Annabellas House of Mozzarella

Little League reorg meeting will be on Sep 19th at 9pm at the Little League field house...

The 9U All Stars participated in two summer tournaments in 2011.  The Maywood and Paramus tournaments.

The boys reached the semi finals in the Maywood tournament and the Championship in the Paramus tournament.  The Paramus tournament was a thirty team tournament.  Although we lost to Paramus in the championship game it was a great accomplishment being one of two teams standing.  At one point the boys ran off 14 straight wins.

The final standing in All Star tournament play this year was 18-4 - Great job boys

 The 12U All-Stars (in no particular order:  Anthony Trano, Chris Affuso, Kyle Dressel, Greg Carmona, Ryan Morrone, Jonathan Menge, Andrew Zoltowski, Dom Gadaleta, Michael Perez, Michael Giacumbo, Tommy Luizzi and Anthony Latoracca) wrapped up their 2011 postseason on Thursday night (7/14), falling just short of the District Finals in a 12-11 loss to Kearny. The “Boys of Summer” finished their Little League careers with the distinction of having been the only squad in this year’s 14- team field to have advanced to the District Final Four as 10, 11 and 12 year-olds…         The contest kicked off in promising fashion as the visiting Devils enjoyed a first inning bat-around resulting in an early 4-0 advantage.  Free passes to SS Anthony Trano,Jr. and starter Dom Gadaleta, an Andrew Zoltowski plunking, and hits by catcher Chris Affuso, LF Gregory Carmona and Anthony Latoracca fueled the two-out barrage.  Kearny made some first frame noise of their own, but came away with only one run to trail  4-1.  The 12U’s tacked on another score in the second as CF Ryan Morrone (and his hefty .577 postseason batting average) doubled and was driven home by Affuso ( 3 for 4, 2R, 4 RBI ) to go up 5-1.  The Kardinals then staged their own bat-around in the bottom of the inning, pushing across five runs and grabbing a 6-5 lead.          The third inning came and went quietly as each side managed just one hit ( ours by professional batsman  Jonathan Menge who got thru yet another All-Star season without striking out a single time ) and no runs, temporarily maintaining the status quo.  The Devils then had themselves another huge inning, sending the entire order to the plate in the top of the 4^th.  Back-to-back-to-back hits by Morrone, Gadaleta and Affuso got the party started.  Later, a BB by utility man Michael Perez ( who went a whopping 8 for 10 this All-Star season! ) and a base rap by Latoracca loaded the bases for 3B Tommy Luizzi who drilled an 0-2 pitch into the cheap seats for a grand slam--  Luizzi’s 4^th home run of the District Tournament.  The Devils emerged with an 11-6 lead, and after giving one back in the bottom of the fourth, headed into the final two frames with a four-run cushion.           Unfortunately, the 12U’s (who batted an impressive .450 as a team this summer) were out of ammo.  Back-to-back 1-2-3 innings at the plate by WR/Moonachie and a big 5^th inning rally by the Kardinals brought the contest to an 11-11 tie going into Kearny’s final at-bat.  The Devils managed to record a Trano-to-Luizzi  forceout at third to momentarily hold the home team at bay, but couldn’t ultimately escape the hot Kearny bats…      On behalf of the many fans and supporters of this fine group of young men, a big thank-you for all the exciting baseball you’ve given us over the Little League years.  We all look forward to your continued success as you move on to the “big field”….

After finishing pool play with a 4-2 record and securing the second spot in Pool B, the Devils opened up the championship round with a tough 12-1 loss against top-seeded Lyndhurst.  The play of 3B Michael Perez was one of the few bright spots in the contest ( along with Bob Morrone’s one-handed snatch of a foul pop to save Mrs. Perez ), as the 12U’s had more fielding errors (6) than hits (5).  Facing elimination, the Devils met Rutherford National on Wednesday night (7/13) in Wallington in a marathon tilt that featured a combined 33 hits, a rain delay, and Mrs. Affuso concealing not one, but TWO home run balls…..                Visiting WR/Moonachie lit up the board in the top of the first, parlaying a walk by SS Anthony Trano, Jr. and RBI base hits by starter Ryan Morrone, Anthony Latoracca and C  Chris Affuso into a 3-0 advantage.  Rutherford scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame, and after recording a 1-2-3 Devils’ 2^nd, exploded for four tallies to grab a 5-3 lead after two innings of play.  The 12U’s seized the advantage right back in the top of the third, blistering the Bulldogs with a string of hits by Trano, Morrone ( 4 for 5, 3 R, 2 RBI ), a 2 RBI base knock by 1B Dom Gadaleta, CF/3B Latoracca, and… POW!—a 2 run dinger by Mrs. Affuso’s pride and joy to go up 8-4.  As the dark clouds came rolling in and the wind kicked up swirls of dust, Rutherford battled back with some long ball of their own, jumping ahead 9-8 as the rain started falling and one big shot of thunder and lightning triggered a half hour hiatus in play….     As the contest continued, it became apparent that ( yes Gina ) the rainbow now arcing over Wood-Ridge was a sign from the baseball Gods.  Middle reliever Thomas Luizzi, Jr. ( 4 IP, 5H, 2R, 5K’s ) extricated his pals from the Rutherford third with a strikeout and an assist by cohort Latoracca who first tripped, then tagged out the Bulldogs’ cleanup hitter at the hot corner to end the inning.  The Devils regained the lead for good in the top of the 4^th, rocking the home team’s pitching corps in a bat-around that featured BB’s to Luizzi, Gadaleta and the patient Andrew Zoltowski,  two base hits (both by Morrone), doubles by “the Anthonys”, and crowd- pleasing out-of-the-parkers by Affuso (6 RBI’s on the night!) and newly installed leadoff hitter Jonathan Menge.  The 12U’s tacked on an insurance run in the 5^th as Kyle Dressel singled aboard, swiped second, and was knocked in by the crisp-hitting of RF Gregory Carmona to put the Devils ahead 15-9.         Rutherford mounted a last-gasp rally in the bottom of the 5^th, scoring two runs to narrow their deficit to 15-11.  The rally was extinguished by some fine glovework by Trano, who also contributed two assists in the sixth to help Luizzi close out the game, ending Rutherford National’s postseason. Next up for the 12U’s: a rematch with Kearny tonight (7/14) with the winner advancing to the District Finals…..