The Inside Pitch
Tile Source and IGA battle it out in junior rookie ball
By Lee-Ann Brinovec Junior rookie

The King Township Baseball Association (KTBA) junior rookie team, sponsored by Tile Source (K1), took to the field Thursday evening against their friends from the Schomberg IGA sponsored (K2) team.

Although the weather throughout the day had seen a series of torrential downpours and even hail, by game time the skies had cleared and it turned out to be a great night to play ball.

Taking up their defensive positions in the opening inning, the Tile Source team was all business. Lucas Critelli planted his feet at shortstop and made three unassisted outs. Angelo Grande patrolled the outfield and did a noteworthy job of not letting anything get past him. The highlight of the first inning was Ethan Fisher, in the catcher position, who did some quick thinking behind the plate and turned what looked to be a sure home run by the last batter into a single run with an amazing play. The Tile Source team made the most of their plate appearances, starting with Fisher touching green on a long ball that became a stand-up double. Jake Hansen continues to be a dominant part of his team's offence and connected for a home run. This feat was mirrored by Lucas Critelli as last batter.

A review of the statistics from the game revealed that Grande, Fisher, Kurtis Lewandowski, Rory Paric, Emily Brinovec, Hansen and Critelli all batted a perfect 1.000 for the night. Player of the game for Tile Source was Critelli who was amazing at short, and took his job as last batter seriously, cranking out two base-clearing home runs. Well-done Lucas.

Our junior rookie team (K3), sponsored by Filebank Records played an entertaining game against Aurora's Royal LePage. The bats were the difference and Katie Douglas led the way for Filebank with a single, a double and a triple, bringing in a total of six runs. If it had been allowed, Royal LePage might have considered walking Katie intentionally. Ffion McKay, Cadence Opoka-Mullins and Matthew Murphy had three hits each, with one of Murphy's being a home run. Nia McKay, Rory Costello, Mackenzie Douglas, Jonathan Brunato, Giselle Murphy and David Rumboldt all added to their teams run total with a pair of hits each.

Senior rookie

TVS Development Corp. (K1) played two games last week and were victorious in both.

Monday they traveled to Aurora to play McAlpine Ford. Their new lead-off batter, Sara Valentini, showed that she was up to the challenge and smacked a line drive down third base, surprising everyone with her strength. Unfortunately for Valentini, the one person not surprised was the third baseman, who made a great catch.

It was a game that had plenty of hitting, including Matt Pacitto, Zachary Long and Scott Cameron all going five-for-five at the plate. They held Aurora to only a handful of runs, playing smart defence. Hunter Chantiam played great at short, and made long accurate throws to first baseman Daniel Pignataro. Pignataro played so well he was named player of the game, for both his defence and his consistent performance at the plate.

With the vacation season in full swing, the TVS team found themselves short on manpower and called up a player from the pool of very talented junior rookies. Gregory Long joined his brother's team for the night and was a welcomed addition.

The King team arrived at James Lloyd Park in Aurora to face the league-leading Lind Realty team. Gathering immediate respect from the Aurora team with their consistent hitting, King had an impressive list of players who went five-for-five on the night. Congrats to Pignataro, Valentini, Hunter Chantiam, and Cameron. Zachary Long brought the crowd to their feet when he belted out a home run to cash in three RBIs. Adding to the run total were Myles Cook and Gregory Long, who both nailed solid standup doubles. Great fielding helped hold the lead that the King team had gained. Taking turns at first base were Pignataro, Valentini and Zachary Long and each of these players helped stop the Aurora team before they could even get started.

Player of the game was Hunter Chantiam who put forth and overall great effort in both the field and at the plate including having a 4 for 5 night.

Rona Cashway (K2) also played a pair of away games, traveling to Bradford Monday and Aurora Wednesday.

In the first game, Bradford scored early and often, with the King defence at something of a loss on how to stop them. The game started off strong for the Rona Cashway team, scoring their maximum five runs in their half of the inning. A double by Connor Harris brought in two runs and Julien Cristante, Kyle Venberg, and Rachel Price had an RBI each. It seems that what they lacked in defence, they more than made up for in offence, with runs scored in the fourth by Harris, Julien and Zoë Cristante, Venberg, Matthew Iannucci, Alex Topp and Thomas Beckley.

