Archives - April - June 2003

The Maltese National Baseball Team continued their preparations on Sunday by playing an Intra-Squad friendly match at Marsa. Manager Dennis Catania seemed pleased with the team’s progress for their upcoming trip to Antwerp where they will participate in the 13^th Annual Belgian Open. The team will be taking a 16 player squad to Antwerp to compete in one of the most prestigious yearly competitions held in Europe. The Maltese squad are definitely going to be looked upon as underdogs coming into the tournament, as they will be competing with some of the top teams from Europe as well as formidable competition from the United States and Australia. However the squad is in high spirits and manager Dennis Catania remains optimistic. Malta’s first game will be against the USA Athletes on July 2^nd at noon and their second game will be against Team France on the 4^th at noon as well. Depending on their results in those games against their fellow ‘Group B’ members they will progress to play team from ‘Group A’ which include Team Belgium, and an Australian Provincial Team. The Maltese Association of Baseball & Softball would like to thank Air Malta for their generous support.

After another successful year, several Gozo players kept on going with their training, this time to prepare themselves for the National team. For the first time in history, seven Gozo Tornadoes' players will be playing on the same national team. Charles Attard, Mark Buttigieg, Shaun Chircop, Steve Ellis, Steven Galea, Silvio Sultana and Jeff Tabone have all been chosen to represent team Malta, along with 8 other players. This will be the first time Team Malta will be going further away from Italy, thanks to the support given by Air Malta.

Team Malta will be heading to Antwerp on Tuesday, July 1st, and come back to Malta on Sunday, July 6th.

Thanks to the generous support of Air Malta, the very talented Maltese National Baseball team is going to compete in the prestigious Belgian Open in Antwerp from July 1^st till the 6^th. Air Malta’s support has allowed the team to participate in a tournament further away than Italy for the first time in the National Team’s history. The 13^th annual Belgian Open will be comprised of some very strong competition that should push the Maltese National Team to perform at their highest ever levels. These teams include, Team France, Team Belgium, the USA Athletes, Boogerhaut Squirrels and a provincial team from Australia. Manager Dennis Catania feels that competing in such a high level tournament will be “a wonderful experience for the squad as it can only help prepare the National side for the 2004 European Championships”, which are going to be held in Poland. The National Team is currently finishing up its rigours training sessions at the Marsa Sports Grounds on a daily basis. Although the Maltese National Team are definite underdogs against such stiff competition, the players are confident and appear ready for the challenge.

The Gozo Tornadoes Baseball Club clamed their third straight National League Championship Title on June 1st 2003 after a come from behind victory over the Mellieha Northenders.

In what turned out to be one of the most exciting games in the history of Maltese Baseball, the Gozitan's came from behind twice to claim victory. Mellieha stalked to an early 2-0 lead, but Gozo fought hard and pushed the score back to 3-2 in their favour. Mellieha fought back and took a 6-4 lead into the decisive 6th inning. In the 6th, Gozo catcher Shaun Chircop led off the inning with a single, Joe Portelli also followed with a single and Joe Gatt fouled off numerous pitchers to earn a walk. With the bases loaded and one out, shortstop Steven Galea drove in three runs with a line-drive double into the right centre field gap. Gozo then added another run that inning to take an 8-6 lead. Jeff Tabone set the Mellieha lineup down in order in the 7th inning to seal the victory. Steven Galea heroics made him the obvious choice as game MVP.

The Tornadoes would like to thank team sponsors DDS Department Stores Ltd. Dominic Sultana for his generosity through providing the team with some much-needed equipment and the Maltese Canadian Association for the continuing support. Go Tornadoes!

The Gozo Tornadoes have done it again. The Tornadoes are now the first team to win three consecutive Maltese championships. This historical championship arrived on the team's 5th Anniversary. It was also Gozo's second championship under the hands of manager Dennis Roberts.

Both teams had their best pitcher on the mound, Keith Bartolo on one side, and Jeff Tabone on the other. Both pitchers won their playoff games which were played the week before. Tabone (who had a 5-0 playoff record before Game 3) was also fresh from last week's playoff record, that of striking out 15 batters in one game.

