Week 7:
Braggville squeaked past The Hood, 13-11 as SS Jason ‘The Hoover’ Cooper (3-4, 2B 3RBI) and OF Dan Kittridge (4-4, 2 2B, 4RBI) paced the offense. A rarity occurred in the 4th, as Braggville was threatening with 1st and 2nd, no out, and OF Paul Murphy (2-4, 2B, 2R) up. Murph hits a rocket to first that was fielded cleanly by the first baseman, who stepped on the bag to retire Murphy, then threw to 2B who tagged the runner coming in. The second baseman then threw home to get the runner attempting to score from 2nd and was nailed on a great catch/tag by C Glenn Wegrzyn (2-4, 2R). Triple Play!! Inning over. The Hood then tried the bold strategy of hitting to SS and ‘the Hoover’ was up to the task on multiple occasions and erased any momentum The Hood gained from their triple play. The Hood kept it close thanks to SS Greg Andreola (3-4, 2R, 2RBI) and OF Tony Porciello (3-4, 2B, 2R, 2 RBI) but stellar defense and timely hitting for Braggville was the difference.
Braggville Manager Chris Connors trying to comprehend his team’s base running in the 4th inning on Sun.
Johnson North beat Anthony’s, 13-4 as OF Leo Downing (3-4, HR,3R, 4RBI) broke a 4-4 tie in the 7th with a 3-run HR. Johnson would go on to add 6 more and cruise to victory. 3B Sam Zack (3-4 2B, 2RBI) and OF Jarrad Jordan (3-3, 2B, 2R) also played well offensively for Johnson. Slight controversy in the 3rd when Johnson had 1st and 2rd with 1-out and a deep fly ball hit to left. Runner from 2B tags and OF Ben Pratt’s (3-4, 2B, 2RBI) throw to the plate is online and C Chris Landers (2-3, 2R) catches it cleanly but the runner bumps Landers slightly jarring the ball loose and runner is safe. Mild protest from Anthony’s but Johnson proclaimed no contact was made and ball was dropped on the attempted swipe tag. Let’s check the still footage to see if contact was made with the catcher:
Tough to tell from this angle if contact was made but, thankfully no one was hurt on the play.
Lions beat Brentwood, 10-6 to extend their win streak to 2 behind emergency starter P Kevin Connolly (6IP, 7H, 5ER) solid effort in the circle. Regular P Pete Barbieri was scratch from this start with elbow pain and is headed to Atlanta for an appointment with world renown Orthopedic surgeon, James Andrews. Lions was led by rookie OF Matt Seifert (2-3, R, 2RBI) while All- Euro cricket player, C Navin Kannan (2-3, R, RBI) is starting to figure our this Amercan game and contrubuted 2 hits in the win and stellar play behind the plate. 3B Charlie Roberts (2-3, 2R, RBI) thwarted any chance of a Brentwood rally with a great diving stab to end the 6th with runners in scoring position.
Lions C Navin Kannan makes a diving catch of a pop up along the 3rd base line.
Dalton Rd ended Kampersal 26-gm winning streak, 13-2 behind another solid start by P Chris Munroe (7IP, 9 H, 2ER) but his work was overshadowed by 26- yr old rookie (on Dalton? No way!) OF Christian Carroll (2-4, 3B, 3 RBI) who hit a ball at Patoma that landed along the 1B bench on the back field and yet was thrown out at home thanks to a textbook relay from LF Chris Boggess (2-3, R) to SS Tom Kampersal (2-3, 2B) to C Brian McShane (2-3, R, RBI) to nail Carroll by 2 steps. Kampersal was unable to capitalize on this momentum swing, however, as Munroe was on his game all night. 1B Kevin Secur (3-3, 2B, 2R, RBI) and SS Brendan Hines (3-3, 3R) led the offense for Dalton. After missing most of last year (Sabbatical to Thailand & wrote a best-selling book: ‘The Beach was Hot…He was Hotter’), 3B Jamie Ross (2-3, 3RBI) continued his great year by driving in in the first 2 runs for Dalton with a 2-out single in the first. Scary moment in the 4th, when OF Ty Cotto (3-4, 2B R, 3RBI) and OF Derek Jordan (3-4, 2B, 3R, RBI) collided on a fly ball. Thankfully, both escaped serious injury and stayed in the game.
Dalton OF Steve Cotto runs over to check on his son Ty (L) and teammate Derek Jordan after their collision in the 4th inning of Sundays game.
Jasper Rock beat Downtown, 16-14 WITH 8 PLAYERS.
‘The Jasper 8’celebrating their win Sunday night.
Mudville battered DYR, 25-9 behind the arm and bat of P Eric Higgins (5-6, HR, 3B, 2B, 5R, 7RBI & 7IP, 7H, 5 ER). Higgins hit for the cycle in 4 straight at-bats and his HR to left in the 2nd inning spun this intrepid reporter around like a top. OF Rob ‘Allen Fluffer’ Klimeczko (4-5, 2B, 4RBI) played well in the field with 5 putouts while OF Andrew Johnson’s (4-5, 2B, HR, 3RBI) 3rd inning 2-run HR extended their lead to 9-1. But the story in the game was Higgins who gave up 1 run in the first and didn’t give up another until DYR awoke from their pregame nap in the bottom of the 7th to score 8. He fielded his position flawlessly with 3 putouts as well. Matt ‘The Hebrew Hammer’ Rider (4-4, 2B, 2RBI) was the lone bright spot for DYR.
DYR OF Ken Sawyers begins his journey to catch the Higgins bomb with this back pedal which was followed by a turn and sprint then concluded with a pirouette.
South pounded Kingz. 20-4 as OF Dave Franco (4-5, HR, 3B, 4R, 4RBI) led off the game with a triple and would soon score on a 1B Jay Skeldon (4-4, 2B, 6RBI) single. SS Jason Smith (4-5, 2B, 3 R) played solid defense in this one as P Greg Copeland (7IP, 9H, 3ER) induced numerous groundballs. Kingz was led by 3B Ross Dubuc’s (3-4, 3B, 2B, RBI) bat and glove as he made several nice plays at 3B. Player-manager Sean Foley, despite not playing (back), still found time to coach his guys up with some post-game hitting tips. They talked launch angle, weight shift, load, and approach as they look to improve their ‘Runs For’ total.
Sean Foley postgame with his players discussing their approach.
** Game Notes on the Jasper victory: OF Paul Howland (5-5, 3B,2B, 2R, 5RBI) and OF Jeremy Cordon (4-6, 2B, 3R) paced a balanced attack in his one. Down 1 in the 6th, Jasper exploded for 6 sparked by P Derek Cordon’s (3-5, 2B, 2R, 4RBI) 2-out, 2 RBI triple and 2-batters later Howland had a bases clearing double to go up 15-10. Downtown would answer with 4 in their half of the 6th to cut the lead to 1 but SS Neil Kuchman (3-5, 2B, 2R, RBI) RBI single in the 7th provided an insurance run. Downtown had runners on the corners with 1 out in their half of the 7th but Cordon induced a pop out and a grounder to end the game.
GAME OF THE WEEK for Wk 7 (6/8/25))
Mudville (4-2) vs. South (5-1) at Kampersal @ 6pm
- I know, I know…Its Kampy’s vs Braggville week but this game has my attention after Mudville pounded out 121 hits against DYR. Can they keep that momentum going? Can their outfield play well enough to cut off gap shots and prevent the big inning?
- Is this a trap game for South? Are they looking ahead to their big finale against Kampersal?
*Prediction: South 14 Mudville 11
(My Record: 5-1)
