By The TimesLedger
The Joe’s Pizza Cyclones defeated the C-Town Braves, 7-5, to even their record at 7-7. The Cyclones, managed by Mikey McGovern, have been the hottest team in the Glen Oaks International League, having won six of their last eight games after a 1-5 start. Amazingly, all five teams in the division are separated by only one game. The Tigers and Orioles are tied for the top spot with 7-6 records, while the Braves and the Indians now trail the Cyclones with 6-7 records.
The Braves’ Mike Mandrin opened Saturday’s game with a triple and scored the game’s first run, as the Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Cyclones got on the scoreboard in the second inning, as Tyler Brodney was hit by a pitch and Blake Cholost drove him home. The Cyclones took their first lead of the game in the third inning, as Ben Klein led off with a single. James Wolfin and Joey Gillespie followed with base hits to give the Cyclones a 3-2 lead.
Matt Kruczowy, Sam Hoffman and Josh Peltzer had hits for the Braves in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 3. In the bottom of the fourth, Justin Namit led off with a base hit and Tyler Brodney followed up with another hit. Blake Cholost, Louis Marino and Ben Klein each drove in a run with a base hit to stake the Cyclones to a 6-3 lead. Scott Carey was hit by a pitch during the Cyclones’ rally.
The Braves fought back in the fifth, as Steven hit a home run with two outs to narrow the Cyclones’ lead to 6-5. In the fifth, Kevin Han singled, stole second and third base and scored on Justin Namit’s ground out to give the Joe’s Pizza squad an insurance run. Tyler Brodney then hit what will no doubt go down as the longest single of the year. Tyler hit a long drive over the head of the Braves’ centerfielder, but as he headed for second base, his coach called him back because he had missed first base. Meanwhile, The Braves outfield had hustled after the ball and got it back into the infield quickly to limit Tyler to a long single.
The Braves hit the ball hard in their half of the last inning, but Ben Klein hauled in Matt Kruczowy’s long drive to left field. With two outs and no one on base, Sam Hoffman hit what appeared to be a home run only to be called out on appeal for missing second base. Jeremy Goldberg pitched a complete game for the Cyclones to pick up the win.
Queens Surface Rockies finish in a flurry
The Queens Surface Rockies exploded to defeat their Glen Oaks rivals the State Senator Frank Padavan BlueJays, 25-8, Sunday at the Glen Oaks Oval. The win leaves the Queens Surface Rockies 6-6-1 for the regular season in the Merillon Girls Softball Senior Division. Jessica Gauthier also notched her first win in a rain-shortened 10-3 victory against the State Senator Frank Padavan BlueJays that made up an early season rainout, Thursday, June 6. The two Queens Surface Rockies wins helped balanced a tough 10-9 loss to an undefeated New Park 2 team at Nuzzi Field in New Hyde Park, Saturday. Melisa Ritchie pitched well over the last four innings, allowing the Queens Surface Rockies to tie New Hyde Park 2 in the top of the seventh on Lorey Giblin’s single, driving in Lauren Epstein, who walked and stole second. The Rockies lost after giving up an unearned run in the last New Hyde Park at bat on a blooper over a drawn in infield and outfield with less than two outs.
Queens Surface Rockies hitters belted 16 hits against the State Senator Frank Padavan BlueJays on Sunday, including Jessica’s 4-for-4 with two runs scored, two steals and four RBIs. Nicole Epstein blasted a home run, continuing her hot hitting and Lorey also helped her own cause with a triple and homer in three at bats, scoring three and driving five runs home. Jen Francis bashed a double as part of her 2-for-3 day, scoring three and bring home four. Cynthia Johnson swiped four bases, including home twice. Cynthia and cleanup hitter Marisa Bearak each scored three times, walked three times and belting hard singles. Marisa notched another RBI. Tara McCullagh also scored three runs, reaching base on two walks and a base hit. Melisa singled in a run, walked twice, stole third two times, scored three runs and dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt. Lauren Epstein continues to reach base safely, working out three walks. Alexis Namit’s triple ignited a seven-run second inning, driving in Lizzie DiGangi, who also scored a run in walked in two more runs.
Highlights in the tough loss against New Hyde Park included hot hitting by Nicole, going 3-for-3, scoring three, knocking in two more and stealing home in the first inning. Alexis, Tara and Lorey each had two hits. Melisa and Lorey each also drove in two runs. Cynthia, who scored two and stole two bases, has 20 swipes, one behind team leader Alexis who made a acrobatic sliding catch in the bottom of the third inning to keep the Queens Surface Rockies in the game.
Marisa, Cynthia and Nicole each scored twice and Cynthia also drove in three and stole home in the rain-shortened 10-3 win over the State Senator Padavan Blue Jays Thursday also at the Oval. Jen Francis and Cynthia each had two hits. Gina Scali, Tara and Alexis each also scored runs. Fielding gems included two catches by Nicole at shortstop and two by Melisa in center and a strong first inning throw by Alexis in center to Melisa covering at second to turn a line drive single into a force play.
The Queens Surface Rockies begin single elimination playoffs this week.
