JUNE 19
CARPENTER CUP QUARTERFINAL
Catholic League 14, Inter-Ac/Independent 5
   Whoa, what an inning. Fifteen batters, 10 runs, almost 11 consecutive hits (a borderline error prevented that from happening), and more than enough fun and frolicking en route to the erasing of a 4-3 deficit in the visiting seventh. Believe it or not, though, this inning had more "almost outs" than perhaps any in baseball history. Yes, many of the balls were stung. But most came within a few feet, or even inches, of being caught. It was uncanny how well directed these CL base hits were. Shot to the left side. Oh, just out of the reach! Hard up the middle. Oh, just out of the reach! Looper to the outfield. Oh, just out of the reach! The frame began innocuously enough as Haverford School jr. RH Mike Galetta recorded a looking strikeout. And here's what happened from there (brace yourself): single to RF by K-K jr. RF Mike Fazio; double to RF by Wood sr. 3B Chris Crawford (it was a blast the wind pushed down and Gtn. Academy sr. RF Mark Brown stumbled as he tried to regroup and come back to catch it); RBI single to LF by Roman jr. C Adam George; bobbled grounder to SS by C-E jr. 2B Ryan Terry (run in); ringing two-run triple down the RF line by Bonner sr. OF Mike Dunn; (HS jr. Jim McConlogue came on to pitch); RBI single to LF by jr. Carroll DH Chris Lisowski; single to CF by SJ Prep sr. SS Tom Elliott; single to RF by Neumann-Goretti sr. CF Albert DiDomenico to load the bases; infield RBI single by La Salle sr. 1B Jared Carter; two-run single to LF by Fazio; RBI single to RF by Crawford, popout to 2B by George; (Chestnut Hill sr. RH Cory Broderick came on to pitch); infield RBI single, plus an error, for Terry; looking strikeout by Dunn to end it. Phew, and phew again . . . Have to head out for my son's game right now, a shade before 4 p.m. Just wanted to get this part posted, along with the photos (no captions for now). We'll catch up later tonight. Sound OK? Thanks . . . OK, back. Kevin’s team got thumped, 11-4. Second place is better than eighth, right? But as a test, I asked him whether he wanted me to take a picture of him with his runner-up trophy. He declined. Good! That’s what I’m talking about! He gets it !(ha ha). Meanwhile, back to this Carpenter Cup report . . . I-A/Indep. built its lead thanks to one in the first (unearned; RBI single by GA sr. 3B Erich Enns) and three in the fourth (RBI single by GA frosh 2B Tommy Coyle and two more on an infield bobble). SJ Prep sr. LH Doug DiSandro yielded those three runs and was reached for two hits and a walk in the fifth. But two were out when the walk took place and DiSandro wriggled free by inducing a foul popup. C-E sr. RH Ryan Buch worked a perfect sixth (two whiffs) so he became the winning pitcher thanks to the 10-run outburst. Bonner sr. RH Sean Fitzgerald and C-E sr. RH Brian Herman worked a scoreless inning apiece and then Herman went back out for the ninth. In a classic battle between two big-timers, Malvern sr. CF Tom Grandieri reached Herman for a hard groundball single to CF. His Friar teammate, jr. SS Phil Gosselin, then drove an RBI double to deep left-center. Malvern jr. C Pat McGinley was the early-game star for the I-A/Indep. squad, thanks to a pair of doubles. The MVP of this and many other tournament days: PA announcer Dan Baker. He did the doubleheader at Penn, then eased over to CBP for Phillies-Yankees. Dan works tirelessly to make sure pronunciations are right, and that was never more evident in 1984 when the U.S. played Korea in an Olympic prelim at the Vet. He went over the names again and again with a team rep to make sure the guys’ names weren’t butchered. Pretty nice, right?!

JUNE 8
PIAA CLASS AAAA STATE QUARTERFINAL
Central 1, Central Dauphin 0
   So, check THIS out: Of all the AAAA teams in this state that play baseball, Central is one of only four still alive! The Lancers came up with a wonderful performance in a picturesque venue, Spring-Ford High's mini-stadium, off of Route 422 between King of Prussia and Pottstown, and they're headed next to a state semifinal. This is a great development for a league that has been mostly pounded in football, soccer, wrestling, other baseball games, etc., and, lest anyone forget, has notched just one win in the entire history of the Carpenter Cup. Coach Bob Barthelmeh and his boys are to be big-time commended, not so much because they won this one but because of the WAY they won it -- by withstanding the kind of game-long pressure that's visible, even tangible, only in 1-0 games. The ink went mostly to soph RH Micah "Stine Not Steen" Winterstein, who's all of 5-7, 125, but has a heart as big as all outdoors. (I love that phrase -- ha ha. Ex-Edison hoops coach Howard Ratinoff once used it to describe one of his players. Not sure where he got.) Micah's other position is second base, and he used outstanding fielding to help himself to an immense degree. He had five assists in all and three were very important: in the first, he started an inning-ending doubleplay; in the second, with one out and runners on second and third, he snagged a chopper and held both guys to get the second out (then sr. SS Matt Smith followed with a vintage play on a deep-in-the-hole grounder); in the fourth, he was cat-quick off the mound on a bunt and got a forceout at third. Winterstein kept almost every single pitch at knee level and effectively mixed fastballs and curves with a changeup. He allowed just two hits in his five-inning stint and then gave way to jr. RH Jared Farbman. As Farbman warmed up, that back-in-the-day, Paved-Paradise song, whatever the heck it's called (can't hang with that stuff, give me Motown and the Philly Sound -- smile), came over the sound system and part of the lyrics are, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." Hmmmm. A negative omen, maybe? Because Winterstein definitely had been giving off a sprinkled-in-stardust aura. When a CD dude smacked a one-out double into left-center (it wound up being the game's only extra-base hit), the tension mounted. And intensified as the next guy hit a shot to deep CF. But sr. Joshua Fleishman ran it down and an easy groundout followed and CD went 1-2-3 in the seventh. The Lancers scored in the first as Smith, the leadoff man, singled hard to left-center, moved to second as sr. 2B-3B Nick DeLeo grounded out, moved to third on a passed ball and came home on Farbman's hard single to right-center. (We made it an earned run, figuring Smith would have scored from second if the PB had not occurred.) Central did little stirring thereafter, honestly, except for the fourth inning. Soph LF Aaron Esbensen and Farbman began the frame with singles and an extra run or two would have been much appreciated. Jr. 1B Jim Benek sent a blast to left that was caught. Feeling a little frisky, pinch-runner Lance Wetzel tried to move to third and was doubled-up there. Winterstein then grounded out. There was a highly entertaining scene after the game. DeLeo, due to a minor school infraction, had been banned from attending last night's Senior Prom. As Nick sat in the dugout, the other Lancers playfully staged a sit-down strike on the gravel in front of the dugout and said they wouldn't leave unless the decision was reversed. Most of the guys even took off their hats and waved them from side to side, as if to say, "We're begging you." Dr. Sheldon Pavel, Central's principal, had a discussion with other school officials maybe 10 yards away and eventually gave the sign: OK, he can go to the prom. The players went nuts, swarming around Nick and then dousing him with water. Great theater!! Ha, ha. I spent part of the game with Frankford coach Bob Peffle, who loved what he was watching and offered close-range encouragement to the Lancers from behind the fence near the on-deck circle. Only one problem with this win: Carp Cup play begins Monday, with the CL and Inter-Ac both scheduled for action, and Central will be playing somewhere, too. And likely not very close to Philly. We'll see how we work out the coverage . . .

JUNE 5
PIAA CLASS AAAA, FIRST ROUND
Central 10, West Chester Henderson 9
   This is usually NOT a good idea: After taking a 3-1 lead on a tremendous effort by your No. 9 hitter (more on that momentarily), you watch as your franchise pitcher goes back to the mound and allows the opposition to storm ahead, 5-3, after just four batters. That was what happened to Central and jr. RH Jared Farbman. But as you noticed by reading the score line, Central WON this tilt and, in doing so, not only overcame the kick to the groin, but became the first Pub team to win a state playoff in something other than basketball. Cool, huh!? The ink went to sr. CF Joshua "Fuego" Fleishman, and he was the aforementioned No. 9 hitter who made the tremendous effort. It came in the home second and was truly amazing. The setup: with one away, jr. 1B Jim Benek walked and was doubled home by soph 2B Micah Winterstein. Soph RF Mike Braun then beat out an infield single and promptly thieved second. Fleishman was given a bunt sign, but was not informed of the fact that Winterstein was also going to try to steal the base, just in case. Phew, baby! ha ha. Winterstein broke early enough that the pitcher had more than enough opportunity to follow the guidebook on this one, and he came WAY up and WAY in. Fleishman got the bunt down in perfect fashion -- if not, the ball might have hit him flush in the face -- and TWO runs scored because Braun kept motoring while WCH made the play on Fleishman and he beat the return throw to the plate. Tremendous play by all involved!! But if you think that one's good, check out this one: two of the runs in Central's seven-run fourth scored on a two-out strikeout! Yeah, baby!! Gotta love that, right?? Thirteen batters came to the plate in that frame and many, of course, produced. For posterity's sake, since it helped produce this historic win, we'll go batter by batter: Benek led off with a single to CF; Winterstein fanned; Braun hit into a fielder's choice and then stole second; Fleishman smacked an RBI single over the second baseman's head; sr. SS Matt Smith doubled to left-center to set up second and third; sr. 3B Nick DeLeo ripped an RBI single to left; Magdovitz struck out for what should have been out No. 3, but the ball was in the dirt and the catcher couldn't find it too quickly -- Smith scored easily and the pitcher's throw to third sailed into LF to allow pinch-runner Lance Wetzel to come home as well; soph LF Aaron Esbensen ripped an RBI double down the leftfield line; Farbman got another run home with a single to left; Benek and Winterstein walked to load the bases; another pitching change was made with the count at 2-0 and Braun drew another walk to make it 10-8; Fleishman then struck out to end the inning. But what a productive inning it was! Farbman, with just three days of rest, had left the mound after WCH plated three in the top half, upping its lead to 8-3. The replacement was Winterstein, and he was clutch when he needed to be. He ended the fourth with a K and pitched scoreless ball in the fifth and sixth. He ran into trouble in the seventh as, with one out, WCH went single-single-double to cut the lead to 10-9 and get the tying/go-ahead runs to second and third. Uh, oh. Central coach Bob Barthelmeh summoned Esbensen from LF and the first guy, with the infield up, sent a grass-cutter to Smith. Matt's throw home was true and Magdovitz, for the second time in the game, made an authoritative block and tag and Central was still ahead. A stolen base and intentional walk followed and the next guy hit a hard groundball up the middle. Smith made the vacuum, emphatically stepped on second for the forceout and that was it, troops. This was a great win for myriad reasons. Six guys had RBI. All nine guys had hits. The second-line pitchers picked up the franchise. The catcher made two tough plays look easy, plus he threw out a guy trying to steal. What couldn't the catcher do? Tolerate his younger brother (ha ha). As the warmups for one inning were ending, Joe threw to second and his brother, Zachary, a freshman backup said, "Good throw, Joe!" Joe muttered, "That was one of the worst throws I ever made." Zachary responded, "I was trying to be a good brother!" Good stuff. Hustle of the day: Randy "Ramblings" Seidman covered the Swenson game (18-0 loss, four innings) at Northeast for the News Gleaner, then rolled over to this one, played at La Salle High.

