Andre Chiefs

By Bruce Hack
ICBL Media Relations Director

LEXINGTON, MA – Under blue skies and bright skies the best players from the Boston Park League and the best players from the Intercity League got together for the third annual Joe Driscoll Memorial All-Star game and the hosts came away with a 10-9 win at Lexington High School.

All-Star games usually feature great pitching, great defense and timely hitting. This had all that, but was like two games in one. The two teams combined for 19 runs and 20 hits, with 18 of the runs and 12 of the hits coming in the fourth and fifth innings. For all the hits it was a fielders choice that brought in the winning run.The Park League had tied the game at 9-9 with a six-run fifth only to see the Intercity League take the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with the fourth lead change in two innings
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Park League hurler Grady Campion (Cannon Club/Oberlin), who entered the game in the fourth, walked the first three batters in the fifth to load the bases. Campion was replaced by Scott Hawpe (Grossman Marketing/Holy Cross) who induced a ground ball to short by Joe Smith (Mooney/Harvard) that scored Taylor von Kriegenbergh (Wakefield/UMass-Lowell) with what turned out to be the winning run for the home squad.

Pitching took over for the final three innings as neither team could push any more runs across the plate.

The Intercity League pitchers combined to set down the last nine Park League batters, four by strikeout.

Wakefield’s Steve Coffey (UMass-Boston) earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the first two batters. His effort earned him Intercity League Co-MVP honors.

Pete Frates (Lexington/Boston College) shared Intercity League MVP honors with Coffey. Frates was 1-for-2 and drove in Brendan Pyburn (Andre/Merrimack), who tripled on the first pitch he saw, with the first run on an infield out in the first inning. He also turned a 9-3 double play in the fourth when he made a great diving catch near the line and doubled up Francis Gonzalez (Boston Padres/Boston English HS) to end the three-run rally by the Park League.

For the second straight year Anthony Del Prete (Testa Corp/Suffolk) started for the Intercity squad and turned in a 1-2-3, seven pitch effort with one strikeout. It was one of only three 3-up, 3-down innings in the game all by Intercity pitchers. The Chiefs Mike DiCato worked the second inning for the ICL, allowing just one hit.

James Ramsey (Wakefield/Trinity) had the second 3-up, 3-down inning when he set down the Park League in the eighth inning on 10 pitches with one strikeout.
Both teams batted around in an inning and sent 11 batters to the plate.

For the Intercity League it happened in the fourth when the hosts turned four walks, four hits and a throwing error into eight runs. A pair of Blue Sox players, Eric Poling (Greenville College) with an RBI single to give the ICBL a 4-3 lead, and Ross Curley (Bentley) a 2-run single had big hits in the inning. Curley also combined with Medford’s Steve Tahmoush (Babson) on a double steal with Tahmoush scoring the seventh run of the inning.

Boston responded with an 11-batter six run fifth inning. Andrew Tenaglia (Grossman Marketing/Holy Cross), who was named BPL MVP for the game, had the big hit a two-single to drive in the third and fourth runs of the inning. He finished 2-for-2 with a run, 2 RBI and also turned an unassisted double play at first base in the seventh. He made a diving catch of a line drive off the bat of Mike DelPonte (Medford/Bryant) and then doubled up Nick Martinho (Testa/Suffolk).

There were four double plays turned in the game, three by the Intercity League and none of them were the usual groundball variety. Two were turned in by Intercity outfielders, the one by Frates and one by Jay DeFillipo (Testa/Siena) who made a catch in center and threw home to nail Ivan Clemente (Cannon Club/Maryland) who bulled his way into catcher Poling. The first ICBL double play came in the third when Josue Feliciano (Carlson Club/MCLA) struck out with runners at first and second. As the ball got away from catcher Bob McCarthy (Andre/Merrimack) he gunned down John Hayes (Grossman/Marketing/Suffolk) going to third.

For the third straight year the two teams played the game in honor of Joe Driscoll, an umpire and friend of many in the Greater Boston baseball community.

The game also showcased the best amateur baseball in the greater Boston area as the players represented both leagues and their teams well and gave the fans a great show.