Tampa 2008 Saladino Baseball Tournament

Armwood Puts Spoto Away Early

By JARRETT GUTHRIE

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 6, 2008

BRANDON - Armwood had six extra-base hits as it defeated Spoto 11-1 in five innings in the opening game for both teams at the Saladino Tournament. The Hawks used six hits and three Spoto errors to score eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early.

Junior right fielder Joe Cartwright was 3-for-3 on the day with a double, three runs scored and an RBI. All but on one member of the Hawks' lineup had at least one hit.

"I've been telling them all season, be aggressive and good things will happen," Hawks coach Mike Wrenn said. "I wanted them to be that aggressive and take those extra bases when the other team gives them to them."

Tyler Herrington, Jarrod Chancey, Jason Chancey and Billy Farrell had doubles for Armwood (11-7), with Zack Powers adding a run-scoring triple in the fifth inning.

Sophomore David Angotti (1-1) earned the win, allowing five hits and one run in a complete game.

Spoto (7-11) scored its lone run in the second inning, when Mike Ramsey doubled in Mike Cawthon, who reached on a single.

KING 9, MIDDLETON 6: The Lions used a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Karlton Knapp, to defeat the Tigers.

Middleton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when a throwing error allowed Aaron Fludd to score. Jarryd Reid would advance to third on the error after the ball was thrown away on his sacrifice bunt. Reid was driven in on a single by Derrick Hudgins.

King evened the score at 2-2 in the third with an single from Keith Graham that brought in AJ Weil. The Lions tied it when Graham scored before Sinjin Sato was tagged for the third out after getting caught in a rundown.

Middleton (10-10) added four runs in the fourth, with singles from Jamie Mallard and Corey Thomas.

King (6-11) answered with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth, but a five-hit fifth put the Tigers away.

FREEDOM 6, EAST BAY 5: Eduardo Gonzalez scored on a Zach Perdomo single in the seventh inning to give the Patriots (9-8) victory over the Indians (4-13). Gonzalez also had a home run in the fifth inning for the Patriots. Junior Joel Britt (3-3) earned the win for the Patriots.

BLAKE WITHDRAWAL: Blake notified Saladino Tournament officials Saturday afternoon it would not be able to field a team Saturday night against Brandon, and it has withdrawn from the tournament.

The Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play Brandon at 7 p.m. in the Southern Division. Brandon, Armwood and Spoto will each receive credit for 7-0 victories in the tournament.

Win Earns Leto Some Respect

By RICK HARMON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 6, 2008

VALRICO - Most experts didn't give Leto much of a chance in the Atlantic Division of the Saladino Tournament. And Falcons coach J.J. Pizzio made sure his players knew just how little respect others paid his team.

Leto responded during Day 1 at Bloomingdale High with a 4-2 victory over Durant behind the strong pitching of Steve Vidal and the hitting of Rolando Peraza and Kelvys Delrio.

"We weren't expected to win a game here," Pizzio said. "Durant was picked to win this division, and that motivated us."

Leto (9-9) jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on singles by Robbie Scime and Peraza and a three-run home run by Delrio. Peraza was 4-for-4 with two doubles and leads Hillsborough County with a .596 average. The Falcons added another run in the second on a P.J. Leto homer.

With a 4-0 lead, Vidal took control. Durant (8-10) had four hits through five innings and left five runners on base.

PLANT CITY 3, BLOOMINGDALE 2: Plant City's Ross Kip and Bloomingdale's Zach Payne were locked in a pitchers' duel for five innings before the Raiders scored three times in the sixth and held off the Bulls' seventh-inning rally.

Payne, who finished with 14 strikeouts, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but after he gave up a single to Austin Kern, K'Shawn Smith walked and Kyle Madill followed with a single to load the bases. Brent Butler hit a sacrifice fly, and Micah Carmody was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Kip doubled to make it 3-0.

Doubles by Payne and Sam Morgan got the Bulls on the board in the seventh. Jeff Griffith's pinch-hit single scored pinch-runner Johnny Rodriguez, but Rodriguez was stranded at second.

TAMPA CATHOLIC 8, RIVERVIEW 2: Eric Gerken hit a three-run home run, and Cameron Alford and Ryan Hammer added solo home runs for the Crusaders. Gerken was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Ryan Klosicki got the win to improve to 4-0.

TAMPA CATHOLIC 9, NEWSOME 6: In the Crusaders' second game, sophomores Alex Martinez and Brandon Mendoza hit home runs to send the TC into the quarterfinals as the Pacific Division winner.

Martinez hit a two-run home run in the second and added a solo shot in the sixth, while Martinez hit a grand slam in the sixth as part of a seven-run inning.

Ravens Eke Out Opening Win

By CRISTINA LEDRA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 6, 2008

TAMPA - Alonso was thankful to leave with a win against Wesley Chapel on Saturday afternoon in its opening game at the Saladino Tournament at the University of Tampa.