JUNE 1
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Central 7, Frankford 1
   A few people asked me at the Catholic League final what I thought would happen in this one, and my response was that Frankford had the better lineup but Central had the better pitcher. In this one, specifically in the sixth inning, Central had both. The game was scoreless through five, but the visiting Lancers posted a big, ol' six-spot in the sixth and wound up coasting home from there for their first title since 2001 and second for good-guy coach Bob Barthelmeh. We'll hit you with some early-game tidbits later, but for now let's go to the sixth. Frankford usually never comes close to beating itself, or digging its own holes, but that happened here and Central was only too thrilled to jump on the pile. The frame began as sr. 3B Nick DeLeo sent a groundball to the right side. Sr. 1B Juan Carlos Torres ranged to his right, cut was unable to make a play. However, soph 2B Jon Bracero sped far to his left and DID make a stop, impressively. One problem: sr. LH Edwin Burgos was way late in breaking for the bag and DeLeo wound up with a scratch single. Sr. C Joe Magdovitz followed with a single to CF on a 3-2 count and Frankford boss Bob Peffle made a pitching change, summoning soph RH Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche from SS and moving Burgos to CF, among other moves. Soph LF Aaron Esbensen worked a four-pitch walk to load the bases and that brought up jr. RH Jared Farbman. Bang! Farbman fired a two-run single to right-center. Bang again! Jr. 1B Jim Benek doubled deep to CF for another RBI (the ball kept carrying and landed beyond Burgos, even though he appeared to have a bead on it early). Soph 2B Micah "Stine Not Steen" Winterstein, with the infield in, flared a ball to quite shallow right that would have ordinarily been an out. Instead it went for an RBI single and created a 4-0 lead. Soph RF Mike Braun grounded to Torres. Hard to fathom because he's usually SO reliable, even outstanding, but JCT failed to make this play and two more runs came in. Six to nothing! Phew! Benek added an RBI double in the seventh on a shot to left-center and the only question became, Will Central not only win but also do so by shutout?! Almost. Soph LF Jeffry Bru began the home seventh with an infield single deep in the SS hole. Meletiche zoomed a one-out single to LF. Burgos flied out for No. 2 and sr. C Ramon Reyes sent a grounder to the up-the-middle side  of Winterstein. The ball took two hops and Winterstein couldn't smother it. Tough error, but a miscue nonetheless and Bru came home to break the shutout bid. (Frankford has not been blanked by a Pub team since 4/25/01, when Lincoln RH Ron Clarkson pitched a two-hitter in a 10-0, five-inning game.) Farbman then fanned Torres to end it. The K was only his third and Jared did surrender nine hits, but his support was mostly outstanding and he even set an early tone by helping himself. With runners on first and third in the first, Torres chopped a ball to the first-base side of the mound. Farbman showed his athleticism by pouncing on the ball and gunning to Magdovitz to get Meletiche at the plate. Frankford wound up leavin' 'em loaded. In the second, with two down and runners on second and third, Burgos sent a grounder to DeLeo. His throw was not only off-target, but WAY high as well. An error here could have had implications of the game-long, devastating kind. But at 1B, Benek soared -- well, as much as a Caucasian can (smile) -- to make the snag and he also slapped a tag on the running-past Burgos. It was a HUGE play. Like most title-game stories, this one mixed several themes and one concerned Benek, who missed last year's title game after being suspended for an in-school infraction. Lesson learned. Kinda fitting that he emerged as a hero. All Central folks agreed that the Lancers' regular season win over Frankford -- on the Pioneers' home field, with Farbman pitching -- did wonders for confidence levels entering this one. Frankford now has five Pub losses over the last five seasons (along with 84 wins) and three came this season. Farbman dealt the first, back on May 1, and Northeast later triumphed in a slugfest. In something that wasn't a surprise at ALL, many/most of the veteran Frankford players walked over to Central's guys well after the celebrations and post-game meetings to extend congratulations for a job well done. It's so comforting year after year to see "Peff" and  assistant Juan Namnun get things right. Overall, the Campbell's Field experience for the semis and final went wonderfully. However . . . you knew there'd be a however, didn't you? (smile). There's NO way ground rules, player intros, a ceremonial first pitch and the singing of the National Anthem should drag on and on and on and on for 21 minutes total. It's not fair to any of the players, but especially not to the pitchers. Over and out.

MAY 31
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Conwell-Egan 8, SJ Prep 3
   Herman's a munster, baby. He's also a horse, an ace, a franchise, Mr. Dependable, and whatever else you want to call him. Brian Herman, a sr. RH bound for Rider, pitched C-E (nee Bishop Egan) to its first CL title since 1968 in sweltering weather conditions on three days rest and all three runs scored against him were shaky in nature. With two out in the first inning at Widener University, sr. C Pat Murphy sent a dribbler to first and sr. 1B Mike Rugghia bobbled. EVERY C-E loyalist (and many of the players, no doubt) were thinking the same thing, "Oh, no. Not this again." Unfortunately, the Eagles have been the kings of CL playoff self-destruction through the years and the miscue stood out in bold relief when sr. 3B Matt Tiagwad followed with a blast to right-center that went for an RBI triple. Guess what, though? C-E committed nary another error! The Prep's other two runs came in the fourth after Murphy lined out to sr. 2B Ed Barry (diving catch) and Tiagwad sent another shot to right-center that was caught 1 1/2 steps in front of the fence by sr. CF John Malloy. Soph 1B Aaron Haas ripped a single to left-center. Sr. DH Matt Leddy, a righthanded batter, inside-outed a ball down the rightfield line. It was reasonably well hit, but it's only 309 feet to the foul pole and this ball made it by only a few feet up and over. It was the kind of homer that's commonplace in many Southern Divisions venues (and, yes, I'll get to the similar C-E homer; which for my money was a blown call.) The next inning, soph RF Tim Edger led off with another blast to right-center. Malloy ran and ran and ran some more, and appeared to do a Rowand as he smashed into the fence. However, the fence at that part is really a gate and it opened from the impact. Edger easily circled the bases and thought he had had a homer, but after a discussion the play was ruled a ground-rule double. His brother, sr. CF Bill Edger, bunted him to third (curious strategy, giving up an out down two in the fifth as the visiting team, when the guy's already in scoring position) and two groundouts ended the inning. Herman maintained from there with continuing solid play from jr. SS John McDonald (total for game: four assists, three putouts). OK, now for C-E's cheapie HR. In the third, sr. C Rich Dupell walked and Herman scored CR Jim Love with a double to right-center. Next was jr. 3B Ryan Terry. It's only 300 down the leftfield line and he sent a high, deep shot in that direction. According to numerous folks, the ball hit the foul pole and left the stadium to the left of that. 3B ump John McArdle ruled it a two-run homer. Yes, I'm aware that foul pole actually means fair pole, but there's a huge variable here. Running all the way to the top and over into left-center for a GOOD distance (maybe 100 feet?) is blue netting that reaches to maybe 40 feet high, to the very top of the foul pole. If the ball had somehow hit that netting and spun off it into foul territory, the ball would have been ruled a ground-rule double. So why was this a homer? C-E benefits because the ball bounced out of play? It doesn't make sense. There was a brief argument, but the homer stood and it gave C-E a 3-1 lead. In an oddity, all 11 runs in this game were scored with two outs. C-E coach Rich Papirio said his squad fared much better the second time through the lineup vs. sr. LH Doug DiSandro because adjustments were made. DiSandro has a medium-throwing lefty's typical drop-and-tail fastball, so Papirio ordered his guys to move up in the box. That also helped them against breaking stuff, of course. C-E scored two apiece in the fourth and fifth and an unearned run in the sixth. The two in the fourth came courtesy of a double by Barry and single by Dupell. The fifth-inning runs: RBIs to McDonald (single) and Rugghia (double to deep CF over B. Edger's head, and that's not easy -- smile). Leddy and Tiagwad pitched the fifth and sixth, respectively. The game ended when sr. RF Ryan Buch made a sprawling catch of sr. SS Tom Elliott's liner (originally misjudged). The DN story focused on a few things/people, but began with how the Eagles put their snakebitten ways behind them. On Tuesday, four of them went to the Delaware River in Morrisville and caught a four-foot snake! Buch showed me the sequence on his cell phone. ha ha. I have to mention what a pleasure it was to cover this squad. The kids were respectful and personable and very much appeared to honor the game. I also heard nice comments about them from people at/around C-E who know them much better than I ever could. And Papirio is a favorite of every media member for his easygoing manner and desire to give his players the best possible experience. Meanwhile, it wasn't easy to see how crestfallen the Hawks were. Their lineup also was packed with good guys. Click here for a page with some BIG celebration pics. You're welcome to copy/save/whatever. Enjoy.

MAY 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMI
SJ Prep 3, La Salle 2
   A 60-footer that beats the buzzer? A 75-yard TD pass on the final play of the game? Yes, it was something like that. But baseball is unique and so are its defining moments. Unabashed joy in one dugout. Deep hurt in the other. No matter how many times you see this stuff, it never gets old. The day it does, I guess it's time to move on . . . La Salle was one out away from advancing to the championship game and coach Joe Parisi summoned his ace, sr. LH Matt Zielinski, to nail down a save and give sr. RH T.J. Foley what would have been a well-deserved win. Through six innings, Foley held the Prep to three hits. But all along, Parisi said, he planned to use Zielinski in the seventh if Foley faced anything close to trouble. "Why wouldn't you?" he said later in even, not agitated tones. "You HAVE to. T.J. gave us a lot today. Matt has given us a lot for two seasons . . . I wanted this so bad for T.J. I wanted Matt to come in and do it FOR T.J." Zielinski, a Richmond signee with hopes of getting drafted, on Wednesday pitched a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts in a second-round win over Judge. In the inning, soph 2B Brett Tiagwad grounded out, soph CF Tim Edger fired a groundball single down the leftfield line and his brother, sr. CF Bill Edger, popped out to right. Sr. SS Tom Elliott followed with an at-bat that should not be lost in the shuffle. On a 2-2 count -- yes, in other words, one strike from game's end -- Elliott stayed with an outer-half pitch and sent it hard the opposite way for a single. That brought Parisi to the mound, and he brought back Foley with him. Next for Prep was sr. LF Nelson Russom, and his aluminum ended it. Russom sent a shot to deep right. Sr. RF Bill Warrender did a little bit of a twist-and-turn as he retreated, and he was also fighting the sun, and the ball landed at the base of the fence. I don't think he would have caught it even without his minor difficulties. Anyway, with two outs, T. Edger and Elliott were off on contact and they easily scored and the celebration for the Hawks was intense. (Just as Zielinski finished his warmups, I heard the beep-beep-beep-beep-beep to indicate a full memory card. Oh, no!! I was unable to delete quickly enough and missed the game-ending shots. Sorry, Prep guys. I did regroup and get a couple post-game shots.) Russom had a big game because he was also responsible for the Hawks' third-inning run, when he ripped a single to left to score T. Edger (HBP, advanced on Elliott's groundout). The winning pitcher was sr. LH Doug DiSandro, who's mostly a change-speeds/location guys, and who's very crafty at it. DiSandro was thrown for an early loop when La Salle plated a first-inning run on a one-out walk to sr. SS Will Phillips, a groundout by Warrender (with Phillips running; went to the right side; good baseball) and a double up the left-center alley by jr. C Sean Saverio, a lefty swinger. DiSandro walked just two all game and the other guy scored, too. There's a lesson in there somewhere, right? (smile) Sr. DH Jared Carter drew the free pass with one out in the fifth and moved up on a groundout. Sr. 3B Ryan Creter rocketed a ball to left that evaded a dive by Elliott and got Carter home. La Salle had a decent chance at adding an insurance run in the seventh when sr. 1B John Knab singled and Carter bunted pinch-runner Frank Deluccia to second. Tiagwad made a nice running catch of a popup and sr. C Pat Murphy pounced on a chopper to get an out at first. La Salle lingered in its dugout area for a good 20 minutes after the game. Ultimately, Parisi called over the seniors and gave each one a good-bye hug along with words of encouragement and/or thanks. It was touching stuff, especially in light of what had happened. The Prep and C-E were first seeds in these semis. This was the third time in five years that both top seeds survived. However, it was only the seventh time over the last 25 seasons. And now, going back to the 1978 season, top seeds are only 32-26 in semis. Meanwhile, I'll second and even third what Huck said about Widener's new facility. LOVE it. The Blue Monster/Great Wall of Widener in LF is cool and coach Steve Carcarey and his assistants/players were meticulous beyond belief in manicuring the field. Also, check this out: the helmet racks in the dugouts had little name tags for the starters!!

