Underdog Surprises with Strong Win at St. Bart's Softball Championships

Often in sports it's not how many games you win that counts, but when you win them that does.

St. Matthew is perfect proof of that.

After finishing second in the St. Bart's Old-Timers Softball League's Angels Division with a record under .500 at 11-12, St. Matthew entered the Angels Division playoffs needing to win two games to get to the league championship.

Commanding victories over St. Patrick 14-6 and first-place St. Aloysius 7-1 followed. St. Aloysius had the league's best regular season record at 17-6 and was 4-0 vs. St. Matthew in the regular season.

Saints Division first-place squad St. David had the league's second-best regular season record at 16-7. St. David then dominated second-place St. Jude 15-2 in its first playoff game to get to the championship.

That put St. David as the favorite vs. St. Matthew for Monday's annual Labor Day Championship game at Brookside Park in Scotch Plains. The teams split regular season games, with St. David winning 11-7 in week eight and St. Matthew coming out on top 16-10 in week 14.

Many times in sports the favorite does not win either. The Colts were supposed to beat the Jets, the Orioles were supposed to beat the Mets and the Patriots were supposed to beat the Giants, for example.

Despite having won five less games in the regular season than St. David did, St. Matthew came out and played a near perfect game Monday, totally dominating St. David to the tune of 15-2 for the league championship.

A crowd of 700 saw a total of 37 hits, 27 by underdog St. Matthew.

Winning pitcher Tony Radice did quite well to toss a nine-inning 10-hitter, allowing only two runs in the bottom of the first. He shut out St. David the next eight innings, with two of them being perfect.

"We played good defense and I pitched the ball up high and moved it around," Radice said. "We hoped everything would come together on the last day of the season, and it did."

Radice got five ground ball outs back to him as pitcher and began two 1-6-3 double plays, the first one ending the bottom of the first and the second coming in the bottom of the ninth.

St. Matthew jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first to stay ahead the entire game. After St. David scored its only two runs in the bottom of the inning, St. Matthew added six big runs in the top of the second for a 10-2 cushion. St. Matthew then added one run in the fourth and two more in the sixth and seventh.

Eleven of the 15 St. Matthew batters in its lineup hit safely, with all 11 producing at least two hits. Left fielder Tom Straniero led all hitters on both sides with a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate that included three singles, one of the game's two doubles, one RBI and two runs. He also made a nice running catch to end the bottom of the eighth.

"Tom Straniero had a tremendous game, going 4-for-4, and he tracked several fly balls in the outfield," Radice said.

Singles by Lou Balestriere, Straniero and Gus Alvarez put St. Matthew ahead for good at 1-0 in the top of the first. Keith Gibbons then drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and James Barba and Radice followed with RBI-singles for a 4-0 lead.

St. David came back with two runs in the bottom of the first, with the first run scoring unearned because of an error after a single by Allan Betau. Nick Dinizo then drove in Betau with a single after lefty-hitting Jeff Friedlander singled.

Amazingly, that was all the runs St. David would score.

Radice went on to pitch his first 1-2-3 inning in the third and then allowed only a single in each of the fourth and fifth innings. His second 1-2-3 inning came in the seventh.

Although it was only the top of the second, the six runs St. Matthew scored in the frame really put distance between itself and St. David. The first run scored on an error and the second on a 6-3 double play. Bob Cihanowyz then drove in a run with an RBI-single and came around to score on the game's only home run, which was slugged by leadoff batter Balestriere, who drove a shot far enough past the St. David left fielder. On another Alvarez single, St. Matthew managed to score its sixth run of the inning on an error that followed.

These were also six runs scored off one of the league's best teams and off one of its top pitchers in Betau.

"Al is a tough pitcher and he moves the ball around, also, back and forth," Radice said. "We just seemed to hit him well today. We just went up there to try to hit it and, fortunately, some of the balls fell our way."

Cihanowyz added his second RBI-single in the fourth and Radice and Dennis Hercel produced RBI-singles in the sixth. Straniero drove in a run with a single in the seventh and on the same play St. Matthew's final run of the game came around to score on an error.   

"We picked the right time to peak," Radice said. "We lost six of seven at the end of the year and then came on when it counted the most."

OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME: The game's only home run was produced by St. Matthew leadoff batter Lou Balestriere in his second at-bat. With one out, teammate Bob Cihanowyz on first and three runs already on the board in the top of the second, Balestriere hit a shot right at St. David left fielder Tom Baldowski, with Baldowski diving for it. Unfortunately for Baldowski and St. David, the ball shot past him, with Cihanowyz and Balestriere both coming around to score to give St. Matthew a 9-2 lead. 

