Braggville took down The Hood, 14-4 as 2B Dan ‘piano back’ Devine (3-4, 2 2B, 2RBI) had 2 doubles in a game for the first time since Bruce Jenner became Kaitlin Jenner. Devine also flashed the leather and helped turn a 5-4-3 double play started by 3B Greg Greenburg (2-4, 2R, 3RBI). Close call for LF Darren Fell in the 3rd when he was almost hit in the face with a liner off the bat of Hood OF Greg Andreola. The left field sun was brutal Sunday at Kampersal Field and Fell lost it in the sun and had to duck out of the way at the last second.
Braggville’s Darren Fell losing the ball in the sun Sunday at Kampersal field.
Postgame, Fells didn’t think he’d have any permanent eye damage from looking into the sun for 6 innings, the photo below suggests otherwise. Get well soon, Darren!
Johnson North walked off Downtown, 5-4 as OF Chuck Kerschner’s (2-3, 2RBI) 1-out single in the bottom of the 7th drove in Lindsay Chapman with the winning run. Trailing 4-2, Kerschner’s heroics were set up by a clutch, game tying 2-run HR by Dave ‘Big Tree’ Lyskowski (2-3,2B, HR, 3RBI) over the fence in right center.
Johnson North’s Lyskowski going yard in the 7th to tie the game vs Downtown.,
Back-to back singles by Chapman and 2B Sam Zack (2-3, 2R) set the stage for Kerschner who fouled off 8 pitches into the Damigella parking lot, before finally lacing a single to left.
Johnson North’s Kerschner admiring his single in the 7th to win the game,
Could Brentwood ride the momentum from last week’s walk-off win over Kingz?
Nope…….
For the first time since JR was shot, Lions have won 2-straight as they beat Brentwood, 8-1. P Pete Barbieri (7IP, 4H, 0ER) continued his dominance in the circle while collecting 2 hits himself and OF Jon Tapper (4-4, 2R, 2RBI) and 3B Zack Smith (3-4, 3RBI) paced the offense and got the scoring started early in the 2nd with back-to-back RBI doubles.
It’s been a while since Lions one 2 in a row…
Kampersal nipped Dalton Rd, 22-7 behind the all-around effort of P George Kampersal (7IP, 8H, 5ER & 4-5 , 2 2B, 4RBI) and OF Denis Dietz (4-5, 2B, 3B, 3RBI). Geo launched 2 balls the oposite way into the short porch in RF at Patoma that drove in 4 while the lefty-dominate Dalton line-up hit the woods just once as Geo mixed up his pitches like Greg Maddox circa 1991. Interesting play in the 4th on a flyball to left, Dalton OF Steve Cotto tried a little showboating by attempting to catch the ball behind his back. It didn’t go well…
Dalton’s Steve Cotto showboating during his game vs Kampersal on Sunday
The Kampersal defense was, again, lights out as they turned 3 DP’s and one big one in the 4th when Dalton had a big inning brewing. With 1-out and bases loaded, SS Tim Swift (4-5, 2B, 3R) robbed Dalton slugger Mitch Cotto of a single with a diving snag in the hole then doubled the runner off 3rd to end the inning. OF Brad Rowe (1-4, 6R) had a statisical rarity Sunday night scoring 6 times yet only 1 hit. The new All-HSS 1st Team Pinch Runner and former 2002 1st Team All-MAAC Kicker (Marist College) hopes to break out of his offensive funk next week against rival Braggville.
Anthonys bounced back from their awful loss to Lions by whipping Mudville, 12-4, as 3B Dan Higgins (3-3, 2R) paced the offense. P Chris Landers (7IP, 5H, 2ER) righted the ship after last weeks dismal performance and kept Mudville off balance all game. Landers credits the work he’s done with his golf-focused yoga coach. Says the nature of golf’s pressure situations in tournament play translate to the circle in softball. We’ll see if this can continue for the rest of the season…
Landers’ Life & Golf Yoga coach…
DYR knocked off Jasper Rock, 11-6 thanks to RF Ken Szajda’s (3-4, 2B, 3B, 4RBI) bases loaded triple in the 4th to erase a 2-run deficit. OF Matt ‘The Hebrew Hammer’ Ryder extend the DYR lead to 5 with a 2-run double in the 5th. Jasper LF Paul Howland (3-4, 3B, 4RBI) put his team up early with bomb to left center that cleared the bases and left him at 3rd. This was a re-occurring theme for Jasper as they would go on to leave 11 runners on base. Strange play in the 3rd as Jasper SS Paul St. John laced a single to left and as I prepared to field the ball, it took a weird hop and caught me in the jewels bringing me to my knees. I was able to battle through the pain and go hitless in my next 3 at-bats.
Me after getting hit in the jewels Sunday night….
South edged Kingz, 25-7 as 1B Chris Gioffre’s (5-6, 2B, 4R) 5 hits were the most he’s had in a game since his ’75 MVP year in Fairfield, CT Little League where he beat out former Met World Series & Champ, Tim Teufel in a hotly contested MVP race. 3B Jay Skeldon (4-5, 3 2B, 4 RBI) and OF Kevin Abreu (4-6, 2 2B, 3B, 5RBI) helped break open a close game (10-7) in the 5th with 2 2-run doubles that led to 15 unanswered runs for South over the next 3 innings. P Greg Copeland (4-4, 2 2B, 3 R) didn’t allow a run in the final 4 innings and lowered his ERA to 3.50.
Despite being on the verge of winning a World Series in ’86, Teufel (11) still appears angry
over finishing 2nd to Gioffre in the CT Little League MVP voting.
GAME OF THE WEEK for WK #8 (6/9/24))
Braggville (7-0) vs. Kampersal (7-0) at Damigella 7:30pm
- A battle of the undefeated & class of the league for the last 10-12 yrs
- I expect the friendly confines of Damigella will play a role in this one as both teams have big-time HR power.
- The Kampersal ‘wagon’ is hitting on all cylinders now and B’ville will have to have their ‘A’ game to remain undefeated…
*Prediction: Kampersal 16 Braggville 11
’24 Record (4-2)
Division A Standings through 02 Jun
| Position | Team | Won | Lost | Tied | Pct | Runs For | Runs Against | Opp Wins |
| 1 | Kampersal | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 132 | 50 | 23 |
| 2 | Braggville | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 91 | 38 | 20 |
| 3 | Dalton Road | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0.714 | 82 | 70 | 12 |
| 4 | Johnson North | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 70 | 77 | 9 |
| 5 | South | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 81 | 61 | 12 |
| 6 | DYR | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 82 | 72 | 5 |
| 7 | Downtown | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 65 | 77 | 4 |
| 8 | Jasper Rock | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0.143 | 44 | 78 | 4 |
Division B Standings through 02 Jun
| Position | Team | Won | Lost | Tied | Pct | Runs For | Runs Against | Opp Wins |
| 1 | Anthony’s East | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 89 | 64 | 10 |
| 2 | Mudville | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 80 | 68 | 6 |
| 3 | Kingz | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.429 | 69 | 97 | 8 |
| 4 | The Hood | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 61 | 100 | 3 |
| 5 | Lions | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 61 | 74 | 5 |
| 6 | Brentwood | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0.143 | 34 | 115 | 3 |