MAY 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMI
Conwell-Egan 3, Bonner 1
   This one had the look of possible breeze-through after C-E scored three in the first. Then, at the end, it had the look of possible ugly collapse, and that would not have been uncommon for a C-E squad that has been filled for years with good kids who somehow get hit with bad playoff experiences. We won't go into them all. But there have been more than a few, and they've been painful to watch. This was the first game of the doubleheader at Widener's very appealing new facility and the Eagles seized it by the throat in the home first. With one out, sr. RH Brian Herman singled hard to right-center and yielded to courtesy runner Jim Love. Jr. 3B Ryan Terry singled down the RF line and sr. CF John "Muscle Up" Malloy was next. He did what the latest version of his nickname (much better than "Slappy" -- smile) would suggest, as he hammered a ball to right-center that skipped off the fence on a short hop and went for a two-run triple. Malloy then came in on a passed ball. Sr. RH Sean Fitzgerald had been knocked out of Wednesday's second-round game and you'd have to imagine his confidence was wavering. If so, he quickly put any negative thoughts out of his head and regrouped in fine fashion to pitch shutout ball the rest of the way. In the second, he got the putout on a trick pickoff play that caught sr. 2B Ed Barry in vintage fashion (more in a moment) and jr. 1B Tim Dougherty helped him out in the fifth, gunning home to retire courtesy runner Mike Thomas after dropping the ball on what should have been a groundout. The trick play: I've seen this every so often through the years - it once helped Washington win a Pub title -- and it plays hard on the fact that most guys on second base turn their back while returning to that bag on pickoff throws. Well, Fitzgerald never threw the ball, but the Friars up the middle perfectly carried out their assignments, yelling "ball!!" and pretending to chase the ball in the outfield. Barry never had a chance and was tagged out. Herman mostly cruised through six innings and received strong support from his fielders. In the seventh, though, Dougherty became just the second Friar to start an inning by reaching base when he scalded a single to RF (and then yielded to pinch-runner Matt McGillian). Sr. RF Steve DeBarberie hit into a fielder's choice and 3B Matt Gallagher whiffed and C-E was one out away. Sr. C Ryan Hunt kept the Friars alive by drawing a walk (and he left for CR Vince Sculli). Sr. Mike Coleman, the DH, sent a grounder to Barry. Should have been the ballgame. But Barry bobbled -- don't tell me this is going to happen to Egan AGAIN!! -- and DeBarberie beat home a somewhat tentative follow-up throw. Every veteran fan of the Eagles had to be thinking about the past miseries. It would have been impossible not to. Meanwhile, it appeared that Sculli was out at third on the tail end of the preceding play, but the call was safe. Dan Leicht, a lefty swinger, was sent up to hit for sr. SS Brian Meagher. The battle had some juice, but Herman got him looking and the game was over. Herman finished with a four-hitter and six strikeouts. Took some pre-game pics of Best Teammate '06, Bonner's Colin Liberatore. His plaque has been ordered and will be ready for pickup Wednesday morning, supposedly. Colin said much later he'd come to the title game to get it, but I'd have no problem presenting it at Bonner in front of his teammates/schoolmates, or even at his house in front of family members, if he'd prefer either of those scenarios.

MAY 24
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Central 2, Northeast 1
   As often happens, the loose, one-sided scenarios that often dominate the regular season and early rounds of the playoffs disappear in a semifinal. In this one, anyway. Yes, there were five errors. but only one figured in the scoring and the umps who made it happen flat-out missed the call. Even Northeast's fans were admitting that as I passed them en route from the field to the press box. This was a classic duel between jr RHs, Central's Jared Farbman and Northeast's Joe Breitweiser. Farbman was a shade cleaner and thus got the win. He allowed three hits and one walk while fanning six. Breitweiser surrendered five hits and two walks while fanning nine. Breitweiser's one big sin was issuing a free pass to the first batter of the game, sr. SS Matt Smith. Not a good idea when you're nervous already and playing in an unfamiliar venue, especially when you figure in the wide expanse behind the plate. Joe did his big-boy thing and struck out the next two batters and in stepped soph LF Aaron Esbensen. This kid has impressed me other times this season and he did so here, too, ripping an RBI double to right-center. Smith scored easily. Central tallied again -- the hard way -- in the second inning, as it took a two-out single by the No. 9 hitter, sr. CF Joshua Fleishman, to get things going. It was a looper down the rightfield line and Smith again played a prominent role, beating out a single to SS. Another of Central's gritty little guys, sr. 3B Nick DeLeo, singled hard to left for a run. The Lancers managed just one hit thereafter, but in retrospect I doubt they're crying about it. Farbman carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He lost it as sr. LF Craig Young led off the frame with a blooper that fell into shallow CF. A fielder's choice and single by sr. 3B Kyle Bachmann followed, so Farbman had to puff out his chest and get to work. He did. A pair of popups ended the threat. Farbman helped himself immensely as the sixth began, leaping to snag a bunt by soph SS Jose Lopez. Sr. C Derek Butler then sent a fly to right. Soph Mike Braun caught it and I even looked down to note the play on my score sheet. Then, I heard a commotion and looked up and the ball was on the ground and the umps wound up saying he dropped it before maintaining full control. No way! Hey, the blues have their opinion. I have mine (smile). Frosh RF Tim Freiling followed with a rope to CF that was caught. Breitweiser produced an RBI triple to right and the courtesy runner, Joel Furman, bumped into sr. C Joe Magdovitz as he was passing the plate. I had my camera focused on third, in case there was going to be a play there, but I was told – admittedly by Central loyalists – that there was no excuse for Furman’s misstep. Coach Bob Barthelmeh moved quickly onto the field and got into a short, heated rhubarb with plate ump Joe Lieberman and the two even went face to face – after Bob turned his hat around backward, that is. Great stuff!! Ha, ha. Nothing came of it. Sr. LF Craig Young put decent aluminum on the ball, but his fly to deep center was caught. NE went 1-2-3 in the seventh. Campbell’s Field, in Camden, is a very cool ballpark, especially with the Ben Franklin Bridge looming high above the outfield on a slight angle from LF to RF. The Pub honchos are to be commended for pulling this off. In other cities, many title games in all sports are played in major league stadiums/arenas. This is “only” a minor league facility -- and for an independent team, at that -- but I doubt anyone minded.

MAY 23
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF
Judge 6, Ryan 1
   This was played at Temple's Ambler Campus, a new site for a CL contest, and the field is very nice, though there's WAY too much foul territory (especially for photo-taking purposes with an underpowered point-and-shoot camera -- smile). And today, it was very windy and bordered on chilly and more than a few folks were ruing the fact they didn't bring jackets/sweatshirts. There was an interesting dynamic before things got started: On the RF side, Ryan sr. RH Mike Miller was warming up and Judge players were right behind him a shade to the side, ostensibly just taking cuts in a netting-style batting cage. I wonder if they were able to pick up any tips? Miller wound up allowing nine hits in six innings and Judge powdered many balls, even into outs. On the flip side, the Crusaders only scored in one inning, the third, and here goes. Jr. SS Keith Chichearo, the No. 9 hitter, got grazed by a pitch and sr. RF Jeff McMahon, with Chichearo running, used a purposeful late swing to collect a single to RF and get him to third. Sr. CF Mike Chichearo (strong day for this family!) rapped a hard single to LF, scoring his bro. A bobble on a grounder by sr. RH Matt Compton loaded the bases and a walk to sr. 1B Jason D'Ambrosio (headed for Penn, niiiiiiiice) made it 2-0. A wild pitch ensued, scoring M. Chichearo, and sr. LF Chris Schwartz hit a ball to jr. 3B Devin Weiss. Courtesy runner Paul McLaughlin was retired at the plate, with a solid block by sr. C Matt Amato, and that brought to the plate sr. DH Justin DeCristofaro, of QBing city all-star FB fame (smile). Bang! DeCris declassified a baseball from normal to bruised with a shot over the head of sr. RF Pat DelVecchio. The ball landed at the base of the fence and went for a two-run triple. Run No. 6 scored on a sac fly to RF by soph 3B Tim Ashenbrenner. Compton went the distance, but wasn't too thrilled by how things went. Though over two seasons he has shown some lights-out tendencies, in this one it was more of a dim-them thing. He allowed five hits and four walks and even plunked two guys, plus he recorded just four strikeouts. But his teammates were flawless (he had the only error, on a bad pickoff throw) and three times he caused Ryan to leave guys at third base. I've always wondered how it must feel to play a regular position and never get to bat, and today that guy for Judge was sr. 2B Steve Carr. Is part of you hissed? Disheartened? Is it harder to concentrate when you never get the reward of at-bats? Who knows? But this is definite: Carr made a sensational play when jr. 3B Mike Kovacs sent a blast up the middle. The ball was to Carr's non-glove side and came on a wicked short hop. He stayed with it, made a perfect snag from a kinda kneeling position and tossed to K. Chichearo for a force. Ryan's run came in the fifth when soph CF Andrew Lacovara singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a groundball single to center by jr. LF Rob McArdle. (Unfortunately, I did not get the word about the change and the hit was credited in the paper to the starter, Mike Siravo. I apologize for the mistake.) Judge coach Joe McDermott, in his 31st year, is closer than ever to retirement. He's very frustrated that leg problems keep him from coaching third base and even from hitting groundballs/flyballs in the pre-game session. (By the way, we talked maybe 10 days ago and Joe apologized for his McDevitt game snapout. No problem. I always believe it's best to start fresh. Some don't.) While I was interviewing Compton in Judge's dugout, trainer Bill Koch put a bag of ice under Matt's T-shirt on his right shoulder. Schwartz cracked, "Matt, you have a really muscular shoulder." Wound up briefly on the third-base side near some Judge kids. Asked some assorted sports-related questions (best one: Have you ever interviewed Shaq? -- um, not quite) and begged to have their picture taken for "Special Photo" purposes. That's why I'm here, baby! Tell me the red-haired kid doesn't look like "Smitty" from the cell-phone commercials (smile). The guy who has a job and college-grad buddies who haven't bothered starting their work lives yet. Know that one? "Smit-eeeeeeeeeee!"

