Lou Gehrig 8-year old Red wins third straight tourney

The Lou Gehrig 8-year old Red Tournament Team defeated Lou Gehrig Blue, 9-8, to win the Lou Gehrig Tournament. It was the team's third tournament victory of the season. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row Connor Bender, Alex Dimitroff, Matthew Barnaby, Jordan Scinta, Jordan Jenneve; second row Brendan Quagliana, Ryan Forczek, Dylan Lambert, Colin Hunt, Ryan Konotopskyj, Alex Bender, Tyler Crane; third row coach John Lambert, manager Denis Scinta, coach Roman Konotopskyj, assistant coach Paul Bender; missing from photo Jack Cooper.

The Lou Gehrig 8-year old Red Tournament Team won its third straight tournament championship, defeating Lou Gehrig Blue, 9-8, in the finals of the Lou Gehrig Tournament.

Lou Gehrig Red had defeated Lou Gehrig Blue in two prior tournaments so Blue appeared focused and determined to reverse the trend as evidenced by the early stages of the game. Not until Alex Dimitroff singled home Dylan Lambert with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth did Lou Gehrig Red have the lead.

Lou Gehrig Blue's Sean Hill set the tempo in a four-run first inning, leading off with his first of three hits. Tyler Eldridge, Charlie McCormick, and Jon Tucker were other key contributors in the first inning assault. Lou Gehrig Blue was up 5-0 before Lou Gehrig Red got their bearings and scored two runs to make it 5-2 after three innings.

After four innings, Lou Gehrig Blue improved the lead to 8-3 and things looked bleak for Lou Gehrig Red. However, they battled back to tie the game at 8-8 in the fifth with a clutch hit from Brendan Quagliana, plating two runs.

The key all tournament season long has been Lou Gehrig Red's defense. Their "slapping leather", airtight infield made numerous defensive gems to bail them out of trouble, highlighted by seven double plays during these three tournaments. Their starting infield included Jordan Scinta at first, Dimitroff at second, Ryan Konotopskyj at shortstop, Colin Hunt at third, Ryan Forczek at pitcher and Connor Bender at catcher.

Their outfield was mostly comprised of Lambert, Tyler Crane, Jack Cooper, Alex Bender, Jordan Jenneve, and Quagliana, who all made catches and plays when called upon. A welcome addition was Matthew Barnaby, who filled in admirably for clean-up hitter Cooper, who was absent from the tournament.

Not to be outdone, Lou Gehrig Blue showed they knew something about defense too as Connor Thomas recorded a double play, Ryan Gelder made a key defensive catch in right field, and Nick Pilon made a spectacular circus catch on a laser shot off the bat of Konotopskyj in center field. In a classy show of sportsmanship, Lou Gehrig Red manager Denis Scinta presented the game ball to outfielder Pilon for his remarkable catch. Lou Gehrig Red defeated Southline,

Orchard Park, and Mathewson McCarthy in the preliminary round. Next they beat a stubborn Connie Mack team, 13-9, in the semifinals.

Lou Gehrig Blue defeated Cayuga, 4-0, in the semifinals after defeating North Tonawanda, Orchard Park, and Southline in preliminaries.

Lou Gehrig Red was managed by Scinta and assisted by coaches Roman Konotopskyj and Jack Lambert. Lou Gehrig Blue was managed by Mike Eldridge and coaches Jeff Thomas and Don Tucker.