2000 Playoff Highlights
Go to bottom of this page for Rounds 3-6 Highlights
Round 1
PMS Field 2: Pro Med(8) 6 at Attman's Deli(1)
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Attman's Deli scored 6 runs in the b-1st inning and never looked back en
route to a 15-6 thrashing of Pro Med. After 15-0 after 5 innings, the players
were unaware that the slaughter rule remained in effect for the first 2 weeks of
the playoffs. Harry Schevker led the Attman's attack going 2-2 (2 2B) with 5
RBI's. Joe Vassallo, Warren Scudder and Brian Wolf had 2 RBI's each, while Bruce
Eisenberg (who else?) got the pitching win.
PMS Field 3: Schaefer & Strohminger(7) 4 at Havana Club Cannons(2) 7
The Havana Club Cannons opened the defense of their 1999 playoff championship with a 7-4 win over Schaefer & Strohminger. This was the same
team the Cannons opened with in last years playoff series, and the result was the same. Evan Kreitzer
opened the scoring in the first inning with a
long homerun to left center. In the third inning a Neal Charkatz single and an
Evan Kreitzer double moved the score up to 3-0. However, the S&S crew fought
back and took the lead 4-3 in the sixth inning. In the home half of the sixth
catcher Rob Isennock led off with a single to left. Manager Gerry Edelman
got a pinch hit single to center and Mr. Evan Kreitzer hit a three run homer to
rightfield. Michael Dubansky drove in the final run with a hit after an infield
error. Tom Paulshock was a complete game victor.
PMS Field 4: Palmgard(6) 3 at Kings(3) 5
Kings squeaked by Palmgard in a lackluster offensive effort by both
teams. Both teams had just 7 hits in the contest. Palmgard grabbed 2-0 lead in
t-1st. Tony Viglucci hit a 1 out single and scored on Rob Bark's 2-run HR. Kings
took advantage of 3 Richard Berger walks in b-2nd, with Joel Gordon's SF to SS
scoring Ernie Stephenson to put the Kings on the board. Kings went ahead in
b-3rd. Mike Pusateri(game 2-2, 2 R,2B,W) doubled with 1 out and Jeff Slutzker
reached base on an infield error. Jason Green's double scored Pusateri and
Slutzker, giving Kings 3-2 lead. Kings built lead to 5-2 in b-5th. Jim Silvestri
singled to leadoff inning. Mike Pusateri followed with a single to LCF and
Silvestri scored when the throw from the outfield to 3rd base went out of play.
Jeff Slutzker followed with a SF to RCF to close out Kings scoring. Rob Bark's
solo blast to RCF in t-6th pulled Palmgard to within 5-3. Palmgard threatened in
t-7th. A 2-out walk to PH Mike Johnson and single to Jeff Webster put the tying
runners on base. Mickey Golden hit a sharp grounder to the hole at shortstop.
Kings Mike Pusateri snarled the grounder and fired to thirdbaseman Joel Gordon
for the game-ending force-out. Offensive stars for Palmgard were Rob Bark (2-3, 2R, 2HR, 3RBI),
Eric Humes (2-3, 2B), and Jeff Webster (2-3).
PSH Field 5: Sky & Sky Inc(5)
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at Legal Papers Inc.(4)
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At the high school Legal Papers hosted Sky
& Sky in a battle of the number 4 & 5 seeds, both teams having to
contend with soccer goalposts in LF and RF. It was a back and forth game
from the very beginning which featured several lead changes. In the
t-1st Brian "Sky" Mekiliesky singled home David Kowitz for the first
score of the game. On the errant throw into second Brian Sky took off,
but was nailed on the slide. Jeff Sacks quickly remedied that deficit
for Legal Papers Inc. with a 2-run blast down the hill in left.
Two fielding errors in the t-2nd by Legal Papers allowed Alan Smith to tie the
game at two. Bob Hansen didn't allow that to stand for long as he
singled home Eric Ruby to put LPI up by one. The third inning was the
big one for Sky & Sky as they pushed back into the lead off the bat of
David Kowitz and his 2-run dinger to RF. LPI seemed to limit the damage
retiring the next two batters in order, but Sky & Sky caught fire with two
outs. A Scott Felton solo shot was followed by four singles and a walk.
Alan Smith again came up big driving in two and Marc Leibovitz helped his own
cause with an RBI as well. When the dust cleared Sky & Sky held a
5-run lead. To the credit of LPI they did not get down and scratched
their way back in it with three of their own in the b-3rd. Jeff Sacks
doubled home one and Scott Bloom singled in two more. Sky & Sky
managed another run in the fourth off the bat of Brian Kowitz with a solo job.