MAY 21
CATHOLIC SOUTH PRE-PLAYOFF
O'Hara 6, Carroll 1
   Let's get the cool tidbit out of the way. Can we assume this was the only baseball game today in America featuring one player on each team with surnames starting with "Sz"? You had sr. 1B Jonathan Szeliga for O'Hara and sr. C Andrew Szalejko for Carroll. Almost makes me want to change my name to Szilary. And who knows? A couple generations back, maybe it was that (smile). The biggest bow among Lions should be taken by soph RH Kevin Culbert. In the PIAA, there's a rule stating that kids who throw at least three innings in one day must receive one day of rest before cranking it up again. The CL, of course, does not belong, so today's starter was the same as yesterday's three-inning finisher. And guess what? He again was highly effective. After going 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 vs. Roman, Culbert pitched four innings of shutout ball. And guess how many he walked in his seven total innings? None. He even brassed up and evaded a man-on-third, no-out situation in the third inning after sr. LF Brian Puliti powered a ball over the head of sr. LF Rob Crowley. Culbert escaped via a popup, strikeout (jr. C Joe Collelouri held a foul tip) and groundout to sr. SS Harry Duke. Though Culbert free-passed none, he did plunk Szalejko to open the fifth and coach Frank Allison came to get the ball. Wonderful job, young man! Duke immediately found himself in hot water when a grounder was bobbled and Carroll had first and third with nobody down. Puliti followed with an RBI groundout and jr. 1B Jesse Rosemann walked. With jr. PH Pete Coppa at bat, jr. PR P.K. Crossan broke for second. Hit and run? Straight steal where the guy happened to swing? Don't know. Doesn't really matter. Coppa hit a soft liner (oxymoron, right? but that's what it was) to short and Crossan was easily doubled off to end the uprising. Duke allowed one hit with two men down in the seventh, then closed things out with a strikeout. Carroll's starter was jr. RH Chris Dengler, and he was followed by another jr. RH, Kyle "Baked Ziti" Baker. Each has size and potential. I did notice something weird about Baker's delivery. Right after he releases the ball, he looks down at the ground. I wonder if that affects his concentration? Anyway, O'Hara's breakthrough inning was the fourth. Crowley singled hard to right and jr. 3B Marco Menna slammed a double to right-center. Jr. OF Matt Izzi served up a great piece of hitting, making sure he hit the ball to the right side. He earned an RBI on the groundout. The next batter, soph CF Joe Sessa, a lefty, made sure he pulled the pill and he also collected an RBI on a groundout. Jr. 2B Pat Young produced a run singlefootedly in the fifth: walk, steal, steal-error combo. Most of the damage in the sixth came courtesy of the bottom part of the order. Izzi bunted for a hit, stole second and moved to third on Sessa's grounder. Collelouri grounded a single to CF and sr. SS Tom Connelly lined a shot to right-center. Sr. CF John Piotrowicz almost made the catch with a headlong dive, but the ball squirted out of his glove for an RBI double. En route to the mound to yank Dengler, coach Fran Murphy order plate ump Tom Scartozzi (one of the best! he does college and even minor league games almost exclusively now) to send Duke to first base. Young greeted Ziti with a zinger in the form of hard groundball to left . . . and through for a base hit and an RBI. As almost always recently, there was some rain. Not much, but the umbrella had to pop up maybe three times. It also got very dark on occasion and dang if I can yet figure out what settings are best for the digital camera when that happens. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The atmosphere for this one was subdued. Very little juice from the fans and even the players seemed only mildly into it. Hard to believe, but Carroll will not be part of the official playoffs for two consecutive years for the first time since 1993-94.

MAY 20
CATHOLIC SOUTH PRE-PLAYOFF
O'Hara 14, Roman 9
  Football-score predictions were thrown out by some members of the coaching staffs before this ballgame even began, and they would prove to be correct. O'Hara scored two TDs and added the extra points. Roman settled for one TD and a field goal. At one point Roman coach Joe Tremoglie referred to the game as "a train wreck" and yelled to a player who'd made a bad throw, "It's not a grenade! It's not going to blow up in your hand! Pick it up and throw it!" Neither team has a whole bunch of quality pitching and this first of two playoffs to decide fourth place, played at La Salle HS, came at the end of a long, draining week. Each team went with soph RHs -- Zac Tansey for O'Hara (he also has a basketball future) and Joe Plover for Roman. Neither was spectacular. Neither received scintillating backing.
Tansey departed after seven of the first eight batters in the second inning reached base; two did so on errors and five of the seven runs charged to him were unearned. The curveballing Plover, a JV player until recently, was gritty as all get-out and lasted four batters into the sixth, mainly because Tremoglie had very few other options, especially for anything close to an extended period. Until the sixth, when Plover allowed the first four Lions to reach base (HBP, single, RBI double, two-run single) and saw them come in as earned runs, only one of O'Hara's eight runs was earned. In the second inning alone, the Cahillites were guilty of four miscues. The frame might have even been worse if jr. DH-P-3B Marco Menna had not run into an easy out after a squeeze-bunt signal was missed. In all, Roman committed seven errors. O'Hara's leaders: sr. 1B Jonathan Szeliga went 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored; Menna went 2-for-4 with an HBP and three RBI; sr. RF Matt Izzi went 3-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI. Also, one of the two hits for sr. LF Rob Crowley was a two-run, ground-rule double to left in the five-run sixth, during which O'Hara overcame a 9-8 deficit. Meanwhile, the most impressive performance of the day was posted by jr. RH Kevin Culbert, who achieved perfection over the final three innings (three strikeouts). Assistant John Coyle said Culbert did some early-season pitching, but had some rocky moments and then became a forgotten man. "I guess he was saving it for today," Coyle kidded. Roman's seven-run second featured two-run hits from jr. OF Will O'Mara (single) and sr. 2B Pat DiGiovanni (triple down the LF line). Roman's oddity of the day: jr. DH Rich Yoka sent flyouts to right in all three of his plate appearances, with two resulting in sac flies. Sr. 1B Ken "K.J." Sowisdral was impressive around the bag, dealing with errant throws and baserunners barreling down on him. It'll be interesting to see who pitches for O'Hara tomorrow vs. Carroll. I heard Coyle ask soph LH Joe Sessa whether he's hurling. "I don't know if I am," Sessa responded. "But I could." Football tonight. Something tomorrow. O'Hara-Carroll or the CL track championships? Hmmmmmm . . . .Guess you'll have to check back and see (smile).

MAY 19
PUBLIC LEAGUE CLASS AA FINAL
GAMP 14, Saul 1
  Music>agriculture. At least it was today. The Pioneers went six-three-five in the first three innings (if you play 635 in the lottery and it comes out, I want a cut -- smile) and this one ended after 4 1/2. That was when the problems began. Or, more accurately, when an alleged reason for the early-game problems came to light. Saul's starter was LH James Paulk, who looked very good when I saw him early this season but then ran into some school difficulties and had to sit down for a stretch. This was only his second game since his return and things did not go well. He pitched just the one inning because he was ejected by the plate ump, Joe Lieberman, in the top of the second. Here's what happened: Saul soph LF Ian Cogan homered to right-center and some of the Razorbacks streamed out of the dugout, preparing to greet him at the plate. Paulk was not due to bat for five more spots in the order, but he wound up first in line (closest to the plate, that is) and stared REAL hard at GAMP jr. C Eric Funaro as Cogan was still doing his trot. Funaro definitely said something to Paulk and the part I heard was, "What are you lookin' at??!!" Paulk responded with something (he was further away) and Lieberman moved quickly to make sure there'd be no fisticuffs. Lieberman then announced that Paulk was ejected (for cursing, he said  later) and Paulk went absoutely nuts. He had to be held back by multiple people and even after he was escorted beyond the fence, he tried to get back into the playing area and wound up ripping off his jersey. Like many, I'm sure, I was thinking, "What is his problem? How can he be THIS enraged?" Folks, I'm telling you, he truly put on a show. Let's move ahead. The game ends and the umpires make sure no more trouble develops in the handshake lines. Much later, just outside the fence, I asked one of Saul's people -- a recent player, pretty sure; he did yeoman work, in time, successfully calming Paulk -- why James had gone so far off the deep end. He responded excitedly that the catcher (Funaro) had called Paulk the n-word. The Saul players were on their team bus. Paulk was hanging out in the back. He confirmed, even insisted, through a window that the n-word had been used. I spoke briefly with Funaro. He insisted the opposite. Lieberman was still across Packer Ave., talking with two of his partners. He was adamant that he didn't hear that word. Back across the street, the bus was about to pull away, and even did so while we were talking. I let Paulk know what the others had said. He again became agitated. "Oh, then I'm wrong! I guess it didn't happen! He didn't say that word, DID he?!" What's the truth here? Is it possible Paulk took his frustration too far and fabricated the whole thing? Is it possible Funaro did say that word, but at lower volume and not loud enough for Lieberman (or anyone else even remotely nearby) to hear? This is of course a very sticky situation. GAMP coach Art Kratchman vouched for Funaro 100 percent. Ironically, I spent part of the game speaking with Eric's dad, a starter for a baseball championship team at Southern. He did not appear to have even a hint of a rough edge, and came off as a gentleman. I told him afterward what was going on. "My son wouldn't do that," he said, calmly. Can't be sure what will/could happen from here concerning this situation, but it's very upsetting wherever the truth lies . . . Long day tomorrow, capped off by the City All-Star Football Game, and it's almost 1 a.m. so please understand that the game detail will be brief. GAMP's highlight was a two-run homer to right-center by soph 1B-OF Christian Matticks. Also, sr. OF Ryan Challender, who got the ink (enjoyable kid to interview; this has been a great week on the trail!! smile), went 2-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored.

