Published September 4, 2020

Majors:

Red Sox 10 Marlins 7

Wednesday Aug. 26, Lewis Monk Field

MLL Major League Playoffs

The Red Sox got off to a hot start with a five run 1st inning and then hung on to defeat the Marlins in the first elimination game of the Melrose Little League playoffs.

Anthony Kiatos led the off the game with a walk and Cavan O’Leary followed with a single. Kiatos scored on a single by Jack Casey. Max Lanciani was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Thomas Santoriello drove in two runs with a double to left field. Brendan Sestito singled and Marcus Ruelle walked to load the bases. Santoriello scored when Cole Mathews was hit by a pitch.

The Red Sox added three more in the 3rd with Justin Santoriello and Jack Casey singled, followed by a Max Lanciani walk to load the bases. Thomas Santoriello cleared the bases with a double to right center. Thomas Santoriello drove in six runs on the night and was the winning pitcher, going four innings giving up four runs.

The Marlins started their comeback in the 4th inning. Robert Pino and Gabe Klapman walked. Johnny Recinito drove in both with a double to left center. Jack Feeney drove in Recinito with a triple. Feeney stole home for the fourth and final run of the inning.

The Red Sox scored two insurance runs in the 5th with a two-out rally. Casey singled, followed by a Lanciani walk. Casey scored on a single by Thomas Santoriello and Lanciani scored on a single by Sestito.

The Marlins scored three in the top of the 6th to make the game close. Pino again walked, followed by an infield single by Klapman. Johnny Recinito doubled them both home. Recinito would score on another triple by Feeney. Sox pitcher O’Leary benefitted by a great defensive play by Thomas Santoriello who made a running over-the-shoulder catch behind first base to rob Ronan Sanzone to end the game.

Despite the high score there was solid defense played by both teams. With Jayden Jangro, Brian Fogarty, Cam Doyle, Matty Beshel and Peyton Oreste all making plays in the field for the Marlins. For the Red Sox it was Wes Cunningham, Amato Finocchiaro, Ricky Teixeira and Tanner Kovacs providing the defense for the Red Sox.

Red Sox 3 White Sox 0

Friday Aug. 28, Lewis Mond Field

Melrose Little League – Playoffs Round 2 – Winners Bracket

The Red Sox beat the White Sox 3-0 in a playoff rematch between the two teams. The Red Sox rode a complete game shutout by Anthony Kiatos featuring great defense by both teams.

The Red Sox struck first with one run off of White Sox Starter CJ Cook, who would pitch four innings of one run ball. After Nick Bianco made a diving catch off the bat of Thomas Santoriello in right field, Brendan Sestito reached on a single to right. That was followed by a walk to Marcus Ruelle. Wes Cunninham singled to score Sestito. Jack Casey had two hits for the Red Sox and Cavan O’Leary chipped in with one and played great defense. Max Lanciani manned left field like a pro with put outs in left field.

The White Sox threatened in the second with a walk by Nate Zimmerman and a HBP to Michael Obremski. Colton Sullivan then hit a hard ground ball to shortstop where Justin Santoriello made a nice play to his right and threw out the lead runner at third to end the threat.

The White Sox would hold the Red Sox to that single run in the 2nd inning until the 6th inning thanks to great defense. In the 1st inning the White Sox Tyler Garipay, Cian Sullivan and Brian Capodilupo turned a double play. Michael Fix made a nice catch in right field to end a Red Sox threat in the 4th inning. Shane Pitcher and Will Kennedy were solid in the field for the pale hose, and Jack Ludlow was solid behind the plate including throwing out a base runner at second trying to steal.

The Red Sox got insurance runs in the 6th when Rickey Teixeira walked to start the rally, followed by Tanner Kovacs reaching on a hard-hit ball to the shortstop. Teixeira would take third on the play and scored on fielders’ choice by Kiatos. Kiatos scored on a single by Justin Santoriello to complete the scoring.

The Red Sox continued to flash the leather in the 6th to close out the game with Wes Cunningham and Thomas Santoriello combining on two nice infield plays. Kiatos would strike out the last batter to end the game.

Minors:

Tigers 7 Rockies 0

Tuesday Aug. 25, Conant Field

The storms held off for first round minor league playoff action as the Tigers topped the Rockies 7-0. 

Both teams made plays and showed good sportsmanship as exemplified by Grace Doyle, Cooper Kovacs, Molly Harrington, Conor Barrington, Evan Sumares, Luke Bowles, and Nathan Bowles of the Rockies and Sam Gentile and Christopher Rowe of the Tigers.

In the 1st inning, the Rockies Christian Fogarty singled but was stranded. In the bottom half of the inning, Patrick Bentley took the mound for the Rockies and Dhewa Tenzin led off with a single and eventually scored to put the Tigers in the lead, 1-0.

The 2nd and 3rd innings saw no action on the base paths from the Rockies as Tenzin and Bryce Phillips combined for 6 straight strikeouts. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Tigers were able to get Tenzin, Parker Sarata, and Phillips to score on a bases loaded, three-RBI double by Koji Bachner. Connor Adamovich reached base, but did not score.

The 4th inning started with a base hit by John Selam of the Rockies, but a double-play ended the threat. During the Tigers turn at the plate, Sarata walked and stole two bases and then scored on a Phillips single. Dylan Smith followed with a single of his own and then Bachner singled to drive in two runs.

The Rockies were able to get one more base runner in the top of the 5th when Thomas Keefe singled, but there was no other offensive action from either side as Bachner retired four straight on K’s for the Tigers and Fogarty and Max Ryan combined for four strikeouts.

Tigers 7 Twins 3

Thursday Aug. 27, Lewis Monk Field

The Tigers and the Twins met in the second round of the Minor League playoffs at Lewis Monk Field, with the Tigers prevailing 7-3.

The Twins struck early in the top of the 1st inning when James Sarnoski singled and scored on a William Dardani triple. Dardani then scored on Alex Delahaij’s sacrifice. Campbell Cunningham singled before the side was retired. The Tigers answered in the bottom half of the inning getting four runs from Dhewa Tenzin, Parker Sarata, Bryce Phillips (RBI single), and Dylan Smith (two-RBI double). Koji Bachner (RBI double) and Kevin Liu (single) also had hits in the inning.

After Tenzin was able to get the Twins batters out on eight pitches in the 2nd, the Tigers scored two with Phillips (double, run), Smith (RBI double, run), Liu (RBI triple), and Christopher Rowe all reaching base.

The 3rd and 4th innings were scoreless as Tenzin (Tigers), Luke McAndrew (Twins), and Sarnoski (Twins) had great pitching and defensive back-up. The Twins had great efforts by Charlie Lowe, Joey Coughlin, Ryan DeNutte, and CJ Horne. Nathan Beintum had a spectacular catch in right field to stop an extra base hit and Cunningham made a play at the plate to prevent a run. The Tigers defensive effort included great hustle from Sam Gentile, Bachner making a great catch on a Sawyer Calef line drive shot to first, and two outs made by shortstop Phillips fielding grounders and throwing to Sarata for outs at second base.

For the Tigers, Tenzin struck out the side in the top half of the 5th inning and the offense scored an additional run as Liu hit an RBI single to score Smith after his fourth hit of the game.

The Twins went into the final inning needing four runs to tie but were only able to get McAndrew across the plate on a Dardani sacrifice before the Tigers defense could close the game.

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