News and Announcements
Reading vs. Mooney Dental Tanners 6/17/12 at Morton Field
By JON HINES Daily Times Chronicle
READING – Mooney Dental has been looking for another arm to complement Jonathan Bishop in its rotation and Sunday afternoon, right-hander Max McKenna staked his claim to being that person.
With a complete game victory, allowing just four hits and an unearned run, McKenna helped the Tanners snap a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Reading at Morton Field.
Mooney Dental also got the deciding two runs in the top of the seventh inning, finally getting to Bulldogs’ starter Scott Tully, who also threw a complete game. The Tanners went to 2-4-1 for the season with McKenna earning his first win.
“It was very solid. He’s got a rubber arm just like Bishop; he can just pitch all day,” said Mooney manager Bob DeNapoli of McKenna, an Amherst graduate. “He said he’s feeling great so that’s even better.”
Even though Mooney did commit three errors, they all came in the first inning, after which the Tanners played six innings of clean ball, including diving catches by center fielder Ryson Porter and first baseman Kevin McKenzie. Shortstop Carlton Lentini also ended up retiring seven Reading batters.
“The last few games they’ve been booting it and the confidence goes down; no one wants the ball hit to them,” said DeNapoli. “(Sunday) everybody made some great plays out there; it’s totally changing around for them.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter Bill Cataldo reached on one of those errors and stole second. He went to third on a passed ball and then scored on another error.
From that point on, however, Reading (3-4-1) only had two hitters reach second base.
“Offensively, that was our worst outing of the year. No real rhythm through the lineup and even the run we got was a gift,” said Reading manager Matt Morrison.
Tully cruised through the first two innings but the Tanners pushed across a run in the top of the third inning with McKenzie drawing a leadoff walk, reaching second on a walk to left fielder Alex Ruocco, reaching third on a Reading error and then scoring on an RBI single by third baseman Bill Manley.
It appeared as though the game was headed for extra inning but Mooney came through in the top of the seventh with a two-out rally for two runs.
“Finally, timely hitting. It was great to see the guys come through,” said DeNapoli.
Pinch hitter Brett Manley drew a walk and Lentini singled to left. Bill Manley also walked and pinch hitter Scoop Ruxin’s infield hit scored Brett Manley. Second baseman John McDonald (2-for-4) followed that with a single to left field, delivering Lentini with a key insurance run.
“Great to see his bat come around because he hadn’t played much in the spring (and) he looked good with a couple nice hits,” said DeNapoli of McDonald.
It was the first start of the year for Tully, who had not pitched since the end of the high school season.
“For the rookie’s first start, he did a good job (and) kept us in the game but we’re not going to win any games swinging the bats like we did,” said Morrison. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board, keep working hard and see what happens.
“We gave (Tully) time off because he pitched a lot in high school. You could see he had a little bit of rust in terms of his breaking ball and off-speed pitch, but his fastball’s there. He’ll be a once-a-week guy and he’s going to find that rhythm later on in the year; he’s going to be fine.”
The left-hander appears to be a natural fit for the Bulldogs’ rotation this summer, as he builds towards his anticipated senior season with the Reading Rockets.
“We needed him to rest a little bit to get his arm fresh, but he fits right in,” said Morrison. “He’s not overmatched by any means, so we’re looking forward to it.”
The Bulldogs play again on Tuesday when they host Arlington at 6 p.m. while Mooney Dental takes the field again on Wednesday night when it travels to Maplewood Field and takes on Andre at 7:45 p.m.
MOONEY (3) – Ruocco 1-0, Lentini 3-1, Bi. Manley 3-1, DeNapoli 2-0, McDonald 4-2, Collins 2-0, McKenzie 2-1, Porter 2-0, Burnham 3-0, Ruxin 1-1, O’Loughlin 2-1, McKenna 0-0, Braga 1-0, Br. Manley 0-0. Totals 26-7.
