Game Recaps Coaches Speak

Sunday League 9 Yr Old Team

Montville 1 Scotch Plains 8 Spring Travel Finals Montville lost the finals on 5 bunts by Scotch Plains.  It was a good lesson in baseball and one these young players will always remember.  

Montville 9 North Caldwell 1 The 8th seated Montville 9 yr olds played top seed North Caldwell in the first round of the Sunday Cerbo Baseball league playoffs.  The Montville gloves sparkled while 7 timely hits plated 9 runs.  In the bottom of the first Jordan Gajdos and Michael Trifari hooked up on two nice fielding plays (Jordan to Michael then Michael to Jordan) to prevent any N. Caldwell runs.  Troy Zbeig struckout the last batter to end the first 0-0.  Montville got the bats going in the 2nd when Michael Trifari led off with a walk, then stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Ian Tresser.  Then Matt Kelly double over the center fielder's head to score Ian. Nick Cinnella walked followed by RBI singles by Troy Zbeig and Carmine Teodoro.  Montville led 5-0.  North Caldwell scored 1 in the bottom of the second but more nice fielding plays by the Montville second baseman, this time Matt Kelly and a pickoff at first base by Jordan Gajdos limited any further damage.  Montville scored again in the 4th after Michael Trifari led off with a single followed by another clutch two out single by Troy Zbieg to score Nick Cinnella who walked.  Troy was on fire at the plate today going 4 for 4 with 5 RBIs (in both games). Anthony Altieri pitched great for 2 innings allowing only 1 N. Caldwell baserunner.  Jesse Alexander also made a nice play at second. Montville scored two more insurance runs in the 5th when Michael DelloStritto walked, Patrick McNamara was hit by a pitch, Chris Cerami walked, Anthony Altieri singled in a run and Jesse Alexander walked in a run to make the score 9-1.  Ian Tresser got the save pitching two shutout innings allowing 3 hits while striking out one batter.  Jordan Gajdos stabbed a hard liner at short for the games final out and the Montville 9's piled on each other to celebrate the upset.  North Caldwell congratulated Montville and said they will see us again for summer All-stars in two weeks.  Montville will be happy introduce them to Brandon Adler and Brian Keane when the two teams meet again over the summer.

Montville 12 Roseland 4  The Montville bats exploded for 14 hits, driving in 12 runs to help defeat Roseland on their home field in a second round playoff game. Montville trailed 1-0 after one with Jordan Gajdos pitching, when a Roseland scored a run off an error at second.  But Montville answered back in the 2nd after John Marchionda doubled and Michael Trifari singled him in to tie the game.  Matt Kelly tripled to right to score Mike, Nick Cinnella walked and Troy got his third RBI single of the day.  Montville led 3-1.   Roseland scored again in the second on another error at second and 3 walks to make the score 3-2.  But Montville answered right back with 3 more runs in the 3rd when Michael DelloStritto lead off with a single and was sacrificed over to second on a nice bunt by Patrick McNamara.  Mike scored off a hard single to right from Chris Cerami.  Anthony Altieri walked and Jordan Gajdos singled in Chris.  With runners on 2nd and 3rd John Marchionda smashed a 2 RBI single to center and Montville lead 6 -2.  Matt Kelly pitched the 3rd and some nice plays in the filed by Jesse Alexander catching a line drive at second and John Marchionda picking off a runner at first ended the inning with only one run crossed.  Montville led 6-3.  Montville keep on scoring when Ian Tresser singled to lead off the 4th, followed by a single by Matt Kelly and a hard smash to left for a double by the RBI king Troy Zbieg scoring both runners.  Ian Tresser pitched the 4th and made some nice plays on the mound and struck out one.  Montville added 4 more in the 5th after Patrick McNamara walked and Anthony Altieri singled, Jordan Gajdos and Jesse Alexander hit back to back doubles and Montville took a commanding 12-3 lead.  John Marchionda got the save pitching the 5th and 6th innings, striking out 4 and allowing only one single and one run.  Montville will play in the championship game next Sunday.

Majors:

Finals:  TurboStats beats Dodgson 10-1 to Win 2002 Majors Championship Donnie Trifari pitched well for 4 innings striking out 7 and allowing 2 infield hits and one triple by Jimmy DelGrosso.  Michael Kennedy pitched the last two for TurboStats retiring 6 men in order with 2 strikeouts and 3 assists from the mound.  TurboStats got the bats going early in the first when Kyle Denegris led off with a walk and was moved to second by Eric Schenk.  Donnie Trifari lined a singled up the middle that almost hit Kyle Denegris in the head and he advanced to second to make 2nd & 3rd 1 out.  Mike Kennedy walked to load the bases.  Robert Geers got hit by a pitch to score the games first run.  Donnie stole home on the next pitch and Jonathon Tancer hit an RBI ground out scoring another.  Marc Redding shut down TurboStats in the 2nd with changeups and recorded two strikeouts.  In the third, a walk to Jason Young, error to Kyle Denegris and hit by pitch to Eric Schenk loaded the bases for Donnie Trifari.  Donnie doubled in the right center gap scoring two and Mike Kennedy followed Donnie with a double of his own scoring two more.  Mike Regan singled in Kennedy and TurboStats took a commanding 8-0 lead.  Mike Kennedy singled again in the 5th with scoring two more and TurboStats went on to win the championship 10-1 without Adam Kornbluh their star shortstop in the lineup.  Congratulations to TurboStats and coach Steve Schmidt on a great season and congratulations to Dodgson and coach Tom Redding on a great turn around season.

Dan Como 8 Dodgson 13 With a 19 hit attack Dodgson was able to defeat Dan Como 13-8.Dodgson took control early by scoring 11 runs in the first 3 innings to go along with strong pitching performances by Marc Redding and Alex Bondroff.Dan Como made the game alot closer with a big 6 run rally in the 4th with key hits by Devon Tiongco-Dee, Phil Benevenga, and Frank Gaspar.For Dodgson Jimmy DelGrosso had 3 hits and 3 runs scored, Garret Leal was 4 for 4 with 2 runs scored, Marc Redding had 3 hits and 4 rbi's, Alex Bondroff also picked up 3 hits and Kenny Ventura had 2 hits to go along with his 3 rbi's on the day.Kenneth also pitched 2 strong innings to close out the game.

TurboStats 6 Bollo Salon 5 TurboStats pulled out another come from behind win today after trailing 5.0.  Donnie Trifari was pitching for Turbo and after two errors and a single to left by Travis Warech, TurboStats was trailing after 1,  2-0. Paul Bello was throwing well for Bollo and backed by a solid defense, held TurboStats scoreless for 3 innings.  Bollo scored another in the 2nd when a leadoff walk scored on a fielder's choice.  Then they scored 2 more in the 4th after an infield hit and a walk both scored on a long sacriface fly by Dan Falk and a steal of home by Jeremy Mizraji.  Down 5-0 in the bottom of the forth with Paul Whitman throwing for Bollo, TurboStats got things going after Kyle Denegris singled, Adam Kornbluh walked, Donnie hit into a Fielder's choice scoring one run, Michael Kennedy doubled scoring another and Eric Shenk FCed another run home to cut the lead to 5-3.  In the 5th TurboStats scored anther when Robert Grimel reached on an Error and scored on a Fielder's choice from Jonathon Tancer who doubled earlier in the game.  TurboStats got out of a jam in the 6th when a blown 1st and 3rd play had Adam Kornbluh throwing Paul Bello out at home.  Then TurboStats batted in the bottom of the 6th down 1.  After a strikeout Kyle Denegris beat out an infield single.  Adam Kornbluh flew out bring up Donnie Trifari with two outs and Kyle at first.  Donnie hit a soft liner into left and the Bollo outfielder trapped it.  Then some smart 2 out baserunning by Kyle Denegris and a bad relay allowed Kyle to score the tying run.  Donnie hustled all the way to third on the throw home.  With 2 out Donnie then stole home on a wild pitch to give TurboStats a thrilling 6-5 victory.

