Reading Bulldogs

Reading vs. Mooney Dental Tanners  7-29-13 at Morton Field 

Reading (4)– Bingel 3-1, Oringer 2-1, Talis 3-1, Taylor 3-2, Padovani 3-1, Sitarz 3-1, Gagnon 2-1, Halsey 3-0, Z. Conti 2-0, Totals 24-8 

Woburn (3)  Burnham 3-0, Brown 3-2, Ruxin 3-1, Maher 3-0, Lentini 3-1, Porter 2-0,  Polano 3-0, McDonald 2-0, Cuozzo 0-0 Totals   22-4 Reading     200 002 x   -4Mooney     002  001 x  -3 

Doubles: Bingel, Oringer, Brown

Home Run: Brown

WP- Levine

LP-  Pessotti  

Wrap:  by Jeff Pierce Daily Times Chronicle

The Bulldogs (15-7-2) prevailed over Mooney Dental (7-12) 4-3 in a wet and wild finish on Monday evening, in a game shortened to six innings due to darkness. The previously rained out contest in Woburn was moved to Morton Field in Reading due to field availability issues at Ferullo. The Tanners played as the home team, which added to the late game drama caused by a rain delay. Woburn Coach Bob DeNapoli was just glad to play anywhere with this summer's weather having a big impact on his team. "We have had unusually bad luck with the rain, we are five to six games behind most of the other teams in games played. It's been tough for our players to get in a rhythm". The Bulldogs started the game like they were going to break out of their recent hitting woes when Brandon Bingel and Hank Oringer both doubled to the fence, and were followed by a Mike Taylor single making it 2-0. Oringer's recent roll has catapulted him into the top three in the league in most every offensive production stat. " Hank is a gamer who loves to play and drives 90 minutes to get to our games, and as great a hitter as he has been, he's been an even better fielder at third base" Coach Matt Morrison admired. The lead held into the third when Woburn struck back with some long overdue offensive clout which was started when Chris Brown hit a home run to the deepest part of Morton Field cutting the lead in half. "Chris is a first year player who moved to Woburn from Boston and was looking for a place to play. His double and home run both to the opposite field is the kind of power we have been lacking all season" noted DeNapoli. Woburn tied the score in the same inning when Scoop Ruxin and Carlton Lentini singled and  Ryson Porter hit a sacrifice fly. A big strikeout by Kevin Church ended the threat with the lead run at third base. Woburn starter Chris Pessotti mowed the Bulldogs down through the middle innings pitching to the minimum batters in innings two through five, after getting out the last two batters in the first. "Chris has been our number two starter this year after just being a reliever last year" said DeNapoli, "his ERA is solid and we just need give him more hitting support". The skies darkened and rumblings of thunder were heard in the distance as the Bulldogs finally got to Pessotti in the sixth with a walk and four straight singles by Zac Talis, Taylor, Dante Padovani and Colin Sitarz which brought home two runs. The rain was coming down heavy as Mooney took their turn at bat in the sixth and it was clear that the umpire was going to give the Bulldogs a chance to get Woburn out before calling the game and wiping out the Bulldogs runs.   After Reading reliever Zac Levine easily retired the first two batters the rain intensified and with the footing slippery the next two batters were walked before the umpire called a rain delay. After a 15 minute delay and quick field maintenance by the Reading side the field was deemed playable by the umpire and the Bulldogs attempted to get the elusive final out of the inning and most likely the game. It looked like Reading's diligence in getting the field playable could end up benefitting Woburn when Joe Burnham reached on an error which scored the third Woburn run. After another walk that loadied the bases, Levine retired Ruxin on a pop fly to finally end a half inning that lasted over 30 minutes of real time. With darkness totally set-in and a lightning strike in the distance, the umpire ruled the game over. "Trying to finish out the inning was the right thing to do" said Morrison, "no one likes a tie and we restarted with Woburn having two runners on and a chance to tie or win the game, which they almost did". DeNapoli's Tanners are as close to a playoff slot as they have been in a few years and with still eleven games left the coach is optimistic, " we have solid pitching and the best fielding team we have had in awhile, if we get the bats going we have a good shot".