Bob Hansen again came up big for Legal Papers with a leadoff solo shot to LF.
Playing tit for tat, Sky & Sky's Andy Bloom went deep in their half of the
fifth only to see David Kopel bring LPI back to within 2 on his RBI single.
Two more were added to the Sky & Sky tally in the sixth. Brian
Kowitz singled his brother to third and an overthrow led to one score.
Brian Sky doubled home Brian Kowitz to place Sky & Sky ahead by 4 runs.
Legal Papers Scott Bloom led off the sixth with horrific results. A line
drive back through the box caught Sky's pitcher, Marc Leibovitz, flush in the
eye. Players rushed to his aid to stop the bleeding as an ambulance was
called to take him to the hospital. (At this time surgery is still pending,
scheduled for later on this evening.) Bloom did come around to score on
Gabe Silber's Sac Fly, but damage on the field was limited to one run.
Three singles in the LPI seventh produced one run but the tying run was
stranded on first. Final score 12-10. Winning pitcher was Marc
Leibovitz, and Kevin Oliner took the loss for LPI. Solid performances
with the bats were turned in by Sky & Sky's David Kowitz(3-4,HR,2B,1B,2
RBI,3 runs) Brian Mekiliesky(3-4, 2B,2 1B,2 RBI) Eric Gertner(3-4) &
Andy Bloom(2-4, HR,1B,3 runs). Legal Papers Inc. attack was led by Dave
Koppel(3-4) Jeff Sacks(2-4, HR,2B,3 RBI) Bob Hansen(2-3, HR,1B,2 RBI) plus Howard Rosenberg who quietly went (3-3)
Round 2
PMS Field 2: Sky & Sky Inc(5) 9 at Attman's Deli(1) 7
Due to the severe injury in game one, the
second round game on field #2 between Attman's Deli and Sky & Sky did not
get started until well past 11 A.M. The time delay showed up in both teams'
bats. Attman's Donny Herrod doubled to LF and Harry Schevker motored
around from first to slide in safely at home. In the t-3rd Sky & Sky
busted out the lumber breaking through for three. Larry Newman singled
and Brian Kowitz eventually tripled to RF knocking in two runs. Brian
Sky added an RBI single in the inning to put Sky & Sky up by two.
Paul Bell drew a leadoff walk in Attman's half of the third and Dave Sandler
used a SF to score him. Sky & Sky came knocking again in the t-4th.
An uncharacteristic error allowed Alan Smith to collect an RBI, and Aric
Spitulnik tripled home two more on a misjudged line drive. However, as
any team in the league with experience knows...no lead is safe against
Attman's. The fourth inning was the big one for Attman's as five doubles
produced four runs and Bruce Eisenberg capped the inning with an RBI for the
fifth score in the inning. The combination of Brian Kowitz and
Brian Sky went to work again as two singles allowed Andy Bloom to knot the
score at 7 with a SF. In the t-6th Sky & Sky's Joel Wax got to play
the role of hero as he doubled home Eric Gertner with the go ahead run.
Scott Felton added an insurance run in the t-7th with a SF. Lost in
Attman's comeback attempt was a scoreless final three at-bats, where Larry
Newman allowed just one hit in each of those innings. In fact, both
pitchers made it easy on their respective defense as Newman induced 15 pop-ups
on the day, and Bruce Eisenberg got 13 batters to fly out. Final score
9-7 in favor of Sky and Sky. Hitting stars for Sky were Brian
Kowitz(4-4,3B, 3 1B, 2RBI, 3 runs) Brian Sky (also 4-4, 2B,3 1B) &
Larry Newman helped his own cause with 2 hits and 2 runs. For
Attman's notable performances were turned in by Donny Weinapple & Donny
Herrod both (2-3,2 2B...Herrod with 2 RBI) and Warren Scudder (2-3,2B,1B)
The final score of 6-4 Cannons, sets up the winner's bracket game next week versus the rejuvenated Sky&Sky club. The Cannons are looking to repeat as champs in the 2000 playoffs.
Kings Alan Klawans and Duane Reiswig remained out with leg
injuries. Klawans is a probable for next week, while Reiswig remains
questionable.
PMS Field 4: Schaefer & Strohminger(7) 4 at Palmgard(6)
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Palmgard eliminated Schaefer &
Strohminger in game 2. Key hitters for Palmgard were Mickey Golden (3-4, 2R,
RBI), Rob Bark (3-4, 2R, 2-2B, 3B, 2RBI), Jim Davis (2-2, R, HR, 3RBI), Jeff
Webster (2-3, 2R, 2B), Tony Viglucci (1-2, R, 2B, 4RBI, 2-SAC).
