99 was facing long odds heading into its playoff series against Elks. First of all, Elks is a high quality team as it proved by winning the City-County championship the prior year and by finishing 19-2 in the league this year. To make matters worse, 99 had to face Elks’ “Murderers’ Row” (their first three hitters combined for 30 home runs during the season) without pitching ace, Zach Turnbull. Zach was needed the day before game 1 to pitch a complete game and would be unavailable for the first two games due to pitch count rules.

All 99 could do was rely on their strengths. 99 has played strong defense all season. The depth of the batting order has been very tough, with the end of the order often starting rallies. Also, the team is tough and never gives up, battling to the final out regardless of the score.

In game 1, Jason Andersen was on the mound. He pitched very well in getting top two Elks’ hitters Ryan Lambert and Taylor Pfaff to either get out or at least keep them in the park. In what would become a theme throughout the series, however, 99 pitchers simply had no answer for Elks’ #3 hitter Kenny Szesnat. Szesnat had an incredible 4 home runs in the series – two in game 1 and two in game 2. The two he hit in game 1 were towering blasts.

In spite of Szesnat’s home runs, 99 hung around in game 1 thanks to some great defense. Carter Bach started things off with an acrobatic diving catch in shallow center field – tying plays made earlier in the season by Nicky Lofrumento and Nate Franchi for the “catch of the year” award.

Matt Clough and Spencer Wall combined for a nice play on a grounder to third. Nate Franchi once again ranged out into the outfield to make one of his patented over-the shoulder catches.

Kenny Abel also made the first of many nice plays he would make in right field during the series. Zach Turnbull, as he has been all season when not on the mound, was rock solid behind the plate.

Despite being ahead 2-1 in the third inning, Elks’ power was just too much, and Elks pulled away late for a 8-3 win.

One benefit of keeping the game close was that the Elks were forced to use their ace, Ryan Lambert, for more than 35 pitches, which meant he would be ineligible to pitch in game 2. Elks has other excellent pitchers, but not having to face Lambert gave the team a confidence boost. Lambert had only given up a run in one game all season.

For Game 2, 99 had Brendan Mulson on the mound. He pitched very well, giving up runs only on solo homers. Mulson and Jason Andersen had hits in their first two at bats, leading to runs that helped keep the game close throughout.

Kenny Abel helped keep Elks off the board early with a nice catch of a line drive by Taylor Pfaff followed by a bullet throw to first base to double up the baserunner.

Carter Bach hit a unique type of “walkoff”, smashing a line drive to left field for a base hit and then immediately walking off the field to attend his 4th grade graduation ceremony. Nicky Lofrumento also put together quality at bats, reaching base twice. The fact that this team has kids still in elementary school hitting the ball hard and reaching base against some of the best 12 year old all star pitchers in the area is a sign that the future is bright for this team.

Other young players, Peter Lofrumento and Benito Torres, had quality at bats throughout the series and played solid defense, continuing the theme of this team’s successes being a total team effort.

Spencer Wall closed the season on the mound for 99 with solid innings of relief, keeping 99 within striking distance.

With the skies darkening and the stands full of fans and friends, 99 was down 6-2 heading into the bottom of the 6th inning. Big Kenny Szesnat was on the mound for the Elks, and 99 needed baserunners. Spencer Wall, Nicky Lofrumento, and Nate Franchi each had great at bats, fouling off pitches where necessary, and reaching base, loading the bases with no outs! Marcus Barker was at bat, and the crowd was ready for Marcus to connect and drive in some runs. Marcus had a great at bat, battling Elks’ star pitcher, but this time Szesnat had a little too much and was able to record the strikeout. Next year, with a little more experience, Marcus will win those battles. Peter Lofrumento was up next. Just like Marcus, Peter worked the count and fouled off tough pitches. He had a great swing on a 2-2 pitch, but Szesnat had extra zip on his fastball. Again, this was a great experience for a young player, and Peter will win a lot of those battles over the next two years. Elks brought in a reliever who was able to retire Brendan Mulson for the final out and close out the series.

Congratulations to all of the 99 players for a great season – one to be proud of.

The last couple of weeks have featured several very close games, and to finish in the top 4 and make the playoffs, 99 needed to win a majority of those games.

99 has played well during the stretch and put themselves in position to clinch a playoff berth with a win in their final regular season game on Sunday.

The opponent on Sunday was familiar: Vellano Brothers, and in particular their starting pitcher Duncan Satterlee, who has given 99’s batters fits over the last two seasons.

99’s players knew that runs would be tough to come by, and therefore a great performance from their starting pitcher, Zach Turnbull, along with solid defense would be needed.

Even with the expectations of a pitching duel heading into the game, nobody could have predicted what resulted.

For the first and only time in Colonie Little League’s 2011 Majors season, one run would be scored in the game. Behind simply sensational pitching and defense, 99’s first inning run held up for 6 innings, and the team earned its playoff berth with a hard-fought victory.

