Central Amherst U11 all-stars win Clarence tourney

The Central Amherst U11 all-star team closed out the season by winning the Clarence Baseball Tournament. Members of the team, pictured from left, are: first row - CJ Westcott, Patrick Gramza, Pat MacDonald, Eric Ruh, Joe Ortolani and John Schmitt; second row - Steve Reynolds, Joe Insalaco, Ryan Byrne and Ben Morina; third row - assistant coaches Mike MacDonald and Dave Westcott, head coach Dennis Ruh and assistant coach Sean Bodkin.

The Central Amherst U11 all-stars took two out of three games from an excellent Clarence baseball team to finish their tournament season with first place trophies in the Clarence Baseball Tournament.

Central Amherst U11 started their tournament season by going 1-2 in the Little League Regionals in Orchard Park. They improved a week later in Cheektowaga by advancing to a semifinal game before losing to eventual champion Southline Storm.

The team saved its best for their last tournament. In Clarence, the team went 4-1 and lost only a single game to the host Clarence team, 2-0, before getting their revenge in the second game of the doubleheader, 13-4. Central Amherst outscored their opponents, 34-17. The team got excellent pitching from one of their starters, Colin Tenney. Tenney started the first two games.

Max Kreuz showed his batting prowess and finished with three hits in five at-bats. Newcomer to the team for the summer, Ryan Byrne, showed why he was chosen to play for the all-stars. Not only was Byrne solid in the field but he proved excellent at the plate, hitting .364 with four runs scored. Byrne also pitched two scoreless innings in the championship game.

The team runs leader was Eric Ruh, who scared opponents every time he got on base. Ruh also provided solid innings on the mound. The hitting stars for the weekend were Pat MacDonald, who hit .636 for the team while giving a solid performance at catcher and Patrick Gramza, who hit .667 with clutch hits every time at the plate. Gramza's fielding was flawless. Mark Nasca filled in for the third game victory. Steve Reynolds was instrumental to the team's success, hitting in half of his at-bats and providing a solid glove.

The team got excellent pitching from closer Joe Ortolani and middle reliever Ben Morina. Ortolani and Morina also provided spectacular defense in making great stops at shortstop and first base. Ortolani was the team's quiet leader. Joe Insalaco was not to be outdone at the plate, providing timely hitting. While Ruh was the summer's run leader, it was slugger John Schmitt who scored the most runs in the Clarence tournament, stepping on home plate five times. Schmitt also provided a relief inning on the mound and had an impressive sacrifice fly to score Ortolani in the final game.

Another relief pitcher for Central Amherst was CJ Westcott, who closed out the 2-0 loss to Clarence, allowing no runs and one hit. Westcott led the team in RBIs and finished the tournament tied with Ortolani for extra base hits.