ALUMNI ARCHIVES

The following information was published earlier and is available here for your perusal!

06/07/00 . . .Spring 2000 Baseball Tournament Game Summary:

Reading 5 Gloucester 1

Reading drew the Gloucester Fisherman as their first round opponent in the Division II North Tournament. The game was played on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Morton Field. Reading sent Russell Hunt to the mound and he gave another outstanding performance, yielding only one run on three hits, while striking out nine in a complete game performance. Reading jumped ahead in the second inning when Jesse Woods walked and Chris Condon reached on an error. Dave Kaloyanides singled to load the bases and Dan O'Keefe was hit by a pitch to drive in Woods. A second run scored on a double play ball, so Reading led, 2-0. Gloucester closed the gap to 2-1 in the fourth, but Reading responded with three runs in the fifth inning: Peter Croft led off with a walk and Russell Hunt's sacrifice bunt was misplayed to put runners on first and second. Jamie Cerretani then launched a triple into the trees
in right center for two runs. Jesse Woods followed with an RBI single to make the score 5-1. Hunt retired the final six Gloucester batters in order to close out the win.

Reading 0 Stoneham 5

The Rockets followed the Gloucester win with a Sunday graduation and a Monday quarterfinal round game vs. arch rival Stoneham. Reading had defeated the Spartans twice during the season, but this day was to be all Stoneham's.  Reading fell behind 1-0 in the 2nd inning and the score stayed that way through four. Reading had runners in scoring position every inning but could not deliver the hit to tie the score. Stoneham broke the game open with four runs in the fifth, as Reading used three pitchers that inning to try to stop the rally. Stoneham held on to the 5-0 lead and advanced to the semifinals, ending Reading's season.

Despite the disappointment of tournament elimination, the team should be proud to have accomplished it's primary goal of winning the Middlesex League championship. This was a team that worked hard together and used excellent pitching, great defense, and timely hitting to win 17 games in the tough Middlesex League. This year's seniors leave the program having won back-to-back titles and having made their mark in the rich history of Reading Baseball.

05/31/00 . . .Summary of our final few regular season games:

Reading 9 Watertown 2

Reading clinched the league title outright with a win over Watertown at Morton Field. The Rockets scored in each of the first four innings to build a 9-0 lead for pitcher Mark DeMasse. The sophomore lefty pitched 2-hit ball for four innings with 7 K's before giving way to Matt Chasse and Dave Bunten who combined to pitch the final three innings. Reading had 8 hits and 10 walks; leading the way were Chris Condon and Dave Kaloyanides who each had two hits and an RBI.

Reading 1 Winchester 2

Russell Hunt and Winchester's Dave Sullivan hooked up in the best pitcher's duel of the season and, unfortunately, Winchester came out on top. The game was scoreless through five innings as Hunt yielded just one hit and Sullivan just four.  In the bottom of the 6th, Jamie Cerretani singled, stole second, and scored on Jesse Woods' two-out single to left. Reading took the 1-0 lead into the 7th and Hunt quickly retired the first two Winchester hitters. But the Sachems stayed alive with a bloop single to right center and the next hitter followed with a walk. Winchester's next hitter then drilled a double to left center to score two runs and give them a 2-1 lead. Reading got a runner to 2nd base in the bottom of the 7th, but couldn't score, thus dropping a heartbreaking 2-1 ballgame.

Reading 10 Stoneham 8

Reading needed to bounce back as they traveled to rival Stoneham to play a make-up game on the day after the Senior Prom. The Rockets came out flying with their biggest inning of the year, scoring 9 runs in the top of the first.  Pete Croft led off with a single and after two walks and an error, Dave Kaloyanides singled home one run. Chris Condon followed with a long double to bring home two more runs and Tim Bryant's single scored two more. Croft then singled again, Russell Hunt drew his second walk of the inning and then Jamie Cerretani hit a 3-run double.Pete Croft led off with a single and after two walks and an error,
Dave Kaloyanides singled home one run. Chris Condon followed with a long
double to bring home two more runs and Tim Bryant's single scored two more.
Croft then singled again, Russell Hunt drew his second walk of the inning
and then Jamie Cerretani hit a 3-run double.

Down 9-0, Stoneham came back strong in the 2nd inning with 5 runs and then scored 3 more in the 3rd, cutting Reading's lead to 9-8. Mark DeMasse came on in relief of Cerretani and was effective, preserving the precarious one run lead. Reading scored an insurance run in the 5th and DeMasse got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 6th to keep the score at 10-8. After Reading went down in the top of the 7th, DeMasse retired the Spartans in order in the bottom of the inning for a hard-earned victory.