Great credit should be given to Vellano’s team. They have played very well over the past few weeks. Duncan seemed to throw as hard and as accurately as he has in his Little League career. Several nice plays by second baseman James Hutton contributed to 99 being held to one run.

On 99’s side, each kid had tough fielding chances that were handled flawlessly. Carter Bach made a nice catch in center and then turned two backhanded plays at 3rd base into outs. Brendan Mulson continued his outstanding defense at shortstop by fielding all 5 grounders that went his way, including a couple of very tough plays. Kenny Abel took charge on a fly ball in the right-center gap. Spencer Wall was solid at first base.

Two of the hardest hits of the game were by Nate Franchi, who singled to lead off the 5th and Peter Lofrumento, who hit a drive down the right field line and then celebrated with his teammates as Chris announced that Sunday was his 10th birthday.

The star of the game, however, was Zach Turnbull. In addition to pitching a 2-hit shutout in the biggest game of the year, Zach made very athletic plays on the last two outs of the game, snaring a line drive and stopping a hard-hit grounder. If that wasn’t enough, Zach also drove in Jason Andersen with the game’s only run with an extra-base hit to deep right field. It was great to see a kid who has played so well all season step up, big time, when his team needed him most.

After three consecutive extra inning games, Elks needed only 6 innings to defeat 99 by a score of 8-2 at Cook Park. For one of the few times all season, 99 was outplayed defensively in this game. Elks’ middle infield duo of Ryan Lambert and Nick Pfaff fielded all ground balls flawlessly and kept 99 from having a chance at a big inning.

Highlights for 99 included Kenny Abel striking out the side in the 6th inning and Benito Torres hustling around the bases to score 99’s first run. Nate Franchi reached base twice and scored 99’s other run.

99 played in its third straight extra inning game on Saturday night, and for the 2nd straight night 99 pulled out a win.

This time, Peter Lofrumento drove in the game winning run in the bottom of the 7th. Zach Turnbull earlier had tied the game by hitting a drive to center that got to the fence and scored three runners, including himself.

Carter Bach got the win by pitching scoreless innings in the 6th and 7th innings.

99 returns to the field Thursday night with a game against Elks.

99 came into the 2nd-to-last week of the season knowing that their chances of finishing in the top 4 and making the playoffs would depend on the result of their two games. 99, JT Garry, and J&M Schwarz came into the week all within ½ game of each other in a battle for the 3, 4, and 5 spots in the standings.

On Tuesday night, 99 faced the very strong and experienced JT Garry squad. Against JT Garry’s very good pitching, 99’s hitters put together two of their best innings of the season to start the game and put 8 runs on the board. However, JT Garry is too good to go away quietly, and they scored 7 runs in the 2nd to tie the score at 8.

Kenny Abel came into pitch in relief and helped keep JT Garry’s bats in check for several innings. He also pounded two doubles to help 99 jump back out to a 10-8 lead. After JT Garry cut the lead to 1 in the bottom of the 5th, Jason Andersen tripled and scored to make the score 11-9 going into the bottom of the 6th. After a great defensive play by Peter Lofrumento, Brendan Mulson, and Matt Clough to record the 2nd out of the inning at 3rd base, JT Garry put on a clutch rally, including hits from Joe Warner and Ryan L to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Tim Cramer then ended the game with a walk-off single to give JT Garry the 12-11, 7-inning win. Although the outcome of the game was disappointing, 99 made a statement that it steps up and battles in “big games”. This experience would help the team later in the week.

On Friday night, under the lights, 99 and J&M Schwarz, both with 9-8 records, competed for 4th place. The game was a pitchers’ duel between David Gray and Zach Turnbull, and both were outstanding. Zach pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up only 1 walk while striking out 10. David pitched equally well.

In a well-played game on both sides, defensive stars included Bonito Torres, Brendan Mulson, and Matt Clough, who executed a perfect relay and tag to get a runner out at third place in a key part of the game. Marcus Barker continued his stellar play at third place by recording a put out and an assist – both on tough plays. Carter Bach made a clutch play at shortstop. The play of the game, however, was made by Nate Franchi, who in the 7th inning ranged all the way from his 2nd base position to medium depth right field to make an over-the-shoulder catch and keep the game tied. Nate has been playing as well as anyone in the league at 2nd base, but even this play caught everyone in attendance by surprise, as the ball looked like it was a sure hit. Nate’s catch gave 99 the momentum heading into the bottom of the 7th, and Jason Andersen followed up Brendan Mulson’s two-out triple with a hard-hit game-winning single to left field to give 99 a well-earned 5-4 win.

It was an incredible 14 innings of baseball played by 99 this week. It took all of the skill, effort, and concentration from every player on the roster to get the result that happened, and 99 now sits in 4th place with 3 games remaining in the regular season.

99 started the week against the strong Eastern Heating & Cooling team and was dominated. Anthony Kotarski pitched 4 shutout innings and hit a home run for EHC. Kenny Abel drove in the only run for 99 with a single in the 6th inning.

