Phillies top Marlins 8-6 in Majors Division

Posted on 28 April 2011 by LeslieM

The Phillies Kyle Bombardier tags out the Marlins’ Louis Esposito in a Deerfield Beach Little League Majors Division game. Photos by Gary Curreri

 

By Gary Curreri

Joey Zingarella pitched four solid innings and delivered a clutch 2-out, 2-run double to lift the Phillies past the Marlins, 8-6, in a Deerfield Beach Little League Majors Division game Friday night.

Zingarella went the final four innings and struck out the final Marlins batter as the Phillies improved to 9-5 with its sixth consecutive victory. Zingarella finished the game with six strikeouts.

Kyle Bombardier, Kyle McSweeney and Andrew Putney all scored two runs in the win, while Marcel Prummel had a key defensive play in the outfield.

“We are one of the teams to beat,” said Phillies coach Chuck Brown. “I gave my younger kids a chance to play and it showed they have to show up to play every inning.”

The Phillies jumped out to a 5-2 lead before the Marlins rallied to tie the game at 5-5 in the fourth. The Phillies broke the deadlock in the fifth as Kyle DeFrancisco doubled, Bombardier had an RBI singled and Alec Brown singled. Bombardier stole home and Brown scored on an error for an 8-5 lead. The Marlins’ Evan Dolan scored in the top of the six, but Zingarella shut the door and struck out the last batter to end the game.

Brown has been coaching eight years and said he enjoys working with the players. Most of the players in the Majors Division are between 10 and 12 and have baseball experience. He said they have one practice and two games a week. If he can get some hitting in at local batting cages, they also try and do that.”

“When we start off, I really want to find out their skill level and try to develop them and make them better by the end of the season,” Brown said. “If everybody improves, then it is a mission accomplished.”

Shane Reilly, another veteran coach of the Deerfield Beach Little League, said he was happy how his Marlins’ team kept battling back in the contest. The team slipped to 5-8 on the season with the loss.

“They kept battling,” Reilly said. “They always do. We have only lost one other one-run game. Usually, if we are in it, we win it.”

Louis Esposito, who went 2 for 2 with two walks and a run scored, led the Marlins. Zach Audet was hit by a pitch, walked and had a double, while Wade Patton had a walk, single and a sacrifice fly.

Reilly said his team has five games left before the playoffs, and they have some tinkering to do.

“We have to get better with our defense and our base running,” Reilly said. “That’s where we have struggled this year. We had five outs on the base paths today and that’s where we lost it. The main goal is to get better every game, both as an individual and as a team. Our goal is to get better for the playoffs.”

Shane Lovello bears down on a pitch for the Phillies in a Deerfield Beach Little League Majors Division game.

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