Round 3
PMS Field 2: Kings(3) 10 at Legal Papers Inc(4) 7
Kings bats woke up late, but with enough time to defeat and eliminate
Legal Papers 10-7. Legal Papers squandered a 5-0 early lead. Marc Cucina (game
3-4,1 R,1 RBI,2B) singled in t-1st and scored the games first run on Jeff Sacks
RBI triple. LPI added 3 more runs in t-2nd. A 1 out single by Gabe Silber (game
2-4, 1 R,2 RBI,3B), walk to Howard Rosenberg and single to pitcher Marty Ellis
(game 3-4,1 R) loaded the bases. Larry Proper and Marc Cucina followed with RBI
singles with another run coming home on a Dave Kopel groundout. Scott Bloom and
Eric Ruby (RBI) started the t-3rd with doubles to give LPI their 5-0 lead. Ellis
had allowed just 3 hits thru the first 3 innings. The game's turning point was
in the t-4th. Marty Ellis singled to start the inning. 1 out later Cucina
doubled to LF, but Ellis was gunned down at the plate on Alan Klawans' relay
throw to Mike Pusateri who fired home to catcher Mike Herr. Ellis came up high
with his hands to the face of Herr on the out, and this seemed to wake-up the
Kings. They took their frustration out on Ellis with a 4 run b-4th. Hits by Jeff Slutzker (game 3-4,2 R,1 RBI,2B) and Duane Reiswig (game 3-3,1 R,1 RBI,2B) put
runners on the corners with 1 out. Ernie Stephenson (game 2-3,2 R,1 RBI,2 2B)
hit an RBI double, Mike Pusateri hit a SF to LCF and Lane Gordon (game 2-3,1 R,1
RBI) hit an RBI single. With 2 outs, Mike Herr lined a hit to RCF, the ball got
past Jeff Sacks with Gordon coming in all the way from first base to score the
4th run. Kings added 5 runs in b-5th inning to take control. With 1 out, Jim
Silvestri hustled on the bases and turned a routine single into a double. Jeff
Slutzker hit an RBI single to tie game, Duane Reiswig doubled home Slutzker and
Chris Ryder hit a 2-run HR well past RCF. Kings added an insurance run in b-6th.
Rick Amernick singled to start inning and scored on Silvestri's 2-out single.
Leading 10-5 into the 7th inning, Legal Papers Scott Bloom and Eric Ruby singled
to open inning. With 1 out, Gabe Silber hit a 2-RBI triple. Kings starter Lane
Gordon was able to retire Howard Rosenberg on a comebacker to the mound and
struck out Marty Ellis to end the game.
Round 5
PMS Field 3: Palmgard(6) 4 at Sky & Sky Inc.(5) 3 (8 Innings)
Sky & Sky hosted Palmgard in a rematch of last week's fourth round squeaker as both teams faced elimination. It certainly had the feel of last week's action, but would the results be the same?
Palmgard's Mickey Golden singled in the first and Robbie Bark followed with a drive to deep RF. Both Golden and the outfielder thought it was going to be caught, but is was misplayed and Bark wound up with only a single on a ball that sailed to the RF fence. Jim Davis took advantage of the situation and drove in the first run of the game with a sac fly. Sky & Sky came to bat looking to jump ahead and did so with a little help from Palmgard's outfield. Brian Kowitz smashed a double down the RF line, but it snuck under the outfielder's glove as both he and his brother scored on the error. Then Palmgard's Eric Humes singled and came around to score on a Gary Weinapple RBI single. With two outs the based were loaded in the t-2nd and Jeff Webster was set to do some damage, but Sky & Sky pitcher Larry Newman got him on a pop-up. After an inning and a half the score was knotted at 2-2, but that small flurry apparently allowed both pitchers to clamp down. For the next 4 innings Newman didn't pitch to more than 4 batters, and Dicker pitched to only 10 batters during the next 3 innings. Realizing that the game was shaping up like last week's contest, Sky & Sky threatened in b-5th. Joel Wax found a hole and Larry Newman singled him to second. Aric Spitulnik walked to load the bases and Dicker faced the Kowitz brothers (in order) with no room for error. A calm cool and collected Dicker induced two routine pop-ups allowing Palmgard to halt the threat. In the t-7th Palmgard tried to step up the pressure putting the go-ahead runner at second with two quick singles. Larry Newman put out the fire inducing three straight pop-ups to end the threat. To the b-7th where Sky & Sky momentarily had the the winning run on second base. Joel Wax singled and Alan Friedman forced him at second base. With two down Aric Spitulnik grounded to