In the first inning, several defensive errors allowed Mellieha to take the lead, scoring two in the first half of the inning. But Gozo responded back in the bottom of the first, as they scored three runs to take the lead. Both teams hit the ball well, as the game turned out into a see-saw battle. Mellieha then scored two runs in the 5th, to take a 6-4 lead.

Gozo loaded the bases in the bottom of the 6th, with one out, when Steven Galea hit a chopper to the outfield, which turned into a 3-rbi single, giving Gozo a 7-6 lead. Jeff Tabone then drove in Galea from third to increase the margin by two.

Tabone retired the side in the top of the 7th, in order to win the third championship for Gozo.

This year's championship team was definitely the best ever Gozo team in our five year history. The additions of Shaun Chircop and Ryan Yada really helped defensively and offensively, as both players were left-handed line-drive hitters. Centerfielder Mark Buttigieg was impressive in the outfield. Our infield as a whole was great, Joe Portelli did a fine job this year, with his steady accurate throws to first and also made a lot of important hits, while Galea's glove in the middle of the infield helped us a lot, especially in the championship series. Jeff Tabone and Charles Attard also did a great defensive job when they weren't pitching. Josef Reeshu played well on first during regular season, as his comeback helped us a lot. Rookies Joseph Gatt and Angelo Buttigieg were also assets in the outfield. Steve Ellis was remarkable behind the plate and at bat, as this year he was on a tear at the plate. Ellis drove in at least 8 rbi's against the Northenders. Pitchers Tabone and Attard were really dependable on the hill. Both pitchers ranked in the top 5 in ERA and wins. Tabone has now won six playoff games out of six, while Attard improved a lot on the hill, going 4-0 (league best win-loss record) and cut down his walk ratio by at least a half. Dennis Roberts' managing decisions were also an asset this year, as his tactical ability has helped this ball club to win the last 6 games to gain a playoff slot and also win the championship.

The Maltese National Team started practice this week, preparing themselves for a 5-game tournament in Belgium next July. Seven Gozitan players are working out in the try-outs. These are: Charles Attard, Mark Buttigieg, Shaun Chircop, Steve Ellis, Steven Galea, Silvio Sultana and Jeff Tabone.

New manager Dennis Catania will cut down the roster to 14 later on, and all Gozo players seem like that they will be taken along. This will be the highest number of Gozitan National Team members participating in the same tournament.

There is a big possibility that half the team will be Gozitan. We'll just wait and see.

Mellieha and Gozo split first two game of Series (30-5-03)

Baseball – Malta Championship Series

The Mellieha Northenders and Gozo Tornadoes shared the spoils in the first two games of the Malta Baseball championship, setting up a winner takes all final game next Sunday at Marsa. Mellieha won game 1 on Saturday 11-7. Keith and Nicky Bartolo were again the backbone of their victory. Keith Bartolo pitched very and dominated Gozo hitters early as the Northenders took and early lead and never looked back. Gozo pitcher Charles Attard was a little unlucky as Gozo made some uncharacteristic defensive errors, which allowed runs to score.

The Gozitan side came out of the blocks quickly in game 2 and were dominant from early on. Jeff Tabone pitched and struck out a playoff record 15 batters while walking only 1 for the Tornadoes in the 16-4 victory. Nicky Bartolo also pitched well for Mellieha but suffered the same fate as Charles Attard earlier in the week as Mellieha defence made numerous errors behind him. Ryan Yada led the way for Gozo’s offensively, with a devastating 3-run triple. Mark Buttigieg added a two run double as well.

The two most dominant teams in Maltese League Baseball this season are set to collide in the National League Championship Series over the weekend in Marsa. The Gozo Tornadoes are the two time reigning Maltese National champions and will face the young, exciting Mellieha Northenders in the finals for the first time in league history.

Mellieha set the league on fire early on this year by dominating any team in their path. They humiliated the likes of Gzira and Pembroke early on and only lost their first game to Gozo after winning five in a row. Mellieha was led by undoubtedly the most dominant individual performer in Malta, Keith Bartolo. Bartolo led the league in hits, runs, batting average and home runs offensively and wins and strikeouts as a pitcher. Bartolo’s only loss as a pitcher came at the hands of Gozo though. Nicky Bartolo has been an important factor for Mellieha behind the plate as well. He has helped neutralise opposing team’s ability to run the bases freely against the Northenders with his strong arm and quick feet. Other key players for the Northenders have been Patrick Sciberras who has been strong offensively, Marlon Borg who is one of the fastest players in Malta and Craig Gatt who has provided solid defence in the Northenders outfield.

