Central Amherst 'AAA' Cardinals fly past Phillies, Tigers

The Central Amherst "AAA" Cardinals beat the Phillies, 19-10, on Saturday, June 23.

The Cardinals took an early 4-1 lead after the first inning on singles by Peter Byrne, Tony Regain, Andrew Boccio, Joe Montalbano and a triple from Jack Quinlivan. The Phillies' Jonathan White scored after he singled and Joseph Suk bunted. Phillies starter Emilee Foster then struck out two batters in the second and got help in the outfield with a caught fly ball off Quinlivan's bat for the third out.

The Cardinals then scored 12 runs in the third and fourth innings to open up the contest. The Phillies threatened in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out. Christopher Monin lined a shot to shortstop and the Cardinals' Quinlivan made a nice catch and turned a double play to end the inning.

The Phillies' fourth inning was highlighted by an inside-the-park grand slam home run by Dathan Lee to make the score 16-8 after the fourth. He cleared the bases with a deep fly ball to the right field fence.

The Cardinals added three runs in the sixth. Cardinals closer Jack Quinlivan struck out six of the ten batters he faced in the last two innings to preserve the win.

The Cardinals' MJ Morris, August Howell, Adam Merkle and "AA Sr." call-up Joe Tomczak combined for eight of the 19 runs.

Cardinals 15, Tigers 1

The Cardinals won their first playoff game in convincing fashion on June 12, beating the Tigers 15-1.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 5-1 lead after two innings on singles by MJ Morris and Joe Montalbano and a double from Jack Quinlivan. Peter Byrne, Tony Regan, August Howell and "AA Sr." call-up Joe Tomczak all received free passes and gave Cardinals' starting pitcher Tony Regan early run support.

The Cardinals were tough on defense, only allowing four total hits.

Quinnton Adams reached safely in the first and Joe Phillips walked, but both runners were left stranded after two nice defensive plays in the infield by Morris and Quinlivan. In the second inning, the Tigers' Jake Fuzak doubled and Gregory Zimmerman hit him in to score what would be the Tigers only run of the contest. In the third, the Cardinals put up six runs after Quinlivan and Regan both singled and Montalbano doubled.

In the fourth, August Howell led off with a single and the Cardinals added four more runs from singles by Byrne, Andrew Boccio and a solid double from Austin Ballard. Cardinal pitchers Tony Regan, Andrew Boccio and Jack Quinlivan worked together to strike out eight of the 22 batters they faced.

'Major' baseball

Orioles 8, Red Sox 7

The Red Sox jumped to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and led 6-1 going into the bottom of the third on big hits by Michael Mcquiggan (single, double). Four consecutive singles and a double by Andrew Pierino enabled the Orioles to tie the game at 6-6.

Nick Hillebrand was able to shut down the Red Sox the rest of the way with three strikeouts.

With the score tied at 7-7 going in the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles' Michael Spina made sure there would not be extra innings when he led off with a sharp single and scored the winning run on a perfect steal of home for an 8-7 Oriole playoff victory.

Eric Ruh and Hillebrand had two hits each for the Orioles and George Zimmermann also provided some nice pitching. Colin Gibson also helped spark the big third inning rally for the Orioles.

Eric Cheston and Christian Lampasso had two hits each for the Red Sox. Lampasso was also strong on the mound with three strikeouts.

Orioles 16, Cubs 5

With the score tied at 3-3 in the fourth inning of a pressure-filled playoff game, Oriole John Barden led off with a triple. Tom Springer and Connor Harrington followed with doubles and Eric Ruh capped it with a triple in the inning to give the Orioles a 7-3 lead.

The Orioles' were able to build on this in the fifth with seven more runs on hits by Springer, Ruh and George Zimmermann. Andrew Pierino made a nice diving stop at shortstop and threw out the runner from his knees early on.

Springer was a force at the plate with two doubles and a single along with Ruh and CJ Westcott who had three hits each in the Oriole attack. Ruh and Pierino turned in nice pitching efforts along with solid play in the field by Michael Spina and Airic Thornton. Paul Schmitt made numerous defensive plays for the Cubs and Michael Schake was strong on the mound as well.

Jack Balkin led the Cubs offense with two hits in trying to rally his team.

'AA Sr.' baseball

Yankees 7, Cardinals 3

The "AA Sr." Yankees beat the Cardinals, 7-3, for their second playoff win. Jonathan Spina pitched a strong first inning for the Yankees, giving up only one hit while facing four batters. William O'Connor got the lone hit for the Cardinals.

