Whitney helps ’Dawgs power past EG

Brenton Bauerle
Posted 7/30/15

At any level, coaches will always tell you that, regardless of record, the most important thing in the pursuit of a championship is to have your team peaking at the right time. For the Cranston …

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Whitney helps ’Dawgs power past EG

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At any level, coaches will always tell you that, regardless of record, the most important thing in the pursuit of a championship is to have your team peaking at the right time. For the Cranston Bulldawgs Connie Mack team, that old adage may rapidly becoming its reality, as evidenced by its 7-0 victory over East Greenwich on Monday.

The game seemed to be in hand almost from the beginning, as Cranston starter Alex Whitney displayed excellent fastball command, living on the outside corner and consistently flummoxing the East Greenwich hitters. 

“[Whitney] is clearly now our number two starter,” said Bulldawgs’ head coach Dave Ciolfi. “He pitched very well today and has all season, and with him and Tommy Sammartino we feel like we have a chance to win every game.”

While Whitney mowed down the East Greenwich batters, his teammates felt no compulsion to wait to give him run support. In the first inning, a leadoff single opened the gate for the games’ first run, as Whitney, batting second in the order, came up with a single of his own. One batter later, thanks to a passed ball that the East Greenwich catcher had monumental trouble locating, Cranston’s first run crossed the plate. It was the only run it would need all day, though certainly not the last one it would score.

By the third inning, the score was still tight, as Cranston had gone down in order in the bottom of the second. Whitney was still dealing, but the Bulldawgs needed some cushion to add to their one-run lead, and it came off the bat of Mike Montanaro. With two men on and two outs, Montanaro crushed a pitch just to the left of dead center, a lined shot that cleared the fence by only a few inches and ballooned Cranston’s lead to four.

“Mike’s been hitting the ball hard all year,” said Ciolfi. “It’s nice once in a while when you score easy runs, because we usually have to scratch guys across, so when you get a three-run home run like that it’s just icing on the cake.”

Cranston would go on to score three more runs, but the game had already been decided; Whitney never let up, allowing no runs over five innings of work, and the Cranston bullpen rode his wave all the way to a 7-0 shutout.

While the victory was notable in its own right due to East Greenwich’s place as one of the top teams in the league, perhaps more exciting for the Bulldawgs was the offensive explosion that led the team to victory.

“We’ve been having trouble scoring runs,” said Ciolfi. “If we hit, we’ll go deep into the playoffs. Our pitching keeps us in games, but we’ve lost too many low-scoring games this year, so I think if we can get some hitting we can go deep into the playoffs.”

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