Washington Township Senators 35+

Talk about your game of inches. A Dennis Gulla bloop single sailed exactly one inch above Jim McAllister's glove in short left-center, and thus John DiPietro was deprived of a no-hitter. But such is life in baseball, and the Senators will happily take the one-hit, 8-2 win and a doubleheader sweep of the Medford Angels. DiPietro was perfect through 3-2/3 innings, before walking Rocky Capristo. Gulla followed with the blooper that just eluded McAllister. Jimmy Mac felt it was a play he should have made, but everyone else knows it was a VERY tough chance, and a clean, if somewhat lucky, single. The Senator offense fired up 11 hits in the opener, and followed that up with a 14-hit effort in Game #2, an 11-6 comeback win. Chris Lawrence survived some early shaky defense and control problems to pitch a very strong game. After the second inning, the Senators righty allowed just three harmless singles in shutting down the Angel offense. The Senators hit up and down the lineup in both games, with Miles "Bad Knee" Reader leading the way with a 5-for-6, 2 RBI performance. Bill Trotman added a 3-for-6, 3 RBI day to the potent mixture. Mark Alessandrini was 3-for-7 with two steals, and hit the ball on the nose six of seven times up there. Jim McAllister was also 3-for-7 with three steals and one RBI. Frank Izzi pounded out a 4-for-7 morning. Next up: the Nats travel to Sun Valley High School for a match-up with the Delco Astros. If he is available, John DiPietro will get the starting nod. If John cannot make it, Frank Rose will go, with either Pat Dewechter or Chris Lawrence in the pen, along with anyone else who can help there. The tentative lineup: 1. Alessandrini-OF
2. Amos-OF
3. Laudisio-C
4. Izzi-1B
5. Barbara-2B
6. Bevenour-3B
7. Reader-OF
8. Lawrence-SS
9. Stefano-OF
10. Rose-P or 2B
11. Frese or DiPietro or Dewechter Dale will have to leave after one or two ABs to tend to his district team.