When May moves to June it usually means youth spring baseball is entering the postseason. Sunny skies and ideal temperatures made for some lively crowds at Mead Park this past week, as teams squared off in some exciting and fun playoff games. Here is look at some of the action:
AAA
Diamondbacks–7, Braves–4
The AC Auto Body Diamondbacks beat the Oxygen Fitness Braves 7-4 in the first round of the AAA division playoffs.
Jack Dann fires the ball back to the infield.
The Braves took an early lead with RBI’s by Edward Graham. The D-Backs came back with RBI’s by Will Besgen and Christian Carson, and a 3-run homerun by Alex Rashad.
D-Backs held on to the lead behind 2 defensive gems by Jack Anderson, and strong pitching by Andrew Rashad, Ben Loomis and Justin Higgins.
AA
Yankees–10, Orioles–8
Alex Sconziano waits for the throw while Johnny Maechling steals 3B.
The Karl Chevrolet Yankees defeated the Express Orioles 10-8 in the first round of the AA Playoffs. The Yankees pitching staff of Giovanni Cascione, Travis Sturckey and Trey Hartnett held the O’s bats in check.
The Orioles defense was anchored by Mason Zea and Robbie Hellman. The Yanks offense saw big hits from John Totaro and Jack Marshall. The O’s offense was powered by big hits from Andrew Mackenzie and Thomas Arnold.
Athletics–10, Angels–6
Meanwhile, the Stamford Insurance Group Athletics beat the Mellick and Sexton Angels in the other AA semifinal, setting up a Yankees-A’s championship game. Jack Reed and Danny Rogers got things started for the A’s with solid hits, while Rogers was able to shut down the vaunted Angels offense in his two innings of work.
Ryan Connelly follows through.
The Angels battled back to take a 3-2 lead with solid hitting by Luke Hickey and and Ian Wearing. The A’s were able to retake the lead as Henry Sokolowski, Jared Kramer and Calvin Stuart showed patience at the plate, setting things up for the big bats of Ty Groff, Ryan Connelly and Cooper Dinan, each of whom had RBI hits.
The Angels kept pace with big hits from Colin Tiscornia and Henry Garrity but A’s hurler Brendan Holahan was able to shut things down to preserve the win.
A
Mets–4, Rockies–0
The Montanaro Orthodontics Mets defeated Dr. Osherow’s Livewires Rockies 4-0 in a teeth-rattling, jaw-clenching, nail-biter of a playoff game.
Chase Graber rears back.
A great pitching performance was turned in by Chase Graber, who held the Mets bats at bay in his two innings of work.
Johnny Maechling and Ryan Calyanis were the offensive stars for the Mets while Jack Dann and Thomas Ziegler flashed some fancy leather on defense for the Rockies, while the Mets’ Alex Sconziano moved into the Gold Glove conversation with some solid work at the hot corner.