MAY 16
PUBLIC LEAGUE CLASS AAA SEMIFINAL
Phila. Electrical 8, Franklin Towne 5
   Let’s hear it for kitty litter! Again. FT coach Kyle Riley and his players were out early to work on the sloppy field at Vogt RC, in Mayfair, and they did a great job getting it ready. The plate and first-base areas were particularly messy and that was where the KL came in (like yesterday at Conwell-Egan). Nothing could be done about the tall grass/weeds in the outfield. When the PE players arrived, they immediately trotted out to leftfield for exercises. One of them yelled to another, “Watch out for the snake!” He quickly followed up with, “Just kidding. There’s no snake. If so, you wouldn’t have seen it anyway.” Did we see a good game? I’ll take the fifth to some degree (smile). There were 11 errors and some very simple plays weren’t made, especially on flyballs that were airborne more than long enough to be caught. This was an enjoyable tilt, however, because the players were into it and maybe 150 people, including what appeared to be many staff members from both schools, were on hand. You hardly EVER see that at a Pub game. Perhaps the sloppiness was due in part to the pain-in-the-butt weather. For a while it was bright and sunny. But it was mostly light gray to dark gray and there were some very brief periods of light rain. Weird. Where’d the ink go? To sr. SS-RH John Bowers, who’s planning to become an electrician. From a school with "electrical" in its name? Hey, who would have thought?? (ha ha) In the No. 3 hole, he went 2-for-4 with a ringing triple to right and two RBI. And then, after sr. LH Eric Andracchio surrendered a single and double to start the home sixth, Bowers went to the mound and earned the save. Hopefully, he gave sr. RF Jerard Mickie a hearty thank-you. Frosh P-2B Mike Skinner (5-4, 125) greeted Bowers with an RBI groundout. The leadoff man, soph CF Keith Rycek, followed with a drive to RF. Off the bat it had the sure look of a hit. Even about three-fourths of the way out there, it did. But Mickie kept running and running and running and when he finally reached out with his glove, darned if it didn’t go in. Great play! Even better for the Chargers: the runner on third, sr. INF Javier Muniz, thought there was no way the ball would be caught and he failed to tag up and just see what would happen. He was down by the plate when Mickie made the snag and, despite a scramble-back-up-there attempt, was doubled off third to end the inning. FT’s subs and fans showed tremendous energy in the seventh while trying to help their squad post a three-spot and tie the game, but it wasn’t to be. PE had just seven hits, but got LOTS of help from FT’s fielding miseries. Four of the eight runs were unearned. Sr. 3B Mario Dina reached base three consecutive times on bobbles. Ouch. In a serious oddity, six of PE’s runs came courtesy of grounders. Bowers and sr. LF Pat Russell had the only hits for RBI (both were triples). Among the spectators: ex-Lincoln FB star and baseball player Joe DiGrazio. PE jr. C John McGovern, who had two RBI on groundouts, is his step-brother in kinda-removed fashion. McGovern has a normal build, but somehow is nicknamed “Meatball.” Said DiGrazio: “Yeah, I’m trying to figure out THAT one myself.” At the beginning of the game, one of FT’s subs was doing radio-style play-by-play on the bench. In rather quick order, he was convinced to knock it off (smile).

MAY 15
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Conwell-Egan 1, La Salle 0
  Sometimes your hopes are realized. This was one of those days. Earlier today, I was not a happy man because it appeared that all of the baseball games would be postponed due to sloppy field conditions resulting from last night's heavy rains. But on La Salle's website, there was never a mention about a postponement (except at the JV level) and when I called C-E's athletic office about 1 o'clock, coach Rich Papirio happened to answer and said his people (assistants, players, etc.) had been working hard to get the field in proper shape and the game would be played. Yes!!!! C-E assistant Dante Cefalone said his new favorite substance in life is kitty litter (ha ha) because that's what was used -- bag after bag after bag after bag -- to dry out the plate area. Anyway, great hustle by all who helped to make this happen. It was the only game today in the city leagues! Oh, yeah, and it was special! If you'd predicted a 1-0 final, no one would have laughed at you because the starters were C-E sr. RH Brian Herman (Rider) and La Salle sr. LH Matt Zielinski (Richmond). It's a big-time treat to watch each guy work. Usually, I'm a fan of the nutty-type athletes, merely because they're usually more fun to watch and write about. But Herman and Zielinski have tremendous poise and mental toughness and it's impossible not to be impressed and respect how they approach their duties. Believe it or not, I think I actually heard the ultra-quiet Zielinski (he's also humble; last year he had to be coaxed big-time just to hold up the title plaque) say something while he was on the mound. It was the word "ball" and he said it only because he wanted to get the attention of plate ump Mike Finney; Matt was getting ready to toss in a ball that had been fouled off down the line (smile). As far as I know, Brian said nothing. Ever. Though my story included some bits and pieces from Herman, it focused largely on sr. C Rich Dupell. He had no hits (0-for-3, two Ks), but played a major role because he gunned down three baserunners. Oddly, all three reached base to start innings. We'll start with the first inning. Sr. CF Mike Villari beat out a roller to jr. 3B Ryan Terry (Terry bobbled slightly; had no play anyway) and sr. SS Will Phillips was called upon to bunt. Popup. Right to Herman, who gunned to sr. 1B Mike Rugghia for a DP. Second inning: jr. C Sean Saverio walked and yielded to jr. CR Mike Martinelli. He tried to steal and Dupell shot him. Third inning: sr. DH Jared Carter walked and Dupell picked him off at 1B. Fourth inning: Villari beat out a single to sr. 2B Ed Barry, who double-hitched and was just late with his throw. Again, Phillips popped up a bunt and this time Dupell caught it and fired for another DP. Phew, baby! By contrast, C-E opted not to play small-ball and things worked out. With one out in the third, Barry ripped a single past sr. 3B Ryan Creter into LF. Dupell fanned for the second out, then Barry took off for second and stole it easily. Herman followed with an RBI double down the RF line. There was no play at the plate, but Barry uncorked a head-first slide and looked right toward the camera. He came close to sticking out his tongue. Hey, what'd I do to you, buddy??? (ha, ha). The two other half-innings of note were the visiting sixth and seventh. There was first a great moment in the sixth as jr. PH Matt Howard battled and battled and finally slammed a single to RF. From the third-base coaching box, La Salle boss Joe Parisi yelled to the other Explorers, "Some of you guys could learn something from that!" The next moment was ugly. Villari sent a popup down the first-base line. Trying to catch it was Rugghia. With what was flat-out, full intention, Villari barreled full-speed into Rugghia to assure the ball would not be caught. Rugghia went down hard and there was some brief verbal sparring between the teams. Luckily, things did not go off the deep end. Plate ump Mike Finney ejected Villari for the severity of the interference and Parisi said afterward that he would have removed Villari anyway. (On a good note: after the game, Parisi and Papirio arranged for Villari and Rugghia to meet behind the backstop, out of most people's field of vision. The players shook hands and appeared to put the incident behind them.) There was a spillover of emotion when La Salle went back into the field. One of C-E's subs made a stupid remark about one of La Salle's players (someone who had nothing to do with the Villari situation). Papirio called time, walked in from the third-base coaching box and, in no uncertain terms, told the kid that such actions would not be tolerated. As you might imagine, the Villari incident caused C-E's student fans to become agitated and yell some inappropriate remarks. On one hand, though, I could understand their wrath. It was a bush-league thing to do and no one knows that more than the highly competitive (and talented) Villari. Now for the visiting seventh: Herman recorded Ks against the 4-5-6 hitters, sr. RF Bill Warrender, Saverio and sr. 2B Jeff Liberatore. Along the way, the C-E fans hollered "MVP! . . . MVP!" and "Brian HER-man! . . . Brian HER-man!" The players mingled afterward with the students, mostly through a fence (Van Zelst twins sighting!!), and in time Papirio was doused with the contents of a water bucket. My DN story began with an injury suffered by Dupell several months back when he was slicing corned beef at a Shop-Rite. He has pics of his slightly mangled right thumb on his cell phone, and was all too happy to show them to me. Gotta love that, right? Maybe our website audience would enjoy them???? (smile). Oh, and here's some Dupell family trivia. Rich said his surname is actually spelled "DuPell" with a capital "P." He said to write it as all one word, though, "because that's what we do." Hey, when in Dupellville, do as the Dupellians do.

MAY 12
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Gtn. Academy 8, Penn Charter 0
   In the entire history of baseball, even including the high school level, do you think anyone has ever thrown a no-hitter with NO strikeouts? Interesting question, right? Because guys usually throw no-hitters mostly because they're overpowering and gets LOTS of strikeouts. Well, today, everyone at GA saw something pretty darn close to what's described in the first sentence . . . Jason Davila, a sr. RH, twirled a one-hitter with one strikeout and the K did not come until the final out of the game! Amazing! The 2-2 pitch to jr. LF Mike Basile was close, but was called a ball. The next pitch yielded a called strike three and Davila, who's bound for D-III Johns Hopkins, walked off the mound having faced the minimum 21 batters. PC had two baserunners -- frosh SS Mark Rhine in the third inning (he sent a clean, hard single through the hole to LF; and soph RF Ryan Wenger in the sixth innings (he reached first on a throwing error). Both guys were erased in doubleplays. Davila threw only 63 pitches and the game was over in 87 minutes. Davila does not light up radar guns, but he hits spots and exhibits a nice pace. PC hit some hard balls in the first inning -- jr. CF Billy Goldman lined to frosh 2B Tommy Coyle and Basile flied deep to left -- but went rather meekly thereafter. The 21 outs came on 13 grounders (well, 11, with two resulting in DPs), four flies, two infield pops and Goldman's liner in addition to the last-out K. Actually, I was rooting against the strikeout because the effort would have been cooler without one (smile). Davila started one of the DPs and sr. 3B Erich Enns started the other right after making an error; it was nice to see him rebound right away with a good play. PC's starter was sr. RH Sean Rust. He got roughed up a little in the third, fourth and fifth, although the Patriots' five in the fifth were unearned due to a bobbled grounder. No denying, however, that jr. DH Joe Zubkoff hit an absolute bomb for a three-run homer. It was one of those high, big-fly jobs and there was almost no wind, so Zubkoff really tagged it. The ball cleared the fence in close to exact left-center. In the third, eighth-grade LF Sean Coyle ripped a one-hop double off the fence down the leftfield line and scored on a single to CF by jr. CF John Barr. The highlight of a two-run fourth was an RBI double by sr. RF Mark Brown. Later, Brown and soph 1B Colin Kish wound up standing on 3B together after a mixup. Both were tagged and Brown was called out. PC coach Rick Mellor said the call was wrong because "the lead runner's entitled to the base," but that he didn't complain "because Brown's the faster runner and I'd rather see him out." From what I could gather from sitting in PC's bench area (perfect location for shooting righthanded batters and plays at 1B), Rust mostly ran into trouble after shaking off pitch-calls. Sr. Alec Hannah worked the sixth and hit the first two batters. Uh, oh. But he then retired the side on a flyout and two popups. Nice job! Plate ump Warren Gillis again nailed pretty much every pitch. He was the plate ump a while back in the PC-CHA game that was delayed for 55 minutes because the original base ump was involved in an auto accident and an emergency guy had to be summoned. This time, the base ump again was late and GA's AD, Jim Fenerty, drove him down to the field in a golf cart. Guess what? This guy was also wearing plate-ump gear. Oh, brother. He removed it before the game began. Ruben Amaro, the Phillies' assistant GM, was among the spectators. He's the uncle of PC frosh Rob Amaro, who today DH'd. Meanwhile, I can't ever remember a year when so many freshmen have occupied important spots in lineups (Amaro bats cleanup.)
  UPDATE!!! Poked around on the good, ol' internet. At least two major leaguers have thrown no-hitters with NO strikeouts. The Yankees' Sam Jones in 1923 and the Cubs' Ken Holtzman in 1969. Amazing, right?