The Rockets finished the Middlesex League season at 15-3, winning the league by three games over 2nd place Lexington.

Reading 8 Wilmington 3

This was the first round of the annual Wilmington Invitational Tournament.  Tim Bryant got his first start of the year and pitched well. Tim gave up 3 runs and struck out 7 in a complete game win. Jesse Woods and Dave Kaloyanides led the offense with 3- and 2-run homers, respectively.

Reading 3 Malden Catholic 4

Reading lost to MC in the finals of the Wilmington Invitational in a tightly played contest. Reading scored first as Jamie Cerretani doubled home Pete Croft, who had singled. MC responded with 2 runs against Matt Chasse, who was getting his first start of the season. After falling behind 3-1, the Rockets closed the gap to 3-2 when Paul Melanson's ground out scored Dave Kaloyanides. Russell Hunt relieved Chasse in the 4th and got out of a jam by picking runners off 2nd and 1st base, consecutively. But MC got to Hunt for an insurance run in the 5th inning. Reading made one last bid in the 7th, scoring one run and then getting runners to 1st and 2nd with two outs. But MC retired the final batter to seal a 4-3 win.

Reading finished the regular season with a 16-4 record and another Middlesex League championship. The team is seeded #3 in the Division II North tournament and will play the winner of the Gloucester/Whittier Tech game on Saturday, June 3 at Morton Field at 2:30.

05/20/00 . . .

Here is a summary of our most recent games.  At the previous update, the team's record stood at 8-1.  Since that time, the club has won 5 out of 6 games to improve to 13 wins and 2 losses.

Reading 8 Melrose 1

Jesse Woods drove in 2 runs and Jamie Cerretani pitched a 3-hitter in a game that featured a rain delay in the bottom of the 5th inning. Melrose scored a run in the 1st but Reading came back with 3 in the bottom of the 3rd inning.  Reading thus held a  3-1 lead after 4 ½ innings when a heavy shower forced a delay.  After the rain, Reading came out ready to play and scored 2 runs in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th to put the game away.

Reading 4 Belmont 1

Reading avenged its only loss of the season to this point by winning a tight ballgame at Belmont.  Russell Hunt was on the mound, matched up with Belmont's Justin Kittle, who had stifled Reading in the first meeting. Kittle was tough again, but Reading managed to jump ahead in the 2nd inning on an RBI single by Hunt. RBI's by Jesse Woods and Chris Condon in the 3rd inning made the score 3-0 and Pete Croft drove in another run in the 4th. Belmont came back with one run in the 4th to make the score 4-1. Hunt shut down Belmont the rest of  the way, completing a 2-hit, 9 strikeout performance.

Reading 2 Lexington 3

Reading suffered its second loss of the season as Lexington played very well att Morton Field on a Friday afternoon. Jamie Cerretani pitched well in 6.1 innings, but yielded 3 runs in the loss. But Reading could not string together enough offense to pull out this game, leaving 11 men on base. The game was scoreless until the 5th when Lexington combined a walk, a strikeout victim that reached first base, and 3 hits to score 3 runs. Reading came back with two runs on RBI singles by Dave Kaloyanides and Dan O'Keefe.  Neither team scored in the 6th and sophomore lefty Mark DeMasse came on in relief in the 7th with two runners in scoring position and got out of the jam. Reading managed to get the tying run on base in the  7th, but could not get him in, ending Reading's 7-game winning streak.

At this point, Reading's lead in the Middlesex League pennant race was now down to 2 games, as both Woburn and Winchester had 4 losses to Reading's 2.  With a 4-game week ahead, including one game with Woburn and two with Winchester, the league race was far from over.

Reading 12 Woburn 0

Reading met the big game challenge versus Woburn, aided by 8 walks and 5 runs in the first inning on the way to a 12-0 win. Russell Hunt again pitched an outstanding ball game, limited Woburn's potent offense to just 3 hits over 5 innings. Tim Bryant and Matt Chasse, each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.  The offense was led by Dave Kaloyanides (2 hits, 3 runs, 1 RBI), Connor Hardy (2 hits, 2 run, 3 RBI), and Dan O'Keefe (1 hit, 3 RBI).