READING (1) – Cataldo 2-0, Castoldi 3-0, Carmain 2-0, Taylor 2-0, Talis 3-2, Fischer 3-0, Buitkus 2-0, Gagnon 3-1, Halsey 3-1, Tully 0-0, Manzi 1-0. Totals 24-4.
MOONEY 001 000 2 - 3
READING 100 000 0 - 1
Doubles: Halsey
WP – McKenna (1-0); LP – Tully (0-1).
Reading vs. Arlington Trojans 6/19/12 at Morton Field
Arlington (6)- Freidman 3-0, Mansfield 4-2, Roche 2-1, Cunningham 3-1, Lidonni 3-0, Gustin 4-2, Griffin 3-1, Clasper 0-0, Birmingham 2-0, Fitzpatrick 2-0, O’ Conner 3-0, Totals 29-7
Reading (4) – Cataldo 3-1, Conti 4-1, Taylor 3-0, Talis 3-1, Carmain 2-1, Castoldi 4-0, Zajac 2-0, Fischer 3-0, O’Leary 2-0, Buitkus 1-1, Totals 27-5
Doubles: Cataldo
Home Runs- Carmain, Roche
WP- Gustin LP- Hayward
Arlington 0000042- 6
Reading 1030000- 4
Wrap: The Bulldogs were five outs away from their first home win of the season when their late inning troubles came back to haunt them once again in a tough 6-4 loss to Arlington. Through five innings the Bulldogs had built a 4-0 lead behind Chris Carmain’s three-run homer and Brian O’Neil’s two hit pitching. With one out in the sixth a throwing error opened the door for the Trojans .when Jim Roche, one of the top collegiate players in New England, stepped to the plate. Roche deposited an 0-2 pitch well over the left center field fence to cut the lead in half. Later in the inning Sean Gustin hit a two-run single to tie the game. In the seventh it was Gustin again with a two-run two-out single to give the Trojans the lead. Appropriately it was also Gustin that closed out the game on the mound and sent the Bulldogs down to another tough defeat.
Reading vs. Medford 6/15/12 at Playstead Park
Reading (9) – Beliveau 5-1, Conti 3-2, Manzi 5-2, Castoldi 4-2, Cataldo 5-3, Zajac 4-1, Fischer 4-2, Talis 2-0, Taylor 2-2, O’Leary 2-1, Buitkus 1-0, Totals 37-16
Medford (4)- Salvati 4-2, Gray 4-1, DelPonte 4-1, Shhehan 4-2, McConnville 3-0, Kalfopoulos 3-1, Polanco 3-0, Pashos 2-0, Gunn 2-1, Totals 29-8
Doubles – Conti, Fischer, Taylor, Cataldo
WP- Kelley
LP- Gilchrist
Reading 1020042 -9
Medford 0020101 -4
Wrap:
The Bulldogs took out some frustration with their lack of scoring with a sixteen hit explosion against the first place Americans, in their 9-4 victory. Kevin O’Leary’s two out two strike base hit got the Bulldogs out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Medford came all the way back to tie the game with a series of infield run scoring hits. In the sixth inning the Bulldogs opened the floodgates when Alex Fischer pounded a two run double followed by Mike Taylor’s run scoring double. Salem St stars Nick Conti and Bill Cataldo stroked doubles in the seventh inning to stretch the lead to 9-4 and securing the Bulldogs first win after being winless in the prior three.