MAY 11
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 4, Kennedy-Kenrick 3
   Remember back in the fall, when Pat Murphy and his buddy, Adam Ferrone, were lighting up this website with outrageous reports about Prep football? Remember when some detractors figured they must be dorks, with not a hint of athletic ability? Not sure about Adam (smile; it turns out he was a stalwart on the championship tennis team!!), but Pat is a pretty good baseball player. He's a captain, bats third in the order and has become a solid catcher in his FIRST year playing the position. Not bad. That's what we're HawkTalkin' about! More than a few guys could have earned the ink after this triumph, which enabled the Hawks to keep pace with Bonner for first place (at 10-2) in the South. I checked quickly with coach Chris Rupertus and he suggested Murphy while saying, "When in doubt, I'm in favor of going with seniors." So Pat it was. (For the paper, no references to this website were made. Only to Pat's efforts for SJP's student paper, The Hawklet. But we all know where he did his best writing -- ha ha.) Who could ever forget the O'Hara Tims and shaved heads remark? Or the ongoing Explore This bust about "the sitting down position"? Classic stuff! . . . OK, let's go to the seventh with the score 2-2. K-K scored one as sr. SS Dennis Morgan singled to left, was bunted up by sr. RF Kevin Barnett, moved to third on a chopping infield single by jr. 2B Tom Mahoney, and came around on a looper to left-center by sr. C D.J. Santoro. That brought Rupertus to the mound, brandishing a hook. Out went sr. LH Doug DiSandro, who was mostly very impressive (more later), and in came sr. RH Matt Leddy, who up to that point had been DHing. Leddy threw a doubleplay ball to quickly end the uprising. Prep had the top of the order to face jr. RH Mike Fazio in the bottom half and here's what happened: sr. SS Tom Elliott (2-for-4) singled to RF; sr. LF Nelson Russom moved him up with a bunt; Murphy powered an RBI triple to left-center (and departed for courtesy runner Joe Squadroni); sr. 3B Matt Tiagwad (single, double, walk already in the book) was issued an intentional walk and, with the infield in, of course, soph 1B Aaron Haas lined a single to LF to end it. I heard one spectator saying that K-K should have walked Haas to load the bases and set up a force and/or doubleplay. I wouldn't have done that. Yes, Leddy, the next hitter, had earlier pounded into a DP, but MANY times through the years I've seen a four-pitch walk in those situations, or even a wild pitch/passed ball. This game was played at Ashburn Field, in South Philly, and there's no batting cage encircling the plate. Would have been asking a LOT of K-K's battery. Prep scored twice in the first on Russom's triple/throwing error combo and a sac fly by Haas after Murphy walked and was pushed up to third on Tiagwad's double. K-K tallied an unearned run in the first, though sr. 1B Kevin "Irish Kev" Lawrence did have a hit to help make it happen. K-K's sixth inning run came courtesy of a home run by frosh DH Christian Walker. Ashburn has legit dimensions, and it's 330 down the line. I'd estimate that the ball went 350. What a bright future this young man appears to have! How about this oddity? In back to back days, I saw teams with freshmen in the three hole (also Northeast's Tim Freiling). There's much to like about DiSandro. For my money he exhibits perfect pacing in that he doesn't fart around, and neither does he rush. He's the classic crafty lefty and it was a pleasure to watch him work. He also got a pair of outs on easy-as-pie pickoffs. Took a pregame pic of the Hawks' brother-combo starters, Matt and Brett Tiagwad and Bill and Tim Edger. They were standing right in front of a small wooden border in front of the dugout and kept trying to stand on it, thus trying to appear taller than each other. Gotta love it. Meanwhile . . . Unless the powers that be come to their senses, the CL next year will feature 21 league games with three against each division member. The playing dates, supposedly, will be Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. And, get this, teams will play the same opponent three times in a week (though rainouts obviously will get in the way of that). The CL scrapped an 18-game schedule (with four crossovers) a couple years back and the pitching situation has only gotten worse for the traditional have-nots. Some barely have one reliable starter, let alone three. It's going to be a WHOLE lotta fun playing on a team that goes 2-19, 1-20, or even 0-21. Well, at least the league is going to the 10-run rule. So the maulings, though there'll be more of them, will be shorter.

MAY 11
SPECIAL NOTE
  A few people e-mailed today to ask whether the Freiling brothers, on Northeast (Tim is a freshman, Mike is a senior) are the sons of former NE star Howie Freiling (class of '84), who went on to star at North Carolina, and then played/managed in the minors and is now a scout for the Mets. I spoke with Howie's mom, Helen. Mike/Tim are the sons of Howie's cousin, Bob Freiling. Meanwhile, Howie holds a lofty place in city baseball history for two reasons: three times he was a first team DN All-City selection at 1B, and he smacked three homers in his first Pub game as a sophomore, at Olney's field. There used to be bleachers on the visiting side at Olney's football field, and they were in deep right-center of the baseball field. One of those homers cleared them. Not bad, eh? (smile)

MAY 10
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Northeast 11, Frankford 10
   Joe Breitweiser did a somewhat defiant flip of his bat, and did not exactly leave the box in great haste. He knew it was gone, and it was. What a crazy game! What a dramatic finish! A moment earlier, two freshmen were trying to decide things. Two were out and RH Edwin "Tito" Rohena was facing RF Tim Freiling, already 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Freiling, who bats third, sent a double to right-center on maybe two bounces off the fence. Up stepped Breitweiser, a jr. RHP-CF. First pitch. Bzzzzz-ang!!! The ball rocketed to dead leftfield, up and over the fence (which is higher than it used to be through the '04 season, if I remember correctly) and the Vikings had a stirring win. Frankford has won 81 of its last 85 Pub games over five seasons, including playoffs, but it has now -- perish the thought -- lost two of its last four. It has good pitchers, but none of the lights-out variety, and one of the good ones, soph RH Esteban "Shortie" Meletiche (formerly known as "Shorty" and then as "Shorti" -- maybe "Shorteeeeeee" is next -- smile), is out with a wicked cut on his hand suffered in a rivalry game with North Catholic. It reaches pretty much from his wrist to a spot near the start of his index finger. What all this means is that Frankford is vulnerable, and that gives hope to the other squads (well, some of them anyway) as the regular playoffs draw near. Believe us when we tell you a LOT happened along the way, but for purposes of this report we'll zip ahead to the visiting sixth. A catcher's interference call loaded the bases with one out and Breitweiser, who showed good velocity and even better movement, at least early, plunked Rohena and soph RF Jeffry "Colombia" Bru back-to-back to help Frankford edge within 8-5. NE coach Sam Feldman had seen enough and Breitweiser had already thrown about 115 pitches. Ordinarily, the replacement would have been sr. LH Seth Shapiro. The Sethster is playing with a messed-up hamstring, though, and his action is limited to first base. So Feldman summoned sr. SS Brad Dwyer, who according to his teammates had not made a pitching appearance all season. One popup later, Dwyer served an RBI single to the No. 9 hitter, jr. 3B Dave Doggett (3-for-3, walk, three RBI). That brought to the plate sr. C Ramon Reyes, 0-for-4 to that point though he had reached three times on errors. Bizzzz-oom! Reyes fired a rocket to left and it went up .. and ... over the fence for a grand salami and Frankford was up, 10-8. Holy Dramatic Turnaround! In the NE sixth, jr. LF Craig Young drew a one-out walk and Shapiro mashed a double to right-center, easily scoring Young. For the moment. Immediately, Frankford coach Bob Peffle and assistant Juan Namnun yelled for the Pioneers to appeal at second base and Young was called out for missing the bag. Oh, baby! That play became gigantic when frosh 2B Jose Delgado sent a popup to RF that was dropped for an error, enabling a pinch-runner to score. A fielder's choice ended the inning. Dwyer, who throws at barely medium speeds, let alone fast, even though he's a SS, regrouped from the grand-slam horror to work a perfect seventh. And if you were paying attention, you already know what happened in the home half (smile). As he acknowledged in an interview -- the DN folks made some room; my only story for tomorrow was going to be a feature on PC's Michael Weick for the all-star FB game -- Breitweiser can't break the habit of fighting himself when things go wrong. One of these days/months/years, he will, and he'll regret that it took him so long (smile). Fkd's starter was sr. LH Edwin Burgos. He just wasn't too sharp in this one, though of course he battled. Also, the Pioneers were uncommonly sloppy on defense. Strange goings-on: Eight of NE's runs were scored by the last four guys in the order; Feldman ordered a squeeze bunt with TWO outs in the second inning (sr. C Derek Butler did not put the ball in play, then swung away and collected an RBI single); NE sr. 3B Kyle Bachmann got spiked/run into 27 times (or so it seemed -- smile; he was limping from the second inning on) . . . NE sr. Naim Muhammad is accustomed to starting, but for the moment is watching games from the bench. He kept pacing around and muttering to his fellow subs, "I can't stand this stuff! I don't know how y'all DO this stuff!" At least I think he said "stuff" (ha ha). In the fifth, sr. CF Luis Encarnacion lost a popup in the sun. Feldman trotted out and let Encarnacion use his sunglasses. Later in the inning, Encarnacion did catch a popup. Feldman quipped, "Three cheers for my sunglasses!" There was a vintage Pub moment, showing how these guys always find ways to have fun even in tense moments. Just before Butler dug into the box in the fifth, he and Muhammad, stationed near the bats and other equipment, had a quick, goofy exchange about whether they could date each other's mother. From a spot behind my lawn chair (not sure who said it), one of the other Vikings laughed and yelled in to Butler, "If you get a hit here, you can date all our mothers!" So, what happened? The Butler didn't do it. He went down swinging. Central star Jared Farbman, who also beat Frankford recently, was in attendance. So was ex-Olney star Edwin DeLeon, a second team All-City infielder in '03 and a tremendous student/young man. Kudos to NE sr. Mike "Big Reds" Freiling, Tim's brother, who usually has to satisy his baseball hunger as the first-base coach. But he was summoned to pinch-hit in the fifth and delivered an RBI single to CF. There was good energy throughout. Stopped at Lincoln beforehand to take team pics of the Railsplitters and Washington. They're posted.

MAY 9
PUBLIC LEAGUE CLASS AAA PRELIMINARY PLAYOFF
Swenson 17, Furness 1 (4 inn.)
   If not for the fact the coaches are nice guys and into what they're doing, and that I hadn't seen either team, some pre-game news likely would have steered me to another game. Furness coach Bob Weidinger, a former Temple assistant, had to go without his projected starting battery because one guy didn't show up for school and another was hit with a school suspension. Furness had just 10 players in uniform and frosh Darryl Porter, who had never before played the position, had to catch. He had major difficulties in the first two innings with passed balls and wild pitches that experienced catchers would have caught. His troubles were not the reason for the loss, of course, but it was hard for sr. RH Carlton Wade to maintain his concentration and competitive spirit with that (and so much else -- every flyball was an adventure to some degree) going on. Sr. SS Tom Lehnau, a tall, rangy kid with some promise, offered to move behind the plate for the last two innings and the miseries subsided somewhat, but more than once Lehnau made strong throws to the bag only to be frustrated by the fact the middle infielders were late in covering. There's no getting around it: Most of the Falcons had very little baseball savvy. They did show good behavior and sportsmanship, though, so they're to be commended. Swenson's pitcher was frosh RH Harry Davila. He recorded nine strikeouts and walked two (both times it was the No. 8 hitter, frosh INF Erick Franceshi) while allowing three hits. Wade went 2-for-3 in the leadoff spot while Lehnau posted a hard double down the leftfield line. Sr. 1B James Kalbach had the RBI on a grounder that wound up being misplayed. Swenson banged out 16 hits, but at least a half-dozen were flyballs that simply weren't caught. Davila went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBI. Sr. 1B Matt Shields went 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Sr. C Pat Murphy had four RBI on two singles and a pair of grounders. Sr. CF Gerald Wolford (triple) and soph SS Dom Simone (double) collected extra-base hits for RBI. Swenson scored five, three, three and six runs, by inning. Weird scenario: Swenson's opponent in the next round will be Bok, which has been smacked around VERY hard this season in Division A. Furness and Bok (and Southern) all play at the same complex at 11th and Bigler, in South Philly, so Bok was practicing at the adjacent field while this one was going on. As the game ended, members of the Pub's team for the city all-star FB game were arriving for practice. Swenson coach Shawn Williams was doused afterward with a bucket of water. Weidinger cracked, "That's why WE just bring (plastic) bottles."

