On the eve of the 2022 playoffs, the weather forecast called for two days of rain and the league prepared for a possible two day delay with a Friday start to the playoffs.  The rain stopped each day mid morning, however, and thanks to the efforts of the following coaches and volunteers the games were played on schedule.  Apologies for anyone missed of which there are likely a few.

  • Brian LaMont – Padres – Gold star!!
  • Rich Masterpol- Red Sox
  • Tom Lentine – Dodgers
  • Joe Lawler – Dodgers
  • Katie Ragosa – White Sox
  • Philip Sughrue – White Sox
  • Clint Myers – Cardinals

And so the games were played.

On night one of the double elimination playoff tournament, we had the following:

  • Cardinals and Padres got going at the early hour of 4:15 pm on Nutile A.The Padres jumped out to a big lead and never looked back. Tyler Bernstein and Ben Saurman carried the water on the hill for the Pads.
  • The White Sox and Orioles were next on C and a similar narrative played out in favor the tournament’s number 1 seed White Sox.Starting pitcher Evan Wilson got his first majors playoff victory for the White Sox.
  • The night’s closest contest was a battle between the 2 seed Dodgers and 7th seeded Diamondbacks. Behind right hander Justin Guidara, the Dodgers were on the ropes late but a Rami Flummerfelt home run and a 5thinning rally took the Dodgers to victory.
  • The night cap featured the always tough 4/5 game between the Athletics and Red Sox.Sam Pandolfo was too tough on the hill for the Sox and they pulled out a 10-4 victory.

For Thursday night’s 2nd round games, Nutile A was not playable and so two elimination games moved to the Skillings turf.

  • The Cardinals rode 12 year old starter Teddy Angell and 10 year old reliever Moby Myers to victory over the Diamondbacks and ace Cole Cassidy.
  • The Athletics then kept their season alive by defeating the Orioles.
  • The Dodgers entered their contest with the Padres without aces Rami Flummerfelt and Charlie Ihrig available.No matter as Kaden Flummerfelt and the Dodgers offense were smoking in a one way victory.
  • The White Sox jumped out early on the Red Sox and never looked back behind Nathan Wan, William Fiorentino and Leo Gannon on the mound and Ben Ragosa’s hot bat.

With their 2-0 starts, the #1 seed White Sox and #2 seed Dodgers will rest Friday and play each other in a highly anticipated match up under the lights on Saturday at 7:15 pm.

On Friday, two elimination games will take place on Nutile C:

  • The #5 seed Red Sox and #7 seed Cardinals play at 5:15 pm with a very intriguing possible pitching match-up between Sam Pandolfo of the Red Sox and Max Richardson of the Cardinals.
  • The #3 seed Padres and #4 seed Athletics will square off in the 7:15 pm night cap.  12 year old aces Jack Lennon of the Padres and Damon Romanos of the As are both available to pitch for their respective squads.

June 8 – Round 1 – Cardinals at Padres

The Cardinals drew first blood on a 2 out, bases loaded walk to Cormac Burkart to score Eli Krogmeier, who singled earlier in the inning.

The red hot Padres offense would answer back in the bottom of the 1st.  James Marshall hit a lead off double, and scored on a triple by Leo LaMont.  LaMont would score on a single by Brendan Kutylo, which was followed by base hits by Jack Lennon, Michael McCarthy, Ben Saurman and Paulo Caggioni, giving the Padres a 4-1 lead heading into the second inning.

The Cardinals would score again in the 2nd when Nolan Byrne doubled and would later score on a wild pitch. But the Padres added to their lead again in the bottom of the 2nd on a double by Kutylo, scoring Tyler Bernstein and James Marshall, giving the Padres a 9-2 lead.

The Cardinals were kept quiet in the 3rd by strong Padres defense and 2 strikeouts by Ben Saurman, matching starter Tyler Bernstein.

The Padres offense assault continued in the 3rd started by back-to-back triples by James Marshall and Leo LaMont, bringing the score to 13-2.  Saurman and Kutylo would keep the Cardinals offense from scoring in the 4th and 5th, and the Padres continued to add to their lead with a double by Saurman and a single by Paulo Caggioni, bringing the score to 19-2.

The Padres turned to their hard-throwing 12 year-old Jack Lennon to close out the game.  Lennon surrendered only one hit to Nolan Byrne before striking out the side to end the game.

 

June 8 – Round 1 – Diamondbacks at Dodgers

After staking the Dodgers to an early 2-0 lead, the Diamondbacks clawed back with 4 runs in the top of the 3rd inning when Cole Cassidy singled in Octavio Marino and Caleb Davis to tie it and later scored with Justin Guidara on a Bjorn Tellefsen hit.

