Johnston All-Stars Blank Cranston Squad, 10-0

Starting pitcher Joe Bongiovanni threw eight strikeouts and held the visiting Edgewood/South Elmwood team scoreless en route to a 10-0 victory in round one of the District I All-Star Tournament on July 9 at .

"He is usually lights-out if you don’t get to him early," Johnston coach Ed Bedrosian said after the contest.

In the bottom half of the first, Johnston's James Picchi scored the game's first run when ESELL pitcher Austin Alzate committed a balk with the bases load. Picchi had also led off the inning with a walk.

Picchi's RBI single to left field in the bottom half of the second increased the lead to 2-0, and Johnston blew the game open in the third inning.

The home team scored five more runs, including a Bongiovanni belt to deep center that resulted in an RBI double.

ESELL catcher Joe Degiulio threw the ball into right field on a sacrifice attempt by Johnston's Armani Henderson, and Johnston pounced on the error to extend the lead to 4-0.

Also for Johnston, a Marc Conte rocket bounced off the left-field fence for an RBI triple, and Korey Fijai's sacrifice fly brought in the seventh run of the game.

Conte's score on a wild pitch brought toe tally to 10-0 for the home squad, and officials called the game after the sixth inning under the league's 10-run mercy rule.

"We played a very smart and very complete game," Bedrosian said.

The Johnston team is scheduled to play round two this afternoon at 5 p.m. against North Providence at Birchwood Middle School in North Providence.

Correction: An earlier version of this story included a misspelling of the name of Johnston's pitcher, Joe Bongiovanni.