Barrar sent a pea over the rightfield fence for a homer. Jr. SS Mike Essery (2-for-3, double) was the only Lion with more than one hit. Essery showed a strong arm from his shortstop position. Essery was involved in three doubleplays turned by the Lions. He showed excellent footwork on two of them. Jr. RHP Ted Rydesky (5IP, 6ER, 9H, 4W, 3K) suffered the loss for O'Hara. Rydesky wasn't bad and battled throughout, however a walk and a error started the four-run first for the Pats. Rydesky, according to manager Frank Allison, was the victim of some shaky calls by the home plate umpire on balls and strikes. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Allison was thrown out by the home plate umpire. I think it was his reference to the teams having Stevie Wonder calling balls and strikes that got him tossed. In fact, Allison was slamming the ump throughout. It surprised me that he lasted that long. In his defense, it's of my opinion that the lead ump was inconsistent all day. It seemed to me that
he gave up on breaking balls way to early. Regardless, Carroll was without a doubt the better team on this afternoon.

APRIL 5
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
O'Hara 6, Roman
When I woke up this morning I had no clue that I would be witnessing CL baseball later in the afternoon. I've been on jury duty for nearly two weeks. As it turns out, the judge had an emergency and let us go early. Since it was a beautiful spring day I figured I'd shoot on over to O'Hara, which is close to my home. As for the game, the Lions dug an early 4-0 deficit, only to pull out a late-inning victory. Jr. RHP 6-2 Ted Rydesky scattered eight hits while going the distance for the win. Rydesky showed pinpoint control (no walks) and fanned five. Only one of the four runs he allowed turned out to be earned. The Lions' offense sputtered all afternoon. They could only manage six hits, but made the most out of them. Sr. CF B.J. "Butch" Hogan belted two, run-scoring doubles off the rightfield fence. Barely missing a dong on one. Sr. RF Ryan Barksdale also slammed a double, and made a tough running catch deep in the rightfield corner, while fighting the sun. Jr. SS Mike Essery handled five attempts, and helped turn a crucial double-play in the sixth inning. O'Hara put three runs across in the home fifth, turning a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead. They added some insurance with a run in the sixth. The Cahillites outhit the Lions, 8-6, but only managed two hits after the third inning. Sr. 3B Anthony Dabrowski was 3-for-3 on the day. Sr. RF Matt Krimm added two hits, including a rocket into the gap that went for a triple. Sr. CF Joe McCourt showed nice range, collecting four putouts. Soph SS Anthony Cappella featured a strong arm on four attempts. Sr. 1B John Spada had two great defensive plays -- one on a stretch and scoop, and the other on a diving catch of a weakly hit foul ball. Soph RHP Matt Daley wasn't overpowering, but demonstrated some toughness in his four-plus innings of work. Roman's three-thru-five hitters went a combined 0-for-11. The teams also combined for ten errors. The teams put the ball in play for the most part, but you could still tell that they were trying to shake off the frost of the early spring. Roman's All-Catholic football player, and Penn State signee Scott Paxson was in attendance. Scott mentioned that he will be playing in the Big 33 game between PA. and OH. on July 21. He also said that he will start out at TE for the Nits, but they left open the option of switching to LB at some point.