Mickey Golden at 3rd, but his throw was wide of second base allowing Friedman to slide in safely. An alert outfielder backed up the throw as Aric Spitulnik raced for second base. Unfortunately Friedman had not headed for third after the slide and Spitulnik was tagged out before he could retreat to first. To extra innings where Dicker came close to producing the go-ahead run all by himself with one swing of the bat. A lined shot down the LF line sent Andy Bloom scampering towards the side walk. Luckily for Sky & Sky, Dicker was held to a triple, yet that was only part of the good fortune. Mike Novak, who was out to cheer on his teammates, noticed that Dicker neglected to touch second base, and sure enough he was ruled out on appeal. With two outs and another opportunity nearly squandered, Mickey Golden again got things rolling for Palmgard with a single. Bark doubled him to third, so Sky & Sky's manager elected to set up a force and walked Jim Davis. Tony Viglucci had the chance to play hero and singled home two runs to put Palmgard ahead 4-2. Dicker again was charged with facing the meat of Sky's line-up for the win. David Kowitz popped out and his brother grounded to first. Down to their last out, Brain "Sky" Mekiliesky hit a bomb to straight away center bringing his team to within one run. Dicker simply would not yield to the pressure, and induced the next batter to fly out to shallow RCF sending his squad to the championship game against The Cannons. Larry Newman absorbed his second one run loss in as many weeks against Palmgard. Hitting stars for Palmgard included Mickey Golden(3-4,2 runs), Robbie Bark(2-4,2B,1B,1run), and Eric Humes(2-3,1run). In the losing effort Andy Bloom went 3-3(2B,2 1B), Brian Sky was 2-4(HR,1B), and Joel Wax went 2-3(2 1B).
Round 6
(Championship Game)
PMS Field 3: Palmgard(6) 17 at Havana Club Cannons(2) 2
After suffering through 4 straight defeats at the hands of the Cannons during the regular season, Palmgard
knew they had a tough task at hand. Palmgard met that task with a 17-2 victory over the defending champion
Cannon's team to take the 2000 Tournament crown. Palmgard pounded out 20 hits with 6 players getting 2 or more hits in the game. Palmgard did not
waste any time as 8 runs were scored in the top of the first inning. Jeff Webster started off the game with a single to left field. Mickey Golden
then walked to place runners at first and second for Rob Bark who promptly drove in Webster to start the scoring. Jim Davis then
followed Bark with an RBI single to left. Tony Viglucci grounded sharply to short driving in Bark
for the third Palmgard run. A single by Mike Woods and an RBI single by Eric Humes were followed by a grounder by Joe Cohan to first base. The Cannon's
first baseman could not handle the grounder allowing Palmgard to load the bases with one out. Greg Manara stepped up and singled in Palmgard's fifth
run of the inning. After a run scoring fielder's choice by Gary Weinapple, Richard "Dicker" Berger then tripled in 2 more runs, which ended the scoring
at 8. Palmgard could see that the Cannon's team was stunned and did not want to let them gather momentum. Palmgard added two more runs in the
second with a 2-run single by Tony Viglucci. Two more runs were added in the third by an RBI fielder's choice by Webster and a run scoring single by
Dicker. Palmgard now held a 12-0 lead through 3 innings. The Cannon's
could not figure out Dicker's knuckleball and were held scoreless through the first 4 innings. After going three-up-three-down in the top of the 4th,
the Palmgard bats woke up again in the top of the 5th with 5 more runs. RBI singles by Weinapple, Webster, Golden, and Davis (2) closed out Palmgard's
scoring for the day at 17. The Cannon's then ended Dicker's bid for a
shut-out with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Neither team scored in the 6th or 7th and Palmgard came away with it's second Tournament
Championship (1995, 2000). An interesting stat is that Palmgard pounded out 35 hits on the day. 34 of the 35 hits were singles with the only extra base
hit coming of the bat of Richard "Dicker" Berger. Key Hitters: Jeff Webster (3-5, 2R, 2RBI);
Mickey Golden (2-4, 3R, RBI, BB); Jim Davis (3-4, R, 3RBI); Joe Cohan (2-4, 3R);
Greg Manara (3-4, 2R, RBI); Richard Berger (2-3, 3B, 3RBI, BB).