Wednesday's game was a much tighter affair with just one run separating the teams at the end of the night. Once again, the bats of the Rona Cashway team were active. Harris, Julien Cristante, Beckley and Venberg hit homers. Price continues to be a clutch hitter, bringing in a much-needed RBI on a hard-hit single. Cassidy Tomlinson led her team with thee RBI's. They were much sharper defensively and seemed to learn from their mistakes earlier in the week. The team held Trophy Sportswear (A4) scoreless in the third when Beckley made two unassisted outs at first base and Julien Cristante tracked down a ground ball and beat the runner to second base to record the third out.

Mosquito

Armstrong Petroleums defeated Scholars Ed Centre 17-8 Tuesday evening to record their sixth win of the season.

They scored their maximum five runs in the first inning on the strength of a double by Mathew Ardizzi. Mathew also cashed in an additional three runs when he connected for a triple in the second inning. Playing in only her second game, Brianna Forletta showed she knows how to hit. She brought in a run when she hit a double in the third, and with a player on second, she smashed a homer deep into the outfield in the fifth. That inning brought more scoring for King when Daniel Luccia hit a triple to bring in two runs and Joshua Hollings hit a solo homer. In the field, it was the combination of Nicholas Bell as catcher and Francesco Amantea as pitcher who made two key outs at home, both times with the bases loaded. Hollings continues to shine on the mound, shutting out the opponents with two, three-up, three-down innings.

Player of the game for Armstrong Petroleums was Brianna Forletta.

Armstrong managed to get their game in after the rain Thursday evening. The GreenPoint Laser team from Aurora could only score six runs, three in the third and three in the fourth. The key to the game was Armstrong's ability to catch pop flies. The King team scored 12 runs, with Matthew Fiorini opening the game with a two-run double. Ardizzi brought in five runs on three hits, including a two-run homer in the first. Hollings also hit a home run, and cashed in four RBIs in total for the game. Base coaches John Cipollone and Vince Luccia had the Armstrong Petroleums players running aggressively around the bases and scoring extra runs because of it.

Player of the game was Mathew Ardizzi.

King City Auto (K2) played host to Green Point Laser and defeated them 10- 7.

Walks scored the first five runs, but the hitting picked up in the third, and with the game tied 5-5, a single by Christian Olivieri brought in two runs. Also connecting for base hits were Austin Larsh and Connor Laforge. King went ahead 10-7, and this was the score when time was called at the bottom of the fourth.

King City Auto continued their winning ways when they traveled to Aurora to play Reagans Thursday. They opened the first inning with five runs on hits by J.P.Capella, Austin Larsh, Connor Brunt and Luke Rapos. They were up 10-1 and by the top of the fourth they had a commanding 15-4 lead when runs were cashed in by Daniel Quinteri and Gavin Datts' doubles. The game became a lot closer when the Aurora bats started to come alive, and King City Auto managed to squeeze by with a 15-12 win.

Peewee

Royal LePage (K2) handed Rhind Electric (K3) their fourth loss of the season last Wednesday.

It was a close game, but Royal LePage earned the 8-6 win on the strength of their pitching. Josh Baird held Rhind Electric to just one run after two innings, while they scored six on pitcher Jesse Schneider who was pitching for the first time this season. Royal LePage scored two more runs in the fifth before being shut down by Scott Rhind in the sixth. Marshall Perone only allowed one run in the final two innings, dashing Rhind Electric's hope of a come back.

Player of the game for Royal LePage was Josh Baird.

Rhind Electric played a great defensive game against Aspen Ridge Homes (A1) last Monday night in Aurora.

The King team scored three runs in the top of the first, with Dylan Love reaching on a single, and Jesse Schneider bringing him home on a double. Zach Schofield reached base on a long single and was bought home on a double by Travis Brinovec, who also pitched two strong innings allowing only one Aurora run and recording three strikeouts. Matthew Maloney took over the pitching duties in the bottom of the third inning. Despite the team getting two quick outs, on a ground ball snagged by Daniel Bilzer at second and the perfect throw to Connor Casciato at first and an infield pop-fly caught by Sebastian Fritz, they were not able to record the third out and with three runs crossing the plate, the coach decided it wasn't Matthew's day and brought in the closer Scott Rhind. The team recorded the third out when Scott got the batter to pop out to Casciato at first. The Aurora team was unable to score in fourth and Rind Electric celebrated the 9-4 victory.

Sponsor of the Week

The King Township Baseball Association sponsor of the week is Armstrong Petroleums. They are the current sponsors of the mosquito 1 team. Thank-you for your continued support of minor ball in King Township.

Player of the Week

The KTBA player of the week award goes to Marshall Perone from the Royal LePage peewee 2 team. Congratulations Marshall.