TurboStats 3 Absolute 15 Matt Zajac pitched great for 4 innings allowing only one bloop single off the bat of Michael Kennedy.  Offensively Absolute hit the "Schmidt" out of the ball, crushing 1st place TurboStats with 15 total hits.  (3 hits and a triple from Arnold Picinich, 2 hits and a double from Michael Caruso and a double from Eric Toporoff).  This time when Matt Zajac left the mound,  Absolute was finally able to hold on and get their first win over TurboStats.

TurboStats 7 Dodgson 6 In a back and forth struggle where the lead changed hands 4 times, TurboStats was able to come back in the last inning to defeat Dodgson 7 to 6.  Dodgson scored first when Brian Ferguson hit a hard ground ball past the second baseman with 2 out and bases loaded to score 2 runs.  In the bottom of the 2nd TurboStats took the lead when Robert Grimel and Jonathon Tancer both hit RBI singles and Robert Grimel stole home.  Dodgson regained the lead in the 3rd when Donnie threw a comebacker over the third baseman's head. TurboStats took the lead back when Donnie singled in Kyle who walked and Michael Kennedy walked and eventually stole home. Dodgson again took the lead in the last inning when Marc Redding, Kenneth Ventura and Garrett Leal hit back to back to back singles.  Brian Ferguson scored the tying run on a Fielder's choice and Kenneth Ventura stole home to put Dodgson up by one.  Kyle DeNegris lead off with a walk and so did Adam Kornbluh.  Donnie Trifari doubled in Kyle to tie the game.  Michael Kennedy walked and the next two batters struck out.  With bases loaded, two out, Evan Schmidt was able to draw a walk to score the winning run.

Week 5/12

TurboStats 5 Dan Como 3 TurboStats was finally able to figure out a way to beat Dan Como after losing the first 2.  This is the first time Donnie Trifari was able to start against Como.  TurboStats scored 3 in the first after Adam Kornbluh walked,  Donnie Trifari doubled to score Adam, Michael Kennedy walked then Donnie stole home.  Robert Geers knocked in Mike with a FC.  Donnie pitched for TurboStats in the bottom of the first and struck out 2 to give Turbo a 3-0 lead after 1.  In the second Phil Benevenga had a 1,2,3 inning.  Donnie walked Phil to start the bottom of the 2nd and a FC and error scored Phil before Donnie struck out the next two.  Joey Grieco struck out 3 batters for Dan Como in top of the 3rd.  The bottom of the 3rd belonged to Michael Regan for TurboStats.  He made a shoestring catch in right for the first out.  After an error and a nice single off Donnie by Devon Tiongco-Dee, Phil Benevenga hit a high drive to right.  Michael Regan ran back and made another nice catch, saving at least 2 runs. Neither team scored in the 4th with Michael Kennedy coming in to strike out the side.  In the 5th Robert Grimel singled, stole second, advanced to third on a FC by Jonathon Tancer and stole home to make the score 4-1.  In the bottom of the 5th Dan Como started to rally.  Steven Bush lead off with a single.  Zach Keoppel walked.  The next batter struck out and Joe Grieco had an infield single.  Devon Tiongco-Dee then hits a soft fly that looked like it was going to fall in between the right fielder and 2nd baseman.  But Donnie Trifari came from centerfield and made a great diving catch between them.  Phil Benevenga singled in another run but Robert Grimel ended the inning with a great fence jumping catch on the first base line.  TurboStats lead 4-3.  They added one more run in the top of the 6th after Kyle Denegris beat out an infield hit.  He stole second and then scored on a single to right by Donnie off a Kyle Ackerman change up. Michael Kennedy also singled but didn't score as Kyle struckout the last batter. Michael Kennedy ended the game on the mound with 2 nice fielding plays and TurboStats was able to hold off Dan Como 5-3.

Dodgson 8 Absolute 5 Last Saturday Dodgson defeated Absolute Comfort 8-5.Offensively Dodgson was lead by James DelGrosso, Marc Redding, and Brian Ferguson each picking up 2 hits apiece. Anthony Callandrello, Ali Maqsudi, and Antoni Nerantzoulis also contributed a hit each in the win. Kenneth Ventura added a double sandwiched between 2 more walks. Marc Redding also pitched 3 no hit innings striking out six. For Absolute Matt Zajaz had 2 hits including a bomb and Arnold Picinich also had 2 hits to go along with his 4 innings of pitching.

Dan Como 7 Dodgson 9 In a very exciting game Dodgson was able to rally from behind twice to beat Dan Como 9-7. In the game for Dodgson Marc Redding tripled ,doubled, scored 2 runs and had 3 RBIs. Garret Leal also added a triple and a single knocking in 2 runs. Jimmy DelGrosso also had a big hit driving in 2 runs. Antoni Nerantzoulis, Anthony Callandrello, and Ali Maqsudi also had key hits in the middle of Dodgsons rallies.After blasting 2 homers in their first meeting Dan Como pitched very carefully to Kenneth Ventura walking him 3 times. Steven Busch pitched 2 very strong innings and Philip Benevenga added 2 hits for Dan Como only to come up a little short.

TurboStats 7 West Essex Bank 1 Donnie Trifari started on the mound for TurboStats, throwing hard and retiring the first three West Essex batters in order with three strikeouts.  West Essex managed a few walks in the 2nd and 3rd but Donnie was able to close the door with 4 more strikeouts.  TurboStats scored early when Kyle DeNegris walked and went all the way to third on a nice bunt by Adam Kornbluh.  Donnie Trifari hit a triple to score Kyle then Mike Kennedy walked.  Then Matt Maiello struck out the next two batters to end the inning.  In the second inning Turbo scored 6 runs.  Evan Schmidt singled just off the second baseman's glove.  Robert Grimel had an infield single to short that he beat out.  Michael Regan walked to load the bases. Then came the big hit of the day.  Jonathon Tancer just blasted a double into the right center gap scoring two.  Followed by a walk, hit batter then another hit by Donnie to center scoring two more.  Mike Kennedy singled  to score the7th and final run.  It was a good thing TurboStats scored early because Matt Otskey came in to pitch the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings and shut down TurboStats allowing only 1 infield hit and racking up 3 strikeouts.  Mike Kennedy closed the game for TurboStats allowing only two hits.  One was a hard blast by Andrew Lombardi for a double which lead to West Essex's only run.  Matt Otskey got West Essex's second hit in the 6th but it wasn't enough.  Things are really getting close between all 6 teams in the standings.

Week 5/05

TurboStats 9 Absolute 8 In a crazy, back and forth game between TurboStats and Absolute played on Lazar field, TurboStats was able to come from behind twice and hold off Absolute in the bottom of the 6th with some great pitching from Kyle DeNegris.  Matt Zajac pitched well for Absolute, shutting down TurboStats for 3 innings with 6 strike outs.  Donnie Trifari started for TurboStats and struggled some in the  first two innings but finally settled down and pitched great in the 3rd and 4th innings, shuting down Absolute with 7 strike outs.  Absolute scored 3 in the 2nd on a Matt Zajac Home Run that rolled by the outfielders and just kept going.  Robert Geers had a great day at the plate, knocking in 3 runs and Robert Grimel knocked in the tying and go ahead runs for TurboStats in the top of the 6th.

Dodgson 7- Bollo 7  With Dodgson cruising along with a 5-2 lead behind Marc Reddings 4 inning, no hit, 9 strikeout pitching performance, Bollo was was able to rally late in the game to take the lead heading into the bottem of the sixth. Dodgson fought back to tie the game but left the winning run stranded at third. In a very exciting game Bollo was lead by Paul Bello and Matt Kaiser Offensively each getting on base three times each.For Dodgson, Marc Redding had 3 hits and 3 rbi's and Kenneth Ventura had 2 hits and 1 rbi.

