| EMASS
SENIOR SOFTBALL |
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| "Slow-pitch softball in
an organized, competitive and safe
environment." |
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EMASS
60's ALMOST RULE THE WORLD's
It was a bittersweet ending
for the EMASS Bostonians as they came within 3 outs
of playing for the world championship at the AAA level in Phoenix,
Arizona this
past weekend. As it was, they proved themselves to be the strongest
team in the
East & at least for this tournament, the third best in the
world.
Joe Salzano's men went undefeated in the seeding round beating
Tucson 24-14
& Los Gonzales (so named because all of their players had
the same last name) 20-16 in extra innings.
They begin bracket play on Friday evening by defeating Doc Martins,
a team
from Chicago who are the reigning Eastern Champions 22-17. In
Saturday's
winner's bracket quarter finals they beat Bickerton Steel, a
Califorinia team, & in the semi-finals the Bostonians defeated
Las Vegas 15-14 in extra innings.
After winning 5 in a row, they lost in Sunday's finals to an
Arizona state all-star
team 23-19 & then, dropping into the loser's bracket, they
needed to beat
Bickerton again to play Arizona once more for the Title. The
Bostonians went
into the 7th inning leading 20-12 & suddenly fell prey to
the softball gods as
Bickerton unleashed a monsoon of hits against the suddenly defenseless
boys
from Boston beating them 25-20 to send everybody scurrying around
for
substitute airline reservations.
Although first place was within our reach – a bronze metal
in the Worlds is
something that both the players & EMASS as a whole can be
proud of. Our
travel team program, under Salzano's guidance & Clark's
Shoes sponsorship,
has progressed through the years to the point where our program
is nationally
recognized & can both compete & win at the National
level.
The team:
Infielders: Bob Gallant (Peabody), Steve Jones (Wayland),
Joe Marmai (Quincy), Peter McClellan (Cape Cod), Al Penny (Peabody),
Ron Pelligrini (Canton), and Jeff Philcrantz (Cambridge);
OutFielders: Dave Clark (Cape Cod), Bob Clifford (Quincy),
Roger LaPage
(Cambridge), Steve Piccone (Medway), David Wainwright (world
famous pool player)
Battery: Stu Gray & Joe Salzano (both Cambridge)
EMASS 75 team wins Cape Cod tournament
The EMASS 75 team got
off to a very slow start on the first day, beating the weakest
team in the division only 5-0 and then losing to the Cape team
4-0. (This was the first time in memory an EMASS team has been
shut out at the Cape.) On day two the team eked out a 7-4 win
over the # 2 Cape team before rain washed out game two.
On day three everything came together perfectly! Fairfield,
Connecticut was soundly beaten 16-5, setting up games with the
two undefeated tournament favorites - Brandywine, Pennsylvania
and Butler Sports (#1 Cape team). These were won convincingly
by scores of 15-11 and 17-4.
The team had solid pitching throughout the tournament from Jimmy
Wong and Fred Scerra. Jimmy handcuffed the Brandywine team,
which had played many national tournaments this year, and Fred
was in total control against the heavily favored Cape team.
Every one of the 14 players contributed -- key hits, defensive
gems, aggressive base running and the kind of perpetual enthusiasm
and hustle that all championship teams must have.
The roster was: Bert Bear, Tom Comparato, Bob Ellis, Tom Ferlazzo,
Al Goldstein, Werner Gossels, Mel Gross, Dennis Melanson, Bob
Risman, Ray Scalia, Fred Scerra, John Stewart (manager), Fred
Wilde and Jimmy Wong.
EMASS REPEATS AS ATLANTIC COAST CHAMPIONS
Repeating is a rare occurrence on the national
level of the ultra competitive
senior softball tournament circuit but Joe Salzano's Bostonians
did just that by
defending their Atlantic Coast Championship this past weekend.
In the
oppressive heat and humidity of Loudon County, Virginia they
won 8 out of 9
games to earn a return invitation to the National Tournament
of Champions to be
held in Tampa next January.
The Bostonians, consisting of 11 EMASS athletes plus 2 players
from Cape Cod
placed 5 of its members on the all tournament team – Dave
Hadden, Roger
LaPage, Stu Gray, Ron Pellegrini (who hit over .900), Al Penny
and Dave Clark. Clark was named tourney MVP.
The team won its first 4 games in the preliminary round and
thus earned the
number #1 seed going into the double eliminations. However,
they lost their first
game in the bottom of the 7th to the Virginia Cavaliers 19-18
and had to win all
four games from the loser's bracket on Sunday to repeat. Sunday's
games began
at 9:00 am and were played back to back to back to back in temperatures
approaching 100 degrees concluding at 3:00 pm. Hitting dominated,
as the
Bostonian offense rang up 90 runs in the four games on “Steamy
Sunday”
compared to only 36 runs for their opponents.
The team roster: Dave Clark and Peter McClellan (both from Cape
Cod), Bob
Clifford (Quincy), Mike DeFlice and Ron Pellegrini (both from
Canton), Bob Gallant
and Al Penny (both from Peabody), Steve Jones (Wayland), Stu
Gray, Dave
Hadden, Roger LaPage, Jeff Philcrantz and Joe Salzano (all from
Cambridge).
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