The Dodgers fought back in their half of the frame when Parker Tammaro doubled to start the inning and waltzed home on a two out, towering home run by Rami Flummerfelt to tie the score. Flummerfelt proceeded to quiet the Diamondbacks offense with a strong mound performance.

Kaden Flummerfelt provided some necessary breathing room with an RBI single in the 5th inning, scoring JP Hood.

Guidara was tough on the mound and Will Brown played a strong catcher for the Diamondbacks.

Dodgers 8, DBacks 4

June 8 – Round 1 – Red Sox at Athletics

The #5 seed Red Sox and #4 seed Athletics met for the third time this season, as pitchers Sam Pandolfo and BZ DeChristoforo battled it out in a first round Majors playoff game under the lights.

The Red Sox came out swinging, as Jovic Stachelski lined a first pitch double to left field and Richie Masterpol followed with a single. Sam Pandolfo then blasted a triple off the right-centerfield fence to score both runners. Max Wilcken hit a one-out single to score Pandolfo, and the Red Sox had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Sox added another run in the second, when Nicky Ulbricht-Puopolo drew a one out walk and later scored on a hit to right field off the bat of Luke Bailey.

The runs kept coming for the Red Sox in the third inning. Pandolfo walked and came around to score on a triple to the fence by clean-up hitter Jack Silberhorn. Wilcken then singled again to plate Siblkerhorn and the lead was 6-0. In the top of the fourth, the Sox got the bats going again. Grady Sullivan led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a single by Nicky Ulbricht-Puopolo. Will Bailey then singled to the outfield to score Ulbricht-Puopolo. Stachelski drew a two-out walk and Masterpol then capped off the rally with an RBI single to right center.

The Athletics came up in the bottom of the fourth staring at a 9-0 deficit. They were not phased. Shane Doherty got on base to start the inning and Daniel Driscoll followed him with a double. Nate Rotundi and Wyatt Maurus both reached base and Max Brown delivered a big hit to keep the rally going. With the lead cut to 9-4, JD Souza worked a two-out walk, but Tim Dean delivered a huge strikeout with runners on the corners to avoid further damage.

The Sox added one in the top of the fifth on some great base running from Max Wilcken, as he scored from second on a single to center field off the bat of Grady Sullivan.

The A’s came to bat with Jack Silberhorn on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, and with their dangerous top of the order due up. Leadoff hitter Damon Romanos smoked one to first base and was robbed of extra bases by first baseman Richie Masterpol. But the A’s kept battling. Shane Doherty crushed a double to the fence and Daniel Driscoll legged out an infield single. Silberhorn then recorded a key strikeout to get out of the inning.

Damon Romanos took the mound in the top of the sixth and quickly set the Red Sox down with a 1-2-3 inning. Christian Grimaldi led off the bottom of the sixth with a single for the A’s, and Max Brown reached base again after being hit by a pitch. The Red Sox escaped, however, on two unassisted putouts at first base and a game-ending strikeout from Silberhorn to secure their first playoff victory in four years.

Final score: Red Sox 10, Athletics 4

June 8 – Round 1 – Orioles at White Sox

On a beautiful late afternoon at Nutile C, the Orioles went with 12 year old Brendan Carson on the mound and the White Sox countered with 12 year old Evan Wilson for this first round playoff match-up.  After the Orioles did not score in the top of the first, the White Sox got going in the bottom half.  Ben Ragosa doubled in William Fiorentino and later scored on an Adrian Lupien ground out.  Fiorentino and Ragosa would each score four runs on the night.  Later in the inning, Nathan Wan scored on an Evan Wilson ground out and the White Sox were up 3-0.  In the last of the third, Dylan Sala, Ragosa and Lupien all added hits after Wilson and Leo D’Agostino reached base and the White Sox led 7-0.

The Orioles would not go away, however.  They scored 4 runs in the third thanks to hits from Carlos Nouel, River Maclin, Noah Biel and Jack Usera.

The game seesawed back and forth with the White Sox maintaining a lead throughout.  Billy Byrne added a hit and Dylan Murtie crossed the plate twice more for the White Sox.

Wilson pitched 3 solid innings before giving way to Ben Ragosa in the 4th followed by Dylan Sala in the 5th and 6th. For the Orioles, Carlos Nouel and Will Bolognese relieved Carson.

The White Sox were able to advance with a 15-8 final score.

Posted in TWIB Notes 2022