Today opened up Gameday USA‘s All Star Weekend at Baldwin Park.
The day began with player introductions, the National Anthem and an address from Gameday President Tony Cappel. After that, the players broke off into age groups and were evaluated by Gameday’s staff. They were measured by exit velocity, throwing velocity, 10-yard shuttle runs and infield practice.
At 1pm, the games began and we covered the high school age players. The Red All Stars were victorious in both games, and here’s how it went down.
Game 1:
The Gold team got off to a quick 1-0 lead when Chris Valencia smoked a leadoff double to left field, advanced to third on an E6 and stole on the backend of a double steal attempt.
The lead did not last long, though, as the Red All Stars tied it up in the top of the second.
Nicholas Del Vecchio got the rally going with his first of four hits on the afternoon with a single to center and then stole second. After a single by Nolan Curto and a walk to Michael Brocco, he scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Alex Marcoline.
The Red All Stars took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on a leadoff walk to Ryan Devin, a forceout which put Michael Villardi on first base, who then stole second, advanced on an error and scored on a double steal.
In the top of the fourth, they opened up a 4-1 lead on a two-run single by Devin to center field that was misplayed by the center fielder to put him in scoring position.
The Gold team inched closer with a run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Luke Kirkly to score Anthony Mancini.
Nolan Curto got that run right back in the fifth inning on an RBI single to score Del Vecchio after his third hit of the game.
That was the way this game would end, as it hit the time limit after the fifth inning.
Game 2:
The Red All Stars got out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Zach Rosenzweig to score Alex Marcoline, who led off with a walk, stole second and advanced on a wild pitch. They also scored a second run on an RBI single by JJ Palumbo to left field, but was out stretching at second.
Donald Whalen, who was one of the top performers of the day, singled to score Del Vecchio in the second inning to open up a 3-0 lead, which then turned into a 4-0 lead on another RBI hit by Devin and an RBI ground out by Marcoline extended it to 5-0.
The game was essentially out of reach, but Del Vecchio stayed red hot with an RBI single in the bottom of the third to score Michael Brocco to make it 6-0.
The Gold All Stars got on the board in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Isabella Marchini, but that was as close as they would get. The time limit hit after the fifth inning, which ended this one.
It was a great day of baseball and the players all performed well in the spotlight especially given the hot turf and humid weather.
Nolan Curto told us after the game that the key was making sure his hands weren’t too sweaty on the mound. It did not bother him, apparently, as he threw 13 of his 15 pitches for strikes.
At the 8U Level there was a huge performance by Grayson Aristy. The young Slugger went off to the tune of 3-for-6 with a 3-R HR and 3 RBI as well as 4 stolen bases and an outfield assist!
We will be back at it tomorrow for another game between these two teams!