Gozo on the other hand got off to a slow start by losing 4 of their first 6 games. Coach Dennis Roberts showed his displeasure with this start to the season and worked the Gozo boys back into form and they won their final six games of the season to finish top of the table. Captain Jeff Tabone has had a good offensive season, batting over .500 and finishing second in the league in batting to Keith Bartolo. His pitching hasn’t been as consistent as last season, but he has shown flashes of form lately, most recently striking out a record 18 batters in a complete game win over Keith Bartolo and the Northenders. Charles Attard has been very important for Gozo this year as he has pitched superbly all season long. The big difference this year has been his control as he has not surrendered many walks and kept opposing hitters off the bases. His offence has also been solid as usual. Steve Ellis has also put together a good offensive season leading the Tornadoes in extra-base hits and rbi’s from the cleanup spot in the line-up. He has been a thorn in the Northenders side all season having hit 2 doubles and a three run homer against them this year. Other key players have been Mark Buttigieg who has played exceptional defense for Gozo, Joe Portelli who has hit the ball well enough to bat over .350 during the regular season and new comers Joe Gatt, Shaun Chircop and Ryan Yada who all have chipped in nicely. Game 1 is this Saturday in Marsa at 13:00. Game 2 will be Sunday at the same time in Marsa

Gozo and Mellieha will definitely provide us impressive baseball next week, as both face each other in a three-game series for the Maltese title. This season, both teams faced each other four times, Gozo winning three games while Mellieha won the first encounter of the season. Gozo are favorites of winning the title, but a championship series could always come up with surprises.

Here are the 2003 statistics of our players against the Mellieha Northenders.

Name	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Steve Ellis (39)	12	3	6	1	11	.500
Jeff Tabone (23)	10	7	5	0	6	.500
Charles Attard (3)	11	6	5	0	1	.455
Joseph Gatt (17)	12	4	4	0	1	.333
Shaun Chircop (24)	3	1	1	0	0	.333
Mark Buttigieg (97)	10	3	3	0	5	.300
Angelo Buttigieg (26)	9	2	2	0	1	.222
Joe Portelli (19)	10	1	2	0	2	.200
Josef Vella (1)	11	0	2	0	2	.182
Ryan Yada (13)	2	1	0	0	0	.000
Steven Galea (91)	12	6	0	0	1	.000

Here are the 2003 statistics of our players against Mellieha's star pitcher, Keith Bartolo.

Name	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	K	AVG
Steve Ellis (39)	6	1	4	1	8	1	.667
Jeff Tabone (23)	5	3	2	0	1	1	.400
Charles Attard (3)	6	3	3	0	0	1	.500
Joseph Gatt (17)	6	1	1	0	0	4	.167
Shaun Chircop (24)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Mark Buttigieg (97)	6	0	2	0	0	4	.333
Angelo Buttigieg (26)	6	0	0	0	0	6	.000
Joe Portelli (19)	7	0	1	0	0	4	.143
Josef Vella (1)	4	0	0	0	0	4	.000
Ryan Yada (13)	1	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Steven Galea (91)	6	2	0	0	0	4	.000

	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	K	AVG
vs Mellieha	102	34	30	1	30	40	0.294
vs Keith Bartolo	54	10	13	1	9	30	0.241

Name	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	BB	AVG	WHIP
Charles Attard	2	0	1.40	10	11	3	.139	0.800
Jeff Tabone	1	1	2.15	13	29	4	.222	1.385

Mellieha beat Gzira 5 - 4 in the Wildcard playoff, which was played today. The Northenders will now face the Gozo Tornadoes in the National League Championship Series. Mellieha won their last title three seasons ago, while the Gozo Tornadoes have won the last two titles.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Gzira Mustangs and the Mellieha Northenders will play a one-game Wildcard playoff, in order to qualify to the National League Championship Series against the Gozo Tornadoes.

Gozo welcomes one of the greatest baseball players ever to play in an orange uniform. Shawn Camilleri, who played with the Tornadoes during the 1999-2001 seasons, will be in Malta for about two weeks.

