Battle of unbeatens ends in lopsided decision

Week 10 play featured two marquee matchups. In the Monday Burt Smith
League, undefeated Performance Wire faced Black River Ale House/D&D
Carpets, while in the Thursday Jim Korpela League, a battle of the
unbeatens closed out the week on field two.

Monday’s matchup proved to be anti-climatic as Performance put up
eleven runs in the final three innings to blow past Black
River/D&D, 17-7. Black River faces another stiff contest when they
play second-place Garage/The Mill in their next game.

Monday’s prime matchup proved to be the Bostwick Liquors-Bert’s
Brawlers game. Bostwick’s stormed quickly out of the gates, batting
through the order and scoring six runs in the top half of the first
inning. Deshane D’Amore led off the game with a double and later scored
on Jeff White’s double to initiate the scoring. Brandon Ferrare then
pitched in a double to score White.

The teams traded deuces in the middle innings as Bostwick’s took a
10-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh. In Bert’s final at-bat, David
Rienzo III led off with a single, later scoring on his father’s triple
to left. Shawn Russell then slammed a three run home run to help Bert’s
pull within two runs but could not muster any further offense, sending
Bostwick’s to the 10-8 victory.

Ferrare finished the night with three hits and Steve White had three
RBI among his pair of hits to pace Bostwick’s. Bert’s Brawlers were led
offensively by Russell, and Anthony Pendolf with three hits and two
RBI.

Thursday’s highly anticipated main event played out as such as the
two undefeated teams, Palisades Hotel and Mattacola Law Firm, from the
Korpela League met in the nightcap.

Palisades quickly jumped on Mattacola starting pitcher Brandon
Lovett, making his debut on the hill. Young stars Jeremy Meier and Adam
Keller each scored after hitting sharp singles and give Palisades a 2-0
lead.

Mattacola responded in the second as brothers Marc and Mike Kohli
began the inning with back-to-back line drive singles. Lovett then
drove them home with a line-painting opposite field triple. John
Plumley lined a single to left to score Lovett and give Mattacola a 3-2
lead.

Both offenses exploded in the third inning. Mattacola scored six in
the top half of the inning to take a seemingly commanding 9-2 lead.

Chris Marrello led off the inning with a triple, later scoring on an
error. The Kohlis again lined back-to-back singles and again, Lovett
drove them in with another opposite field hit.

True to Palisades form, they summarily answered Mattacola’s six runs
with six of their own in the bottom of the inning. Scott Parsons
ignited a two-out rally with a single to right. After a walk to Keller
loaded the bases, John Sharrino cleared the bases with a lined single
to deep right-center field. Sharrino finished four for four on the
night with five RBI. Rob Barrett then plated Sharrino with another
opposite field single. Dave Guy closed out the scoring in the inning
with a two RBI single.

Palisades tacked on two runs in the fourth inning to take a 10-9 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

Mattacola’s bats went silent for the next two innings before
mounting a mini-rally in the sixth. Sacrifice flies from Scott Podkowka
and Rick Kenealy scored two runs but the rally was cut short when Marc
Kohli was caught in a rundown between home and third, ending the inning
trailing 12-11.

Palisades tacked on three insurance runs in their half of the sixth
behind RBI hits from Barrett and Sharrino. Mattacola’s went quietly in
the seventh and were sent home losers for the first time this season,
15-11.

Palisades will face another tough contest in week 11 when they face
third-place Midnight Mikey’s/Federated Insurance in the nightcap on
field two.