Little Shoppe of Flowers started the season off right with a victory over a very tough Meldon and Silverman team. Chris Lodise was awarded the game ball for pitching a solid two innings and picking up four hits on the day. Chris Kassoff also had a big day scoring four times and making some great defensive plays. Nick Obidienzo, Frank Miranda, Michael McHale and Robby Kassoff all had two hits. Andrew Arenth was great defensively making some run-saving plays at second base. If the Little Shop of Flowers continues to play this well for the rest of the season, they're sure to be a thorn in the side of all their opponents.Little Shoppe of Flowers 13 vs. Mountain Star Raiders 2 The Mountain Star Raiders were out-hit by a very good Little Shoppe of Flowers team. John Amico, Matt Santelesa and Matt Morrisey pitched great in their pitching debuts. Matt Morrisey fielded his pitching position perfectly, getting assists on four of the last six outs with Brian Ernst making the putouts. Jamie Leibowitz made a great play on a hard grounder at second. Mike Graham was robbed of two extra base hits by Chris Kassoff. John Karahalis knocked in a run with a hard hit. John Morana again played a great game at the catcher's position. Matt Morrisey made a great play almost getting a runner coming home by blocking the plate. Joey Venezia made a great throw from his outfield position. Brian Ernst also made a great play at home, just missed a runner scoring and he threw out a runner stealing third with Matt Santelesa making the tag. Mike Schacor made nice plays at first base.

All Systems Mets played their first game on Saturday and even though they lost, they had a great time because it was like playing two games. They were down 16 to 3 after three innings and came back in the final three to lose 19 to 13. The comeback was led by the clutch hitting of Anthony Fiorenti who went 5 for 5 and drove in four runs and Cory and Matt Williams who both had four hits apiece driving in a total of six runs. There also was some great defensive plays made by Clement Yu at first base and Brandon Lowey who threw out two runners. Sammy Wilbur and Mike Marsigliano also had clutch hits and great defensive plays.

Great work team.

Tough game for F and F Roofing against a sparkling fielding effort by NHP Stationery. Alan Joseph, Michael Guglielmi, Ethan Loosen combined for 11 hits. Good all around efforts by Chris Murphy, Nicholas Casumano, John Paul Dimarco, Mike Dunn, Joshua Duggan, Frankie Bayerbach and Sean Carton. Great catching by Anthony Perrone.

The two Merillon minor teams opened up the season on Saturday, April 18, at Merillon Field with a game against each other. It was a beautiful day for baseball, and both teams played great defense and gave the crowd lots to cheer about. After trailing 6-1 for the first four innings, the Golden Knights, sponsored by New Hyde Park's Knights of Columbus, got their bats going to emerge with a 15-6 win. Congratulations to the three pitchers in the game, who were new on the mound this year -- Kelly Geus pitched the first; Caitlin Clark pitched in the second and third innings, and Tara Marsigliano came up big to complete the final three innings of the game.

Outstanding hitting by lead-off batter Nicole Palmer who went 4 for 4 at the plate and scored three runs in the game. Kristy Carydes started the offense in the fifth inning that ignited the Knights and put the team ahead for the first time in the game with a one-run lead to start off the sixth and final inning. The sixth inning was a strong one for the Knights. Every player came to the plate at the top of the inning and contributed great hitting, scoring eight additional runs. In addition to great pitching by Tara, good heads-up play by Erin Shea at first base to end the game.

Congratulations, Golden Knights, on a well-played game.

The Dynamites notched their first win of the season behind the strong pitching of Meghan Morrissey and Elyse Petruccio (who added three hits). Michelle Fazzolari and Kim Vrabel shared the catching duties. Kim also provided some timely hitting to help the cause. Kristi Gottlieb continued her fine defensive play. Tracy Rostholder provided a spark in the lead off spot and played a solid short stop. Diane McCormick and Jenna Caputo made several nice plays on the right side of the infield. Nice win Dynamites!! Hillside Beverage beat East Williston #4 team by the score of 11-0. Solid hitting by Caitlin Petruccio, Maria Mardarawich and Jacqueline O'Connell as well as others kept the runs coming in. Terrific fielding by Danielle Fazio helped secure the victory. Congratulations on victory #1.Hillside Beverage (2-0) beat NHP by the score of 17-5. Hitting stars were Christina Lieber (3 for 5), Kati Palmer (4 for 4) and Nicole Daly (4 for 4). Colleen Sanders, Victoria Pisciotta and Caitlin Petruccio made great plays in the field. Simone Morrow and Michelle Calderon did an excellent job behind the plate. Keep it going girls!

There was an exciting season opening day win for Southside Carting against a shorthanded and fiesty Pace Pharmacy team. Trailing late in the game and sparked by the big time hitting of Jean Marie Zarzycki, Shaina Jordan, Diana Ryan, Karen Trebing, Jennifer Ligouri and Danielle Vitabile to take the lead. There was good pitching by Jennifer Ligouri, Diana Ryan, Jean Marie Zarzycki and Stephanie Vitabile. There was great defense by Laurie Anne Oates, Shaina Jordan, Cathy Ranieri, Sally Palmer, Christina O'Sullivan, Kara Tloczkowski and Karen Trebing. Also great work behind the plate by Katie Rhindress, Sally Palmer and Jean Marie Zarzycki.

A tough loss for Pace, but a well played game by both teams. Rachel Silverman scored four runs for Pace while Stacy Denison had three hits. Amy Dell pitched excellent in relief, and also drove in two runs. Kierstin Budjinski played an outstanding outfield, robbing (team 7) of several hits. A special thanks to Karen Ernst who played for us on short notice and who delivered two big hits.