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July 23, 2008

MIKE MASTOVICH | Some tough choices

BY MIKE MASTOVICH The Tribune-Democrat Wed Jul 23, 2008, 11:31 PM EDT

The AAABA League managers will have a difficult task tonight when picking the regular-season individual award winners.

In particular, the Pete Vuckovich Award that annually goes to the top pitcher should be a wide-open race.

There are a few reasons why the pitching award has more than a few qualified candidates. The league has had a stable of quality hurlers this summer. Some managers have had the luxury of using three productive starters as well as effective relievers.

Of equal significance is the fact that the local league has lacked the number of true power hitters that made their presence felt in recent seasons.

Only two players had hit multiple homers entering the final week. Both of those, Delweld’s Brad Smith and Drew Westover, had two home runs.

Blasts over or off the big screen came with regularity when players such as Doug McNulty, Zack Diekmann, Derek Mechling, Matt Hanley, Derek Fallecker and Matt Petrowsky were in the league.

That’s not a knock on this year’s top hitters. Power surges come in cycles.

But back to those Vuckovich candidates.

First-place Martella’s Pharmacy has three contenders in Chris Sobota (0.99 ERA), Andrew DiNardo (0.85) and Kris Park (0.68). Sobota is 5-1 with a save and 61 strikeouts.

DiNardo is 4-1 with three saves and 29 strikeouts. His lone loss was 1-0 to the Renegades in a game decided on a successful squeeze bunt. Park is 5-0 with a save.

The second-place Renegades’ Cole Taylor (1.79) also had six wins and 49 strikeouts, and Stewart (2.76) had five wins and 49 strikeouts through last week. Eric Bruno (0.40) went 4-1 with one save as well as 60 strikeouts through July 20.

Delweld’s Jake Rougeaux (1.28) entered the week with six wins and 38 strikeouts for the third-place team.

Principle Development’s Gregg Bandzuh (1.38) had a league-high seven wins and 36 strikeouts entering the week, while Paul Bugajski (0.70) was undefeated with 39 strikeouts in five decisions.

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Postseason party: The AAABA League playoffs will open on Friday with a pair of best-of-5 semifinal series.

Top-seeded Martella’s Pharmacy will play fourth-seeded Principle Development at 5:45 p.m.

The second-seeded GMI Renegades will face third-seeded Delweld at 8. All playoff games will be nine innings and played at Point Stadium.

The series will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with games at 4 and 7 p.m. The teams will alternate playing the first and second games. If necessary, the semis will be played Monday and Tuesday at the Point.

The best-of-5 finals will begin on Wednesday and continue through Sunday, if necessary.

All championship series games are set to begin at 7.

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Long-range plans: A pair of four-team AAABA Regionals will be held beginning on Aug. 2.

The Altoona Regional will include host Johnston Realty, New Brunswick, Cincinnati and Elk County. The Zanesville Regional will feature the host Junior Pioneers, Cleveland, Buffalo and Columbus.

In a new twist, there will be a two-team playoff series held at Point Stadium on Aug. 8-9 to determine one more tournament berth. New Orleans and Chicago Metro will participate in the best-of-3 series.

The 13 teams guaranteed a spot in the 64th AAABA Tournament that opens on Aug. 11: Altoona; five-time defending champion Baltimore; Brooklyn; Johnstown; Lansing; Livonia; Maryland State; New York; Philadelphia; Schenectady; Washington; Youngstown; and Zanesville.

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Fields of dreams: The AAABA Tournament will use Point Stadium, Roxbury Park, Franklin Field, Lilly, Pitt-Johnstown, Portage, Revloc and the Greater Johnstown School District Field formerly known as Fichtner Field. St. Michael officials asked to be removed from the list because Forest Hills High School’s football camp will begin that week near the field, tournament organizers said.

Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.

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