18-Grip Shield Glory Days

Palm Beach League teams won both divisions of the 6th annual NABA Citrus Classic Wood Bat Tournament, which culminated on Monday, January 15 (Martin Luther King Day) at the Santaluces Complex in Lantana. The Caribbean Tigres completed an unbeaten 4-0 slate by overwhelming the Fordham Red Sox of the Westchester-Rockland League of New York 13-0, in the 18AA championship game. Wilson Ciprian, Gustavo Lopez and Jose Acuna combined to throw a one-hit shutout against the Red Sox, with the lone hit coming off starting and winning pitcher Ciprian with two outs in the sixth inning. The hit, by reserve Luis Amador, was about the only thing the Sox had to cheer about. The Tigres, meanwhile, won their third Citrus Classic championship with a 17-hit attack against two Fordham pitchers. Marcos Rodriguez led the way with four hits, including two doubles, and five runs batted in, to earn Most Valuable Player honors. Acuna had three hits, one of them a double, and he knocked in three runs. Marlon Hernandez also had three hits and drove in one run while scoring four times. Brian Fitzsimmons was 2-for-2 with three walks. Melvin Bruno, Francis Dinzey, Ryan Ghianda and Nick Adames had one hit apiece with Dinzey, Ghianda and Adames each picking up an RBI. Chris Lopez was the starter and loser for the New Yorkers, with Randy Shupe pitching the last three innings. The Red Sox did leave town with a winning record of 3-2, including a hard earned 7-5 semifinal win on Sunday against the Palm Beach Hammerheads. The Tigres also won the Florida World Series in November, finished second in the 18AAA division of the National Championship Tournament in Arizona last October, and captured the 2005 18AA national title in Arizona. If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again. That philosophy finally paid off for Fernando Miranda, whose Culver City USA team captured the 18A championship in their fourth Citrus Classic appearance. They edged the Palm Beach Pirates 5-3, scoring three runs in the decisive 5th inning. That gave the Culver City squad a 5-1 lead, and after the Pirates tallied two unearned runs of their own in the 7th inning, Mike Smollon relieved starter and winner Perry Menschel, inheriting a two on, one out jam and getting out of it to maintain the two-run lead. He followed that up with a perfect 8th inning. Tristan Miceli closed it out with a scoreless ninth. Menschel, struck out eight and allowed only one earned run, was selected as the game's Most Valuable Player. Troy Sorrells led the Culver City offense with three hits, including a double and an RBI. Placido Estevez had a pair of singles and knocked in a run, and Rusty Sams had two hits and two steals. Carlos Sanchez had one hit, and ended the game with a diving catch of a line drive hit by the Pirates' Blair Breen. Chris Linsinbigler had two of the Pirates' six hits, one of them a double. Jason Strigle had an RBI single and Lucas Scuteri had a single. Jim Vance picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice. The other hits were by losing pitcher Luis Maldonado and Steve Clappi. The Culver City Team is made up of players from several NABA Palm Beach League teams and was named four years ago by Miranda and his brother Jaime, who grew up in Culver City, California. RESULTS, MONDAY, JANUARY 15 18AA Championship---Caribbean Tigres 13 Fordham (NY) Red Sox 0 18A Championship----Culver City USA 5 Palm Beach Pirates 3 ================================================================== RESULTS, SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 18AA Caribbean Tigres 6 Rochester, NY Renegades 2 (won pool, earned bye into final) Fordham Red Sox 8 Palm Beach Hammerheads 1 18AA Semifinal (Seedings in Parentheses) (2) Fordham Red Sox 7 (3) Palm Beach Hammerheads 5 18A Columbia Curve 8 DC Metro Royals 4 Palm Beach Pirates 7 Chicago River Bandits 7 (tie) Culver City USA 6 New York Thunderdogs 2 18A Semifinals (Seedings in Parentheses) (4) Palm Beach Pirates 7 (1) Columbia Curve 0 (3) Culver City USA 10 (2) Chicago River Bandits 0 ================================================================ RESULTS, SATURDAY, JANUARY 13 18AA Caribbean Tigres 14 Palm Beach Hammerheads 0 Fordham Red Sox 7 Rochester Renegades 6 Caribbean Tigres 17 Fordham Red Sox 4 Palm Beach Hammerheads 14 Rochester Renegades 11 18A DC Metro Royals 7 Culver City USA 6 Columbia Curve 8 Palm Beach Pirates 1 Chicago River Bandits 9 New York Thunderdogs 8 Palm Beach Pirates 14 DC Metro Royals 4 Culver City USA 4 Chicago River Bandits 4 (tie, 10 innings) New York Thunderdogs 11 Columbia Curve 2 Final Pool Standings 18AA--Caribbean Tigres 3-0, Fordham Red Sox 2-1, Palm Beach Hammerheads 1-2, Rochester Renegades 0-3 POOL WINNER---Caribbean Tigres 18A--Columbia Curve 2-1, Chicago River Bandits 1-0-2, Culver City USA 1-1-1, Palm Beach Pirates 1-1-1; New York Thunderdogs 1-2, DC Metro Royals 1-2, POOL WINNER---Columbia Curve TOURNAMENT NOTES--- Jason Plocek of the Palm Beach Pirates fired a no hitter as the Pirates shut out the Columbia (TN) Curve 7-0 in the 18A semifinals on Sunday. Lee Doloff hurled a one-hit shutout as Culver City USA whitewashed the Chicago River Bandits 10-0 in the other 18A semifinal. Wilson Ciprian, Gustavo Lopez and Jose Acuna threw a combined 1-hit shutout in the Caribbean Tigres' 13-0 championship win over the Fordham (NY) Red Sox. The two division championships extended the Palm Beach League's record of at least one division title in each of the tournament's six years. The league now has won eight Citrus Classic division titles.