Bears battle Wildcats
The HSBC Bears played last Sunday against their rivals, the Wildcats. What made this game different is that the teams played at Oval 1 and not on the T- Ball field. The managers decided to leave the bases at 60 feet instead of 40 feet, which is common for T-ball. This made for some great fielding by both teams. The HSBC Bears only had eight of their 14 players at the game. J. C. Gallagher and Devin Gugliemetti split the duties of playing third and both made nice stops and also completed the play at third. Ryan Schwickrath and Tom Fisher made some nice stops and throws to first baseman Johnny Martini, who caught the throws and was on first before the runner reached the base. Michael Hovi and Michael Epstein played soundly at second and shortstop and also had to play the outfield hits and did a great job of backing each other up and throwing to their cut off man, Eric Delgado, who made some nice plays also in the infield. This team has improved so much since the beginning of the season
Preferred Mirror and Glass Dodgers top Port Washington
The Glen Oaks Dodgers defeat Port Washington 1 Tuesday night, June 4, at Lions field in Port Washington. The game started as Nicolette Pullo started off with a single. More singles during the game were smacked by Jesenia Dupuy, Rosalind Salcedo and Maria Vessia. Port Washington gave up walks to Maria Augustine, Alexis Drennan and Brittany Frary. The Dodgers kept Port Washington at bay with the strong defense of pitcher Kerry Bunyan and Toniann Groth making plays at first base. The Dodgers have only lost two games this season and have three shutout wins. Manager Tim Frary and coach Tom Drennan are hoping for a good standing in the playoffs.
Harp and Eagle Padres defeat Jamaica Estate No. 1
The 15- and 16-year-old Glen Oaks Harp and Eagle Padres defeated Jamaica Estates No. 1, 9-0, for their first shutout of the season. A fine combined pitching performance by Jon Dilan and Adam Yager led the way, as they limited Jamaica Estates to just three hits. The Padres bunched four runs across in the first and fourth innings to seal their victory. The offense was led by Matt Carneiro, who singled, tripled, scored three runs and stole three bases. Dilan and Yager also contributed with their bats, as they each had two hits and an RBI. Stephen Gold, Jon Ganesh and Josh Frost also had big hits and RBIs for the victorious Padres, now 7-7.
Royals and Twins hook up for “Battle Royale”
Whenever the North Shore Towers Royals play the Guys and Dolls Playhouse Twins, it’s always a “Battle Royale” and Friday was no exception. The Twins took an early lead with timely hits by Robert Groth, Chris Castenada, Josh Persaud, Rahul Kadakia and big triples by Mike Vessia and Dillon Grodotzke. The Royals chopped away at the Twins’ lead inning by inning with key hits by Kevin Burke, Peter Lynberopoulous, Conall Ryan, Raymond Rybak, Ralph Straughan and clutch doubles by Conor Maher and Lenny Manigbas. The fielding wizardry of Billy Burkart, Michael Ciminera, Mitchell Cruz and Ankit Makhotra never let the Twins get too far ahead. The game went to the final turn at bat with the Royals needing six runs to tie, but the slick fielding of Javed Khan, Mark Spano and Rohan Shah, who all had good days at the plate also, kept the Royals to four runs and the victory. It was the end of a great season and all the kids had fun.
Ralph’s Ices Mets win two
In the Major Division, Ralph’s Ices Mets won twice during the week to raise their season record to 13- 2. The first game was against the Pirates and the Mets prevailed 14 – 3. Dan Quinlan started on the mound for the Mets and went four innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and striking out three. Jonathan Kruczowy threw the final two innings, giving up two hits and striking out two. In this game, the Mets flashed a lot of leather, throwing out a runner at the plate, making a double play and throwing out a runner trying to steal second. Offensively, Ryan Paroulek hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs, Anthony Civitano had three hits with four RBIs, Ray Potestio added three hits to the attack with four RBIs, Kevin Salcedo doubled and scored three times and Brian Biscotti had a triple and two runs scored.
Against Modell’s Lions, the Mets played a nail biter. The Lions jumped out to an early lead by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first against Met starter Kevin Salcedo. The big hit of the first inning was a two-out, bases-clearing triple off the bat of Michael Levy. In the top of the third inning, trailing 4-0, the Mets staged a two-out rally to tie the game. Arnab Mitra walked, Jonathan Kruczowy singled to make it first and second with Brian Biscotti coming to the plate. Brian came through with a double to plate one run. Kevin Salcedo followed with a double of his own to score two more and Ray Potestio singled to tie the game at four apiece. The Lions came right back in the bottom of the inning when Christian Venturella hit a two- out, two-run homer to put the Lions back on top, 6- 4.
In the top of the fourth, the Mets had Dan Quinlan lead off with a single and Nicholas Walker followed with a triple. Nick stole home to tie the game back up at 6. In the top of the fifth, the Mets finally took the lead. Brain Biscotti led off by walking and he was brought in on a monster two-run homer off the bat of Kevin Salcedo. Anthony Civitano then singled and stole second, third and home to give the Mets a three-run lead. In the bottom of the fifth, the Lions tried to mount a comeback against Ray Potestio, who was now pitching for the Mets. Kevin Cheddie singled hard up the middle and Ryan Persaud followed that with a walk to make it first and second with no outs and Christian Venturella coming to the plate. Christian hit a line drive up the middle, but it was snagged in the air by Brian Biscotti, who threw to first for the double play. Ray Potestio struck out the next batter to end the inning. In the bottom of the sixth the Lions went down 1 – 2 – 3 and the Mets had a hard-fought 9-6 win.
McDonald’s Giants shine against Met Food Brewers
In the Farm Division, McDonald’s Giants continued to play exciting baseball, as they faced off against the Met Food Brewers. As has been the case most of the season, the Giants played strong defense, retiring their opponents in all five innings played. Joey Costanzo played a strong game with two singles and two runs. Sean Dolan had three singles, a double and four runs, Danny Graham continued to swing a hot bat, tripling, doubling twice, singling once and scoring three times, Billy Hannigan and Michael Kelly each added three singles to the attack, while Louis Salzberg tripled and singled twice. Steven Pelan chipped in three singles and a run scored, Ryan Barrello had three singles, as did Kaitlyn Biscotti, and Theresa Conway had two singles and scored a run.