The Yankees were helped by two good defensive plays in the inning. Sam Lobuzzetta fielded a grounder cleanly at second base and tossed it to Tommy Gioia for the first out. Spina helped himself by snagging a grounder to the mound and throwing over to Gioia for the inning's second out. O'Connor pitched well for the Cardinals, only giving up one hit and striking out three batters in the first inning to keep the game scoreless.

The Cardinals struck for three runs in the second inning, sparked by Clark Mazzio's leadoff single. O'Connor continued his strong pitching in the second, striking out three of the four batters he faced. The only offense the Yankees could muster was a nice single hit by Jimmy Featherstone.

Lobuzzetta took over pitching duties for the Yankees in the third inning, holding the Cardinals scoreless while striking out three. O'Connor continued his strong pitching in the third, allowing back-to-back singles by Lobuzzetta and Spina before striking out three of the final four batters he faced to keep the Cardinals ahead, 3-0. Lobuzzetta continued his strong pitching in the fourth, again keeping the Cardinals off the scoreboard. He received some good defensive help from Gioia, who fielded a grounder to first base and stepped on the bag for the inning's first out. Gioia then caught a line drive for the inning's final out.

The Yankee bats finally came alive in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs to take the lead 4-3. Spina blasted a double to right center to score two runs and Gioia added an RBI single.

Gioia then took over Yankee pitching duties, striking out three of the four batters he faced, only giving up a single to Connor Larson.

The Yankees added some insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth. Joe Miller, Alex Kracker, and Featherstone walked to load the bases. Zarzecki walked in a run and then Lobuzzetta hit a long single, knocking in two more runs. With the Yankees ahead 7-3, Gioia retired the last three batters in order to preserve the win.

Red Sox 15, Cardinals 12

Bo Stroud pitched the first 2.5 innings to get the Red Sox jump-started during their second playoff game.

The Cardinals had several great hits which resulted in runs. Excellent hits were also made by Andrew Hill, Michael Tenney, and Kate Scaduto, who each made it home to add runs for the Red Sox.

Hill replaced Stroud as pitcher for the next two innings. Hill struck out several players. P.J. Wing not only was walked but defensively, he denied a Cardinals player third base for a crucial out of the third. The Cardinals fought back to score runs before the end of the inning.

Will Sanderson made key plays throughout the game which kept the Red Sox on the right foot. His hits and those of his teammates, kept runs scoring. In the bottom of the fourth, Zach Wing made a spectacular play when he made an out at first base which kept the Cardinals from advancing another player into scoring position.

All players got a workout as the game went into the fifth inning. Tenney relieved Hill as pitcher for the rest of the game. Tenney walked several Cardinal players but smoked the ball past their teammates. Hill made a pitch to Stroud on first for the last out of the inning. As the game progressed, Natalie Blatz, Grey Grohman, and Eric Schafer continued to make their way on base. Schafer crossed home plate three times during the game.

In the sixth, all Red Sox players batted well. Wing had an RBI before turning the inning over the Cardinals. The Cardinals never backed down but came up short. One of the outs came when Hill caught a pop fly to help end the game.

'AA Jr.' softball

Cardinals 12, Orioles 6

The Cardinals came up big for their second playoff victory of the season.

The Orioles were led by Theo Gogos, who was 4 for 4, including two big doubles. A double was also hit by Anthony Fago, who went 2 for 3. Victoria Monetti was big at the plate, going 3 for 4 and scoring once. Garren Dudas had a good night at the plate, hitting 3 for 3.

The Cardinals' defense came up big again to hold the Orioles to six runs. Connor Vincent had two great stops, one at third base for a force out, and one at first for another out. Eddie Anders made a spectacular catch on a fly ball to third base to help stop an Orioles rally. "A" ball call-up Tom Foster also had two huge defensive plays. One was a throw to Anders at first base for an out. The second was a throw to Cameron Kiefer with a great grab at third base for a force out to end the inning.

The Cardinals' offense slugged the ball and scored 12 runs. Jacob Weinstein smashed a double to the fence while going 3 for 3 and scoring three runs. Marissa Polino was also blazing around the bases, scoring three runs and hitting 3 for 3. Chris Wittmann had a hot bat, pounding out three hits for the Cardinals. Ben Nagy, another 'A' ball call-up, showed great speed on the bases by scoring once to help increase the Cardinals' lead. Indigo Hare had two huge RBIs, including the game winner, and was 2 for 3 at the plate.