Lou Gehrig 12U Blue wins district tourney, qualifies for states

The Lou Gehrig 12 Blue tournament team won the Cal Ripken Major 70' District 1 Tournament hosted by the Cheektowaga Southside Athletic Association June 29-July 1. The team has advanced to the New York State championship tournament which is being held at Mathewson McCarthy Baseball starting on July 13. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row - Mike Kuebler, Mike Altman, Tommy Styn, Jon Lunney, RJ MacDonald, Brandon Schick; second row - Vinnie DiNatale, Kevin Askey, Nick Kiener, Tyler Penberthy, Randy Brown, Connor Gust, Jack Trotman; third row - Ed Kuebler, John Askey and Bob Schick.

The Lou Gehrig 12 Blue tournament team won the Cal Ripken Major 70' District 1 Tournament hosted by the Cheektowaga Southside Athletic Association June 29-July 1. The team has advanced to the New York State championship tournament which is being held at Mathewson Mc- Carthy Baseball starting on July 13.

Lou Gehrig had just completed a very successful weekend in Victor, N.Y. where they had earned a second place finish. The team's solid play carried over to the district tournament and timely hitting coupled with some stingy defensive play resulted in outscoring their opponents, 30-5.

Lou Gehrig 11, Cheektowaga

1 (five innings)

Being a double-elimination tournament, Cheektowaga had the tall order of having to beat the Blue twice to earn the championship.

Lou Gehrig batted first and quickly put up four runs. Tommy Styn drew a base on balls, Brandon Schick singled, Mike Altman had a two-RBI single, Mike Kuebler grounded out for an RBI, Jack Trotman doubled and Nick Kiener hit an RBI triple. That was all Randy Brown needed on the mound as he was magnificent through four innings, striking out three and getting eight groundouts.

Lou Gehrig's infielders were strong, led by Schick's four assists from third base, and even a pickoff play was executed to perfection. With runners on first and third, Cheektowaga sent the runner from first. Catcher Jon Lunney threw to second, but this was a short throw designed to entice the runner from third to try and score. Styn, playing shortstop, charged and cut off the ball in flight behind the pitcher's mound and in stride, gunned a strike back to Lunney, who easily tagged the runner at the plate. Kiener pitched a scoreless fifth for the Blue.

Rounding out the offense, Styn had an RBI single and scored two runs, Schick had two hits and also scored twice, Altman had three hits and four RBIs, Brown had a solo home run, his team-leading 11th of the season, in the top of the fifth, Kuebler had two hits, RJ MacDonald had an RBI single, and Lunney singled and scored a run.

Lou Gehrig 12, Cheektowaga

0 (four innings)

Lou Gehrig Blue wasted no time getting the game rolling, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning and never looking back.

Tommy Styn, Brandon Schick, Mike Altman, Jack Trotman and Connor Gust all had hits in the big inning. Schick, Altman, Trotman and Randy Brown all ended with multiple-hit games.

Vinnie DiNatale contributed some offense with a walk, stolen base and scored on a passed ball.

Lou Gehrig Blue's pitching and defense were also sharp. Trotman and Altman each pitched two shutout innings and struck out three batters.

Defensive highlights included Jon Lunney's throw from left field to Brown at the plate to nail the runner trying to score after an overthrow to third base in the second inning and another Styn-Tyler Penberthy double play in the bottom of the fourth. This one started with the Cheektowaga runner at second base and the grounder to short held the runner at second. After Styn's throw to Penberthy at first base for the out, the runner from second broke towards third. Penberthy's throw was right on the money to Askey playing third. Askey's tag of the runner completed the double play.

Lou Gehrig 7,

Hertel/North Park 3 Lou Gehrig opened the tournament on June 29 against Hertel/ North Park. Pitcher Randy Brown had a great start, striking out the side in order in the top of the first inning. He got some support in the field in the third inning from third baseman Brandon Schick, who had tagged out all three runners - the first on a force out, the second in a rundown, and the third on an attempted steal with the assist from the arm of catcher Jon Lunney. In total, Brown pitched four strong innings, scattering four hits and allowing three runs.

Through three at-bats, Lou Gehrig Blue had nothing to show, being retired in order each inning. But leadoff hitter Tommy Styn pushed opened the floodgates with a double in the bottom of the fourth, and when the dust had settled, six batters in a row had base hits - Schick, Mike Altman, Brown, Jack Trotman and Mike Kuebler. Before the inning was over, Kevin Askey and Tyler Penberthy both chipped in RBIs on groundouts, and the Blue led 7-3.

Nick Kiener came on to pitch the fifth and sixth innings, holding Hertel/North Park to one run on two hits. Again, defensive support was key, and in the fifth, Styn fielded a grounder at short and checked the runner from third base, making him hold. After firing across the diamond to Penberthy at first base for the out, the runner tried to score, but a pinpoint throw to Brown, now catching, arrived in time to complete the inning-ending double play.

Lou Gehrig 12 Blue is managed by Ed Kuebler, and assisted by coaches John Askey and Bob Schick.