Reading 8 Winchester 5

There was no time to savor the big win vs. Woburn as a make-up game with Winchester was on the very next day. Reading sent Mark DeMasse to the mound for a very important start and he responded well, holding Winchester scoreless for 4 innings while his teammates built a 7-0 lead. Reading scored a run in the 2nd inning on an RBI by Connor Hardy and then got the big blow in the 4th inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Jamie Cerretani drove a ball to deep left field, into the parking lot at Manchester Field for a grand slam. Jesse Woods, Chris Condon, and Dave Kaloyanides all followed with single for two more big runs and a 7-0 lead. But Winchester is a good-hitting team and began to come back. They scored one in the 5th and then got to DeMasse for 4 more in the 6th. Tim Bryant came on in relief to record two big outs and keep the score at 7-5. Reading got a key run in the 7th on Dan O'Keefe' s single and then Bryant struck out the side in the bottom of the 7th to save the win.

As a result of wins vs. Woburn and Winchester, Reading was in a position to clinch at least a tie for the league title with its next win. With no days off , Reading traveled to Wakefield, intent to get a piece of the title.

Reading 9 Wakefield 4 (9 innings)

Well, it wasn't easy. Reading built a 2-0 lead on a homerun by Jamie Cerretani,  followed by a Jesse Woods triple and an RBI single by Dave Kaloyanides. Wakefield scored a run in the 4th to make it 2-1 and Reading got one in the 6th on a sacrifice fly by Cerretani. Wakefield came up in the bottom of the 7th down 3-1 and having mustered only 4 hits versus Cerretani's pitching. Jamie retired the first two hitters, but an infield hit and an error kept Wakefield's hopes alive. The next batter launched a triple to tie the game at 3-3. Cerretani retired the next batter on a nice play by 3rd baseman Tim Bryant to send the game to extra innings. In the 8th Cerretani hit his second homer of the game, but Wakefield responded with a triple and sacrifice fly to again tie the game. In the 9th, Reading's bats finally came to life as Dan O'Keefe led off with a triple. A walk, a nice bunt by Peter Croft, triples by Bryant and Chris Condon, and a double by Woods accounted for 5 big runs. Cerretani retired Wakefield in the 9th and Reading had it's most exciting win of the season and a piece of the Middlesex League Championship!

05/08/00 . . .

Since our last update, the baseball team has won 5 more games while losing one, to bring the team's record to 8 wins and 1 loss for the season. Here is a brief summary of the last 6 games.

Reading 1 Belmont 2
Reading suffered its first loss of the year in a good pitcher's duel. Jamie Cerretani yielded just two hits in a complete game effort while Belmont's pitcher gave up only three hits. A triple by Dan O'Keefe followed by a sacrifice fly by Russell Hunt accounted for Reading's only run. Jamie Cerretani pitched an outstanding game but suffered the tough-luck loss.

Reading 5 Woburn 2
The team bounced back with a big win at Woburn, spearheaded by more excellent pitching by Russell Hunt, who held a strong Woburn team to 5 hits. Reading trailed 2-0 after one inning, got one run back in the 2nd and then took the lead with a 2-run 5th inning. In that inning, Tim Bryant singled, Cerretani tripled him home, and Jesse Woods drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly. In the 6th inning, Connor Hardy singled with 2 outs and Pete Croft followed with a walk. After a wild pitch, Bryant delivered a clutch
single to score both runners.

Reading 11 Watertown 0
After the Woburn game, the weather turned bad and there was a full week between games. Hunt was on the mound again and he turned in an historic performance. The lefthander pitched a perfect game which included 18 strikeouts! He struck out the first 12 Watertown batters and only 3 balls were put in play all day. This is the third perfect game by a Reading
pitcher in the last few years (Matt Stinson in '94 and Dennis Gramolini in ' 98). Hunt's 18 strikeouts is a "modern-day" record and eclipsed Bobby Lucci's previous record of 17 K's (Bob did his in a 6-inning game). To make his day complete, Russell also hit a grand slam homerun. Jamie Cerretani connected for two long homers over the leftfield fence at Victory Field.

Reading 11 Wakefield 0
The Rockets played their best all-around game to date, displaying superb pitching, solid defense, and strong hitting. Jamie Cerretani pitched 6innings of 4-hit ball to record his second win of the year. Mark DeMasse pitched a 1-2-3  7th inning. Offensively, Cerretani led the way with 3 doubles and 2 RBI and Jesse Woods went 3 for 3 and drove in 2 runs. Chris
Condon and Dan O'Keefe each had 2 hits.

