Quality of play both offensively and defensively definitely stepped up a few notches when third-seeded St. Francis hosted sixth-seeded St. Sebastian in the first round of the St. Bart’s Oldtimers Men’s Softball League double elimination playoffsatBrooksideParkinScotch Plains on August 21. The Franies were rolling along comfortably with a 5-0 lead until St. Sebastian opened up and rocked them with a nine-run third inning then added three more in the seventh, while pitcher Glenn Gang got into his groove en route to a 12-7 triumph.
BROWN 3-RBI 3B, 3-FOR-3, 4 RBI; GANG, SHULMAN 2 RBI
Quality of play both offensively and defensively definitely stepped up a few notches when third-seeded St. Francis hosted sixth-seeded St. Sebastian in the first round of the St. Bart’s Oldtimers Men’s Softball League double elimination playoffsatBrooksideParkinScotch Plains on August 21. The Franies were rolling along comfortably with a 5-0 lead until St. Sebastian opened up and rocked them with a nine-run third inning then added three more in the seventh, while pitcher Glenn Gang got into his groove en route to a 12-7 triumph.
St. Francis got cast into the losers bracket and would face seventhseeded St. Justin, 10-5, losers to second- seeded St. Vincent onAugust 23, while St. Sebastian would do battle with the Vinnies in the unbeaten round.
St. Sebastian’s Dan Brown, who became a father for the third time last week, had the most productive of evenings at the plate. He poked an RBI single in the third inning, singled in the fifth then hammered a bases-loaded triple for another three RBI – one for each child. Gang went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Scott Shulman rapped a two-run single and scored once. Jerry Isolda and Lou Fraguas each went 2for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Jim Devlin singled, was intentionally walked and scored both times.
Also for St. Sebastian, Mike Markowycz had an RBI single and scored once. John Greenblatt smacked an RBI double and scored once. Wells Pikaart, Rob Zerafa and Stan Lesniewski all went 1-for-3 and scored once. Nate Mangiris scored once.
St. Francis pounded out 17 hits and were led by Gus Alvarez, who singled twice, scored twice and had an RBI. Billy Aumenta had an RBI single and scored twice. Kyle Lott singled twice, scored once and had an RBI. Dave Grandmaison singled twice and had an RBI sacrifice fly. Geoff Dickstein and Ben LoBrace both went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Pitcher Harold Hopler and Kevin Caggiano both singled twice. Steve Sciaraff singled and had an RBI. Ryan Peters had an RBI single and Bill Scheiner tapped an RBI.
St. Sebastian leadoff batter Mike Markowicz reached first base on a throwing error in the top of the first inning but St. Francis pitcher Hopler struck out the next batter and got the next two batters to ground out to LoBrace at third. St. Francis answered with three runs. Aumenta’s grounder to short was mishandled and Lott bounced a single by first. Alvarez lashed an RBI single down the right field line and Grandmaison followed with an RBI sac fly to Greenblatt in center. Hoper hopped a single past first and Sciaraff lofted an RBI sac fly to center.
St. Sebastian could not find a run in the second but St. Francis did with two runs. Dickstein hacked a single past short and LoBrace sliced a single to right. Caggiano looped a single over first and Scheiner followed with an RBI groundout to short. Aumenta gave St. Francis a 5-0 lead with a sizzling RBI single up the middle. However, Markowycz in left, snagged Lott’s liner and quickly fired to Brown at second to double up the base runner, who was caught off-guard.
The gloating moment for St. Francis ended with a bang when all 13 St. Seb batters stepped to the plate and produced a merry-go-round of nine runs in the top of the third inning. Devlin got it all started with a sliding single into leftfield. Lesniewski looped a single into right and Brown bashed an RBI single to left. Mangiris grounded into a force out. Markowycz hooked an RBI single to left and Zerafa slashed a single to right. Shulman stung a two-run single to left. Fraguas and Isolda smacked back-to-back RBI singles to center and Greenblatt lined an RBI double to right. Gang brought in the eighth and ninth runs with a hard single to right.
Stunned but not beaten, St. Francis answered once in the bottom of the inning but there could have been much more. Alvarez slammed a single to center. Second baseman Brown caught Grandmaison’s popup in shallow right then Hopler chopped a single past short. After a force out, Peters squiggled an RBI single over second base. Dickstein singled to left to load the bases but right-centerfielder Shulman made a knee-sliding grab of LoBrace’s low liner to prevent further scoring.
St. Francis added a run to cut St. Seb’s lead to 9-7 when Lott singled homeAumenta in the fourth. LoBrace kept the Sebs off the board in the fifth when he turned a second-to-first double play. St. Seb also failed to score in the sixth but so did the Frans.
The top of the seventh began with a single by Gang. Pikaart bounced a single past short. After a fly out to center, Gang and Pikaart tagged up and sped into scoring position then Hopler intentionally walked Devlin to load the bases. LoBrace grabbed Lesniewski’s grounder and fired home for the second out. Brown stepped to the plate and launched a bases-clearing triple over the heads of Aumenta and Lott to make to score 12-7.
A fly out to Greenblatt in center and a great unassisted putout by first baseman Vince Fumero put St. Francis in a two-out hole in the seventh but Grandmaison gave them a ray of hope with a very long single that bounced off the right field fence. Scheiner lofted a high fly into shallow center but Isolda got under it for the final out.
St. Sebastian 009 000 3 12 St. Francis 321 100 0 7
