By The TimesLedger
The Farm Division McDonald’s Giants are having a rough start to their season. The team had two of its first three games rained out. The only game they have played so far was against the tough Guys and Dolls Playhouse Twins. The Giants flashed a lot of leather against the Twins and retired them in each of the six innings played. Some defensive highlights were two force plays at the plate, while Louis Salzberg was catching, two caught line drives by Ryan Barrello while playing third and three putouts in the same inning by Kaitlyn Biscotti at second base. Offensively, the Giants all hit the ball well. Blaise Christoforatas and Sean Dolan each tripled, Randolph Herbert had three doubles, Steven Pelan had three singles, Danny Graham had two doubles, Michael Kelly and Billy Hannigan each doubled, Nick Frangella had an RBI single and both Teresa Conway and Joey Costanza each had five singles. Hopefully, weather permitting, the Giants will play their second game of the season May 3 at 6 p.m.
Ralph’s Ices wins two
Ralph's Ices Mets improved their Major Division record to 5-1 this past week by winning both of their games.
The first game was a win against a very good Hunan Cafe Astros by a score of 4-1. This was the first loss of the year for the Astros. The Mets jumped out to a quick three-run lead in the first inning, with Brian Biscotti and Ray Potestio doubling and Kevin Salcedo tripling. After that the Astros’ starter, Jeremy Hausdorf, settled in and shut down the Mets offense. Meanwhile, Kevin Salcedo was dominant on the mound for the Mets, going four innings and allowing no runs, no hits and striking out seven. The Astros broke through to score in the bottom of the fifth, when Steven Figueroa singled and later scored. Dan Quinlan, now pitching for the Mets, got the third out of the inning on a ground ball to third baseman Arnab Mitra with two-men on base. Kevin Salcedo homered in the top of the sixth for an insurance run for the Mets. In the bottom of the sixth, Jonathan Dupuy walked with one out for the Astros and Ray Potestio came on to pitch for the Mets. Jonathan Hyatt hit into a force play and Jay Hausdorf stuck out sealing the win. It was an exciting and well played game by both teams.
The second game of the week for the Mets was against a game Marcella’s Pizza A’s with the Mets prevailing 17-10. The Mets scored three quick runs in the first inning on three consecutive doubles by Kevin Salcedo, Ray Potestio and Anthony Civitano, followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of Ryan Paroulek. Other hitting highlights for the Mets included a double by Arnab Mitra, Brian Biscotti’s two singles and two RBIs and Alex Delgado’s RBI single. Brian Biscotti started and pitched the first three innings for the Mets, allowing one run and striking out seven. Jonathan Kruczowy came on to pitch two strong innings, striking out three and Ryan Paroulek closed out the win for the Mets by striking out the last batter he faced. For the A’s, Jesse Schneider threw all six innings, while Dhruv Vasishta homered and Nikil Kumar had two doubles.
Roaring week for Modell’s Lions
The Major Division of the Glen Oaks Little League has become a fan favorite with exciting well-played games. After three consecutive losses, the Modell’s Lions had a very strong week, winning two games in the process.
On Tuesday, the Lions defeated the Marcella’s Pizza A’s by the score of 17-1. Kevin Cheddie went the distance for the Lions, who had the best offensive afternoon thus far. Many of the Lions Hitters had a good day at the plate, Shawn Abraham led the attack with a 4-for-4 performance that included a triple and three singles with four RBIs. Robert Li also had a superb day, going 3-for-3 blast, Vincent Pistone contributed two triples and two RBIs in two at bats. The game Looked like a pitching duel for two innings between Kevin Cheddie and Jessie Schneider, but the Lions scored four runs in the bottom half of the third to take a 12-1 lead. At this point Cheddie was on cruise control and never gave the A’s a chance to do any damage.