MAY 8
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Conwell-Egan 9, Ryan 2
   There was heavy cloud cover throughout and, in time, the game's mood matched the skies. C-E posted three in the second, two in the third and four in the fourth and all suspense was removed, especially because sr. RH Brian Herman (Rider signee) was mostly in lights-out mode. Herman really keeps his fastball on the knees and if the plate ump is even remotely a guy who favors low strikes, it's very difficult to get much going. He fanned 13 and seven came in the last three innings; so much for any notion that he might be the kind of guy who runs out of gas. Ryan managed five hits, all singles, and four were hit hard. The Raiders' fourth-inning runs came on groundouts, however, as sr. C Matt Amato and jr. DH Devon Weiss did the honors. So. CF Andrew Lacovara was the only Raider with two hits, and both were hard knocks to CF. Ryan had a chance for early damage, but ran right out of it into a weird doubleplay. Lacovara singled and was bunted up by jr. LF Rob McArdle, and then sr. 3B Chris Dolan reached on a strikeout-bad throw combo. On what could have been a wild pitch, Dolan headed for second only to notice that Lacovara had NOT headed to third. Sr. C Rich Dupell trotted toward second and finally decided to go for Dolan (at one point the runners were pretty much the same distance from 2B). Sr. 1B Mike Rugghia made the tag and then fired to sr. 3B Ryan Terry, who ran down Lacovara back toward second and bagged the inning-ending doubleplay. Oh, baby! Very disheartening for the Raiders. In the C-E second, sr. CF John Malloy walked, jr. SS John McDonald was hit by a pitch (he actually appeared to catch it with his armpit -- smile) and, two outs later, sr. LF Joe Marziano crushed a three-run, gotta-run-it-out homer over the head of sr. RF Pat DelVecchio. He made it easily. Some sloppy play led directly to C-E's two runs in the third (Terry had the lone hit, a double). All four runs in the fourth were legit, as the RBI came on Dupell's double, Herman's infield single and Malloy's double to left-center (good for two runs). C-E did some serious stingin' in those first four innings. Ryan's starter was sr. RH Mike Miller, and he appeared to be throwing quite hard. His location was nowhere near as good as Herman's, though, and he lasted just 3.1 innings. Sr. RHs Tom Steigerwald and Jim Reardon restored order, though Steigerwald did surrender some crunchers upon first taking over. I don't think he meant to be a jerk, but Dupell's attempt to bunt for a hit with a 9-2 lead was not appreciated by the Raiders. C-E coach Rich Papirio was highly upset with the lack of an in-the-baseline call when Dolan fanned in the first and was hit by Dupell's throw. The plate ump got it right. Dolan was clearly in foul territory. Kevin "Sparky" Cooney, of the Bucks County Courier-Times, was going to come to the game just to watch. He did not! You can't imagine how disappointed the C-E players were, especially John "Muscle-Up" Malloy (smile).

MAY 5
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Dobbins 17, Overbrook 12
   This was a 2-hour, 58-minute chunk of my life I'll never get back. Know what? I don't want to!! Yes, it was sloppy and some plays set baseball back 40 years, but there were also some great moments and the players had non-stop fun and there were also some funny comments from fans, scorekeepers, umpires, etc. This one, played at Belmont Plateau with funky music playing non-stop from loud audio systems in nearby parked cars, had meaning because playoffs spots in the Class AAAA portion of Division D were on the line. Overbrook was in either way; it was just a matter of placement. If Dobbins had lost, Gratz would have claimed the second spot due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. There were 22 hits (11 apiece), 14 walks, 3 HBPs, 16 strikeouts and 15 errors. The game ended in nifty fashion as Dobbins turned a doubleplay. Sr. 2B Malik Foman sent a flyball into left-center. Sr. LF Terrance Sample, a star running back, cut in front of jr. LH-CF Darrell "Butter" Brown to make the catch. Sample then gunned to another good athlete, sr. CF-SS Michael Harris (wideout, small forward; accepted at Penn State main campus; congrats Mike!!), to get the game-ending out at 2B. Two Mustangs grabbed the water bucket with the idea of dousing first-year coach Glen Goldberg. But Glen saw what was happening and trotted away. Later, he kind of submitted to the time-honored ritual, though, and indeed took a bath. Dobbins' headliner was jr. Marcellus Willoughby, who split his day between SS and P. Batting in the third hole, he went 2-for-3 with a double, three-run homer and two sac flies for six RBI. Jr. 1B Abdul Mujahid, a lefty-swinging 1B, had a single and three walks in the leadoff slot and scored four runs. The No. 2 hitter, frosh catcher Terrell "Mouse" Barringer, went 3-for-4 with a walk, double, three RBI and three runs scored. For 'Brook, sr. SS Jonathan Moman went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI and sr. C Mohamed Elbana went 3-for-4 with a walk and one RBI. Brown started on the mound for Dobbins, then switched to CF after walking the first two guys in the fourth. Willoughby finished up. 'Brook went with sr. Jionquel Arline for the first 1 2/3 innings and again for the seventh. Sr. LH Sylvester "Lefty" Broxton worked the 4 1/3 innings in between. Broxton was also the Panthers' QB and he's been practicing this week for the city all-star FB game (May 20). He did not have good velocity at all, except for a pitch or three, and I imagine he was saving himself for a start Tuesday in a preliminary playoff. Here's some ebb-and-flow stuff: Dobbins jumped to a 6-0 lead; 'Brook stormed within 6-4; Dobbins went to 10-4, 'Brook rallied within 10-8; Dobbins went to 16-8; and that was pretty much it. The home seventh could have gotten interesting, though. When the DP occurred, 'Brook had three runs home and runners on second and third. Oh, well . . . Dobbins manager Elizabeth Lowe appeared to have a crush on Moman (smile). Actually, they looked like brother and sister. Jonathan got a kick out of Elizabeth's comments while batting. When Mujahid was batting one time, Barringer and others kept spouting classic baseball chatter in an attempt to encourage him. Mujahid turned around and said, "Stay calm, baby!" The guys then whispered more comments (ha ha). Whenever Mustangs went down swinging, an adult fan bellowed, "Don't go away mad! Just go away!" After drawing a walk, Brown remained at the plate area and kept looking back at ump Jim Scott. Finally, Scotty said to him, dryly, "You only get four." Brown then realized he indeed had walked and strolled to first. 'Brook RF Brandon Pouncey is a relative of back-in-the-day Gratz basketball forward Greg Pouncy (his branch of the family spelled the name differently). I ran a summer league in which Greg played. He was a very good leaper, so take a guess on what I called him -- Greg "Bouncy" Pouncy. Brandon's face is VERY similar to Greg's. Brandon's mom has nicknames for all of the Panthers. She calls a big'-un, DH Richard Ragin "Baby Huey." Wonder if anybody even gets the meaning? Goldberg said Brown, Sample and jr. RF Ranell Plummer had never played baseball (nor softball, "not even at picnics") before the spring. Amazing. A few times when Sample was batting, his mates quipped, "Don't give 'em a lot. Just a Sample!"  

MAY 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 13, McDevitt 2
   Well, since the game wasn't competitive, let's get right to the controversy. Wouldn't want to disappoint Judge coach Joe McDermott, who claimed that's all I'd be looking for . . . The Catholic League does NOT have the 10-run rule, but this one was halted after six full innings. Why? Lord only knows. I can't imagine teams are allowed to make up their own rules -- you know, the whole pre-game prayer thing and all, which happened to be read by Judge assistant Tim Ginter. Aside from being an assistant to 31-year coach Joe McDermott, Ginter is also Judge's athletic director AND the moderator (read: commissioner) for CL baseball. And McDermott put him in a very difficult spot by combining with McDevitt coach Buddy Glemser to end it after six innings. Ginter is McDermott's boss in two of his jobs and his underling in a third job, but now he faces the possibility of having to discipline his own program. In the overall scope, is ending a game early a big deal? Except for the fact it's a violation of the rules, no. But I didn't appreciate being asked to lie by McDermott, and then have to listen to him berate me as he was walking away in front of players/coaches from both teams. Joe is battling a leg problem and he mentioned beforehand that he was in some pain, and maybe the combination of pain/medication made him act irrationally. When I cover a game, there are sometimes difficult decisions to be made in terms of what to mention or what not to mention (cursing, rough play, disrespect of players by coaches, and vice versa). Sorry, the length of the game is not open for debate. McDermott wanted me to give McDevitt a zero in the seventh and I immediately told him that I wouldn't lie about how long the game lasted. I suggested we'd list it as "halted by mutual consent" and he seemed OK with that. But then he added, "Say that there was a little league game ready to start." No other players were in the area. Plus it was only 5:19 when the game ended. And I told him that. "Joe, the game didn't even go 2 hours." He became more agitated and railed about controversy and eventually wound up bellowing that he never wants me to cover another Judge game. Last I checked, he doesn't make my assignments. The way I see it, Glemser is at fault here big-time, as well. Why would he agree to end the game with HIS team coming to bat for the final time after allowing JUDGE to bat in the home sixth? Ridiculous. What does that say to your players? Anyway, with Ginter right there, of course I had to check with him on how this should be handled. I said, "Mutual agreement?" He said, "Put down what you want to put down." He did not look comfortable at ALL. Should he be mad at McDermott? Definitely. Should he have stepped in -- again, he was right THERE, wearing a Judge uniform -- and ordered the game to be finished? Probably, though that would have no doubt caused internal strife. (Tim is a relative newcomer to the job. He probably would have found it difficult to exert that much authority.) So, where do we go from here? Is it incumbent upon Ginter to discipline McDermott/Glemser, or at least read them the riot act? If he doesn't, should his wrists be slapped? Should the CL honchos, perhaps all the way up to Steve Pawlowski, of the Archdiocese, get involved? You know, because of the prayer thing and all. One of McDermott's points to me was that McDevitt's players would be embarrassed if the papers reported that the game was halted after six innings. Nonsense. They know they lost, 13-2. They know the game was halted after six innings. Again, six FULL innings. McDevitt's players are going to be embarrassed -- and pissed, hopefully -- only because their coach, in concert with the other team's coach, cut short a game with only three outs to go. Every so often, CL and Pub coaches call in false scores with the idea of saving losing teams embarrassment. As far as I know, it happens only in baseball of the three majors. While they're at it, maybe the ADs/principals can figure out a way to discipline guys who knowingly provide false information. Let's say a suburban reporter covers a game with a final of 22-1. He writes that, of course. Meanwhile, a result of 12-1 is called into Scoreservice, which services the Daily News and Inquirer. Is that fair? I have literally received reports crediting guys with more total RBI than their team supposedly scored. Wonderful, eh? Meanwhile, this is Exhibit A of why a coach/athletic director involved in a sport should NOT be the moderator of that same sport. Too many ways his actions can be called into question . . .
   The game itself? First, in case you're wondering why I even went to this one: I hadn't seen Judge this season and hadn't seen McDevitt in several. The ol' two-birds, one-stone thing. Even shortly before the game, Glemser was unsure who'd pitch and he wound up going with sr. RH Steve Hansberry. He walked four of the first eight batters (one intentionally) and Judge posted a four-spot with the RBI going to sr. LF Chris Schwartz on a walk and soph 3B Tim Ashenbrenner on a three-run triple. The next pitcher, for the start of the second, was soph RH Matt Fisher. He lasted eight batters and was replaced by soph RH Brian Schoendorfer, who went the rest of the way. Judge sent 14 batters to the plate in the second, and eight scored. McDermott showed compassion by ordering third-base coach Randy Hill to hold a runner at third on what should have been an RBI single, and to hold that same runner there on what should have been a sac fly. Later, I can't imagine McDermott was too happy when McDevitt soph Jonathan Etheridge stole third, surprising sr. LH Justin DeCristofaro, who was on the mound and stepped off kind of late, with the score 12-2 in the fourth. In Etheridge's defense, he's new to the varsity and was performing in a courtesy-runner capacity. Not sure whether he went on his own. Soph 3B Tim Ashenbrenner hammered a three-run triple in the first. Sr. C Tony Mirabella (single) and DeCristofaro (triple) posted hits worth two RBI in the second. Sr. RF Jeff McMahon and sr. 2B Matt Compton enjoyed identical performances (3-for-4, triple, RBI) while sr. 1B Jason D'Ambrosio went 2-for-3 with a double, intentional walk and RBI. DeCristofaro pitched all six innings, allowing seven hits and striking out three. He got the ink and his left arm has had a rough week, as he's also preparing to play QB in the city all-star FB game. (And go to his prom Friday night.) His performance was merely OK and, yes, it was tough to concentrate with a 12-0 lead after two. McMahon had a strong game in RF with two nice catches; one started a doubleplay. McDevitt's LF, sr. Matt Gallagher, made a sliding catch. Jr. 3B Joe Mitros began the fourth with a double, moved up on a wild pitch and scored as Schoendorfer hit a misplayed grounder. Sr. CF Steve Wilson hit into a fielder's choice and later came around on a slicing single to RF by jr. C Frank "Widest Stance Ever" Doyle (smile). Somehow, Fisher appeared in the lineup in two different spots. He was listed in the seventh spot when he came in to replace Hansberry, then pinch-hit in the first spot in the sixth. Only in the Cath. The umpires were the father-son team of Ed (bases) and Jeff Kerrigan (plate). Jeff has become very good on balls-strikes. Ed is in his 43rd year and is amazed that the pay during that time has gone from $5 to $63 per game. "Thank God for inflation," he quipped. Ed also had the day's best crack. After one of McDevitt's coaches complained that a softball pitching machine, being used by a girls' team, was on the field out in center, Ed yelled, "Welcome to the city!" Later, he did successfully get the guy to move the machine a little.