The 4-3 win took eight innings to seal and came down to a battle of baseball wits after the Ravens unsuccessfully attempted two potential game-winning squeezes in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings.

The game-winning run from Alex Panteliodis was walked home with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.

"We just weren't executing, putting the ball in play when we had guys in scoring position," Alonso coach Landy Faedo said. "We had some tough breaks. We hit a ball up the middle that looked like it was a hit and it went off the pitcher. We gotta keep battling. Sometimes you go through stretches like that and you have to keep plugging away."

In the bottom of the seventh of a 3-3 tie game, Alonso had the bases loaded with no outs, but Wesley Chapel shortstop Christian Illing's throw off a groundout by Sherman Johnson allowed the Wildcats to tag Tito Martinez out at the plate.

With the bases still loaded, the Ravens attempted a squeeze, but Tyler Ding was tagged out on the way home.

The last out of the inning came on a Ray Delphey groundout at first, sending the game into extra innings.

Alonso attempted another squeeze with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the eighth. But the Wildcats, just like the first time, advanced the batter to load the bases and pulled everyone in to defend.

And it worked a second time as Alonso's Erick Gutierrez flew out to Wildcats pitcher Brett Lee, which held Panteliodis at third. But with the bases still loaded, Lee walked Panteliodis in for the game-winner.

"We did some great things," said Wesley Chapel coach Chuck Yingling, who also thought his team could have executed better. "They didn't give up against a great ballclub that played with a lot of enthusiasm."

PLANT 4, JEFFERSON 3: Mychal Givens scored two runs for Plant as the Panthers avoided an upset by the Dragons.

Plant had a 4-1 lead going into the fifth inning, then Jefferson scored two runs partly due to two Panthers errors. Jake Lowe pitched six innings for the win and Sergio Pita earned the save.

WHARTON 7, ROBINSON 4: Joe Evans was 4-for-4 at the plate and scored twice to lead Wharton past Robinson. The Wildcats scored three runs in the second inning, and added to their lead with runs in the third and fourth as they never trailed.

Robinson had seven errors and the Wildcats had 15 hits.

Hillsborough Blasts Way To Win

By LEE DIEKEMPER

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 6, 2008

TAMPA - Judging by Hillsborough's record, the Terriers (8-10) aren't their normal selves. But numbers, including records, can be deceiving. Playing Gaither (10-7) to open round-robin play in the Saladino Tournament, Hillsborough used three home runs in the first two innings to blast their way to an 11-5 victory.

An indication of what was to come came off the bat of David Richardson to begin the game. His cannon shot off Gaither starter Kenny Frey (4-2) may never have gotten 20 feet off the ground while clearing the left-field fence.

Later with a man on, Ryan Fleming crushed a pitch that sailed over the left-field fence for a 4-0 Terriers cushion with only one out.

"The last two weeks we have been swinging the bat," Hillsborough coach Kenneth White said. "Early on this season we were losing a lot of one-run games like 6-5 and 5-4. The last couple of weeks we have been swinging the bat and the hits have been coming around for us."

But the Terriers didn't have to wait too long for the game's biggest hit. With Roche Woodard and Jose Figueredo, the Nos. 8 and 9 Terriers hitters, reaching on a double and a throwing error, respectively, it wasn't a good sign for the Cowboys. Jay Laurienzo sealed that suspicion by turning on a fastball, nearly hitting the flagpole in left field for a three-run blast and a 7-1 Hillsborough lead.

"He left me a fastball high and in," Laurienzo said of his fourth homer of the season. "But the wind helped me. I thought they robbed it.

"We are turning it on right now. The team is starting to swing the bat: hit and runs, bunts, we are really putting it together and the confidence has really come back. Everyone - one through nine - we have confidence in what we can do."

The wind may have aided the Terriers. It was blowing so strong that the American flag rarely sagged.

"On a windy day like this you've got to keep the ball down," Gaither coach Frank Permuy said. "And we didn't do that."

SICKLES 16, LENNARD 4: With Sickles holding a 4-2 lead, Gryphons outfielder Kenny Wilson had enough of a close game. Less than 24 hours after hitting a grand slam against Wharton, with a pair of runners on base, Wilson banged a shot off the left-field fence for a two-run double and later scored on a bad throw to the plate to give Sickles a 7-2 lead and the game was essentially over.

"I just tried to put the ball up the middle," Wilson said of the fastball he belted. "I was sitting on it. When I hit it, I thought the wind would take it out. I mean it was blowing like 25 mph. I thought it was gone. Then when I reached second I saw the left fielder picking it up and thought, 'Oh, no. I've got to start running.'

"I'm really seeing the ball well right now."

Chris Velez, in his first start of the season, fanned five in four innings for the win.

CHIEFS-TITANS POSTPONED: The final game of the tripleheader at Chamberlain between the host Chiefs and Tampa Bay Tech was postponed due to rain. The game was in the top of the third with Chamberlain leading 2-0 when the game was called. The game is set to resume Monday at 10 a.m.