The Lions put the game away in the fifth with a strong attack that included base hits by Michael Osorio, Robert Li, Alex Reinharzt and three base hits by both Shawn Abraham and Vincent Pistone. Later in the sixth the Lions score another five runs to finally put the game in the books.
For the A’s, Patrick Florion was the best hitter, cranking two singles in three at-bats. Also for the Lions, Cheddie had a single and Joey Caraballo had a single and two runs scored.
The game between the Modell’s Lions and The Andron Century 21 Yankees Saturday afternoon had great expectations for the fact that these two teams had on their rosters several players that were involved in three great matches last season. Players like Joey Bobrow and Anthony Meo for the Yankees and Will Opatow, Michael Levy, Alex Reinharzt and Joey Caraballo for the Lions were the protagonist of two of the best games played in this league in a long time, including a no-hitter by Joey Caraballo on April 28, 2001 won by a Alex Reinharzt’s home run off Anthony Meo in the last inning of that memorable game. That game was dedicated to Michael Modell, who passed away that day and the Modell’s team couldn’t say good bye to their sponsor in a better way.
The Lions started things early with four runs in the first inning off Caddie Chu, who started for the Yankees. Reinharzt led off with a double followed by a Shawn Abraham home run. After Caraballo struck out, Kevin Cheddie continued the early attack with a single, stole second and third and scored on a Michael Levi single. A walk to Chris Venturella and RBI single by Will Opatow gave the Lions a 4-0 lead. in the second, the Lions added three more runs, as Robert Li singled to left, Reinharzt walked and Shawn Abraham hit his second home run of the game to give the Lions a 7-1 advantage.
Things got interesting in the third when the Yankees scored five times. Four walks in the inning by Caraballo kept the Yankees in the game at this point. In the next inning, Caraballo hit a monster shot to the left field fence that was measured about 310 feet from home plate, one of the longest so far this season, giving the Lions a 9-6 lead. Things went the Yankees’ way in the fifth, as they scored four times. Once again Caraballo lost central and walked two in the inning and, with the bases loaded, Joe Bobrow hit a triple to clear the bases and later scored on a steal of home plate.
With the score 11-10 in favor of the Yankees, the Lions came back strong and scored four of their own to win the game by the score of 14-11 and give Caraballo his second win against three loses thus far.
For the Lions, Reinharzt had a double and a single in four at bats, Abraham had two home runs in four at bats, Cheedie was 3-for-4, Caraballo had a home run in three at bats and Benson George had a home run in two at bats. For the Yankees, Joe Bobrow had a triple in two at bats and kudos to the Yankees for an outstanding defensive game.
Harp and Eagle edges United Queens
The 15- and 16-year-old Glen Oaks Harp and Eagle Padres nipped United Queens, 10-9, in a Senior Division game on Saturday, April 27, at Cunningham Park.
The Padres trailed United Queens the entire game until scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to win the game. Kurt Nicoll pitched four super innings in relief to win his first game of the season. The offense was led by Stephen Gold’s single, double and walk and three RBIs, David Chapman was 3-for-3, including two singles, a double and a sacrifice fly. Todd Green was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, Tim Olwell had a single and walk and Jorge Salcedo smashed an opposite-field double. The Padres’ record improved to 3-2.
Bears battle Red Sox in first night game
The HSBC T-Ball Bears played their first night game Friday night, April 26 at the Glen Oaks Oval. There were some great fielding plays by Johnny Martini, Marcus Choon, Devin Gugliemetti, Daniel Florianm, Tristin Boehm, Michael Hovi and Thomas Fisher. This was followed by some exceptional hitting by Ryan Schwickrath, Michael Epstein, Johnny Gallagher, Eric Delgado, Jessie Boehm and Sean Carey.
The Bears, who are 5- and 6-year-olds, had a fun time playing their rivals, the Red Sox. After the game, both teams congratulated each other on a great game.
The Bears’ next two games will be on Friday, May 3, and Friday, May 10 at 6 p.m. on the T-Ball field at the Oval.