Week 4/29  What's with the weather?  95° on Wednesday, 40° on Sunday with a thunderstorm and earthquake in between!

TurboStats 13 Dodgson 7 With the sun glaring thru the backstop on Muni 1, TurboStats and Dodgson pitchers struggled to find (see) the plate in the botom of the 4th and top of the 5th.  Both teams combined for 10 walks in one innings with TurboStats coming out on top 13 to 7.  For TurboStats Jayson Young ripped his first single of the year.   Kyle Denegris doubled with bases loaded in the 5th to break the game open for TurboStats.  Robert Geers singled with bases loaded in the 1st scoring 2 and Donnie Trifari had an RBI single in the 3rd.  Mike Kennedy had a sac fly and all the remaining 7 runs were walked in or scored on errors. Jimmy Delgrosso doubled in the first for Dodgson but Evan Schmidt pitched his way out of a jam to hold Dodgson to only one run.

West Essex 5 Bollo Salon 9 Paul Bello drives in the winning runs in the top of the 6th with bases loaded, 2 outs and 2 strikes off Matt Otskey.  A wild throw allows another run to score and Paul Whitman singles in Bello for a 4 run lead. 

Absolute 4 Dodgson 1   Matt Zajac led off the game with a monster three run homerun to right field off  Marc Redding.  Zajac also brought in the next run with a fielders choice.  Redding's team tried to come back with Garrett Leal hitting a single to left scoring Jimmy Delgrosso. They tried to come back but it just was not enough

Dan Como 6 Dodgson 8  Kenneth Ventura has a monster game going 3 for 3 with 2 home runs(2),a single,and 5 rbi's. Marc Redding, a quiet game at the plate 0 for 0 with 3 walks but was not touched on the mound with two innings pitched with 4 strikeouts. Kyle Ackerman pitched two strong innings without letting up a hit.

Dan Como 2 Absolute 3  With the game all tied up at 2-2 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Alex Conklin drives in the game winning run with the bases loaded as Absolute Comfort defeats Dan Como 3-2.  Absolute's pitchers combined for 11 strike outs while only giving up 1 walk and 4 hits.

Nine Yr Olds:

Finals- Excelsior Fire Burns Dee Air 8-3  On Saturday, Dee Aircraft and Excelsior Fire took the field to play the championship game for the 9 year old league.  Both teams had their chances early in the game, but left runners stranded due to some good pitching.  Dee Aircraft took a 3-1 lead in the 3rd inning on a single by Jordan Gajdos and a costly error by Excelsior Fire.  In the bottom of the third inning Excelsior put some runners on and a big 2 out triple by game MVP Mike Dellostritto gave Excelsior a 7-3 lead.  Mike was 3 for 4 in the game and was given the gameball.  Excelsior added 1 more run in the 4th inning and Brian Keane pitched 3 scoreless innings to seal the championship for Excelsior.  Congratulations to coach Rob Teodoro and his boys on a great season and a well played championship game.  Coaches Keane & Karl are proud of the improvement each of the kids on Excelsior have made from the begining of the season.  Have a great summer and keep practicing.

Playoffs: 2nd Round- Excelsior Fire 5 PineBrook Fire 4 Pinebrook Fire and Excelsior Fire played an exciting semi-final playoff game Monday night.  Pinbrook took a 1-0 lead in the second inning scoring a run off Excelsior starter Ryan Karl.  Ryan came back strong after taking a line drive off the ankle on a ball scorched by John Marchionda.  Excelsior wasted a big opportunity in the 2nd inning after a leadoff double by Ryan deep to left center.  Eric Margulis pitched out of a jam with the bases loaded to keep the score at 1-0.  In the 3rd inning, Excelsior got the bats going and scoreed 4 runs to take a 4-1 lead.  Mike Neier started the rally with his first hit of the year.  Hits by Mike Dellostritto, Gerard DeLeva and Brian Keane followed.  Back came Pinebrook with 3 runs in the 4th inning to tie the game at 4.  John Marchionda delivered a base clearing triple to tie the game.  It looked like another extra inning 9 year old playoff game until the bottom of the 5th when Brian Keane lined a 2 out single to center to score the go ahead run.  Brian pitched 2 scoreless innings to preserve the win for Excelsior and move them into the championship game against Dee Aircraft.  Gameball went to Mike Neier for delivering his first hit of the year and starting a 4 run rally. 

Playoffs: 2nd Round- Amoco 5 Dee Air 6 What a difference a year makes.  Last year at this time the kids were hitting rubber baseballs while the coaches pitched every other inning.  Today at on Muni 1 the second round of the 9yr old playoffs was packed with outstanding plays, clutch hitting and some amazing pitching.  Montville Amoco had Chris Czapla on the hill and after a few walks, a single by Jordan Gajdos and a hit batter on Carmine Teodoro, Dee Air took a quick 1-0 lead.  Chris struckout his third batter to end the inning.  In the bottom of the first Michael Trifari ripped a flyball to right center.  But a great coaching decision by Dee Air had Jordan Gajdos in center to make the grab.  Matt Wolfson singled and so did Chris Czapla, but Jesse Muller struckout the last batter with runners at first and second.  Chris Czapla struck out three more in the second and in the bottom of the second Brett Hanlon made a sensational play at first to get the leadoff batter Matthew Guilder.  The next batter grounded out and then Jesse struckout the last batter to end the inning.  After 2 Dee Air was leading 1-0.  Brett Hanlon crushed a double to start the second for Dee Air but was thrown out trying to score on a fly ball to the third baseman.  In the bottom of the 3rd Amoco rallied for 5 runs when Alex Gordon led off with a double, Jonathan Huang got on with an infield hit and Mike Trifari hit another flyball to center that was caught but allowed Alex Gordon to tag up and tie the game at 1-1.  With 2 outs Matt Wolfson singled and Brandon Adler ripped a 2 RBI triple.  Chris Czapla walked and Alex Morsch tripled right over the third base bag scoring two more runs.  Amoco took a 5-1 lead.  But Dee Air battled back and scored a run off Michael Trifari.  After a walk Carmine Teodoro smashed a liner up the middle that Michael Trifari got a glove on, deflecting the ball to Matt Wolfson at second who stepped on the bag and thru to first for the double play.  But a bouncing infield error allow Jesse Muller to bat with two outs.  Jesse crushed a double to right center to score Gregg Suroweic from first.  Michael struckout the last batter and Amoco led 5-2.  In the bottom of the 4th Jason Byoun hit a double and Sean Strauch singled to make it first and third, no outs.  Brett Hanlon struckout the next batter and Jonathan Huang hit a ground ball to the pitcher and Brett threw it home to get Jason Byoun out at the plate. (turns out to be a BIG play).  Brett Hanlon struckout the last batter to end the inning with Sean stranded on third.  Brandon Adler came in the pitch for Amoco and struckout the first batter.  Then walked James Gubitosa on a 3-2 count.  A few walks later Jordan Gajdos was up with the bases loaded and two outs.  Trailing by 2.  Jordan singled past the third baseman scoring the tying runs.  Brandon scoped a grounder and ran to first for the last out.  But Dee Air tied the game 5-5. With the score tied Dee Air sent Jordan Gajdos to the mound.  Michael Trifari led off and drew a walk.  Then came the play of the day for Dee Air.  Matt Wolfson scorches a hard gounder up the middle and David Pluska stabs it and throws Michael Trifari out at second.  Brandon singles to right center and Matt goes all the way to third.  But Jordan struck out the next two to end the inning.   Brandon Adler held Dee Air scoreless in the top of the 6th but Amoco could not score as Jordan pitched great striking out 3 straight batters on 9 pitches.  In the top of the seventh Dee Air scored after Brandon worked several 3-2 count walks.  Then he got Jordan to pop out to short with bases loaded and Chris Czapla caught the runner off third for a double play.  Amoco trailed by one in the bottom of the 7th but Jordan Gajdos was throwing too hard and struckout the last 3 batters in the lineup to end the game with Dee Air on top 6-5.  Dee Air advances to the final on Saturday.

