A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES Thursday, August 7, 2014 Page 11

LEAGUE CHAMPS...The Scotch Plains-Fanwood 7U team celebrates afterwinning the New Providence Green League 8U title. The team is comprised ofDomenic Erbafina, Colin Mahr, Ryan Watt, Cooper Stahley, Chris Harris, DavidCamba, CJ Bates, Jack Sponheimer, Bobby Christensen, AJ Saccento, TylerGeorge, Sam Beirne, and Coaches Rob Christensen, George Camba, MichaelGeorge, and Manager Chris Bates.

SPF 7U Raiders Top PioneersFor N. Pr. Green League Title

The 7U Scotch Plains-FanwoodRaiders capped an impressive sum-mer season with a New ProvidenceGreen League (NPGL) 8U Champi-onship, finishing with a 10-2-3 record.The top-seeded Raiders defeatedLong Hill, 11-10, in eight Innings inthe quarterfinals and got past Sum-mit, 6-4, in the semifinals setting upa finals match-up with second-seedNew Providence Pioneers on July 30in Scotch Plains.

“This team has come so far sinceour first practice back in May andeach and every player developed leapsand bounds from where they were onthe first day of practice to now be ableto take home a Championship trophy– that is something they will neverforget,” Coach Bates said.

Raider starter Sam Beirne pitchedinto the third inning allowing onlytwo runs; AJ Saccento relieved andkept the Pioneers in check with twostrikeouts and no runs. JackSponheimer relieved in the top of thefifth and shut down the Pioneersthrowing a perfect one and two-thirdsinnings to close out the game. Offen-sively the Raiders scored all four oftheir runs in the bottom of the fourthinning, helped by Colin Mahr’s single.

Beirne made the defensive play ofthe season, stabbing a hard hit onehopper at third base and throwing alaser to a stretching CJ Bates at first torecord the first out of the top of thesixth. Shortstop Bobby Christensenrecorded the second out, corralling apopup, and Sponheimer struck outthe final batter.

“All season we stressed the impor-tance of throwing strikes and makingthe routine plays in the field. We didthat and we needed to do that todefeat a very good New Providenceteam. The most important thing isfriendships were made and a solidfoundation was set for each player tocontinue to build off of the success

they had this summer as a team andalso on an individual basis movingforward. As a coach there is no betterfeeling than helping a player succeedat something they feel that can’t; tohelp build their confidence and givethem the knowledge to be a betterplayer/teammate is an awesome ex-perience to watch unfold,” CoachBates said.

Coach Bates added, “All seasonour boys battled, never were onceintimidated by playing up in an agegroup and, often times, used it as amotivation. Each and every one ofthe boys on this roster made an im-pact. To see those 12 smiles on theirfaces after winning the Champion-ship, makes everything we do as vol-unteers worth every second of it.Proud doesn’t begin to describe howI feel for this team. It was a great run.The challenge now is to continue tokeep that momentum going as wespringboard into the future. The base-ball program in Scotch Plains-Fanwood has a long and proud tradi-tion. These kids are excited to be apart of that and wear that Raidersproudly on their shirts.”

The Raiders also went 2-0 at theRidge Summer Jamboree in July.

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Commissioner ‘Z’ CommentsOn Softball League PlayoffsThe Stage House has been waiting

patiently for a week in the A Divisionof the Scotch Plains Men’s SoftballLeague playoffs, and the Netherwoodmade sure their nemesis would seethem one more time before the sum-mer ends.

After cruising to a first game victory,Team Netherwood jumped out of thegate on July 29 to a quick lead byscoring often and early in the first twoinnings. Mike Rusin organized his Di-vas one last time and, while they had theright folks up in crucial situations, theycould not get that breakthrough hit thatput them over the top, as the Nail Clip-pers slipped out to an early fishing tripthis year, losing 14-12.

Netherwood understands that hit-ting for only half the game will spellinstant doom against the Stage HouseTavern, who has a hard time NOTscoring 20 runs these days. Hopefullywe have enough softballs to entertaina 9 inning game pitting the two stron-gest hitting teams against each other.

For the Monday night finals, ru-mors of Vicki’s demise was greatlyexaggerated. After losing the firstgame of the series to Oh Brian’s, theDiner re-ignited their bats, andreached deep into their souls to find away to reach the promised land.

Earlier this week they won 27-18to set up Game 3 with the winnermoving into next week. July 30 was a

clinic on jumping out early, and notresting on the lead by providing timelytwo-out hitting that never let OhBrian’s back into the game. The scorewas 22-9, but every time Vicki’s gotup with multiple players on the bases,they found a way to deliver hit-after-hit that had Oh Brians reeling.

Oh Brians had opportunities, butthey were not prepared to crawl out ofthe early 11-1 deficit that Vicki’s putthem in. Hopefully, Al Dente andVicki’s can stop pulling hamstringsand groins long enough to limpthrough the Finals.

If Vicki’s thinks for a second thatAutoland feels sorry for them afterVicki’s took the regular season titleaway from last year’s champs theybetter think twice. Autoland madequick work of Darby Road in thesemis after being down 2-0 after threeinnings.

