Sudbury Little League Majors Roundup

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted by Paula Mackenzi.)

SUNDAY, MAY 20

Orioles 14, Marlins 3

The Marlins and Orioles played a tight defensive game until the Orioles scored seven runs in the sixth inning to defeat the Marlins. Defensive highlights included Marlins’ Blake Danzinger who made outstanding play at third base on a extremely hard hit ball to him and then threw out the runner at first base. For the Orioles, Jack Coletti’s diving catch in right field prevented an extra base hit. On the mound, Jonathan Vellom, Will Fraser and Daniel Desmarais pitched well for the Marlins combining for five strikeouts while the Orioles’ Adam Thomas, Archie Stewart and Nate Nickerson held the Marlins to three runs and combined for six strikeouts. A base hit by Danzinger’s scored Desmaris to get the Marlins on the board. Kevin Ewing and Danzinger scored runs in a fifth-inning rally. The Orioles’ Coletti reached base twice and Thomas Griffin had three base hits and scored two runs. Brendan Frain’s bases-loaded double scored three runs. Offensively, Thomas, Stewart and Nickerson combined for five hits, reached base a total of nine times and scored five runs.

Rangers 11, Pirates 0

The Rangers shutout the Pirates with superb pitching, solid defense, timely hitting, and all-around team contribution. Tristan Wolf and Joey Caloiero combined for the six shutout innings, allowed just seven hits and combined for five strikeouts. Both pitchers were supported by outstanding infield and outfield defensive plays from teammates Colin Garvin, JB Clarance and Zach Barsamian. Wolf and Caloiero also made several great defensive plays. Garvin threw out a runner on an attempted steal. The offense was led by Alex Zaccardo (3-3, RS). Andrew Gigliotti hit a long double to deep right field.  Michael Kossuth, David Lifson, Charlie Cavanaugh, Clarance, Barsamian, Wolf, and Caloiero all had hits. Garvin had a key RBI on a sacrifice fly ball. The Pirates received solid pitching from Jack Sorbo, Nick Mitchell, and Andrew Sanderson.  Brett Flanagan, Jake Erman, Matt Perricone, Sorbo, Sanderson, Mitchell, and Jack Reading all contributed hits. Erman, George Curry and Sanderson made nice defensive plays.

Athletics 17, Rays 7

The Athletics defeated the Rays. The A’s offense was led by Peter Lindblom, who scored four times, and Joseph Sziabowski, who had two doubles and two singles.  In the field, Victor Figueroa made a running catch in left field, and Brendan Roche made a sliding catch in right field. The Rays were led by solid pitching from Brett Parker and Tyler George. Christopher Reilly made a great catch in center field. Christian Smith hammered a double to drive in Ben Kateman to get the Rays on the board. William Jarrell and Ryan Cullen, who were called up from their AAA teams, made solid contributions and each scored a run.

Cardinals 11, Phillies 5

William Fletcher’s homerun to centerfield led a 13-hit, 11-run attack by Cardinals’ hitters in its victory over the Phillies. Fletcher (1B, HR, 2 RBIs, 2 RS) and the rest of his teammates all reached base safely led by Jacob Pullen (1B, 2B, RBI, SB, 2 RS), Ivan Orup (2B, 2 RBIs, RS, BB), Connor Lachman (1B, 2B, RS), Kyle Smith (1B, 2B, 2 RS), and Greer Fried (1B, 2 RBIs). Jack Fletcher, Ben Hankey, and Ethan Weisman each added a base hit, Conor Lee scored a run and Thomas Bacon advanced runners with a sacrifice hit in the fourth inning. Pitchers Fletcher, Hankey and Kyle Smith combined to hold the Phillies to five runs. Defensively, Lachman snagged what would have been a Phillies’ home run with a great catcher in centerfield, and threw out a base runner on an attempted steal at third base. Bacon and Lee each added putouts in a great team effort by the Cardinals. For the Phillies, James Dillon (3 IP, 5 Ks) and Aidan Sliwkowski (2 IP, 4 hits) pitched well, and Liam Huston snared a line shot to right field to prevent multiple runs from scoring. Dominic Garzone had a RBI single and Jack McKeon (2-3, 2B, RBI) led the Phillies offense.