The Caribbean Tigres (Stars) rallied for six runs in the top of the ninth, but fell short in the 18AAA championship game of the NABA World Championship Series in Phoenix, Arizona, losing to the San Diego Stars 10-8 at Ho Ho Kam Stadium in Mesa, spring home of the Chicago Cubs. The Tigres were coming off a tough, 11-inning 6-5 semifinal win over the Santa Ana Cerveceros at the Maryvale Complex in Phoenix, spring home of the Milwaukee Brewers. The San Diego team was also coming off an extra inning win, 9-8, over the Casa Grande (AZ) Cotton Kings, also at Maryvale. The Tigres fell behind 6-1 on a Stars' controversial home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and it was costly. Juan Colon was ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct at that point, making physical contact with the home plate umpire in trying to argue that the home run ball was actually foul. After posting an 8th inning run on an RBI single by Melvin Bruno, the Tigres fell almost completely apart in the Stars' 8th. They committed three errors, allowing four runs, two of them unearned. Trailing 10-2, the Tigres put on a furious rally in their final at bat. Ramon Bautista doubled and scored on a single by his brother Juan. Pedro Liriano, who had doubled in the first run in the first inning, singled, followed by back to back singles by Eduardo Figueroa and Jose Taveras. After one out, Juan Veras singled in a run and Christian Taboas doubled home two more before the fourth San Diego pitcher of the inning, got the final two outs. So, the Tigres, who won the 2005 World Championship Series, finished second in the tournament's toughest division in only their first attempt in 18AAA. They wound up 5-1, counting pool play and the semifinal victory, and 5-2 overall with the title game loss. San Diego manager Bobby Allison, who has managed teams here at the Phoenix tournament since NABA's inaugural year of 1992 and won his first ever championship. Winning pitcher Jose Trujillo was selected as the Championship Game MVP, and third baseman Jorge Camarillo took Gold Glove honors. Carlos Gonzalez was the losing pitcher, going the first six innings before yielding to Juan Prado for the final three. OTHER TOURNAMENT BRIEFS Vernon Wells, Sr., father of the Toronto Blue Jays' outfielder, Vernon Wells, is playing here in the Over 48 division of the tournament which concludes this Saturday. Former Baltimore Oriole Don Buford, who managed the 2006 Daytona Cubs in the Florida State League, is playing with the Over 28 Denver Bears. His sons, Donnie, now an orthopedic surgeon after a career in the minor leagues, and Damon, who did make it to the big leagues, are on the same Denver squad. The elder Buford, now 68, pitched three innings, two of them shutout frames. An error set up the four runs he gave up in the third inning. Buford, who played in three World Series' with the Baltimore Orioles (1969, lost to the Mets; 1970, beat the Cincinnati Reds; 1971, lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates) was award the Tournament GAME MVP award by his Denver Bears teammates.