Autoland simply screamed awayfrom Darby by putting up a quick 20runs in the next four innings, whilecruising to a 24-5 victory at FarleyPark. Kyle Adams was seen last nightscouting the Diner game for Autolandso the brain trust of Schiller and Everittcan create the game plan for victory.

Can Matt Hoynoski find enoughhealthy players for Vicki’s for thoseelusive last two victories of the sea-son?

Humorous comments from Mr. “Z”

Union County Senior 50+Softball League Standings:

As of August 3:50+ A DIVISION

TEAM W LDeegan Roofing 22 0Roselle American Legion 16 6Contact Lens & Vision 13 9Liberty Lighting 12 10Linwood Inn 11 11Top Line Appliance 8 13

50+ B DIVISIONTEAM W LAwnings Galore 16 6Cranford VFW 11 11DeBellis Associates 6 15AJ Jersey 6 16Rosie’s Wine Bar 5 17Driftwood Bar & Grill 5 17

Liberty Lighting 18, DeBellis 4LLG lit up with 24 hits led by Rob

Stratton (3-for-3). Winning pitcherDan Nigro and coach Willie Jacksonboth contributed three-run homers.Top Line 11, Cranford VFW 10

Top Line came back in the seventhinning. After a leadoff walk by LouCollins, winning pitcher Bob Grecoreached base on a miscue and a bigbase hit from Joe Cittadino producedthe tying run. A ground out plated thewinning run scored by Bob D’Meo.Top Line hitters Whitey McCormack,Ron Kulik, Don Montefusco, DuckBall, Bob D’Meo and Bob Grecoeach had two hits. Cranford had BobGhiretti, Dave Drechsel, Juan Morenoand Ken Murray all going 3-for-4.Frank Verducci was 2-for-4 with 4RBI.Roselle Am. Leg 22, Linda’s II 12

Winning pitcher Harry Streep (3hits), received offensive support fromJeff Baier (2-run HR), while GeneAntonucci, Larry Cuzzi, Ed Lubasand Pat Mooney added two hits each.Deegan Roofing 19, Awnings 4

Roofers Nick Russo, James“Knobby” Nardello and Marty Marksall contributed four hits. RandyTarnofsky (2 hits, 2 RBI), JohnRachko, Gary Cuttler, Mike Kovachand Angelo Melillo (each with 2 hits)led Awnings.Contact 7, Rosie’s Wine Bar 6

CL&V scored twice in the bottomof the seventh to win. The Lensmenwere led by Kerry Gelb, Joe Lynch,Solo Meola, Dave Rothenberg andEddie Quinn with two hits each. An-

thony Abbaleo and Mike Garcia hadtwo hits apiece for Rosie’s.Awnings 16, Cranford VFW 10

Angelo Melillo (3-for-3, 4 RBI)led Awnings in what was a seesawgame until nine runs were scored inthe fourth inning to break the gameopen. Tom Breen, Dave Kirsch andJohn Campanella each had three hits,and Neil Granstrand went 4-for-4 with2 RBI. Winning pitcher TommyColandro shut out The VFW in thefinal four frames. Vic Trindade (4-for-4), Carl Gamba (3-for-3) and JimCapizzi and Dave Drechsel (both 2-for-3) led Cranford.Linwood Inn 17, Contact Lens 9

A balanced hitting attack led byMac Kowaleski (3 hits), NickyMennona (4 hits) and Joe Sarica (3hits) supported a solid pitching per-formance from Tommy Siano andsome stellar defensive plays byleftfielder Ed Gryzbowski and short-stop Mike DiRienzo. Brian Lathamand Dave Rothenberg with (3 hitseach) and Bob Beiner (3-run triple)led Contact.Top Line 19, Roselle Am. Leg. 13

Ron Kulik (3 hits) and DonMontefusco, Tom DeRocco, GregHartnett, Duck Ball, Lou Collins,Rory Caldwell and Joe Cittadino (2hits each) led Top Line’s 22-hit at-tack. Gene Antonucci, Larry Cuzziand Jeff Baier each had two hits,while Pat Mooney and Bill Duganhad RBI doubles for Roselle.Rosie’s Wine Bar 13, AJ Jersey 3

Rich Polonitza (3 hits), and SteveTansey, Tom Murray and KeithMcDede (2 hits apiece) led Rosie’s.Howard Greco and Jordan Scher col-lected 3 hits each for AJ. (See exclu-sive story)Deegan Roofing 13, Liberty 11

This nail biter was in doubt right upto the final swing of the bat. JohnGarced, Pat Nigro and MartyBernstein (all 3-for-3) led Deegan.LLG, in support of a great gamepitched by Danny Nigro, had DaveMcFall (4-for-4), Don Miller (3-for-4, HR) and Jeff Maglietta (3-for-4,triple).

SUCCESSFUL SEASON...Westfield Baseball League In-Town 2/3 Grade SummerLeague Team Orioles celebrated the end of a successful season. Pictured are theOrioles players and coaches at Westfield Gumbert Baseball Complex on July 31.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times

HEADING SOUTH...St. Bart’s Oldtimers Men’s Softball League CommissionerTom Kucin, flanked by Dean Talcott, St. Anthony, and Tom Grycan, St. Joseph,will soon be retiring in the great state of North Carolina.