Giants 14, Royals 3

In a close game for the first four innings, the Giants erupted for nine runs in the fifth to grab the victory. Giants’ starting pitcher Lucas Lisman matched Royals ace Ryan Cusick pitch for pitch for the first three innings. Offensively for the Giants, Sam Scribner, Owen Kinney, Jack Carlson, Abram Wine and Lisman each had two hits. Paul Forester kept up his red hot hitting with an RBI triple to help seal the game. Keith Schmelter and TJ Hall both reached base and scored twice in the game. Andrew Guerra and Schmelter combined to shut the door on the Royals with three solid innings in relief, allowing just two hits.   Cusick recorded five strikeouts in his three innings on the mound. The Royals offense was led by Noah Gies (2 RBIs), Jack Maillet (1-3) and Ryan Cusick (1-3, 2B).

SATURDAY, MAY 19

Athletics 20, Rangers 14

The Athletics defeated the Rangers. The A’s William Stone (6 Ks) pitched two scoreless innings. David Andrysiak got the A's out of a jam in the fourth and retired the side in the fifth. Jake Madden, Kunaal Verma and Brendan Roche each had two hits. The Rangers’ offense received key contributions from Joey Caloiero (2 hits, 3 RS), David Lifson (hit, 3 RS), Colin Garvin (3 RS). Andrew Gigliotti, Zach Barsamian, and Sam Anderson, who was called up from his AAA team, all added key hits and scored runs.

Royals 6, Giants 4

The Royals edged the Giants in a tight game on the strength of Jacob Pentz’s game-winning RBI single that scored Ethan Beatty from third base in the fifth inning. Royals’ started Abby Volo pitched two solid innings, and Drew Teitelbaum, Jake MacKenzi, and Ethan Beatty hold the Giants scoreless for the last four innings. The offense was led by Ryan Cusick (2-4) and James Ensley (3-4). Lucas Lisman's base hit scored Keith Schmelter to get the Giants on the board early and Lisman scored the Giants second run on Matt Cunningham’s line shot to right center field. The Giants took a 4-0 lead on In the Second Inning Sam Scribner, Paul Forester(2for2) and Abram Wine lead off with back to back to back singles and two more runs came in to give the Giants the early lead. Scribner, Cunningham and Jack Carlson collectively had a strong outing on the mound, allowing only six hits while recording 10Ks for the game.

Marlins 7, Cardinals 3

The Marlins scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to defeat the Cardinals. The Marlins were led by Kevin Kelleher who made three defensive gems at third, pitched a scoreless sixth inning and went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Other key defensive plays were made by Marlins’ Kevin Ewing and Drew D’Orsi. Offensive standouts for the Marlins were Milind Lele (2 1Bs, RS), Thomas Palmer (2 RS), and Dan Desmaris (2 1Bs, 2 RBI, RS).  On the mound Lele (3 IP, 2 Ks, 2 runs) and Thomas Palmer (2 IP, 3 Ks) also had strong outings and kept the Cardinal batters in check. Offensively the Cardinals were led by William Fletcher (2 1Bs, 2B, RS, SB), Ivan Orup (1B, 2 BBs, 2 RS) and Ben Hankey (1B).  On the mound, Jacob Pullen (3 IPs, 3Ks, ER), Jack Fletcher (IP, K) and Ivan Orup all pitched well.  Defensively all nine Cardinals’ batters had at least an assist or put-out led by Conor Lee (2 POs and a great catch in left field) and Thomas Bacon (PO and 2 good plays at first base).

Orioles 14, Phillies 4

The Orioles cruised to victory over the Phillies. Orioles’ Thomas Griffin (3 IP, 3K) and Vincent Richard (3 IP, 5K) split the pitching duties with excellent performances. The Orioles put 10 runs on the board with four in the first inning and six more in the third. Richard’s two-out single in the first scored Harrison Reiter and Adam Thomas. Alex Gullotti reached base four times for the Orioles and Jack Coletti scored a run and made a great play in the field at second base. Other offensive stars included Thomas (2 1B, 2B, BB, 3 RS, RBI) and Nate Nickerson (2 1B, 2B, 3 RS, RBI).  Catcher A.J. Cataldo threw a perfect strike to nail a Phillies baserunner in the sixth inning. For the Phillies, Justin DiPietro made two stellar defensive plays including snagging a hard line shot to him at third base, chasing down a deep fly ball and pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Offensively, the Phillies’ Jack McKeon had a two-run double and Alex Cannon and Aidan Sliwkowski reached base twice.