Playoffs: 1st Round.  Amoco 16 Sefcik 6 Montville Amoco advances to the second round after defeating Sefcik 16-6.  Michael Trifari pitched out of a bases loaded jam in first inning, striking out 3 in a row to prevent any runs.  Then Michael led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk followed by singles by Matt Wolfson, Brandon Adler and Chris Czapla to score two runs.  Alex Morsch scored another on a Fielder's choice and Jason Byoun, Sean Strauch and Alex Gordon walked to make it a 5-0 lead.  In the 2nd Michael Trifari struck out two and made a nice play throwing out the runner at first with bases loaded to hold Sefcik to only one run.  Amoco scored another 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd when Johnathan Huang reached by error followed by walks by Zach Ellis, Mike Trifari, Matt Wolfson and a triple by Brandon Adler and a clutch double by Matthew Guilder.  In the forth Troy Zbeig doubled off Matt Wolfson and Phil Cotugno homered for Sefcik to make the score 12-6.  But Brandon Adler came in to pitch the 5th and 6th striking out 6 batter with a few walks to save the game for Amoco.  Chris Czapla was 3 for 4, Brandon was 3 for 4,  Matthew Guilder was 2 for 4 and Michael Trifari was 1 for 1 with 2 walks and a Hit by pitch.

Amoco 16 PineBrook 7  Way to Go, AMOCO!  With everything on the line Amoco was able to put out the fire "Pine Brook Fire that is" and win their first League Championship.  They also clinched the number one seed for the playoffs in the process.  Having been HOSED in their first two games this week, first by PineBrook Fire on Tuesday and next by Excelsior Fire on Wednesday,  Amoco desperately needed a victory to retain their 1/2 point lead over Excelsior for 1st place.  Chris Czapla started his third game of the week and pitched his way out of a jam in the first inning after PineBrook's first three batters reached base.  But Chris "take your time" Czapla settled down and struck out three of the next four batters to end the inning with PineBrook leading 1-0.  After losing two games in a row coach Don "Monty Hall" Trifari decided it was time to fire up the lineup to help spark some extra runs.  In the bottom of the 1st the new lineup exploded for 7 straight runs.  Michael "eagle eye" Trifari led off with a walk, followed by walks to Matt "smiley" Wolfson and Brandon "the Fence Co." Adler.   Chris "free swinger" Czapla singled and Alex "pick of the year" Morsch and Matthew "big stick" Guilder reached on some errors.  Sean "ouch"  Strauch took a pitch in the leg to score another and Jason "lighter bat" Byoun singled in three runs with a shot up the middle.  After one inning Amoco led 7-1.  Chris Czapla struck out the side in the 2nd and Montville Amoco when right back to work scoring 4 more runs in the 2nd.  Zach "on base%" Ellis started things off with a walk and after two more walks Brandon "where's that fence" Adler blasted a bases loaded double over the center fielder's head which rolled all the way to the you know what.   Chris scored another on a Fielder's choice to John Marchionda and Sean "Iron Man" Strauch ended the inning as the ninth batter who got hit by a pitch.  Matt "sinkerball" Wolfson came on to pitch for Amoco and stuck out three batters.  But two errors and an infield single by Eric Marguiles allowed 2 PineBrook runs to score.  In the bottom of the third Jason "new bat" Byoun hit his second single and Alex "major league swing" Gordon singled over the shortstops head.  A wild throw allowed another run to score.  Amoco lead 12-3 after 3.  Matt Wolfson struck out 3 more in the 4th and Brandon hit another bomb to the fence for a triple to lead off the bottom of the 4th.  Chris Czapla singled him in for a 13-3 lead.  Amoco then sent Alex "my uncle's a pitching coach" Gordon to the mound to pitch the 5th inning.  Alex pitched well but three errors allowed 4 more Pine Brook runs to score before Michael "the coach is yelling" Trifari finally stepped on home plate to end the inning by 9th batter rule. PineBrook cut the lead to 13-7.  But Amoco got right back to work and scored 3 more when Alex "game ball" Gordon got hit by a pitch followed by another walk to Zach "my onbase% is going up" Ellis.  Then Michael "check swing" Trifari hit an infield single followed by a sizzling smash up the middle by Matt "  " Wolfson that scored two.  Brandon hit a towering sacrifice fly to center field that Lee Sieradzky made a terrific catch on.  Alex Gordon finished the game pitching for Amoco with three straight strikeouts and Brandon's Family treated all the players to freeze pops to celebrate.  Way to Go, Amoco!  Good luck in the playoffs.

Top Story: Sefcik Cashas in a Victory!
Sefcik 15 Casha 7 The baseball gods smiled on us tonight as Sefcik won their first game. Casha took a 5-1 lead 2 as Matt Kelly and Dillon Coombs pitched a scoreless 3rd for their teams. Tied 7-7 into the top of the 5th Sefcik took a huge lead on the strength of a Phil Cotugno grand slam.  Sefcik standouts were Eric Schallis and Dillon Coombs on the mound, Phil Cotugno at the plate and the entire team defensively. Darren Schenk and Chris Cerami teamed up for 3 put outs including the games final play as Chris fielded a hard hit ball by Jesse Alexander and made the long throw from short as Darren made the catch.
Casha standouts were Matt Kelly with a 2 rbi's and a shutout inning, Corey Batic on the mound and Joe Socci with triple.
Good luck to all in the playoffs.  WE ARE 1 AND 12 BABY!!!!!!!

Excelsior 9 Amoco 5 The top 2 teams faced off last night in a battle for first place.  Amoco took a 1 nothing lead in the top of the first against starting pitcher Brian Keane.  Excelsior came back in the bottom of the first to tie it up at one against Chris Czapla.  Excelsior took a 3-1 lead on a clutch 2 out hit by Ben Weinstein who was 3 for 3 in the game and drove in 3 runs. Excelsior increased it's lead to 6-1 on a 2 run triple by Brian Keane with the bases loaded.  Amoco made a nice defensive play cutting down a runner at the plate on a good relay throw from Chris Czapla to Brandon Adler who applied the tag.  Back came Amaco with 4 runs to close the game to 6-5 on the hitting of Mike Trifari and Brandon Adler.  In the bottom of the 5th inning, Excelsior pushed across 3 runs for a 9-5 cushion.  Ryan Karl picked up the save after the first 2 batters for Amoco reached base in the top of the 6th inning.  Ryan battled back to get the next 3 batters and preserve the game for Excelsior. !
Gameball went to Ben Weinstein for his clutch hitting.