Reading 4 Stoneham 3
This was a typical Stoneham-Reading game that was hotly contested from start to finish. Sophomore lefty Mark DeMasse got his first start on the mound and pitched well for 4.1 innings, limiting Stoneham to 3 runs. Tim Bryant came on in relief in the 5th inning with two on and one out and struck out the next two hitters. Down 3-1, Reading came back with a run in the 5th as Jesse Woods' base hit drove in Jamie Cerretani., who had singled and stole 2nd.
The Rockets pulled ahead in the 6th when Dan O'Keefe doubled and Hunt got on via error (scoring Paul Melanson, who pinch ran for O'Keefe) . Pete Croft then delivered a clutch single to right to score Hunt with the go-ahead run. Bryant retired Stoneham in the 7th to earn his first win of the season, 4-3.

Reading 11 Burlington 0
The team won its 4th game of the week and, coincidentally, the 3rd 11-0 game of the week. Russell Hunt continued his dominant pitching by hurling 5 shutout innings, giving up only 2 hits. Tim Bryant and Dave Bunten each pitched an inning to preserve the shutout. The Rockets bats were hot, pounding out 15 hits, including 8 extra base hits. Cerretani led the way with 2 triples, a double, and 4 RBI. Tim Bryant knocked in 2 runs with 2 triples. Jesse Woods, Chris Condon,  and Pete Croft also had doubles.

At this point, the team's record is 8-1 with many key games just ahead. We will provide an update in the next week or two. Here are some of the statistical leaders at this point.

04/20/00 . . .

The baseball team started the season with three away games and three consecutive wins. Opening day was at Burlington and lefthander Russell Hunt led us to a 9-3 win. Russell pitched 6 innings, gave up just two hits, and struck out 11.  He also hit a 3-run homer in the first inning.  Next, we traveled to Melrose and had a big offensive day on the way to a 15-5 victory.  Jamie Cerretani pitched 5.1 scoreless innings to earn his first win. Cerretani and Jesse Woods smacked back-to-back homeruns in the first inning to get us off to a good start. Jesse also had two doubles and 6 RBI.  Game three was played in Cooperstown, NY vs. Lexington.  We had absolutely beautiful, 70 degree weather all weekend.  The team played well at Doubleday Field, combining strong pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting to win 7-2.  Russell Hunt again pitched well, yielding just three hits and fanning 11.  Dave Kaloyanides had three hits and two RBI and Danny O'Keefe continued his hot hitting (8 hits in 3 games) with two hits and two RBI's.

We will continue to post game results and highlights at this site every couple of weeks.  We will also provide some stats, after we've played a few more games.  In the meantime, please check out some of the photos from the game at Cooperstown.  As usual, we had a lot of fun on that trip and it was a memorable experience. All you former players out there will be pleased to know that this was the first time we've won in Cooperstown when we stayed at a motel other than the Deer Run.  Therefore, KC's Corner Restaurant and Motel is now the Official Motel of Reading Baseball!

03/01/00 . . .

     We had our annual Reading Baseball Alumni Club Dinner on January 9, 2000 and had a great turnout of 30 guys. As usual, the younger guys enjoyed hearing stories from our players of the 70’s and 80’s and then went off into the night to explore other possibilities. Our older (married?) guys stuck around much later, knowing there were no other possibilities to explore. Everybody had a good time and it was great to see such a widespread representation of players across the years.

     The following alumni were at the dinner: Mike Moscariello ('77), George Fennelly ('78), Steve Mello ('79), Joe Picano ('81), Joe Hagan ('82), Kevin Mello ('84), Scott Farris ('85), Dave Johnson ('87), Gary d’Entremont ('87), Tom Zaya ('87), Rich Foohey ('89), Jeff Donovan ('90), Steve Tomasello ('90), Pete McHugh ('92), Matt Peabody ('93), Jon Cignetti ('93), Dave Zaya ('94), Jon Whalen ('95), Steve Langone ('96), Mike Thompson ('96), Bill Olsen ('97), Jamie Severance ('97), Ryan Carroll ('98), Steve Rulison ('98), Jamie Gath ('99), Dave Polcari ('99), Kevin Phinney ('99), Dennis Gramolini ('99), plus Coach Bryson and Coach Mosc.

