12U Cards Improve to 5-1 over Two Weekends

Over the last two weekends the Cardinals improved to 5-1.

Game 3 (9/13/08) vs. Syosset Braves
After a scoreless 1st inning, the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Syosset, as Mike Chicarella led off the inning with a walk and promptly stole 2nd base. Chicarella came around to score on a single by Danny Taggart. Taggart then stole 2nd and scored on a single by Ryan Fama.

After a 3 run bottom of the second by Syosset, the Cardinals came back with 5 runs in the top of the 3rd. After walks to Kyle Carroll and Anthony Salamone, Carroll stole 3rd on a delayed steal and scored on Mike Reilly's single. With 2 outs and the bases juiced, Kyle Cashman stroked a double to deep centerfield, scoring Reilly, Joe Oliveto and Chris Sarni. Cashman then scored on a single by Anthony Wallitsch.

Unfortunatly, the Syosset pitching held the Cardinals scorelss the rest of the game. Syosset continued to chip away, scoring in each of the final 4 innings to take the 8-7 victory and hand the Cardinals their first lose of the season.

Game 4 (9/13/08) vs. Syosset Braves
Syosset jumped out to a 2 run lead in the top of the first, but the Cardinals came right back with 2 in the bottom of the first. With 1 out, Carroll walked and stoled 2nd, 3rd and home to put the Cardinals on the board. With two outs, Reilly walked and also stole 2nd, 3rd and home to tie the game.

Syosset came back with 1 in the top of the 2nd, but the Cardinals came right back with 4 in the bottom half. Kyle Lamb singled to lead off the inning. Anthony Salamone and Nick Schoen followed with walks and with 1 out, Chris Sarni worked a walk to score Lamb and tie the game. With 2 outs Joe Oliveto stroked a 2 run single to score Schoen and Sarni. After Carroll was hit by a pitch, Oliveto stole home to take the 6-3 lead.

Syosset came back with 1 run in the 3rd, but the Cardinals scored two of their own in the bottom half. Reilly led off the inning with a single and stole 2nd. With one out, Andrew Purcell singled to knock in Reilly. After stealing 2nd and 3rd, Purcell scored on a well placed ground out by Danny Taggart.

Syosset came back again with 2 in the 4th to close the gap to 8-6 and held the Cardinals scoreless in the bottom half. The Cardinals returned the favor with a scorless top of the 5th and came back with 2 more runs in the bottom of the 5th. Ryan Fama led the inning off with a triple and Kyle Carroll scored him on a beautiful safety squeeze. Kyle Cashman followed with a single and took off on the first pitch to Reilly. Reilly laid down a sacrifice bunted towards the first base line and Cashman kept going, sliding in ahead of the throw at 3rd base and scoring on the overthrow. The run proved important, as Syosset came back with 3 in the top of the 6th, but wound up a run shy as the Cardinals took game two with a 10-9 win, improving to 3-1.

Game 5 (9/20/08) vs. Bethpage Eagles
The Bethpage Eagles started the scoring with 2 runs in the top of the first, but the Cardinals came roaring back.

Mike Cicarella led of the bottom of the 1st with a well placed bunt for a basehit, moving to 2nd on a misplay in the field. Chicarella then stole 3rd and scored on Kyle Lamb's long single to centerfield. Lamb stole 2nd and went to 3rd on an infield hit by Andrew Purcell. With one out, Anthony Wallitsch stroked a single to center, scoring Lamb. Purcell then stole 3rd and scored on the ovethrow, with Wallitsch following all the way to 3rd. Anthony Salomone then singled, scoring Wallitsch. After a walk to Ryan Fama and a HPB of Danny Taggart, Matt Tsotras lined a 2 run single to right field, scoring Salamone and Fama. Oliveto walked to load the bases, Carroll walked to score a run and then Nick Schoen was HPB. Scoring continued on hits by Mike Chicarella (his 2nd hit of the inning), a 3 run double by Ryan Fama, a single by Taggart, a 2 run single by Tsotras (his 2nd hit of the inning) and finally a 2 run single by Schoen. In all, 20 runs crossed the plate.

The Eagles scored one more run in the 4th to close out the scroing, with the Cardinals taking the 20-3 win and improving to 4-1.

Game 6 (9/20/08) vs. Bethpage Eagles
The Cardinals jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back.

Joe Oliveto led off the game with a single. After stealing 2nd and 3rd, Kyle Carroll singled, scoring Oliveto. Carroll then stole 2nd and scored on Danny Taggart's hit. After a walk to Anthony Wallitsch, Taggart and Wallitsch each stole a base, and Taggart came around to score on Nick Schoen's single off the pitcher's glove. Wallitsch then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Fama, and Schoen scored on a single by Matt Tsotras.

The Eagles came back with runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings to close the gap to 5-2.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Carroll walked and quickly stole 2nd. Taggart then followed with a run scoring single. After stealing 2nd, Taggart scored on a single by Wallitsch, who moved to 2nd on the throw. After a steal of 3rd, Wallitsch scored on a well placed gound out to 2nd by Nick Schoen. Anthony Salamone singled, stole 2 bases and then scored on a 4-3 ground out by Ryan Fama.

The Cardinals scored 4 more in the 4th, as Chris Sarni led off with a single, stole 2 bases and scored on Mike Chicarella's double. Chicarella stole 3rd and scored on Joe Oliveto's double. After a walk to Carroll and Wallitsch loaded the bases, Nick Schoen stroke a one-out single to score Oliveto. Salamone followed with a run scoring 4-3 groundout to plate Carroll.

The Cardinals closed out the scoring in the 5th, as Chris Sarni doubled, stole 3rd and on a walk to Carroll, stole home for the final run and a 14-2 Cardinal victory, who improved to 5-1 on the season.

Lost in all of the scoring were some fine defensive plays, including Anthony Salamone behind the plate in game one and Ryan Fama behind the dish in game two, making his Fall catching debut.

In game 1, both Kyle Cashman and Danny Taggart pitched very well, going 2 innings each, with Nick Schoen going the distance in game 2, with a 4 hit, 2 run effort.

Upcoming Games

Sunday 9/21/08 - MCLL Tournamnnet: 2pm vs Farmingdale Green Dogs at Berner MS (Directions to follow via e-mail). Please be at the field by 1pm.

Wednesday 9/24/08 - MCLL Tournamnnet: 8pm vs TOB Gators at Burns Park. Please be at the field by 7pm.

Friday 9/26/08 - MCLL Tournament: 8:15 vs LI Braves at Burns Park. Please be at the field by 7:15pm.

Saturday 9/27/08 - NJBL League Game: 9am vs Bethpage Eagles II at Giese Park. Please be at the field by 8am.

Saturday 9/27/08 - MCLL Tounament: 3pm vs Bayville Falcons at Burns Park. Please go to the field straight from our doubleheader at Giese.

See you all tomorrow.

Coach Carroll