Top Story: Pine Brook Fire Stops The Unstoppable Amoco's

PineBrook 4 Amoco 1 Montville Amoco pitchers struggled on the mound giving up 8 walks in 4 innings.  The game started with controversy in the first inning with Eric Marguiles pitching for Pinebrook.  After Eric struckout the leadoff batter Michael Trifari walked.  However the ump must have screwed up with his clicker and said the count was 3-2.  After some discussions and some smiles from the Pinebrook coaches, Michael had to continue his atbat.  Michael then hit are hard grounder to Lee Sieradzky at second who threw Michael out at first for the second out.  Brandon Adler then hit a very strange double that bounced and spun around third base and Chris Czapla ended the inning with a gounder to the first baseman.  Pinebrook scored in the first inning when Eric Marguiles doubled in Lee Sieradzky who walked.  John Marchionda tried to score but a great relay from  Jason Byoung to Brandon Adler to Alex Morsch nailed John at the plate.  Pinebrook lead 1-0 after one.  In the second inning Amoco scored when Alex Morsch blasted a double over the left fielder's head.  Then an error and single by Alex Gordon scored Alex Morsch.  Amoco had their best chance of the day when a slow roller from Sean Strauch brought up Michael Trifari with the bases loaded and two outs.  Michael hit another hard grounder right to Lee Sieradzky at second to end the inning.   Chris Czapla struggled in the bottom of the second but managed to pitch his way out of a 3-2 bases loaded situation by striking out the last two batters.  After two the score was 1-1.   John Marchionda took the mound for Pine Brook and quickly got Brandon to ground out.  Chirs Czapla flew out to Lee again who was now playing short.  John struck out the last batter to end the inning.  Michael Trifari pitched for Amoco and walked the first two batters.  With a 2-0 count on John Marchionda and with John pitching well and time running out quickly,  Amoco brought in Brandon Adler to try to save the inning.  John hit a grounder to Matthew Guilder at second who fielded the ball cleanly and ran after the runner going to second.  The runner ran away from Matthew towards right field  (possibly out of the baseline) but Matthew was able to tag him in the chest as he tried to come back to the base at second.  The ump didn't see the tag ( probably because he didn't leave the plate area) and called him safe.  While everyone was arguing the call PineBrook snuck Mike Polizzi home for a 2-1 lead.  Again the PIne Brook coaches were smiling.   Brandon stuckout the next batter but a couple of walks gave PineBrook a 4-0 lead.  That was all they needed because with a 4:00 game start it looked like there would be only one inning left.  John Marchionda was throwing well and struck out two more in the 4th.  Trying to save pitchers Amoco brought in Matt Wolfson in the 4th. Matt pitched great striking out 3 batters to end the 4th with 1 minute left on the 5:15 curfew.  But Amoco just wasn't going to score off John today who only let up one hit in three innings to Brandon.  Monville Amoco loses it's first game 4-1 on a well pitched and well fielded game by PineBrook Fire Department and yes the Pine Brook coaches were smiling after this one.  

Amoco 6 Sefcik 4  Any Given Day PART II. Montville Amoco survives another scare from last place Sefcik.  Chris Cxzapla got off to a great start pitching for Amoco by striking out the first 3 batters.  Amoco scored in the first after Michael Trifari singled and advanced to third on some good baserunning and throwing errors.  Then Chris Czapla singled Mike home.  Despite Chris Cerami striking out side Montville Amoco lead 1-0.   Amoco scored 4 more in the 2nd in the rain storm as Chris had some trouble throwing the wet ball.  Amoco lead 5-0 and looked like they were going to cruse to another victory.  But Sefcik had other plans and sent Troy Zbieg to the mound.  Troy was on fire and struck out 7 of the 9 batters he faced and did not let up a hit thru 3 innings.  In the mean time Sefcik began chipping away at the Amoco lead putting up one run in the bottom of the second when Troy doubled and Dillen singled him in.  Then they added 2 more in the 4th off Matt Wolfson when Dillen singled again followed by a double by Nick Cinella and 2RBI triple by Darren Shenk who loves to hit against Amoco.  With Brandon Adler unavailable to close for Amoco, Michael Trifari got the job done by pitching 2 innings and striking out 6 Sefcik batters allowing only one run.  Amoco added an insurance run when Alexander Morsch smashed a triple down the left field line scoring a hustling Matt Wolfson.  Amoco continues it's winning streak to 10-0 and must prepare for their biggest challenge week of the season facing a hot second place team,  Excelsior and third place Pine Brook Fire dept.  I wonder if Excelsior has forgotten about that come from behind win a few weeks ago?  Let the battle for 1st place begin.

Dee Air 9 Casha 5  Jordan Gajdos Delievered a two run homer in the home half of the first.  This gave Dee Aircraft Supply a 2-0 advantage.  Brett Hanlon lead the was by pitching three strong innings.  Dee Aircraft received good fielding plays from Jordan Gajdos, Carmine Teodoro and Linden KLein.  Linden made a great stop on a hard hit ball at third.  The play was made with bases loaded and ended the inning. Jesse Muller turn in a excellant pitching peformance,  Facing the minimum batters and striking out two.  Justin Presto continues to hit the ball well.  Dee Aicraft will take a break.  For, the East v. West Allstar game, which will be played Sunday, @ 4:00PM, on Muni three.  Get there early.  A capacity crowd is expected.  Congratulations to the players and their Parents.  Also, I would like to recognize Dee Aircraft Allstars, Brett Hanlon, Jordan Gajdos, Eric Deetz, Carmine Teodoro and Jesse Mueller. Sportsman Award winners, Linden Klein and Jordan Gajdos.  Coaches Rob Teodoro, Bob Gagdos and parents a very pround of these boys and we know they will represent Dee Aircraft Supply well.  Good luck boys.  

The Game that almost was.. Dee Aircraft Supply Jumped out to a 3-0 advantage.  However, Montville Amoco answered back with four in their half of the first.  In the top of the second, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, and two outs. Carmine Teodoro hit a double off Brandon Adler.  Giving Dee Aircraft a 6-4 advantage.  In the bottom half of the 2nd Brandon Adler returned the favor by hitting a double and scoring two runs.  Making the score 6-6.  In the top of the 3rd David Plishka hit a grand slam, giving Dee Aircraft Supply a 10-6 lead.  Upset in the making.  NOT!  Rain came and the game was called.  This one to be continued? Hopefully. Next up for Dee Aircarft are the Casha Boys and Girl.  Saturday, 9:30 AM, Muni one. If your keeping count.  Greg Surwick was not hit tonite.  Therefore, the count remains at 5.

Dee Air 7 Sefcik 2 Dee Aircraft jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the end of one.  Jesse Muller hit a shot to the fence that cleared the bases.  That's all Dee Air Craft Supply needed.  Very strong pitching performances were turn in by Carmine Teodoro,Brett Hanlon and Jordan Gajdos.  Carmine Teodoro strike out total is up to 36, in 16 innings pitched this season (2.25 k's per inning).  If you think that's pretty good. Jordan Gajdos has 32K's in 11 innings pitch (2.9 k's per inning). Also, pitching well are Brett Hanlon (22k's in 14 innings) and Jesse Muller.  David Plishka again made nice fielding plays in the field.  With this pitching and fielding Dee Air Craft Supply will be a tuff out in the playoffs.  On the Sefcik Side Troy Zbig pitched two scoreless innings and Chris Cerami look good on the hill.  Next up for Dee Air Craft Supply is Montville Amoco, who is currently 9-0 and appears to be hitting on all cylinders.  Game time is 5:30PM @ muni three.  Come on down.  Should be a good one to watch.

Amoco 11 Blimpie 1   4 O'clock Game on a Tuesday?  Blimpie managed to field a team after finding out about the game on short notice.  In the first inning with 2 outs, Brandon Adler doubled and Chris Czapla singled him in.  Matt Wolfson knocked in Chris to put Amoco up 2-0.  Chris Czapla pitched for Amoco and after Rob Glasser and Kyle Feather walked, Chris struck out one and Bandon made a nice play at first to prevent any runs.  Amoco scored 2 in the 2nd when the bases were loaded on walks.  With two outs and two strikes on Michael Trifari he came thru with a big RBI double to put Amoco up 4-0.  Chris Czapla had some hand trouble in the 2nd and with one out and runners at first and second, Michael Trifari came in to pitch.  Mike struck out 2 batters to prevent any runs.  Amoco put up 3 more in the 3rd when Matt Wolfson led off with a double followed by 5 more walks and some fielder's choices.  Mike pitched well again in the 3rd but hits by Kyle Feather (that woke up Johnathan Huang in center) and Sean Denigres allowed one Blimpie run to score before Mike stuckout the next two.  Amoco plated 4 more in the 4th  (are you getting used to the pattern) with singles by Chris Czapla and the game ending single by Jason Byoun which put Amoco ahead by 10 runs making it mathematically impossible for Blimple to catch up so the game was called in the 4th.  The 4 O'clock games don't give you as much playing time but Amoco takes the win and improves to 9-0..