Reading vs. Wakefield Merchants 6/6/12 at Walsh Field
Reading (3) – Cataldo 3-0, Castoldi 3-1, Taylor 4-1, Fischer 4-0, Buitkus 2-1, Manzi 2-0, Halsey 2-0, Carmain 1-0, Talis 1-1, O’Leary 3-1, Hartwell 3-3 Totals 28-8
Wakefield (5)- Orlowitz 3-2, Searles 3-1, M. Sorrentino 4-2, Ramsey 4-2, Hartung 3-0, Losanno 3-0, Napoli 2-0, Dahl 2-0, D. Sorrentino 2-1 Totals 26-8
Doubles – Orlowitz
WP- Bisso
LP- O’Neil
Reading 0012000 -3
Wakefield 002021x -5
Wrap: The Merchants came back with three late runs to defeat the Bulldogs in the usual see-saw affair between the two rivals, 5-3. Reading broke out on top in the third inning after two walks and a Pete Castoldi sacrifice fly gave them a 1-0 lead. Wakefield took advantage of the Reading hurler Brian O’Neil’s (4 walks) wildness in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 2-1. Reading flipped the score once more in the fourth when Kevin O’Leary and Darren Hartwell (three hits) had rbi singles, giving them a 3-2 lead. In the decisive fifth inning Wakefield took the lead back 4-3 aided by three straight singles and a passed ball which brought home the eventual winning run. Wakefield tacked on an insurance run in the sixth on a Dave Orlowitz double. Reading had one last chance in the seventh when with a runner on base Trevor Manzi’s line drive was flagged down in right field to end the game.
Reading vs. Testa Corp. Bombers 6/09/12 at Lexington HS;Reading vs Andre Chiefs 6/10/12 at Morton Field
Reading (8) –, Cataldo 3-1, Castoldi 3-1, Buitkus 4-1, Carmain 4-2, Gagnon 3-0, Halsey 3-0, Zajac 4-2, Kelley 1-0, Boyle 2-0, Totals 27-7
Testa Corp (7)- O’Flynn 3-2, Perry 4-3, M. Addessa 3-1, Barber 3-0, McCarthy 4-1, Gad 3-0, Allen 4-2, Wolsney 3-2, Ing 3-1, Totals 30-12
Doubles – Carmain (2), Perry
WP- Kelley LP- McCarthy
Reading 2100050 -8
Testa Corp. 2302000 -7
Andre (2) – Bercume 4-1, Ballageron 5-2, Pyburn 2-0, Copa 2-0, Andre 4-0, Deshler 4-0, DiCato 3-0, Yanakpolus 3-1, Leva 4-0, Totals 31-4
Reading (2) –, Cataldo 5-0, Carmain 4-1, Buitkus 4-1, Conti 3-1, Fischer 3-0, Zajac 3-1, Flutie 4-0, O’Leary 3-0, Kelley 1-1, Gagnon 3-0, Totals 30-5
Doubles- Yanakopulos
TP- BoyleTP- Dunphy
Andre 101000000 -2
Reading 000200000 -2
Wrap: The Bulldogs played two games over the weekend and came away with 3 out of 4 points in two very differently played contests. On Saturday the Bulldogs played the Bombers from East Boston as part of the Gerie DeAngelis Memorial Tournament played at Lexington HS. In a sloppily played game the shorthanded Bulldogs entered the 6th inning down 7-3, but scored five times to provide the winning margin. In the decisive inning it was Bill Cataldo’s sacrifice fly that tied the score and that was followed by Pete Castoldi’s rbi single. The Bulldogs played the perennial power Chiefs from Medford, on Sunday evening at Morton Field, and played a much superior game from the prior day but could only come away with a 2-2 nine inning tie. The Chiefs have been the Bulldog’s nemesis in their brief history, besting Reading seven out of eight contests. Early on it was looking like more of the same when Andre jumped out to a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth. But the resilient Bulldogs tied the score with a clutch two out two run single from catcher Matt Zajac. From there both pitchers shut down the run scoring for the day through two extra frames. The Bulldog starter Sean Boyle dominated in the late innings allowing just one hit over the last seven innings and he looked stronger with each inning. The Bulldogs on the other hand had several late threats with a chance to walk off with a victory but came up short. The last of which came in the eighth with Doug Flutie at the plate, whom earlier had made a highlight reel catch and throw from short centerfield. With the bases loaded, Flutie’s hard comebacker was turned into a pitcher to catcher to first base double play to thwart the Bulldogs best attempt to sweep the weekend. Per league rules games cannot be played beyond nine innings so the game was recorded as a tie.
Sponsors