99 came back with a strong showing against VFW. Jason Andersen had 4 hits, Brendan Mulson had 3 hits, and Kenny Abel had 2 hits and 3 RBI’s to lead an 11-run outburst. Zach Turnbull was masterful on the mound, giving up only 2 runs in 4 1/3 innings.

99’s game on the night of Saturday, May 21 started with a home run onslaught from defending City-County champion Colonie Elks, including two by Ryan Lambert.

Hoping to prevent the score from getting out of hand, 99 turned to Peter Lofrumento to limit the damage – and did he ever.

Peter pitched three innings in relief against the powerhouse Elks lineup, giving up only one run and recording 7 strikeouts! It was a great pitching debut that was appreciated by the coaches and celebrated by his teammates.

There were several moments during Wednesday night’s game against Vellano Brothers where it seemed like the game would not go in 99’s favor.

A hard-hit double by Nathan Toms helped Vellano jump out to a 2-0 lead before a well-executed play between shortstop Brendan Mulson and third baseman Matt Clough helped 99 get out of the inning.. Pitcher Jason Andersen settled down after that inning and struck out the side in the 2nd.

After 99 got one run back with an RBI by Marcus Barker, Vellano put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out in the 3rd inning and the heart of the batting order coming up. Jason reared back and struck out the next two hitters before Spencer Wall made a nice play at first base to get 99 out of the inning with the score still 2-1.

Spencer led off the bottom of the 3rd with another of his patented at bats, fouling off pitch after pitch from Vellano started Duncan Satterlee before finding a pitch he liked and lining a base hit. Brendan Mulson then tripled and scored to give 99 a 3-2 lead.

Jonathan Hoffman gave Vellano the lead back with a 2-run triple just out of the reach of a diving Benito Torres in the 4th inning, and after 99’s first two batters were retired in the bottom of the inning, it looked like it was going to be an uphill battle the rest of the game. However, Nate Franchi got a 2-out rally going with a double to deep right-center. Wall then singled and Mulson hit an RBI single to tie the game. Jason Andersen then hit a 2-run double to give 99 back the lead. Zach Turnbull kept the rally going with an RBI triple. What looked like a scoreless inning turned into 4 runs and a 7-4 lead.

From that point, the relief pitching of Mulson and the defense of Franchi took over. Carter Bach added an RBI double over the right fielder’s head, scoring Kenny Abel, to provide the final margin of 8-4.

The most impressive aspects of the game were how the team came out ready to swing the bats against one of the best pitchers in the league in Duncan Satterlee and how the team seems to be maturing, overcoming setbacks with solid defense and good at bats.

Special thanks to the Lofrumentos for helping to prepare the field (including removal of five water-covered tarps) to help the game be played on time and in good conditions. We’re very lucky to have such a great group of kids and supportive families.

The next game is against first place Colonie Elks under the lights Saturday at 8pm.

Zach Turnbull pitched another strong game for 99 on a rainy Saturday afternoon, giving up only 4 hits and no walks in a complete game effort in a 6-1 victory for 99 over Daily Gazette.

Spencer Wall got 3 hits to get 99’s offense going. Benito Torres, playing in his 2nd game with his new team, got his first big hit, a hard-hit grounder through the left side to give 99 a 4-1 lead.

Next game is Wednesday against Vellano Brothers

In a game featuring several stellar defensive plays and solid pitching by JMS starter David Gray and 99 long-reliever Brendan Mulson, JMS scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to turn a tight 2-1 game into an eventual 6-2 victory.

Each side made run-saving plays – 99 with a couple worthy of being an ESPN “Web Gem”. Kenny Abel made a diving catch on the right field line and doubled up a baserunner to save a run in the 2nd inning. Later, with a runner on third, Marcus Barker fielded a hard-hit ground ball, took a peak at the runner, threw a strike to first base for one out, and Spencer Wall fired home to catcher Zach Turnbull who applied the tag for the 2nd out.

JMS matched 99’s excellent defense. Niko Dinovo prevented an extra base hit with a diving catch in center field. JJ Papelion showed off great range at shortstop, fielding a bouncing ball behind the 2nd base bag and making a perfect throw for the out.

The story of the game, however, was the play of 9-year old JMS catcher Christian Brennan. Little League Majors’ division baserunners see a 9-year old behind the plate, and they start salivating. Surely the inexperienced kid will make some poor throws, be unable to catch some balls, or otherwise allow aggressive baserunning to get the best of him. That was not the case with Brennan, and in fact, he played one of the strongest games at the position that 99 has faced all season. Between rundowns and close tag plays at the plate, Brennan participated in at least 3 outs between third base and home plate – not to mention hurting 99 at the plate with 2 hits. For that, he should be congratulated.

Speaking of 9 year olds, Nicky Lofrumento once again hit the ball hard, this time hitting a line drive triple to the fence in right center. There weren’t enough hard hits for 99, however, and therefore the winning streak ended at four game.