Seventeen new players, including some with previous NABA Palm Beach League experience, were added to rosters at a tryout session at Seminole Palms Park in Royal Palm Beach on Sunday, September 24. Only two of the six 18AAA teams drafted, with the Rangers and Whitecaps tabbing two players each. The Rangers, who will be entering the AAA league for the first time this fall, with the first pick, selected 19-year old Kyle Downey, a pitcher-outfielder, who can also play infield positions. The Whitecaps selected 27-year old pitcher-outfielder Bronson Enos of West Palm Beach. The Rangers took another teenager with their second round pick when they claimed 19-year outfielder John Young of West Palm Beach. The Whitecaps' second round pick was 23-year old catcher Scott Wilkinson, who also can play infield and outfield positions. Wilkinson played four years of high school baseball in upstate New York. 18AA teams took the remaining 13 players. The Brewers selected a 22-year old pitcher, Chris Huffman of Jupiter, who played high school ball in Jacksonville. The Nationals picked up five new players. Their first pick was 23-year outfielder Anton Langer, who recently moved to the Jupiter area. He played four years of college ball at Bethany College in West Virginia, then in an Adult League in Pennsylvania. The Nationals also selected 27-year old pitcher-outfielder Isaac Colegrove, who played high school and Legion baseball in Pennsylvania, lefthanded hitting outfielder-first baseman Richard Weindorf of West Palm Beach; Gus Garcia, 22-year old outfielder from Royal Palm Beach and 34-year old outfielder Lionel Levarity, who has previous league experience with the Cubs. The Wolverines, a new team under the managership of former Palm Beach Yankee Rico Perez made two selections. They chose catcher-outfielder Werner Heinson, 20 years old from Boynton Beach, and infielder-outfielder Ben Volin of Jupiter. Volin played three years of high school ball in Maryland and six years of softball. Another new team, the Mets (Ovid Battat) picked only one player---39 year old outfielder George Arencibia, who recently moved to South Florida from New York. Still another new tgeam, the Gators (Brett Friedman) picked up four players. They are Tom Stangle of West Palm, a 26-year old outfielder, 20-year old outfielder Joey Maimone of Wellington, outfielder Ed Santora Jr., who has previous league experience, including in the 18AAA league, and Syd Guevarra, 33-year old outfielder-infielder who played back in the 1990's with the Lake Worth Reds. ==================================================================================

The Caribbean Stars ended the Estilo Twins' 18AAA League championship streak at four consecutive seasons by beating them 1-0 in ten innings at the Lantana Sports Complex. It was the Stars' sixth league championship, but their first since the Fall 2003 campaign. Earlier, the Dobson Roofing Hurricanes put together back to back five run rallies to beat the Texas Rangers 13-3 to win their second league title. The Stars scored the only run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. Andres Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, and was thrown out trying to steal second. Francis Dinzey struck out. With two outs, Christian Tabos singled to right. Luis Andrade followed with a single to right, sending pinch runner Will Gomez to third base. The Twins issued an intentional walk to Jose Espino, but the next batter Juan Veras hit a slow roller to third base, and Rafael Rodriguez in a hurry to make the play, bobbled it, allowing Gomez to streak home with the winning run. Lefthander Juan Prado of the Stars and Jose Acuna of the Twins hooked up in a terrific pitcher's duel, both shuting their opponents through nine. Prado allowed just four hits, and had only one jam to deal with. Daniel Blanco led off the sixth inning with a double, and was sacrificed to second by Melvin Bruno. The Stars walked Ricky Dominguez to set up a possible double play, but Dominguez stole second. Prado then struck out Nelson Sanchez and right fielder Veras made a diving catch of Emilio Vargas' foul fly to right to end the threat. Prado wound up with six strikeouts before giving away to reliever Wilson Ciprian, who earned the win with a scoreless tenth inning. Acuna gave up only two hits in the first eight, and wound up with six strikeouts. He dodged a bullet in the 8th. After Taboas' one out singlel, Luis Andrade hit a comebacker, but Acuna's throw to second to start a possible double play resulted in an error by shortstop Geraldo Vasquez. The Stars tried a delayed double steal, but the Twins handled it and threw out courtesy runner Francis Dinzey at the plate. Acuna also escaped in the 9th inning when he gave up back to back singles to Veras and Johenny Concepcion. However, pinch hitter Dennis Martinez bunted into a double play, breaking the back of a Stars rally. The luck ran out for Acuna and the Twins in the fateful tenth inning with Acuna losing his first championship game since3 2003. In the 18AA title game, the Hurricanes broke a 2-2 tie with five runs in the fifth. Two of the runs scored on an overthrow of home plate with the bases loaded. Craig Spatara then cracked a three-run homer for a 7-2 lead. The Canes added five more in the next inning. Carlos Sanchez singled in one and Spatara singled two more to highlight the frame. Jose Pena went the distance for the Hurricanes, scattered eight hits and striking out. Shawn Arena took the loss, going four full innings and leaving with no outs in the fifth. Four of the runs he gave up were unearned. Ronel Diaz finished up. Veras, who had two hits and made a spectacular diving catch in right field was chosen as the AAA title game Most Valuable Player. Spatara, who was 3 for 5 with five RBIs won the AA MVP honors. Johnny Carmona led the Hurricanes with four hits, including a run scoring triple. Bobby Alonso had two hits, Chuck Tooch and Carlos Sanchez had an RBI hit each, and Brian Schwal had one hit, but scored four times. Andrew Fariello and Alex Larriu had two hits apiece, Bryan Ready and Larriu with RBI singles, and Vince Jenco had a two bagger.