     The following is the letter that was distributed at the Alumni Club Dinner on January 9, 2000:

"Happy New Year to all our alumni and welcome to the annual Alumni Club Dinner. This is always a great event, so I hope you all stick around and enjoy talking with your old teammates and meet some guys who played in years before or after you. You’ll find that you’ve all had similar experiences and the same stories to share.

Here is some alumni news since our last newsletter:

     Dave Johnson (’87) was married to Diana Jamieson of North Reading on November 21. They are living in Wakefield and we wish them the best of luck. Three guys from our ’91 championship team are engaged. Jason LaVita will be married to Jodi in April and they will live in Wilmington. Jason is teaching at Minuteman Tech in Lexington and coaching basketball in Bedford. Bill Rooney is engaged, as is Fran McHugh. Fran will marry Candace Woolard of Woburn sometime in 2001. Fran’s brother, Pete (’92), is also engaged. He will be married this July 9 to Lanie Daniel. Finally, Jim Murphy (’93) is engaged to Allison and will be married in 2001. Good luck to all these alumni and their brides-to-be.

     Speaking of Jim Murphy, in November he was inducted into the RMHS Athletic Hall of Fame. He did a terrific job in his acceptance speech, showing poise, gratitude, and humor. It was great to see his good friends and teammates there to support him. Jon Cignetti, Greg Smith, Matt Peabody, Chris Cosenza, and Duane Sigsbury were all at the event. It was also good to see Rich Foohey at the Hall of Fame banquet. Rich, who was captain of the ’89 team, was there for inductee, George Watkins, who is a family friend. Steve and Kevin Mello (captains from ’79 and ’84 respectively) were also there to see brother John’s 1987 track team be inducted.

     More miscellaneous news: I recently ran into John Barrett, ace pitcher of our 1984 team. John, his wife Haley, and their two children moved back to Reading this summer and live on Walnut Street. Tom Quinn (’91 captain) has bought a two-family house on Salem Street. If you go to a Hockey East game, don’t be surprised to see Tom on the ice; he is possibly the youngest official in college hockey. Bob Macaluso’s Muhlenberg College baseball team had a very good year in Bob’s first season at the helm. They started somewhat slowly but finished very strongly, to post the team’s highest number of wins in many years. Good luck to Maco and the Mules in the 2000 season.

     Here is a correction from the Alumni Letter: I stated that Jamie Gath (’99 captain) was playing ball in his freshman year at Babson. Jamie is actually at Bentley, where he had an excellent fall. Unfortunately, he injured his knee and had surgery this winter. He is now rehabilitating and expects to be ready for the season. Thanks to Bob Lucci (’87) who is a Bentley baseball alumnus for pointing out my mistake. Jamie is at least our 4^th alumnus to play ball at Bentley, joining Bob Lucci, Chris Curley (’88), and Darnell Canada (’89).

     NO DEER RUNS, NO HITS, NO ERRORS. In the Alumni Letter, I wrote about our good luck over the years at the Deer Run Motel in Cooperstown. Well, about a week later, I received a letter from the owners that the Deer Run is closing its doors. The motel is going out of business; apparently it will reopen at some time, but not as a motel. That was such a perfect place for us: private, quiet, clean, with a restaurant on the premises, and lots of room out back for wiffle ball, bocci, fishing, and batting practice. I don't know where we will go this year, but there will never be a place like the good old Deer Run, where we have lots of good memories. In fact, I'm sure some of you guys have memories that I'll never know about!

     Our line of Reading Baseball apparel is ever-growing. On display tonight we have a Reading Baseball sweatshirt, t-shirts, wind shirt, golf shirts, new denim shirt, and for the first time ever, fitted hats! Thanks to alumnus Joe Hagan's ('82 captain) suggestion, I have purchased fitted hats for the varsity this year. I always have hesitated to do so because it is impossible to size players in advance, not knowing who will be on the team. Joe suggested that if I buy a whole bunch, that whatever the varsity did not use, alumni may be interested in purchasing. So, after I hand out hats to players in March, I will make hats available to you. They are low-crown and range in size from 7 to 7 1/2. You can sign-up tonight to order a hat or any of these shirts. We also have some scapbooks from the '86, '91, '94, '95, '96, '98, and '99 seasons and a binder that has all previous alumni letters for your perusal.

     Also, please see the list tonight to update your mailing and/or e-mail address. It is great to have so many of you on my e-mail address list; it makes it easy to keep you informed of events and news. We are still working on getting our website going. It well be a Reading Baseball School website, but included will be an Alumni Club section.

- back to top -