Announcement
Westford Over 30 softball had a busy week including the undefeated Mustangs scoring an astonishing 49 runs in just five innings on Friday night. They have now scored 248 runs over just 11 games. Floral Arts and Short Cuts Landscaping are tied in second place with 6-3 records, Willis Tent, Burtons Grill, and Drew Farms round out the top six in that order. Key match-ups this upcoming week include Floral Arts versus Short Cuts Landscaping and a rematch of Burtons versus Pro Sports Therapy.
Nashoba Valley Veterinary Mustangs 19 - Burton's Grill 3 Burtons remained optimistic holding the league leading Mustangs to just five runs....until the league leaders crossed the plate 11 more times in the fourth and effectively put the game out of reach. Burton was held scoreless until Dave Batchelder hit a three run home run in the bottom of the fifth to bring Burton to within four of the run rule and extending the game but it was not meant to be. Left handed Mustang sluggers Bill Knute and Jack Erickson continued their hot streaks with two homers apiece. Other Mustangs with homeruns in the win over Burton's included: Don Cusano, Mike Kennedy, and Cormac Bordes. Dan Crogan added three hits and Knute ran down every ball from his left field spot. Paul Liguori got another win on the mound. Both teams did work together to polish off a Jerod Colley pulled pork feast after the game.
Drew Farms 20 - Willis Tent 11 Standouts for Willis tent were Roger Neild offensively going 3 for 4 with a homerun and two singles and defensively with an amazing over the head catch. John Mangiaratti going 3 for 4 with a homerun and two singles, Jeff Briggs 2 for 2 with a homerun, single and two base on balls. Also Rob Swinamer contributed to the effort with a homerun of his own.
Floral Arts 26 - CSA Graphics 4 On Sunday night, second-place Floral Arts defeated CSA, 26-4, in five innings to improve its record to 6-2. Billy Luppold led the Floral Arts' offense with a 3-for-4 night, five RBI and three runs scored. Frank Lancelotta was 3-for-3 with a homer and three RBI. Floral's third-string pitcher Simon Tripp pitched well in his season debut for Floral and supported his cause by hitting a home run. Tom Semeter, Mark Chambers, Dave Janowsky, Jeff Moore, and Ryan Dunn each had a multi-hit game. CSA once again played a great top of the first defense and earned an early 1-0 lead... but couldn't keep up with the Floral barrage from there. Bob Cullen did have a two-run home run last night in the CSA effort.
Short Cuts Landscaping 16 - Burton's Grill 6 Third place Short Cuts Landscaping used six long homeruns and four walks to beat sixth place Burtons 16-6. Dave Silton powered two over the fence and made some nice catches in the field for Short Cuts who took a 4-4 tie and blew the game wide open with an eight run inning. Burtons was led by hitting tactician Mike Jerzlyo who went 3-3 with a double and two singles, one RBI and one run scored. Lefty Keiran Murray slugged a ball over the head of the Short Cuts outfield for two RBI and Brian Haley hit well all night. JC pitched well and protected himself on several shots back up the middle.
Pro Sports Therapy 18 - Drew Farms 10 With a much needed win to stay in the race, PST outdueled a fifth place Drew Farms 18-10 on Tuesday night. "My boys finally had a real good effort," stated manager John Bodi, "13 players tonight, 12 of them scored and every one of them had at least one hit." PST went up 3-0 in the second inning, a big hit by Andrew Fletcher was a solid double that drove in two runs. Brian Dubey drove in another run on his first hit of a 3-3 night. PST extended the lead to 9-0 in the third inning when veteran Jerry Cressman hit a three-run homerun and Donald Slate followed with a two-run homerun of his own. Drews fought back led by Scottie Cole 3-3, Blake Rago 2-3 with a three run homerun and Kurt Cambin with a grand slam to keep it interesting. PST wasn't willing to give up the win and capitalized on big hits including a two-run triple by John Bodi (rumor has it that the whole play was in slow motion) and another Donald Slate two-run homerun. PST separates itself from the others at the bottom with their third win.
Willis Tent 18 - Healy Oil 17 Willis Tent used everything in their arsenal to hold off a much improved Healy Oil team, including and exhausting the homerun rule. Willis took an 18 to 10 run lead into the 7th inning only to see that lead dwindle to a single run. But, with another solid defensive effort put in by Roger Neild and pitcher Bob Fluery, Willis would capture the win beating Healy 18 to 17. Standout contributions for Willis were, Dennis Kane going 4 for 4 with two homeruns (one being a grand slam) and two singles, Jeff Briggs 2 for 3 with two homeruns and two more walks. Justin Swanson 2 for 4 with two homeruns, Roger Neild and Stephen Damiani both going 2 for 3 with two doubles and a base on balls, also contributing to the Willis win was Brian Gallardo with a "fully charged" homerun.
Burtons 18 - Pro Sports Therapy 5 Burtons continued to firm up a position in the playoffs notching their sixth win of the season against Pro Sports Therapy winning 18-5 and invoking the league run rule in the sixth inning. Burtons has moved into fifth place with more games played than any other team in the league to this point. Burtons defensive highlights included a diving catch by Brian Collamore, a twisting stab by Murph McKeon, and a run saving throw for an out at the plate by Collamore from right center. Burtons also hit the ball well with contributions from several players. Tim Scott went 4-5 with three runs scored and three RBI, John Geary was 3-3 including two sacrifice flies, three runs scored and four RBI, Jason Lenicheck 3-4, one run scored, and two RBI, and Jeff Kott 3-4 with triple and a run scored. In the effort by PST, Brian Dubey hit a loud homerun in the third to get his squad back in the game. The PST old guard led the offense with Tim Schutt, 2-2 with a walk and an RBI and, always a tough out, John Bodi, 3-3 on the evening. PST shortstop Ryan Steele continued to impress with his defensive skills.
Nashoba Valley Veterinary Mustangs 24 - Floral Arts 15 The Mustangs faced their toughest test of the season against their long time rival, Floral Arts. The Mustangs needed to come from behind two separate times and found themselves tied at 15-15 coming to bat in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Mustangs batted throughout their entire order in the inning, putting up nine runs, including three homers to pull away. Don Cusano led the offense with three homeruns and six RBI's. Paul Selfrige added two hits, including a big homer in the decisive 6th inning, to go along with five RBIs. Adding homerun blasts for the Mustangs were Mike Kennedy, Jack Erickson, and Mark Cusano. Bill Knute chipped in with four hits and three runs scored. Several outstanding defensive plays were made by both teams. Mustangs outfielder Jim Ward leaped and pulled down a sure Floral Arts homerun from over the left center firled fence with two runners on base to keep the game tied in the 6th inning, while Scott Lawrence threw out a Floral Arts runner from right field trying to stretch a hit into a double.
