July 5, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Chestnut Hill’s 14s heading into juniors

Chestnut Hill’s 14 pictured above are (front row, kneeling) Anderson Good, Ricardo Tull, Tyler Clausen-Wolf, Dan Ceisler, Anthony Prisco, Jake Yannessa, Frank Primavera; (back row, standing) Coach Paul Yannessa, Ben York, John Carney, Julian Canuso, Mike McNally, Matt Primavera, Ben Rogers, Eric Primavera, Coach Mike Primavera, Coach Dennis Primavera.

As the Montco Youth Baseball League season draws to a close, Chestnut Hill’s 14-year-old team is picking up a head of steam in the Junior League Division.  Coming off a strong inaugural season last year in which they finished with a 13-5 record and lost in the championship game, the 14s wrapped up the week with a convincing 11-5 win over second-place Abington to bring their record to 10-2-1, keeping the team in first place with three regular season games to go.

Led by coach Dennis Primavera, the 14s have shown improved play in all areas of the game this year.  With a deep pitching staff featuring returning starters Frank Primavera, Matthew Primavera and Jake Yannessa, and new team member Ricardo Tull, the 14s have avoided giving up big innings all year.  Pitching highlights include Frank Primavera’s four complete game wins, in which he kept opposing hitters off balance with different arm angles and off-speed pitches, and Tull’s complete game one-hit shutout of FoxRok earlier this month, when he pounded the bottom of the strike zone for seven straight innings.

The 14s have also become stronger defensively, with consistently stellar outfield play from Frank, Matthew and Eric Primavera and a more sure-handed infield this year featuring lots of different team members — Yannessa and Tull at shortstop, Ben Rogers and Julian Canuso at third base, Anderson Good and Mike McNally at second base and Ben York and John Carney at first base.  Taking charge behind the plate is new addition Dan Ceisler, whose blocking skills have stabilized the defense and whose snap throws to first and third have resulted in a number of successful pickoffs.

At bat, the 14s rely on Yannessa and Tull to create havoc at the top of the lineup and on the basepaths, and on a steady diet of run-scoring extra base hits from the middle of the lineup, anchored by Ben Rogers and Matthew Primavera.  But even more this year than last, the 14s have seen timely hitting through the lineup, like Eric Primavera’s game winning double against Upper Dublin and York’s game-tying sacrifice fly to the centerfield wall against Pennsbury.  And most important, the 14s are doing the little things that win ball games – Anderson Good’s  key walks ,Mike McNally’s seven foul balls in a row off tough pitches , and Max Cavalli  taking the extra base on overthrows, and  the team getting two out hits.