By The TimesLedger
Minor Division
Eurotech Auto captured the DG Minor Division baseball championship in an exciting and closely contested final playoff series against Cristom Construction.
Eurotech won the first game of the series 7-4, as Patrick Berndt’s strong pitching performance kept Cristom’s offense in check, as Eurotech jumped out an early lead. Key hits from Pat Flynn, Steven Stahura and Brian Kelley, along with great catches in the outfield by Kenny Lehr and Mike McCann, helped give Eurotech the early advantage.
Cristom scored on a single by Chris Coppolino and a home run by T.J. DeVito to bring the score to 5-2 and then rallied again in the sixth on hits by Mike Lowery and Joey Depperman to make the score 7-4. Eurotech's Dennis Brennan continued to play excellent defense behind the plate, as Nick Katakalides settled down to get the final outs and record the win for Eurotech.
In the second game, Cristom jumped out to a 5-0 lead on RBIs by Mike Kern, Mike Lowery and Joey Depperman. Mike Kern pitched strongly for Cristom into the third inning, when Eurotech rallied for seven runs. Key hits in the comeback came off the bats of Steven Foley, George Theofonis, Brian Kelley, Will Neubauer and Mike McCann.
The game went to the bottom of the sixth with Eurotech up 7-6. With two outs and the bases clear, Mike Lowery singled to center and Joey Depperman tripled to left-center to tie the game. Nick Katakalides then got the third out to send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the seventh, Kenny Lehr legged out an infield hit, Steven Stahura drew a walk and Manny Barcena came through with a clutch line drive single to drive in the go-ahead run for Eurotech. Will Neubauer came on to pitch a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, as Pat Flynn made the final put-out at first base to give Eurotech the championship.
Major Division
In a hard-fought series, Pizza Chef outlasted 14th Avenue Auto two games to one to win the DG Major Division championship.
14th Avenue opened the final with an 11-6 win behind the pitching of Jose Barcena and Kevin Otis and key hits from Mike Berndt and Kevin Fuchs. The second game saw Pizza Chef win 10-5 with Ricardo Perez and Stephen Fadis shutting down 14th Avenue’s offense to tie the series.
The deciding game was a slugfest with both teams exchanging the lead early in the game. 14th Avenue opened the scoring in the first with RBIs from David Burgermeister and Kevin Otis. Pizza Chef fought back, batting around in the first inning to score seven runs.
14th Avenue regained the lead 8-7 on a single by Andrew Lehr and an RBI double off the bat of Jose Barcena, but Pizza Chef responded by getting the go-ahead run on a single by Adam Briedbart.
A sixth-inning rally by 14th Avenue, powered by a three-run homer off the bat of Jose Barcena, fell short as Pizza Chef won the game 15-12 and captured the championship.
Congratulations to all the players and coaches for some exciting and well-played baseball in both division playoff series. A special thank you to head umpire John Kibble and his great crew of umpires, including: Ricky Barcena, Rob De Masi, Sean Fischler, Kevin Tierney, Tom Como, Dennis Mannix, Constantine Katakalides and others who did a tremendous job of officiating games throughout the season.
