Familiar faces were all over on Monday afternoon at PAL Complex in a LI Boys of Summer league match up between Catholic League All Stars East vs West. Both teams brought their bats, but it was the East All-Stars who came away with an 8-4 victory after overcoming an early 2-0 deficit.
The West All-Stats wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first inning against St. Anthony’s RHP Liam Adipietro. Leadoff man Chris Einemann (Kellenberg) reached on an errant throw by the catcher, stole second and scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. After the next two batters were retired, a two-out walk issued to Kyle Sharkey and a stolen base brought up Maritime-commit Xavier Cruz (Kellenberg), who crushed an RBI double to right field to make it 2-0. He was thrown out attempting to steal to end the inning.
Chaminade RHP Ryan Walsh got the start for the West All-Star and took the mound with a 2-0 lead. That lead was cut in half in the home half of the first inning when Giancarlo Giacometti was hit by a pitch with one-out and scored on an RBI double by New York Tech-commit Matt Milone (St. John the Baptist). Milone was a second-team preseason All-Long Island player entering the 2020 season and will be a player to watch at Tech. Stephen Collica grounded out to short to end the first inning.
In the top of the second, Charlie O’Brien walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt. Tom Marten ripped an RBI single to CF to extend the lead to 3-1. If it appeared this would be a safe lead, you’d be mistaken as the real offensive show was to come.
In the bottom of the second, the bats of East went to work. Molloy-commit Timmy Mott led off with a single to first base and moved to second on a wild pitch. After consecutive walks, Nick Russo tied the game with a well-struck RBI double to left center field. After a strikeout, Giacometti gave East the lead with a two-run single. He stole second, but Marco Ali struck out the end the frame.
Jeremy Poveda came on in relief for East with the lead. Dylan Strang led off with a single to left but was thrown out attempting to steal second. Walks to Chris Einemann, Billy Sullivan, Kyle Sharkey and Xavier Cruz made it a one-run ballgame but Poveda bounced back with a strikeout of Charlie O’Brien to end the frame.
East broke the game open in the third. As is usually the case, a leadoff walk started it. Milone drew the walk, advanced to second on a single by Mott, moved to third on a walk to Matt LaSala and scored on a walk by Guy Calla. Peter Welling ripped a two-run single to make it 8-4, which is how this one would end.
Louis Stallone came on in relief for East in the fourth inning and threw a 1-2-3 inning. Timmy Mott pitched the fifth, working around a two-out walk to seal the deal on this one. The time limit meant this one would end after four-and-a-half innings.