Pinebrook 5 Dee Air 1 Nine games played, nine games lost. Troy continued his pitching streak with 3 more great innings.
Chris continued his first inning hitting streak with a lead off triple off of Eric Margulies as Sefcik took another early lead going up 2 zip in the bottom of the first. Eric took control and didn't allow another run and then Lee Zieredsky came in and pitched well into the 4th. Troy kept PINE BROOK scoreless untill the top of the third as John Marchionda reached second. Eric helped his cause  by knocking in John with a single and a great hook slide by John around a nice attempt by Phil Cotugno. Chris Cerami and Nick tried to keep pinebrook down but couldn't giving up a combined 7 runs and dropped their 9th.

RA Johnson 4 Dee Air 14 Dee Air Craft Exploded for 14 runs against RA Johnson.  Talk about having a day.  Brett Hanlon led the way going 3 for 4 and a walk and collecting six RBI's.  Brett just missed hitting for the cycle.  Brett needed a single in his last at bat.  However, he was walked.  Jordan Gagdos went 3 for 4, two doubles and a tripple.  Jordan Pitched two innings and collected six strike outs.  Carmine Teodoro closed out the game in the last inning by throwing nine pitches and picking up his 30th strike out of the season.  Next up for Dee Air Craft boys are the Sefcik boys.  The game will be played on May 29th @4:00PM on muni 1.

Pinebrook 5 Dee Air 1 Games are getting played faster! Both teams showed off their pitching.  Not many hits in this one.  Five to be exact.  David Plishka was very impressive in his first outing of the year.  After hiting the first batter David retired the next three batters.  Also, Brett Hanlon, Carmine Teodoro and Jordan Gagdos Pitched great.  And if anyone is thinking of handing out a tuff guy award, How about Greg Surweick (Dee Air Craft).  The kid was hit again.  Making this the fifth time he's been hit this season.  Talking about take Some for the team.  On the Pine Brook side, John Marchionda continues to show why he's one of the best all around players in Montville.  Made a nice play in the field (Unfortunately at the expense of my son), Pitched two scoreless innings and hit a home run.  Also, Pitching well were Lee Siresky (not sure of the spelling) and Eric Margolis.  Mike Polizzi had a nice play in the field by taking away at least a double from Brett Hanlon.  

Amoco 14 Casha 3 Today a new hero emerged from the Amoco lineup.  Matt Wolfson started the game with two great plays at third base making the long throw over to Brandon Adler at first.  Matt Kelly doubled over the third base bag but was left stranded.  Amoco got the bats going right away in the top of the 1st when Sean Strauch lead off with a single and Michael Trifari followed with a line drive double in the right-center gap.  Cory Batic found a way to get Brandon Adler to make only his second out of the season by fielding a comebacker.  Matt Wolfson knocked in Amoco's first run on a dropped infield fly rule ball and a costly error at first allowed 2 more Amoco runs to score.  Brandon Adler decided it was time to break out his stash of sunflower seeds (about 10 bags worth).  The Amoco players loaded their pockets with seeds and took the field in the bottom of the second.  Chris Czapla was pitching well for Amoco and started the second with a strikeout.  The after a hit batter Chris appeared to strikeout the next batter but a catcher's interference nullified the strikeout and put runners at 1st and second with one out.  The next batter hit a fly ball back to Chris who caught it and ran from the mound to second base (who was supposed to be covering?) to make the double play. The Amoco players were too busy munching seeds to help Chris that inning.   Four unassisted outs in one inning for Chris.  Cory Batic pitched well for Casha in the 2nd, preventing any Amoco runs.  After two innings, Amoco led 3-0.  Amoco plated 4 in the 3rd after 6 walks and a single by Brandon.  Sean had some pitching trouble in the bottom of the 3rd and with bases loaded and Amoco leading 7-2, Matt Wolfson came in to pitch in relief.  Matt made two putouts and one strikeout to prevent any more Casha runs.  Conner Fleishell was on the mound for Casha in the 4th.  Amoco scored 3 more when Sean Strauch walked,  Michael singled over the 1st base bag and Brandon walked to load the bases.  Matt Wolfson laced a single to left scoring two and botched relay allowed the third Amoco run to score.  Matt Wolfson pitched and made two more plays on the mound throwing out Casha runners and Brandon made the last out at short tagging the runner and knocking him over. oops!  Casha walked in 4 more runs in the 5th and the game was called due to mathematical impossibilities so Casha didn't bat in the bottom of the 5th.  What a day for Matt Wolfson.  Two scoreless innings pitched, 5 assists, 1 putout, a single, and 3 RBI's and a heck of a lot of sunflower seeds.

Casha 6 RA Johnson 11 Anthony Altieri led the way with three hits and three RBI's.Matt Ferguson picked up the win and pitched two scoreless inings while striking out 5. Jesse Alexander and Connor Fleischell had two hits each for Casha.

Sefcik 5 Blimpe 6 A 3 run homer by Chris Cerami , home field advantage great pitching by Troy a relay from Daniel Cinnella to Nick Cinnella to Troy and a tag out at 2nd base,  Sounds like Sefcick won right? Wrong. We dropped our 7th in a row to Blimpies. Blimpie took an early 3 nothing lead in the top of the second when Dan Kalb, Raven Shaw and Nick Scmidt scored on walks. Sefcik struck back in the bottom of the 2nd as Chris Cerami hit a 3 run homer driving in Troy and Nick. Blimpie made a great relay and throw to the plate and Chris beat the throw by a step. Sefcik scored 2 more in the third and held blimpie scoreless until the 5th as Dillon coombs rtired 2 and it looked like Sefcick would walk away with their first victory, But Dillon lost control and his releif pitcher Nick Cinnella walked in the game winning run as Kyle Feather closed the game by striking out 3 in a row.
Can't wait until the playoffs........If my heart can make it that long.

Amoco 8  Ra Johnson 3   It was the first game under the lights for Montville Amoco as Chris Czapla took the mound.  Chris got Amoco off to a good start throwing 3 strikouts.  Amoco didn't waste any time putting some runs up in the bottom of the first with Matt Ferguson on the mound for RA Johnson.  Sean Strauch led off with a walk.  Brandon, Chris and Matt Wolfson reached first on errors, Alex Mossch walked, Matthew Guilder reached by error and Zach Ellis walked in the forth run to end the inning by the 9 batter rule.  Sean Strauch pitched the 2nd and also racked up 3 strikeouts.  Matt Ferguson had things under control in the bottom of the 2nd.  He threw Jason Byoun out at first, struckout one and made a great stop on a comebacker to get out his good friend Mike Trifari.   Mike was on the hill for Amoco and struck out the first batter, the next batter reached on error and after a walk and another strikeout Danny Brenner was up with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd.  Danny ripped a single to right and a botched up relay home allowed two runners to score.  RA cut the lead in half 4-2.  Mike struckout the next batter to end the inning.  The next inning Patrick McNamara pitched and Brandon wasted no time beating out an infield single.  He went to second on the next fielded out and scored when Matt Wolfson ripped a liner over the shortstop's head.  Matt Wolfson pitched the 4th for Amoco walked a few before Brandon made a nice play at short fielding a ball and taging the runner. With 2 outs and bases loaded came the play of the day.  Matt Ferguson ripped a hard line drive up the middle and second baseman Jason Byoun reached out and backhanded the ball for the third out.   What was amusing was that Jason look in the outfield after the play to see where the ball went.  Then he realized it was in his glove.  What a play saving 2 or more runs.  Amoco piled on Jason to celebrate.  Amoco scored 3 more when Patrick walked the bases loaded and Danny Brenner came in to pitch.  He struck out the first batter.  But with a 3-0 count on Brandon and the coach giving him the green light, Brandon ripped one of those patented "stay out of the way" grounders by the second baseman and past the outfielders for a 3 RBI triple.  Anthony Alteri made a nice play at short to end the inning with Amoco leading 8-2.    Brandon Adler pitched the 5th for Amoco and after a strike out and walk Danny Brenner hit another nice hit to right for a triple scoring John Wilson. Then Brandon started firing some serious heat and struck out the next two.  Anthony Alteri had a 1,2,3 inning with a couple nice plays in the field and Brandon finished the game for Amoco with 2 more strikeouts and another entertaining play from Jason Byoun at third.

