LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - APRIL 29, 2018 LeRoy Little League Opening Day Mother nature threw a curve- ball to LeRoy’s baseball faithful on Saturday April 21st, offering bounti- ful sun and warm temperatures after an agonizing and brutal winter. Play- ers from all levels of Little League and LeRoy Softball walked down Main Street in the annual parade. The ceremony after was started with a fantastic rendition of our National Anthem by Little League Alum Scott Roblee on his electric guitar. The 2017 Scanlan Cup Champion Orioles were honored as John Scanlan hand- ed out the trophy with President Tim Spezzano, honoring the late “Tanky” Scanlan. The 9/10 and 11/12-year- old District 3 All-Star Champions were honored as well, with both squads present and waving their 2017 Championship Banners. Members of Joe “Muzzy” Rapone’s family were on hand to give the “Spirit of Little League Award” in memory to Muzzy to Maveric McK- enzie. Tiny Lee’s family members were also present to honor Tiny by giving out Little League’s Most Im- proved Player to Lily Uberty. Dan Vanderhoof and Helene Beswick were recognized for years of hard work and dedication to the program. Finally, the Little League press box was named “Scott Ripley Press Box” as the 2018 season was dedicated to Scott. Scott has for 7 years and continues to announce each and ev- ery Little League game at the field, bringing fun and excitement to all of the players and fans. Scott threw out the first pitch to his son Doug, and the 2018 season was under way! Twins 3 White Sox 1 On the morning of Saturday, April 21st we kicked off opening day of the 2018 Le Roy Little League season, bringing with it an abundance of glorious sun along with many past and present little leaguers and lots of community members ready to enjoy baseball. The 1st contest of the sea- son saw the visiting White Sox tak- ing on the home team Twins. Taking the mound for the Twins was Adam Woodworth. He threw 20 pitches in the first giving up a double to Landen Saeva only to leave him stranded. In the Twins bottom half Tommy Con- didorio pitching for the White Sox would set them 1, 2, 3 on only 10 pitches. Fans were beginning to see what would end up being a delightful pitcher’s duel! Adam gave up 2 hits in third; a single to center from Park- er Dowell followed by a solid single from Jude Sherman. Jude would move to second while picking up his first RBI on the season as Parker crossed home plate. Tommy would give up 3 hits during his time on the mound in the 3rd, Elijah Iten singled for his first hit of the season, next up to bat was Tristan Wieseltier also recording his first hit. Jacob Iten stepped up to the plate poised to bring his brother home and he delivered with 2 RBI’s credit- ed to him. Dylan Maciag also record- ed a hit for the game and followed his hit up by stealing 2nd & 3rd base and then coming home to score the third and final run of the game. Ayden Rig- gi made a great catch at 1st to end the first game of the season. Final score Twins 3 White Sox 1. Complete games were handed in from both pitchers putting forth stellar performances. Adam Wood- worth threw 77 pitches picking up 12 K’s while on the other side Tommy Condidorio threw only 57 pitches and notched 9 K’s with neither side walking a batter all day. What a great job to all kids on the field today. The Twins will face off against the Ori- ole’s on Monday, April 23rd and the White Sox take on the A’s Tuesday, April 24th both games at 6pm. Orioles 11 Red Sox 1 The Red Sox and Orioles squared off for the second game of the day. The O’s stranded a runner in the first. In the bottom half of the first, the Red Sox got things started early as Peter Clark singled down the 3rd base line. Joey Stephany would single, and Wyatt Draper would knock Clark in with a high fly ball that was lost in the sun, giving the Sox an early 1-0 advantage. Red Sox pitcher Joey Steph- any would throw another scoreless inning, and Drew Strollo would do the same for the O’s in the second. The O’s would strike in the 3rd how- ever as Strollo would double to get things started. Adrian Stephens fol- lowed with a double to score Strollo, as would Merritt Holly to score Ste- phens to give the O’s the lead 2-1. After a scoreless bottom half of the third by the Sox, the O’s would ex- plode in the top of the 4th for 6 runs. Martin MacConnell got it started with his first LeRoy LL hit. Walks to Brady McClurg and Isaac Stella would load the bases. Drew Strollo was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, and Adrian Stephens would clear the bases with a single. Merritt Holly knocked in Stephens again to make the score 8-1. Drew Strollo would settle in on the mound after allowing a run in the first, only allowing 3 baserunners the rest of the game. The Orioles tacked on 3 runs in the 5th inning, finishing up the scoring with a final score of 11-1. Pitching for the Red Sox were Joey Stephany (7 Ks), Alex Stephany, Josh Horner, and Wyatt Draper. Peter Clark singled and scored, Joey Steph- any singled, and Wyatt Draper had 2 hits and an RBI. Jayce Panepento and Zach Samis also reached base. Drew Strollo was in control