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GAME RECAP: Frank Stella’s Strong Performance Out of the Pen Propels LIB to Victory

by John Sullivan

This 14u boys of summer matchup was a battle between two teams with very good pitching. James Famiglietti got the start for LIB and Ricky Guzman got the ball for the B1000 Seminoles. Famiglietti got off to a great start for LIB as he got through the first inning scoreless with 2 strikeouts. Guzman responded with a scoreless inning of his own, despite getting into a second and third jam with only one out. 

In the second, James Famiglietti put up another scoreless inning after working around a lead off double from Brendan Martin.  Although he threw a scoreless first, Ricky Guzman was pulled for Noah Gross in the second inning. In this inning, after Frank Stella and Greg Byrne each worked walks, Micheal Lofrumento ripped a clutch two out RBI double to give LIB a 1-0 lead.

In the third, some sloppy defense cost LIB. After Skylar Wang reached on an E6 and Andrew Cucuzza reached on a walk, another E6 brought in two runs for the Seminoles. LIB seemed eager to respond after Davin Diflorio’s lead off single, but Noah Gross was able to induce a big double play to shut down LIB’s momentum. The Seminoles had the lead 2-1 going into the fourth inning. 

James Famiglietti got a quick two outs in the fourth, but then walked the next two batters in a row. This would lead to him getting taken out for Frank Stella, who got the third out of the inning quickly on a groundout to short. In the bottom half of the inning, Danny Delaney crushed a lead off double to dead center. On the next at bat, Delaney would come around to score on an E6 and tie the game up at 2. After Gio Addona singled and Greg Byrne reached on an E4, the bases were loaded for LIB. LIB would capitalize on the bases loaded opportunity thanks to a RBI walk from Micheal Lofrumento and an RBI sac fly from Nick Lopez. LIB led 4-2 going into the fifth. 

In the following innings, the pitchers seemed to really get comfortable on the mound. Frank Stella worked a 1-2-3 top of the fifth inning with two strikeouts, while Noah Gross responded with a scoreless bottom of the fifth allowing just one hit. The sixth inning was more of the same as Frank Stella tossed another scoreless inning in the top half and Skylar Lang threw a scoreless inning of his own in the bottom half out of the bullpen. 

After just beating the time limit, Frank Stella took the mound in the seventh inning to close the door for LIB. He started things off with a backwards K, but then walked the next guy. But, he settled down easily and got a pop out, followed by a groundout to short. LIB won 4-2.

After the game, Stella was interviewed for his performance out of the bullpen. He ended the day with 3 ? innings with only 1 hit and 1 walk given up. When asked what was working for him on the mound, he said, “I was just trying to get ahead with my fastball and end them with my off speed.”