MAY 2
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 6, Chestnut Hill 5
   Umps are famous for hanging out at/in their cars until a moment before the game is scheduled to begin, then making a grand entrance, so I wasn't THAT concerned when the base ump was missing even though the teams were raring to go. Then came 3:50, 3:55, 4:00, 4:05 . . . Hay-zoooooos! Let's get this party started. According to plate ump Warren Gillis, the original base ump was involved in a car accident (hope he's OK) and Bruce Martin, who has even worked major league games in strike situations, agreed to hustle over to PC and fill in. (CHA assistant John McArdle, a highly respected ump for many years, worked a Phillies game a couple years back when the regulars had travel woes. PC coach Rick Mellor would have allowed John to work this one, but Inter-Ac rules prevent coaches from serving as arbiters and BOTH teams could have been charged with forfeits). Anyway, the game got rolling at 4:40, 55 minutes late, and ended at 6:30. My DN story focused on 6-4, 170-pound jr. LH Mark Adzick, who five months ago made an oral commitment to Wake Forest and last spring was a first team All-City honoree. He said his curve was good, but that his changeup and fastball (movement-wise) were subpar, and he expressed thanks to his teammates for scoring enough runs to cover him. Each team allowed two runs in a sloppy first and such a development was probably not surprising, considering the frustration over the delay. In the seventh inning, Adzick appeared ready to close out an eight-strikeout five-hitter after easily getting the first two outs. But in a terrific at-bat, during which he fouled off five-six pitches, sr. RF Brett DiFelice sent a groundball single to CF to keep the game alive and, lo and behold, jr. RH Anthony Cafagna mashed a hit-me fastball over the fence in right-center for a two-run homer. Whoa! Next was sr. 1B Cory Broderick and he also came through, singling to CF. The next batter was sr. LF Anthony Giovinazzo, who sent a low liner into right-center. Soph RF Ryan Wenger ran in and over and, wow!, made a tremendous diving catch to end it. It was one of those all-or-nothing jobs and, with Broderick running in the two-out situation, it's likely CHA would have tied the game. PC's players dashed/trotted out to Wenger to congratulate and thank him for the game-saving play and CHA's could only sag in disappointment. For PC, frosh 1B Rob Amaro, nephew of Ruben, son of David (former minor leaguer) and grandson of Judy (one of the greatest ladies ever! -- smile), went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the cleanup spot. And, yes, to repeat, he's a freshman. Sr. DH Sean Rust went 2-for-3 with an RBI and scored what turned out to be the decisive run on Wenger's RBI double in a two-run fifth. Sean was feelin' it as he arrived at the plate and I told him later I was going to edit a picture to show his hanging out (smile). After CHA touched Adzick for a two-spot in the first, sr. 3B Jim Entwisle provided a big boost in the bottom half by smashing the first pitch from Cafagna for a double over Giovinazzo's head. Courtesy runner John Walton, a soph, came up big in the fourth, stealing 3B when it was left unprotected as CHA expected a bunt. The Blue Devils' first inning runs came on Cafagna's RBI single and Giovinazzo's sac fly. CHA hurt itself with some infield bobbles and other sloppiness. Jr. C Anthony Cardona had a rough moment in the second. When he squared to bunt, a pitch hit him right in the soprano-makers. Ouch. And more ouch. He yelled a good 10 times while writhing on the ground and more than a couple CHA kids were heard to say, "He doesn't like to wear his cup when he's hitting. Only when he's catching." Anthony stayed in the game, showing big you-know-whats. Phew, hope you're OK, kid. In the fifth, he did gun down a would-be basestealer. The members of each coaching staff gave Gillis the occasional hard time -- muttered from the bench area, usually -- on his ball-strike calls. I thought he did an excellent job and I spent most of the game right next to the cage. Broke out camera No. 3 in dot.com history today. No. 2 just flat-out died this morning. Changed the batteries several times. It just wouldn't turn on anymore. The Daughter was here when it happened and she immediately drove me to Target. She kept trying to talk me into cameras of all kinds of different brands. No! I'm accustomed to Canons and they've been good to me! ha ha. PC assistant Gerry Sasse had the honor (term used loosely) of being the first to have his pic taken with the new camera. He was hitting infield. Remember that. Might win you money someday in a trivia contest. Also on CHA's bench was all-timer Dave Miller, a star in baseball and basketball (class of '92) and the Indians' first-round draftee out of Clemson in '95. Dave, a lefty (though he wasn't a pitcher in the minors), said he was asked to throw B.P. to the Blue Devils Monday to help get them ready for Adzick. "My arm's still feeling it," he said, laughing.   

MAY 1
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Central 5, Frankford 4
   Not used to seeing Frankford's score on the right side of the comma, are you? In the last five seasons, the Pioneers have dominated in Pub play to the tune of 79 wins and three losses. The two setbacks before today came in an '02 semi (to GAMP) and an '04 regular season game (to Northeast), and the current winning streak was rollin' along at 37. How'd it end? In slightly strange fashion. This one was sloppy and drawn out early (Central led, 5-3, after two innings and 52 minutes), then mostly well played and quick after that. The story went to jr. RH Jared Farbman, who has learned it's tough enough to battle the opposition without adding occasional skirmishes against yourself. After a crazy and frustrating first inning, in which Frankford scored three times, Farbman had only one difficult frame thereafter (the fourth) and was able to limit the damage to one run in part because he helped himself by pouncing off the mound to glove what would have been a sacrifice bunt and firing to third for an out. Jared cut loose with the occasional very good FB, but mostly prevailed because he mixed his pitches and worked corners. He retired the last eight batters in order and even humped up for a three-K seventh against the 4-5-6 hitters. He said he respected Frankford's batters enough that he often decided to work in reverse fashion -- curves early, fastballs late. Fkd's starter was frosh RH Edwin "Tito" Rohena, and he struggled. Perhaps he was shaken when the very first batter, sr. SS Matt Smith, reached base on easy grounder that was bobbled. Soph CF Micah Winterstein sent a groundball single to LF, Farbman moved up both runners with a groundout, sr. C Joe Magdovitz walked and soph 3B Aaron Esbensen ripped a two-run single to left. The second was messy. The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, sr. 2B Nick DeLeo and sr. Josh Fleishman, drew one-out walks and  Smith lined a run-scoring single to left-center. Two more runs scored later on a HBP (Magdovitz) and walk (Esbensen). Rohena departed and sr. RH Richard Jimenez used an off-speed pitch to fan jr. 1B Jim Benek and end the inning. Jimenez pitched well thereafter, but ran into some trouble with two out in the sixth as Farbman walked and Magdovitz collected an infield single. The courtesy runners wound up on second and third and soph RH Esteban "Shorty" Meletiche, having been summoned from SS, retired Esbensen on a grounder to Jimenez at SS to end the inning. Northeast is highly respectable and GAMP, though young, is dangerous, but a Frankford-Central final would not surprise. Could be a classic. When one of Central's batters evaded a fastball with a late move, he commented to his nearby teammates, "That was coming at my dome." Magdovitz quipped, "Wear a skirt to practice tomorrow!" Before the game, I mentioned to one of the Lancers that Frankford had won 79 of its last 81 Pub games. The kid was not impressed (smile). He said, "Yeah, well, none of those games was THIS game."

APRIL 29
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Frankford 4, Northeast 0
   Another mostly good one in the Pub. Not a 1-0 job, with no errors, such as the Roxborough-Mastbaum game the other day, but enjoyable and eye-opening to a large degree because of the pitching. Frankford's hurler was sr. LH Edwin Burgos, who's mostly known for his curve and craftiness. But check this out: he showed more hop on his fastball than I'd ever seen from him and that made him quite effective. Burgos recorded a whopping 14 strikeouts and got his last five outs on Ks. He walked three and surrendered two hits (both by frosh RF Tim Freiling) and no one advanced past second base. Freiling broke up a no-hitter while leading off the fifth and at first remained on the bases. Coach Sam Feldman then decided to go with a pinch-runner (jr. Joel Furman) and Furman was picked off by a lot. He decided to try for second rather than become an easy out at 1B and was gunned down by sr. 1B Juan Carlos Torres, with soph SS Esteban "Shorty" Meletiche making the catch and tag. Freiling's other hit came with two out in the seventh after jr. LF Craig Young reached 1B on an error by sr. C Ramon Reyes, who's normally the picture of clean play. Young sent a popup high to the 3B side of the diamond, about halfway up the line. There was some doubt about whether the ball might hit the overhanging fe