on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings, strik- ing out 11, walking 1 and hitting one batter. Adrian Stephens got the final out on the mound for the Orioles. Merritt Holly led the way at the plate with 4 hits, scoring a run, and knock- ing in 3. Adrian Stephens had 5 RBI while adding 3 runs on 2 hits (dou- ble). Drew Strollo reached base 4 times (BB, HBP) including 2 hits and scored 3 runs. Jace Jedrewski had a hit and RBI while getting walked twice, while newcomer Martin Mac- Connell had 2 hits and scored. Nine year olds Brady McClurg (BB, HBP), Isaac Stella (BB), and Donovan “the ATM” Gaillard (BB) all scored for the O’s as well. Tigers 5 Indians 4 (7 innings) The third game of the day fea- tured the Tigers and Indians. With the sun shining bright and the smell of “Tacos in a Bag” in the air this game would prove to be a thriller. With Jackson Spezzano starting on the mound for the Tigers, the Indians would jump out to an early 1-0 lead in the first. After his 1 out double, Cal Koukides moved to 3rd base on a ground ball by Iaean Frawley. He would score as the ball scooted away on an attempted throw to 3rd. Indi- ans 1, Tigers 0. Maicen McKenzie would hold the Tigers scoreless in the bottom half of the 1st after singles by Alex Spezzano and Lily Uberty. The Indians added another run in the top of 2nd as Jagger Smith scored after reaching base by being hit by a pitch. This stretched the Indians lead to 2-0. Spezzano and McKenzie would both work clean 3rd innings with Connor Hegeman for the Tigers and Iaean Frawley for the Indians recording the only hits. Then in the 4th Cal Kou- kides would strike again with a big 2 out double scoring Maicen McKenzie and William Bogan. This made the score Indians 4, Tigers 0. Connor Hegeman, in relief of Jackson Spezzano, would shut the Indians down in the top half of the 5th. The bottom half of the 5th in- ning would see the Tigers’ bats come alive. Alex Spezzano would draw a leadoff walk, followed by a double by Connor Hegeman and RBI sin- gle by Jackson Spezzano. After a great throw by Chase Cummings to throw out Spezzano at 2nd on a steal attempt, Lily Uberty would reach followed by Noah Kaczanowski drawing a walk. This would set up Josh Noble with the bases loaded and 1 out. On the second pitch he’d see he would drill a bases clearing, game tying triple to left center field. Game tied 4-4. Neither team would score in the 6th meaning extra baseball! Hegeman would hold the In- dians down in the top half of the 7th setting up the Tigers with a chance at a walk off win. Jackson Spezza- no belted a leadoff single. After a fly out, Noah Kaczanowski would come up with winning run on 1st and 1 out. Kaczanowski would drill an 0-1 pitch to left field and Jackson Spezzano would race from 1st to home for the winning run. Tigers 5, Indians 4 Leading the Tigers at the plate were Josh Noble who was 2-3 with 3 RBI, Jackson Spezzano 2-4 with a RBI and run scored, Connor He- geman 2-4 with a run scored. Noah Kaczanowski added 2 walks, a hit, run scored and game winning RBI, Alex Spezzano had a hit, walk and run scored. Lily Uberty scored a run to go with a single. On the mound, Jackson Spezzano and Connor He- geman combined to allow 3 hits and strike out 10. Offensively for the Indians, Cal Koukides was 2-4 with a run scored and 2 RBI. Iaean Frawley added a single. Maicen McKenzie scored a run. Jagger Smith scored a run. Chase Cummings earned a walk. William Bogan walked and scored a run. Maicen McKenzie threw 4 scoreless innings for the Indians, giv- ing up 4 hits and striking out 3. Yankees 6 A’s 1 In the final game of the 2018 little league opening day the Yankees took on the A’s. Ryan Shirley began on the mound for the A’s. In the first inning Xavien (X-Man) Walker lead things off for the Yankees with a sin- gle, followed by a Jake Higgins sin- gle. Andrew Pocock picked up a RBI and the Yankees would score 2 runs in the inning. Taking the mound for the Yankees in the first inning, Andrew Pocock would face his old team and strike out 3 batters and allow his only hit of the game, a Zach Tooley single. The second inning went scoreless for both teams. In the third, the Yankees Xavien Walker would again single and score later in the inning to put the Yankees up 3-0. In the bottom of the 3rd, the A’s Jackson fix drew a walk and with some aggressive base run- ning added a run to put the game at 3-1. The Yankees picked up 2 runs in the 5th after Hunter Beverly and Xavien Walker drew walks and were later scored on a Luke Lathan 2 RBI single. In the 6th inning the Yankees extended their lead after Jack Currin was hit by a pitch and then scored on an X-Man RBI single. The Yankees would go on to win the game 6-1. For the Yankees Andrew Po- cock put in a dominating pitching performance. The big 12-year-old appeared to be in mid-season form striking out 14 batters while only al- lowing 1 hit. Hitting for the Yankees Xavien Walker went 3 for 3 with a walk and 3 runs scored, Jake Hig- gins went 1 for 2 with 2 walks and 1 run scored, Luke Lathan went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI’s. The A’s pitchers in- cluded Ryan Shirley, Grady Gilligan, and Jackson Fix.