The Cardinals and Tigers dodged raindrops to get their game in. The rain was intermittent during the game. The hard rain waited until the final out.
The Cardinals threatened in the top of the 1st, but the Tiger pitcher, Fortunato D’Ampolo, raced toward 1st base to field a grounder and throw Francesco Santaniello out at the plate. The Cardinals came back to score 2 in the top of the 2nd. With one out and the bases loaded on 2 walks and a hit batsman, William Marchi scorched a liner to right to plate the game’s 1st run. An infield grounder gave the Cardinals a 2 run lead. They doubled their lead in the 3rd. Owen Lock and Fred Moseby both tripled and an rbi groundout by Nolan Ward gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead. Cardinals starter JC Pezzuto was cruising, having walked 1 Tiger and striking out 8 when Nick LaBell hit a dribbler in front of the plate. Pezzuto and Santaniello converged on the ball and got in each other’s way, forcing a bad throw that sailed into right field. As the 1st baseman picked up the ball, the Tiger runner was heading for 3rd. A wild throw toward 3rd allowed LaBella to score.
Pezzuto, unfazed, proceeded to strike out his 9th Tiger, ending his night on the mound.
In the bottom of the 4th. more adventurous fielding by the Cardinals allowed 2 more Tigers to circle the bases to make the game close, 4-3.
But in the top of the 5th, a rbi triple by Santaniello gave the Cardinals a 2 run lead. Santaniello died at 3rd when Edward Ardolino went over the center field fence to rob Pezzuto of a home run. In the top of the 6th, Fred Moseley scored on a short wild pitch as the Tiger catcher had trouble getting a handle on the slick ball. Locke, pitching his 3rd inning, struck out the 1st 2 Tigers in the bottom of the 6th.
After a walk, a forceout at 2nd ended the game. As Marchi’s throw settled into Pezzuto’s glove, the rains came.
With the season about one third of the way through, the pecking order of team strength is being established and it looks like the Cubs and Tigers are becoming a heated rivalry. The teams met for the second time this season and again both teams were ready play. Colman Shea who was nearly unhittable in the first meeting was touched up for two runs early when Kyle Bernardini scorched a laser beam to the gap in right center field. The young pitching staff of the Tigers were able to keep the Cubs off balance all game long as Fortunato D’Ampoli, Phil DiBlasi, Edward Ardolino and Evan Frechette pitched six solid innings allowing only three runs. Defensively, Richard Pagliuica for the Tigers was outstanding behind the plate while offensively DJ DiCenso had two hits and drove in three runs.
However, the play of the game was made by the Cubs defense. The Tiger’s spark plug Nick Seaver was on first and a ball was shot into the right field corner. Nick raced to second and then rounded third were he was waived on (this is when Nick decided to ease his helmut upward so the home town crowd could get a good look at his determined face) and after a fabulous relay which included John Paul Anderson and Brianna Campincharo, there was a tremendous slide, a massive cloud of dust and an umpire shout of “you’re out” roared through Langone Park.
The Cubs continue to improve with both DelPeschia’a girls being important factors along with their many other young players. Although the Tiger’s bested the Cubs for the second time players for both teams are anxiously awaiting their next game.
The Cardinals broke open a tight game with a 7 run 6th inning to run their record to 3-0. Fred Moseley had the big blow in the inning with a shot into the left center field gap with the bases loaded that saw him fly around the bases for his second inside the park grand slam of the season and his second homer of the game.
The Cardinals started the scoring in the first when, with one out, Moseley hit a towering drive over the center field fence. On the next pitch, Owen Locke’s drive followed the same path to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. They would add another run as Oliver Franklin scored on a throwing error. Over the next 2 innings, the Cardinals and Tigers traded runs on some excellent baserunnung and shoddy fielding.
With a 6-3 lead heading into the 4th, William Marchi came on to pitch for the Cardinals and proceeded to shut the Tigers down on 2 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 5.
The Cardinals beat the Indians 6 – 2 in the nitecap of the Saturday doubleheader. The Indians scored both of the their runs in the 1st inning. With one out Jase Cherchi walked and stole 2nd. As the throw got got past the shortshop, Cherchi headed for third and continued home as the ball bounced away from the centerfielder. One out later, the exact same scenario happened and Zach Taieb scored to give the Indians a quick 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1st, 4 walks allowed the Cardinals to get 1 run back as Francesco Santaniello scored for the Cardinals. In the bottom of the 2nd, 2 walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases with one out. JC Pezzuto ripped a drive up the middle to knock in Francesca Rubino and Marilyn Fitzgerald and give the Cardinals the lead. When the ball split the outfielders, William Marchi also scored and Pezzuto ended up at 3rd. Owen Locke proceeded to triple into the left field corner to score Pezzuto. Fred Moseley drove Locke in with another drive into the left field corner, but was out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
From there, a pitchers duel ensued. Cherchi and Vince Coppola each pitched 2 solid innings for the Indians, with Cherchi making a run saving play on a swinging bunt by Santaniello and nipping him at 1st. Locke pitched 3 solid, no hit for the Cardinals. Pezzuto and Rubino split the final 3 innings, also allowing no hits, with Pezzuto striking out all 5 batters he faced.
