Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce  Daily Times Chronicle 

Reading (12) – Cataldo 5-4, Conti 4-3. Manzi 4-2, Talis 5-1, Hartwell 4-1, Castoldi 4-1, Buitkus 4-1, Gagnon 2-1, Halsey 2-2, Zajac 4-2  Totals 38-18 

Wakefield (3) –Townsend 3-1, Searles 4-1, M. Sorrentino 3-0, Ramsey 4-0, Papa 2-1, Orlowitz 2-0, Breen 2-0, Napoli 3-1,  Losanno 2-1, Totals 25-5 

Doubles- Townsend, Losanno, Gagnon, Napoli, Buitkus, Manzi 

Reading      001 053  3   12

Wakefield   120 000  0    3 

WP- O’Neil   LP- Ferlan 

Wrap: Seemingly in one fell swoop the Bulldogs let out their season long frustration of squandering scoring opportunities by pasting the Wakefield Merchants pitching with an eighteen hit and twelve run offensive display. With the victory at Walsh Field on Monday evening the Bulldogs advance to the Intercity League semi-finals for the second straight year in just their third year as a franchise. “After playing thirty-five games in just two months it is nice to see that the efforts and commitment that the players and coaches have made is rewarded,” said Coach Morrison, “finishing strong has been the Bulldogs way over the past three years and here we go again”. The game started out ominously for the Bulldogs as the hard hitting Merchants put together three runs on four hits and two walks against starter Brian O’Neil through two innings. Down 3-1 entering the fifth inning the Bulldogs were down to their last nine outs against Wakefield’s starter Christian Ferlan. “We may be the least vocal bench in the League as far as rah-rah banter goes, but that is more of a personality thing versus guys not caring about winning. Our guys were not about to throw  the towel in on the season when our backs were against the wall and they responded with a fury”, said Morrison. It was Trevor Manzi’s two-out two-run double that provided the Bulldogs with the first lead of the game at 4-3 in the pivotal fifth inning. Bill Cataldo was also in the middle of the five run fifth inning rally that gave the Bulldogs a 6-3 lead. Cataldo had four hits and three runs batted-in for the game and for the series he had ten hits in thirteen at-bats.  Cataldo’s Salem State teammate Nick Conti had a big night as well with three hits and three runs batted-in while batting from the unfamiliar left side of the plate when a twinge in his right shoulder turned him around from his usual righty stance. The floodgates opened when the Bulldogs scored three more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings as every Bulldog had a hit on the evening including seven players with runs batted-in and five players with multiple hit games. O’Neil got stronger after the first two innings and allowed only one hit over his final four innings in recording the victory. With the teams playing each other for the fifth time over a two week period and with the score of the game out of hand tempers flared in the seventh inning when Manzi was plunked in the head at the plate. Both benches got heated and players left their dugouts briefly but the umpires did a good job in restoring order and the game ended without further incident. The Bulldogs now have a return date with the defending five-time League champion the Lexington Blue Sox. Last year the Bulldogs were four outs away from ending the Blue Sox reign before going down in a memorable five game series. The first two games will be played at Lexington HS at 8PM this Wednesday and Thursday. On Saturday and Sunday (if needed) the series comes to Morton Field with the times yet to be announced. Game Five (if needed) would be played at Lexington HS at 8PM next Monday.    

By Jeff Pierce  Daily Times Chronicle

Game One:

Reading (4) – Cataldo 4-3, Conti 4-0. Manzi 4-1, Talis 3-0,  Buitkus 4-1,  Castoldi 4-3, Fischer 1-0, Gagnon 2-0, Zajac 3-1 Totals 29-9 

Wakefield (5) –Townsend 3-0, Searles 2-1, M. Sorrentino 3-2,  Ramsey 3-1,  Papa 3-2, Orlowitz 3-0, Breen 3-0, Napoli 3-0,  Losanno 3-2, Totals 26-8 

Doubles- Ramsey, Manzi 

Reading     010 003  0   -4

Wakefield   002 030 x    -5 

WP- Donovan   LP- Kelley  

Game Two:

 Wakefield (4) –Townsend 3-1, Searles 4-2, M. Sorrentino 4-0,  Ramsey 4-1,  Papa 4-2, Orlowitz 3-0, Breen 4-1, Napoli 2-0,  Losanno 3-1, Totals 31-7 

Reading (6) – Cataldo 4-3, Conti 4-0. Manzi 3-1, Talis 4-2,  Hartwell 4-3, Castoldi 4-0, Buitkus 3-2,  Castoldi 4-0, Hasley 3-1,Zajac 3-2 Totals 36-14 

