Annabellas House of Mozzarella

The 12U All-Stars kicked off their 2011 pool play slate in Garfield on Saturday 6/25 with an impressive seventeen hit, 12-4 victory over Rutherford American. With all of their previous all-star managers making up this year’s coaching staff ( Harry Carmona- 8U,9U;  Fred Dressel -10U; Mgr. Ralph Affuso-11U ), the defending district champs are looking to bring home the 12 year-old banner for the first time since 2004….              The visiting Devils wasted no time in this contest, sending the entire order to the plate in the top of the 1^st and grabbing a 4-0 lead. The barrage was bookended by leadoff ace Anthony Trano and RF Gregory Carmona, and featured a clutch two-out, 2 RBI base knock by catcher Chris Affuso.  The second inning brought more of the same as Ryan Morrone and Dom Gadaleta both doubled and scored around a Jonathan Menge walk, and Tommy Luizzi registered the first of his three RBI’s to put the 12U’s up 7-1. Rutherford showed some early signs of life, narrowing the score to 7-3 after two full innings, but there wasn’t much left in the tank for the home Bulldogs.           1B/OF Andrew Zoltowski singled and later scored in the third off the new Nike hardware of 2B Michael Perez. OF/3B Anthony Latoracca parked a 4^th frame solo home run into the centerfield briar patch, and the Devils took a 9-3 lead into the fifth inning.           WR-Moonachie iced the cake in the fifth as Murderers’  Row (Morrone-Menge-Gadaleta-Luizzi) tacked on another three insurance runs. Closer Luizzi yielded only an unearned run in the Rutherford 6^th and nailed down the win for starter Dom Gadaleta. The evening’s Rolaids award went to middle reliever Ryan Morrone who gave up one hit and no runs over 2 and 2/3 innings; the Purple Heart went to SS Anthony Trano who dodged one bad hop and took another in the kisser…     Next up for the 12U’s will be Hasbrouck Heights Orange (0-1) on Monday 6/27 in Lodi