Annabellas House of Mozzarella

Kearny  5     WR/ Moonachie  3                   The 12U All-Stars suffered their first loss of the postseason in Lodi on Thursday night (7/7), falling to Kearny 5-3 in a battle of the unbeatens.  The Devils are now 4-1 and tied for second place in Pool B as they head into Saturday’s final pool play contest against North Arlington (2-3).  The 12U’s will advance to the championship round with either a Saturday loss by Rutherford American or ( should Rutherford win ) by beating North Arlington and surrendering not more than 5 runs over what Rutherford gives up  vs. Kearny.( And you thought this was easy……).     The visiting Devils grabbed an early 1-0 lead as CF Ryan Morrone got aboard courtesy of a misplayed grounder to short, and scored on a base hit by starting pitcher Dom Gadaleta ( 5 IP, 4 H, 8 K’s ). The Kardinals evened things up in the bottom of the first, parlaying an infield single and two stolen bases by their speedy leadoff hitter into the home team’s first run of the contest.  The score remained at 1-1 thru the second inning as Morrone’s rising liner to center was reeled in with a leaping catch, stranding LF Kyle Dressel at third.  The Devils started off the top of the 3^rd inning with a bang (literally) as white-hot 2B Jonathan Menge slammed a double off the upper panel of the centerfield fence.  Two strikeouts and a pickoff at second later, Kearny got out of another frame with the stalemate intact.       The home team took advantage of two free passes in the bottom of the inning as Kearny’s “ 3 hitter” lashed a 2 RBI single to right center to give the Hudson County squad a 3-1 lead at the midway point.  The cushion was short-lived however as Devils backstop Chris Affuso whacked his first homer of the postseason to trim the deficit to 3-2.  The dinger was the subject of some extended controversy as it had ricocheted back onto the playing surface, prompting the Kearny coaching staff to heatedly argue the call with game and district officials.  As the matter was being disputed,  Affuso’s Mom was spotted concealing the home run ball “ Where they’d never notice it” (her words)….        Not wanting to miss out on the fun, RF Michael “ Swoosh “ Perez christened his Nike Ignite with his first career tater, a beauty down the leftfield line to knot the score at 3-3. Gadaleta cruised thru the next two frames, holding the Kardinals scoreless as both he and the equally impressive Kearny starter reached their maximum allotment of pitches (85) after five innings of work.  Devils 1B/CF Anthony Latoracca led off the top of the sixth with a sharp liner up the middle, but could not advance past third base as Kearny’s lefty reliever held serve.  The contest came to a sudden and dramatic conclusion with one on and one out in the bottom of the 6^th as the home team’s centerfielder enjoyed a moment he’ll always remember, smacking a walkoff 2-run homer to close out a terrific game between two equally terrific squads….    

 The 12U All-Stars staged the most improbable of comebacks on Tuesday night, erasing a five run deficit with a nine run 6^th inning to down Carlstadt 10-6 at Lyndhurst’s Patsy DeLoy Field.  With the win, the Devils grabbed the top spot on the Pool B leader board with a halfway mark of 3-0.                   The contest rapidly took on the tenor of a pitchers’ duel as Carlstadt southpaw Kyle Post and WR’s hard-throwing Dom Gadaleta stymied the opposition for the first two innings. Carlstadt broke through with their first hit of the evening in the bottom of the third, and went on to capitalize on Gadaleta’s control struggles by drawing four walks and stealing the plate three times. Reliever Tommy Luizzi came out of the pen to end the inning with a K, but not in time to prevent the Wildcats’ 4^th dish theft of the frame. After a scoreless fourth inning for both sides, the 12U’s trailed 4-0.            Luizzi finally got the visitors on the board with a solo opposite field dinger in the top of the fifth. Pesky Carlstadt then parlayed two hits and yet another swipe of the plate into 2 insurance runs, whipping their fans into a frenzy and carrying a 6-1 advantage into the Devils’ final at-bat.  As Yogi Berra famously said however “ It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”………..      As Senior nervously watched from the booth upstairs, Anthony Trano, Jr. led off the WR/Moonachie sixth. With his teammates chanting away, Trano patiently let Carlstadt reliever Michael Bolwell unravel, drawing a 5-pitch walk. CF Ryan Morrone and 2B Jonathan Menge did likewise, and even the ensuing Wildcat timeout did nothing to alleviate the home team’s mound woes. Dom Gadaleta got a measure of revenge, drawing a free pass with bases loaded to make it 6-2 , and Carlstadt went to the bullpen again.           Luizzi greeted the Carlstadt closer with an RBI base hit, and a second run scored on a wild throw home (6 to 4…..). 1B/3B Anthony Latoracca’s grounder to short found itself thrown into the first base dirt, scoring Gadaleta and Luizzi (6 to 6….). After swiping second, Latoracca was driven home by the HUGE  RBI single of catcher Chris Affuso to give the Devils their first lead of the game at 7-6, silencing the Wildcat cheering section for good.  Special runner Kyle Dressel replaced Affuso on the basepaths, and after taking second on a passed ball, was sent the remainder of the way around courtesy of LF Michael Perez ( he of the red cleats and the Nike bat!). Morrone made his second at-bat of the inning a memorable one, punctuating the comeback with a 2-run homer to put the 12U’s in control 10-6.   Luizzi went on to post a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, earning the win with a 3  1/3 inning, two-hit performance……  Next up for the Devils will be East Rutherford (0-2) on Thursday 6/30.

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

The 12U All-Stars piled up the hits again (20), en route to a 16-0 four-inning rout of Hasbrouck Heights Orange on Monday night to improve to 2-0 in pool play.  The visiting Devils immediately took it to former teammate/ HH starter Brian Faussette, belting out six hits and scoring five runs in the top of the first.  It was déjà vu all over again in the second inning as the 12U’s added another five runs to the tally, finally stopping team dad Anthony Trano Sr. from pacing outside the dugout.  Major damage was courtesy of slugger Tommy Luizzi, whose mammoth 3-run blast landed along the outer reaches of the left field parking lot.        Heights held serve in the top of the third, but couldn’t put a dent into starter Ryan Morrone, who tossed three no-hit innings and helped his own cause with a 3 for 4 night at the plate. Fan favorite Michael Giacumbo ripped a base hit to start the 4^th inning and the next half dozen batters followed suit. When the dust had settled, the Devils had heaped on another six runs and reliever Jonathan Menge (3 for 4, 3R,RBI) took the hill to close out the contest. Heights got their only hit of the night with a deep fly to left centerfield that was quickly turned into a long out by CF Anthony Latoracca who made a perfect throw to 2B Morrone to nail the sliding batter at second. Menge then induced two groundouts to notch the save. Offensive kudos for the evening went to the entire lineup as seven players had two or more hits, and all dozen Devils reached base safely. ( First inning ) web gem by the trio of Trano, Menge & Gadaleta who turned a beautiful 6-4-3 double play… Next up for the 12U’s will be Carlstadt (1-1) on Tuesday 6/28 in Lyndhurst.