Excelsior 4  Blimpie 3  Another nailbiter between Glasser's Blimpie Teame and Keane's Excelsior.  Both teams pitched extremely well and Blimpie made some sparkling defensive plays to keep the game in a 3-3 tie until the bottom of the 5th inning when Excelsior pushed across the winning run on a clutch hit by Jared Silverstein.  Nick DeChino pitched a scoreless 6th inning to get the save for Ryan Karl who was the winning pitcher.  The pitchers for both teams threw the ball extremely well making this a fascinating game to watch. 

Week 5/12 

Amoco 17 Blimpie 8   Where's the Ump?  Montville Amoco scores 17 runs on 11 hits to beat Blimpie 17-8 without an upmire.  Blimpie was missing Ian Tresser and just came off a 7:30 Friday night game to play this early Saturday makeup game.  Blimpie took a 2 run lead in the first when Rob Glasser lead off with a walk followed with a single by Sean Denigres and 2 RBI single by Joshua Mizraji.  Chris Czapla struck out two and Michael Trifari made a nice play at short, throwing to Matthew Guilder at 2nd for the third out. Amoco answered back with 4 in the bottom of the 1st when Sean Strauch singled, Mike walked, Brandon walked, Chris Czapla, Alexander Morsch (remember that name) and Matthew Guilder had RBI fielder's choices. Chris Czapla hit his pitching limit and had to come out in the second with 2 outs and the bases juiced.  Sean Strauch came in in relief and walked the first batter, Sean DeNigres with a 3-2 count.  Then, taking deep breaths between pitches, Sean struck out the #4 batter to end the inning.  Leading 4-3 in the bottom of the second, and after the first two batters struck out, the Amoco bats exploded for 6 consecutive hits.  Sean Strauch got on by an error followed by a Michael Trifari single to right scoring Sean, Brandon tripled over the center fielder's head, Chris had an infield single, Matthew Wolfson singled, then Alexander Morsch hit a rocket shot over the center fielder's head for a double and Matthew Guilder had an infield hit.  Amoco lead 10-3.  Alex Gordon pitched for Amoco and got into some trouble.  Mike Trifari came in relief with the bases loaded, no outs and Amoco winning 10-6.  Mike struck out the first batter and threw the next batter out at first.  Then Justin Citron hit a nice single to right scoring another Blimpie run.  Then Mike struck out the next batter to end the inning.  Blimpie closed the gap 10-8.  Again with two outs in the bottom of the third Zachary Ellis, Jason Byoun, Sean and Michael  walked.  Brandon blasted a double scoring two and Chris Czapla and Matt Wolfson both singled in 2 more.  Amoco lead 15-8.  Michael pitched and fielded his way out of the fourth with no runs.  With time expiring Amoco scored two more in the 4th when Alexander Morsch hit his second double and 3 more batter's walked.  The ump finally showed up just in time to call the game (Hey Arnold, what's going on with the UMPs on makeup games?).  Come watch the battle for 1st place on Monday night when 6-0 Amoco battles 4-1 Pine Brook Fire. (where's the game write-ups Pine Brook?)

Dee Air 14 Blimpie 6 Dee Air Craft wins it's second in a row. The Blimpie Boys came out of the gate strong by scoring four runs in the top of the first.  Dee Air Craft answered by scoring four in the bottom half of the first.  Carmine Teodoro settled things down by pitching two scorless innings and collecting six strike outs.  Jordan Gajdos led the hitting by belting his second home run of the season and is now batting over .800. Brett Hanlon continues to show why is becoming one of the leagues premier lead off hitters by reaching base three out four times and scoring three runs.

Sefcik 8 Casha 9 Another tough loss for Sefcik Productions. They put in another strong effort but came up short for the second night in a row dropping to 0 - 6. Nick Cinnella put in an outstanding effort on the mound pitching 2 scoreless innings and striking out 5. Chris Cerami led off the bottom of the first with a hard hit line drive into the right center gap off  Matt Kelly for a home run, or was it? Seems Chris missed the third base bag and while the team celebrated in the dugout, Chris was called out after Casha stepped on third.  After Nick walked the first 2 batters in the top of the third Chris came in and through nothing but sinkers as Casha rallied for 4 runs taking a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the third. After Dillon Coombs walked, Chris hit a second shot this time a double to right field as Sefcik battled back and tied the score 4-4. The Casha team didn't panic though and powered by base hits by Ali, Matt and Connor along with some walks took a 9-4 lead into the bottom ! of the fourth. Those stubborn Sefcicks just wouldn't lay down and die as they scored another 4 runs falling short once again though 9 - 8. Oh well there are 8 games left and this ever improving team will be looking for their first victory in the games ahead. Good game Casha keep up the good work.

Matt Kelly led Casha to a 9-8 victory over Sefcik. Matt pitched two shutout inings while striking out 5. Ali Pucci had two RBI's for Casha. Chris Cerami led Sefcik with two doubles.

Amoco 10 Sefcik 8 It can also be said that on any given day any team can beat any other team.  Even if it's the last place team playing the first place team.  That was almost the case tonight as Carmine Cerami's SEFCIK matched up with undefeated Montville Amoco.  Chris Czapla was on the hill for Amoco and after a long battle struck out the leadoff batter. With 2 outs Matthew Guilder snagged a pop fly at 2nd to end the inning.  Amoco scored 2 in the bottom of the first with 4 walks and a FC (Fielder's Choice) off the bat of Matt Wolfson.  With a game tomorrow morning the Amoco pitcher's only pitched one inning each today.  In the second Sean Strauch pitched for Amoco and racked up 2 strikeouts, but Sefcik was able to score on an infield single by Robert Plaxe.  After a single by Matthew Guilder in the bottom of the 2nd, Troy Zbweig was able to shut down Amoco with 2 strikeouts.  Michael Trifari pitched the 3rd for Amoco and with a runner on second, struck out the "meat" (3rd and 4th batters) of the Sefcik order.  Amoco lead 2-1 and finally rallied in the bottom of the third.  Michael Trifari lead off with a walk followed by a Brandon Adler hard ground ball that nobody wanted any part of.  The ball rolled to the fence scoring Michael.  Brandon held up at third with a triple.  Two walks loaded the based for Matt Wolfson who ripped a single by short scoring two more runs. Amoco scored 5 extending their lead to 7-1.  Looks like it's over right?  Amoco sends Alex Morsch to the mound for his first pitching outing.  Alex threw hard and after walking the first two batters he stuck out the next two.  With two outs and bases loaded the 9th batter came to the plate.  Amoco holding a 7-4 lead.  Then came the hit that changed the game.  Darren Schenk ripped a liner to center and after a bad relay the ball went out of play scoring all 4 runners.  Darren paid the price though as Brandon gave him are hard tag at the plate which knocked him over.  The Sefcik squad was ecstatic, Darren was called safe because the ball went out of play before Brandon picked it up.  Sefcik lead 8-7.   Oh no.  Is this going to be one of those "any given days"?  After pulling out a come from behind win on Monday, Amoco didn't panic.  They knew that the "4 th" was with them.  That 4th (force) was Brandon Adler and he was in the 4th spot in the batting order this inning.  With time running out this could be Amoco's last chance.  After a leadoff strikeout,  Sean Strauch walked.  Michael Trifari also walked for the 3rd time bring Brandon "the force" Adler to the plate with one out and Amoco trailing by one run.   Brandon slammed a liner to right field which rolled to the fence for a 3 run homerun.  (What's Brandon got against that fence?  He's been hitting it all year. ) Brandon then took the mound and after a leadoff walk, struck out the next three Sefcik batters to end the game.  A fun and exciting game played by both teams.