Rays 11, Pirates 5

The Rays erupted for nine runs in extra innings to grab a come-from-behind victory over the Pirates. Pirates’ pitchers Brett Flanagan (3 IP, 5 Ks) and Joey Palmerino (2 1/3 IP, 5 Ks) had shut out the Rays for five and one third innings, but the Rays’ rally was triggered by key contributions from Henry Stowell (1B, BB, RS) and Nick Emerson (2 1Bs, BB, RS) who were both called from the Rays’ AAA squad. Clutch hitting by Rory Bordiuk (HR, 3 RBIs), and doubles by Chris Reilly, Xan Ottenberg, and Ben Katemen also led the Rays. Reilly and Bordiuk were nearly unhittable on the mound allowing 1 earned run in 6 innings while striking out 12. The defensive play of the game went to Palmerino who dove to the ground to field a ground ball, got to his knees and threw out the Rays runner at first. Leading the offense for the Pirates were Jake Erman, Jack Reading and Flanagan who each had a hit and scored a run. Palmerino chipped in with a double. 

FRIDAY, MAY 18

Marlins 15, Royals 10

The Marlins won a tough game against the Royals. Thomas Palmer led the way for the Marlins with a home run. Teammate Jonathan Vellom was 4 for 4 at the plate and Drew D'orsi  and Blake Danzinger went 2 for 3. Ken Ho made two outstanding plays defensively. The Royals defense was led by pitchers Abby Volo, Jake Mackenzi, and Noah Gies, who tossed a five-pitch inning. The Royals received solid defensive plays from Ethan Beatty and Seamus Fagan.  The offense was led by Jack Maillet (2-3), Braden O'Connell (2-2), James Ensley (3-4) and Volo (3-4).  

Rangers 10, Rays 7

The Rangers defeated the Rays behind the pitching of Tristan Wolf and Michael Kossuth who each pitched three strong innings. The Rangers’ offense was led by Chandler Katz (3 hits, 2 RS), Kossuth (2 hits, RS) and David Lifson (2 hits, RS).  JB Clarance, Joey Caloiero, and Wolf all added key hits. The Rays scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning but their comeback rally fell short. Rays’ Rory Bordiuk (2 1Bs, RS, RBI) banged out a hard-hit single and Chris Reilly (1B, RS) and Tim Quirk (2 1Bs, 2 RS) followed with back to back base hits to set up Ben Kateman’s two-run single. Xan Ottenberg (2 1Bs, 2B) and Stephen Brackett (1B, 2 BBs, RS, RBI) each had a base hit. Ryan Barrera scored Quirk with a double. Defensively, Tyler George made a great play on a hard hit line drive and Ottenberg turned a spectacular unassisted double play.  Jake Titus (1 1/3 IP, 3 Ks, 0 ERs) pitched well for the Rays.

THURSDAY, MAY 17

Rangers 10, Marlins 7

The Rangers defeated the Marlins in a close, extra-inning game. The Rangers received three shutout innings from Chandler Katz (7K) and solid relief pitching by Charlie

Cavanaugh and Joey Caloiero (5K).  The offense was lead by Tristan Wolf (2 hits,

4 runs), Colin Garvin (hit, 2 runs) and Alec Zaccardo (hit, 2 runs).  Zach Barsamian drove in a run with a key hit.  The Marlins got strong pitching from Jonathan Vellom, Daniel Desmarais, Will Fraser, Thomas Palmer and Kenneth Ho. Fraser (2 hits, 2 runs), Milind Lele (2B, RS), Palmer and Desmarais lead the Marlins’ offense. Kevin Kelleher scored the tying run in the sixth inning to send the game into extra frames.

Cardinals 5, Giants 4

Greer Fried (1B, BB, RS) scored from third in the bottom of the seventh as the Cardinals earned a hard-fought walk-off victory against the Giants. Ethan Weisman two-run single tied the game at 4-4 and force extra innings. The Cardinals also got offensive help from Connor Lachman (2 1B, SB), Ivan Orup (1B, BB, RS, 2 SB), and Ben Hankey (1B, 2B, RBI, RS).  On the mound William Fletcher tossed three innings of shut out ball and recorded eight strikeouts , Kyle Smith added two solid innings of middle relief and Jacob Pullen didn’t allow any runs in his two innings and struck out six batters. Defensively, Fried (A, PO), Weisman (2 POs) and Conor Lee, who had a great sliding catch in right field), all contributed to solid defense for the Cardinals. Giants’ starting pitcher Lucas Lisman kept the Cardinals off the board for the first three innings. In the fourth, Keith Schmelter and Andrew Guerra provided the team’s first hits and later scored on Matt Cunningham’s sacrifice fly and Jack Carlson’s triple. Schmelter pitched two and a third innings of relief, gave up one hit and struck out four batters. In the fifth, Abram Wine’s single scored Owen Kinney (2-3) and Michael “M-Rod” Rodrigues’ base hit scored Sam Scribner to give the Giants a 4-2 lead.