HERE IS A COMPLETE RUNDOWN OF THE PLAYERS AND PITCHERS OF THE WEEK FOR THE SPRING 2006 NABA PALM BEACH LEAGUE SEASON PLAYER OF THE WEEK-18AAA Mar 26-Dennis Martinez (Stars) Apr 2-Gustavo Castillo (Dodgers) Apr 9-Marcos Rodriguez (Dodgers) Apr 23-Romelio Ones (Athletics) Apr 30-Louie Napoleon (Rockhounds) May 7-Jim Oberdier (Rockhounds) May 21-Nathan Forsyth (Athletics) Jun 4-Emilio Vargas (Twins) Jun 11-Richard Maguire (Angels) Jun 18-Yoendry Perez (Athletics) Jun 25-Willie Martinez (Dodgers) Jul 2-Mark Drucker (Dodgers) Jul 16-Eric Morales (Rockhounds) Jul 23-Will Gomez (Stars) Jul 30-Chad Shaw (Whitecaps) Aug 6-Rafael Rodriguez (Twins) Aug 13-Francis Dinzey (Stars) Aug 20-Bert Laboy (Cardinals) PLAYER OF THE WEEK-18AA Mar 26-Euro Sanchez (Wise Guy's) Apr 2-Mike Farrell (Astros) Apr 9-Brian Schwal (Hurricanes) Apr 23-Greg Williams (Wise Guy's) Apr 30-Vince Jenco (Rangers) May 7-Pete Maddux (Rockies) May 21-Rick Mullan (Rangers) Jun 4-Leotis Johnson (Nationals) Jun 11-Tom Frederico (Yankees) Jun 18-Jeremy Morris (Rangers) Jun 25-Tristan Miceli (Wise Guy's) Jul 2-Dusty Stauffer (Marlins) Jul 16-Don Carney (Brewers) Jul 23-Carlos Sanchez (Hurricanes) Jul 30-Tristan Miceli (Wise Guy's) Aug 6-Greg Williams (Wise Guy's) Aug 13-Greg Walling (Nationals) Aug 20-Jorge Lopez (Rangers) PITCHER OF THE WEEK-18AAA Mar 26-Ronel Diaz (Dodgers) Apr 2-Bert Laboy (Cardinals) Apr 9-Mark Zappelli (Rockhounds) Apr 23-Jose Acuna (Twins) Apr 30-Mark Zappelli (Rockhounds) May 7-Roberto Aviles (Twins) May 21-Pedro Alvarado (Twins) Jun 4-Juan Prado (Stars) Jun 11-Pedro Alvarado (Twins) Jun 18-Matt Schnelly (Angels) Jun 25-Carlos Dominguez (Dodgers) Jul 2-Perry Menschel (Angels) Jul 16-Carlos Dominguez (Dodgers) Jul 23-Bert Laboy (Cardinals) Jul 30-Pedro Alvarado (Athletics) Aug 6-Billy Brescia (Dodgers) Aug 13-Jose Acuna (Twins) Aug 20-Jose Acuna (Twins) PITCHER OF THE WEEK-18AA Mar 26-Rick Mullan (Rangers) Apr 2-Craig Popsie (Wise Guy's) Apr 9-Sean Cleveland (Nationals) Apr 23-Cody Loomis (Hurricanes) Apr 30-Glen Landy (Glory Days) May 7-Vinny Casella (Astros) May 21-Vinny Casella (Astros) Jun 4-John Gigele (Wise Guy's) Jun 11-Glen Landy (Glory Days) Jun 18-Jesse Ladig (Hurricanes) Jun 25-Jose Pena (Hurricanes) Jul 2-Jesse Ladig (Hurricanes) Jul 16-Anthony Gutilla (Brewers) Jul 23-Vince Jenco (Rangers) Jul 30-Sean Cleveland (Nationals) Aug 6-Vinny Casella (Astros) Aug 13-Scot DeMadaler (Yankees) Aug 20-Jesse Ladig (Hurricanes) The player and pitcher of the week in each league receives a $10 certificate, redeemable for food and beverages at Home Run Sports Bar and Grill at Lantana and Jog Roads in Atlanta. The ceritificates are emailed to the team managers, who will print and distribute them to the honored players.