Coach Carmine of "Sefcik" on the Game.  In all the years I have coached I never had a team so excited after a loss. With Chris Cerami nursing a stiff neck and Troy throwing the max pitch count after 2 innings and down 2 -1 in the third, I had to turn to a couple of untested pitchers. The hard hitting Amoco team scored 5 in the 3rd. Top of the 4th with bases loaded and the last batter at the plate Darren Schenk slammed the ball and everyone ran around the bases for a grandslam as we took the lead. Dillon Coombs an up and comeing 8 year old pitched strong for his first time on the mound but with 1 out and men on 1st and 2nd his worst nightmare happened as Branden Adler stepped up to the plate and hit a perfectly placed line drive deep in right hugging the first base line for a go ahead 3 run homer. That was all they needed as we lost our 5th game to a very good team. I treated the team to fifth base goodies and congratulated them on their best effort so far this season.

Amoco 10 Excelsior 9 It can be said that a baseball game is never over till the last out.  That was the theme for tonight's game  between the two remaining undefeated teams.  It looked like it was going to be Excelsior's day when Chris Czapla walked two batters in the first inning after starting the inning with two quick strikeouts.  With two out Nick DeChino painted the first base line for a two run double.  After an error and a few more walks Excelsior jumped out to a 4 run lead with one timely hit.  Amoco came out swinging in the bottom of the first with the first five batters hitting the ball hard.  Sean Strauch hit one by the short stop to start things off.  Michael Trifari hit a hard grounder to short that was fielded by Brian Keane getting Sean out at second.  Brandon Ripped a single and so did Chris Czapla.  With bases loaded and one out it looked like a big inning coming for Amoco.  Matt Wolfson ripped a line drive that was speared by Brian Keane at short.  Brian stepped on second to double up the runner and Excelsior gets out of a jam with 5 well hit balls and no runs.  Excelsior put up two more runs in the second, again with some timely hitting by Ryan Karl.  Two walks and another error loaded the bases.  Matt Wolfson came in to pitch in relief and Ryan ripped a two run single to center.  Matt Wolfson struck out the next two batters on 6 pitches to stop the bleeding.  Amoco trailed 6-0.  Again Amoco loaded the bases on singles by Matthew Guilder and Alex Gordon only to be denied a score as the next two batters were struck out by Steven Teshima.  Michael Trifari came in to pitch for Amoco and got a 1,2,3 inning with two strike outs.  Feeling the momentum switching Amoco scored three in the third as Michael Trifari lined a single up the middle followed by Brandon Adler's second single.  Three walks and a hit batter later Amoco cut the lead in half 6-3.  Excelsior scored again in the 4th, again with two out and men on first and second Nick DeChino delivered another clutch hit.  Two more runs scored to give Excelsior a 8-3 lead with 3 timely hits.  Amoco had the top of the order in the bottom of the 4th.  Nick DeChino pitching for Excelsior.  Sean Strauch lead off with a walk.  Michael Trifari belted his second hit over the right fielder's head and Brandon ripped his third hit up the middle.  Looks like another big inning coming for Amoco.  Oh no,  new pitcher.  With the bases loaded Brian Keane comes in to pitch.  He walks in Chris Czapla on a close 3-2 pitch allowing one run to score.  Then he fans the next two batters with some serious heat to end the inning.  At the end of 4 it's 8-4 Excelsior.  Brandon Adler and Brian Keane both cruised thru the 5th .  With about 2 minutes remaining till the 7:15 curfew the 6 inning started.  After striking out the first two batters to start the 6th Brandon gave up a single off the bat of Brian Keane,  Excelsior's 4th and last hit of the game.  A missed played ball at first allowed another run to score.  Now here we are, bottom of the 6th, Excelsior leading 9-4.  Running out of pitchers, Excelsior sends Ben Weinstein to the mound. With one on  Chris Czapla singled and the next 3 batters walked.  No outs, bases loaded, 9-6 Excelsior leads.  Things are starting to look good for Amoco.  Oh no,  another pitching change.  This time Excelsior send Ryan Karl to the mound.  Ryan proceeds to strike out the next two batters.  Lead off batter Sean Strauch is up with two strikes.  He fouls off a few pitches to stay alive.  Then Sean gets hit by a pitch.  Two out,  bases loaded, Amoco trailing with Michael Trifari up and Brandon on deck.  Mike has been hitting great all day.  With a one and one count Michael belts a blast in the right center gap scoring the tying and winning runs.  Amoco makes a great comeback winning 10-9.  The Strauch's treated all the kids to freeze pops.

Week 4/29

Casha 10 Blimpie 9 Connor Fleischell led CASHA to a 10-9 victory over Blimpies by pitching two shutout inings and having 4 RBI's. Jesse Alexander and Cory Batic teamed up to make a game saving defensive play. Matt Kelly had the game winnning RBI. Justin Citron had a two run Homerun for Blimpie's.

Excelsior 10 Ra Johnson 2 Nick DeChino had 2 bases loaded doubles and Steve Teshima had a base clearing double to lead the offense.  Ryan, Nick and Brian combined for a well pitched game. (What, No Rain ?)

Amoco 5 Dee Aircraft 1 Brandon Adler ripped the cover off the ball with a triple and home run with 2 RBI's. Chris Czapla stroked a double and two singles with 1 RBI and Mike Trifari had two hits with two RBIs to help propel Amoco to a 5 -1 victory over Dee Aircraft. Chris Czapla and Brandon combined to pitch 4 shutout innings with 8 K's while middle relievers Sean Strauch and first time pitcher Alex Gordon got the job done. Alex Pitched his way out of a bases loaded no out situation hurling 3 straight strikeouts in the 4th inning. Jordan Gajdos hit the ball well for Dee Aircraft with a double in the first and a hard grounder off the shortstop's glove (Hand?) to score their only run in the 3rd. Matthew Guilder got his first hit of the year off a hard throwing Jordan Gajdos in the 6th. Jordan struck out the other 3 batters he faced. Aside from a few walks this was a well played, well fielded game by both teams

Sefcik 3 Ra Johnson 9 The boys showed improvement in every aspect of the game but especially in fielding. Daniel Cinnella recieved a game ball for a great catch on a towering fly ball to right field. Troy Zbieg had an outstanding game on the mound giving up only one run on 31 pitches over 3 innings. Eric Schalles improved on his pitching and Chris Cerami also pitched well giving up a run. A great effort fell short to a well played game by RA JOHNSON losing 9 - 3

Amoco 9 Casha 4 With a 9 to 4 lead Brandon Adler closed the door on Casha striking out 5 of 6 batters including the heart of the Casha order.  Matthew Guilder, Mike Trifari and Chris Czapla made some great plays in the field for Amoco stoping several Casha rallies.  The big hit of the day was Jessie Alexander's (Casha) blast over the center fielders head for a double. Alexander Morsch had a 2 RBI single in the 2nd for Amoco.  Chris Czapla and Matt Wolfson also had RBI singles for Amoco. Casha Pitchers gave up 17 walks while Amoco pitchers only allowed 6.  Conner Fleshell pitched well for Casha with 4 strike outs shutting down Amoco for 2 scoreless innings.  Bryan Kayne Also pitched to one batter for Casha.

Blimpie 6 Excelsior 6 Blimpie's rallies from 6-0 deficit in bottom 5th to tie game.  Coach Steve is proud of team for not giving up

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