Doubles: Papa 

Wakefield  200 000 2  -4

Reading     411 000 x  -6 

WP- Tully     LP-Bisso  

Wrap: On a steamy Sunday afternoon the Bulldogs and Merchants split the first two games of their quarterfinal playoff series, on two different fields complete with two rain delays and a rainbow spanning Morton Field for the majority of the second game. The sopping humid summer conditions seem to affect both teams as the level of play was significantly below par in both games with each team benefitting from sloppy defense and base running blunders. “These games were not a testament to the quality of this league”, said Bulldog Coach Morrison, “it was a clinic on how not to play the game for most of the day”. Fortunately for the Bulldogs they had their ace Scott Tully going in the elimination game after giving away game one to the Merchants 5-4 at Walsh Field. Tully gutted out the game two victory after a 16 day layoff left him with not his best stuff and a 2-0 deficit after the first inning. From there he didn’t allow another run striking out five and allowing just 4 more hits in his six inning outing. “Today was the first time Scott struggled the least bit all season with us, but he is so competitive that we knew he would get through it and he threw five shutout innings against a strong hitting team” said Morrison. The Bulldogs were down one game in the series and 2-0 after that first inning but rebounded nicely with four runs of their own in the first. Bill Cataldo whom had a six hit afternoon (both games), lead off the rally that featured runs batted-in from Pete Castoldi, Zak Talis, Darren Hartwell and Steve Buitkus. Reading tacked on runs in each of the next two innings with run scoring hits from Talis and Matt Zajac. After 101 pitches Tully was removed for the Bulldogs closing specialist Dylan Maki and though he induced 5 routine grounders the Merchants scored two runs with Bulldog misplays. Maki took matter into his own hands by striking out the final Wakefield batter for the 6-4 victory. In game one at Walsh Field both teams tried to give the game away. Reading had three runners thrown out on questionable base running plays which thwarted rallies and Wakefield giving Reading three runs on a base loaded swinging bunt as they threw the ball over the diamond. In the end it was Reading’s sloppy infield play which lead to the pivotal three run Merchant rally in the fifth inning that gave them what turned out to be an insurmountable 5-1 lead. “We had a good chance to come away with a sweep today”, lamented Morrison, “but we generally do not like to do things the easy way here and I expect a much crisper game tomorrow from our guys”. Reading and Wakefield will play on Monday evening at 5:45 at Walsh Field to determine who moves on the semi-final round where the champion Lexington Blue Sox await.      

By Jeff Pierce Daily Times Chronicle 

Reading (6) – Cataldo  4-1, Conti 3-2, Manzi 2-0,  Talis 2-0, Hartwell 2-1, Fischer 4-0, Buitkus 4-3, Halsey 3-0, Kelley 3-0  Totals 27-7 

Andre (3) – Bercume 3-3, Deshler 2-1, Cavanaugh 2-0,  Portes 3-2,  Andre 3-0, DiCato 2-0, Baillargeon 3-1, Barbati 1-0, Caggiano 1-0, Venezia 1-1, Yanakopoulos 1-0, Brynes 2-0, Boleski 3-0  Totals 27-8  

Reading      014 010  0  -6

Andre          000 002  1  -3

Doubles: PortesTriples: Bercume (2) 

WP-   Church   LP-  Machado  

Wrap: Reading finished off the regular season in style on Wednesday night, at Malden Catholic HS, by ending the Andre Chiefs ten game winning streak with a 6-3 win. With the victory the Bulldogs finished the regular season on a five game unbeaten streak, all against playoff bound teams, and were just one point short of attaining the fourth seed for the playoffs. Another strong pitching effort and some timely hitting was the winning formula on this night. Kevin Church won his second game in seven days and extended his scoreless streak on the mound to thirteen innings before giving up three late meaningless runs for his complete game victory. The Bulldogs jumped on the Andre starter for five runs in the first three innings with Steve Buitkus keying the attack on the night with three hits and three runs batted in. The Bulldogs also made several highlight reel plays in the field. Two came from Darren Hartwell with full extension diving catches and also a pair of slick infield plays by first baseman John Halsey.  The key fielding play was made by Bill Cataldo who stopped the Chiefs momentum in the fourth inning. With runners on first and second and one out, the Chiefs attempted a double steal. The batter then hit a hard shot down to Bill Cataldo who fielded the ball just as the runner was sliding hard into him, he was able to tag the base and make a strong throw to first to end the threat with a twin killing. The Bulldogs enter the playoffs with momentum and Bulldogs owner John Halsey spoke very appreciatively to the team after the game. Halsey spoke to the team about the commitment, teamwork and attitude they displayed during a busy last couple of weeks in the heat of the summer.  “We have young players who have a lot of other things going on in their lives, who have given up opportunities for some well deserved fun and relaxation to be at games four or five days a week”, said Halsey, “I am very proud of these players and how we have come together”.