GAME-WINNING HIT: Gus Alvarez drove in Lou Balestriere with a single to give St. Matthew a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. That RBI-hit gave St. Matthew the lead for good as the squad opened the game with consecutive singles by Balestriere, Tom Straniero and Alavarez.  

DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME: Although his team was already down 11-2 in the top of the fifth, St. David left-center fielder Nashad Warfield refused to give up on a ball that was hit over his head. He went straight back on the shot slugged by St. Matthew's Larry Fleischman, had a beat on it, and caught it over his shoulders with both hands while falling down. Quickly people were calling him Willie Mays as the catch was reminiscent of the one Mays -— playing center field for the New York Giants — caught over his shoulder in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. 

ST. MATTHEW (14-12)                                                  4   6   0          1   0   2         2   0   0 - 15       

ST. DAVID (17-8)                                                            2   0   0          0   0   0         0   0   0 -    2 

Winning pitcher: Tony Radice, St. Matthew.

Losing pitcher: Allan Betau, St. David.

Home run: Lou Balestriere, St. Matthew.

Doubles: Tom Straniero, St. Matthew;  Bob Cummo, St. Matthew.   

ST, MATTHEW LINEUP - CHAMPIONS:

Lou Balestriere, shortstop: 2-for-4;

single, two-run homer, two runs

Tom Straniero, left field: 4-for-4;

three singles, one RBI, two runs

Gus Alvarez, left-center field: 2-for-4;

two singles, one run

Keith Gibbons, first base: 0-for-3;

sacrifice fly RBI in first inning

Larry Fleischman, right-center field: 2-for-4;

two singles, one run

Rick Wustefeld, third base: 2-for-4;

two singles, one run

James Barba, second base: 3-for-3;

three singles, one walk, one RBI, one run

Tony Radice, pitcher: 2-for-4;

two singles, two RBI

Dan Margolis, right field: 2-for-4;

two singles and one run

Dennis Hercel, catcher: 3-for-4;

three singles, one RBI, two runs

Frank Litterio, first base: 0-for-4;

reached on error and scored in second

Bob Cummo, first base: 3-for-4;

two singles, double, one run

Mike Constantinou, catcher: 0-for-3;

reached on error and scored in seventh

Bob Cihanowyz, right field: 2-for-3;

two singles, two RBI, one run

Phil Vellucci: did not play

Captain: Tony Radice

Sponsor: Mama Lou's Italian-American Gourmet Deli & Catering, Westfield

Team color: Red 

ST. DAVID LINEUP - FINALISTS:

Scott Smith, shortstop: 1-for-3;

one single

Marty Bernstein, second base: 1-for-3;

one single, one run

Allan Betau, pitcher: 1-for-3;

one single, one run

Jeff Friedlander, catcher: 1-for-3;

one single

Nick Dinizo, third base: 2-for-3

two singles, one RBI

Tom Baldowski, left field: 1-for-3

one single

Nashad Warfield, left-center field: 1-for-3

one single

Dave Rothenberg, first base: 1-for-3

one single

Art Hobble, right-center field: 1-for-2

one single

Karl Grossman, first base: 0-for-2

Steve Pirella, right field: 0-for-2

Paul Ross, right-center field: 0-for-2

Steve Polak, right field: 0-for-2

Tom Maher, catcher: 0-for-2

Tom Henderson, catcher: 0-for-2

Captain: Dave Rothenberg

Sponsor: Friedlander and Associates Insurance

Team color: Grey 

2009 LEAGUE LEADERS

(not including Monday's game)

At-bats: Walt Patrylo, St. Joseph, 75

Runs: Gus Alvarez, St. Matthew, 37

Hits: Gus Alvarez, St. Matthew, 48

RBI: Jason Fiore, St. Jude, 43

Singles: Tony Radice, St. Matthew

and Joe DeChiaro, St. Joseph, 36

Doubles: Craig Burfeindt, St. Anthony, 11

Triples: Chris Nardi, St. Anne,

Harold Hoppier, St. Anne

and Kevin Callahan, St. Anne, 5

Home runs: Jason Fiore, St. Jude, 9

Base on balls: Keith Gibbons, St. Matthew, 9

Batting average: Keith Middleton, St. Jude, .702

Games: Walt Patrylo, St. Joseph, 22

Longest hitting streak: Tom Ulichny, St. Joseph, 21

Slugging percentage: Jason Fiore, St. Jude, 1.368

On-base percentage: Keith Middleton, St. Jude, .708

Total average: Jason Fiore, St. Jude, 4.556