Shawn played shortstop during his orange years, and his glove helped Gozo win its first National League Championship, sweeping the Mustangs in two games. Shawn also played first base for the Maltese National Team. His uniform number (18) was retired a few weeks after he moved to New York.

Finally, Gozo has done it. Gozo secured their spot in the NLCS after sweeping away the Pembroke Torpedoes. This will be their third successive participation in the NLCS; this time with a much stronger team than the previous two years. The additions of rookies Angelo Buttigieg, Shaun Chircop, Joe Gatt, Joe Portelli and Ryan Yada has really made this ball club into a massive force of talented ball players.

Although two games were scheduled today against Pembroke, Gozo only played one game, because Pembroke had to forfeit the other game, as they didn't have enough players. Starting off the mound for Gozo was Jeff Tabone, who picked his third victory of the year, after a rough start in the first half of the season. Tabone went into a rough start, but settled down in the late innings. Tabone struck out seven batters in five innings, bringing his league total to 60 strikeouts. Gozo pounded starter Antoine Debono, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first, to make the score 7-1. Tabone, Shaun Chircop and Ryan Yada all smacked out triples to center field in the first inning. The shot of the day though was Joe Portelli's long fly to left off George Hlodan, resulting into an easy double. The same Portelli also performed well on second base. Charlie Attard came in relief for Tabone in the top of the sixth. Attard did well on the mound, resulting into no earned runs crossing the plate. This was Attard's seventh straight unearned innings so far, as the right-hander did a brillant job this year, and should be hot candidate for Pitcher of the Year.

Gozo will now face either Gzira or Mellieha in the NLCS. A wild-card playoff will be played next Sunday between the two teams, with the winner qualifying towards the finals.

The Gozo Tornadoes made their trip home with two more games in hand, beating league leaders, Mellieha. Everything was working very well for Gozo, especially the defense and pitching, which were definitely the main factors of the game. Gozo are now second place with one game down, but a game in hand.

Game 1 will be remembered as the greatest game ever to be played in Malta. Gozo's Jeff Tabone faced Mellieha's Keith Bartolo in the hottest pitching duel of the season. Both pitchers combined 31 strikeouts. Mellieha took the lead in the top of the second, after scoring two runs. But Gozo rallied back in the bottom of the game. With two outs, and two runners on base, Steve Ellis hit a long fly to center. Ellis speeded round the base paths for an inside-the-park dinger, his first career homerun in the Maltese National League. Mellieha quickly tied up the game in the 5th. In the 6th, Gozo scored the game winner, on a narrow 4-3 score. Jeff Tabone also tied the National League record by throwing 18 strikeouts.

Gozo dominated Game 2, after taking advantage of Marlon Borg's pitching. Gozo pounded the baseball real hard, scoring 11 runs in five innings. Gozo's starter Charles Attard pitched the game of his life, as he pitched four scoreless innings, and allowed only two hits. Mellieha only managed to score one run off Attard, and so the game was over on an 11-1 score. This was Gozo's fourth win on mercy rule. Attard now has the best win-loss record in the league, winning four games out of four.

Gozo will now face Pembroke next Saturday. Game 1 starts at 12pm while Game 2 starts at 3pm.

Both Shaun Chircop and Ryan Yada made incredible debuts for Gozo. Chircop and Yada have definitely improved Gozo's offense and defense, as both players are great ballplayers. Manager Dennis Roberts is really glad that these two players joined the team, as both players could bat left, and therefore they will fit in well with the other lefties on the team. Gozo now have five left handed batters in their line-up.

The Gozo Tornadoes swept the series last week, against the Gzira Mustangs. Manager Dennis Roberts fielded the best Gozo team in history, as the team's offense, defense and pitching was impressive. Making their debut for Gozo were Shaun Chircop and Ryan Yada.

Jeff Tabone picked up his first win this season, after an impressive pitching performance. Chircop and Yada also performed well in their first game, both picking up hits on their first MNL at bats. Shortstop Steven Galea hit a bomb during the game, missing the center field wall by a few inches, picking up an easy standup triple. Joe Portelli had impressive at bats, as his stroke was really working well. Gozo won Game 1 13-9.

Charles Attard started off the mound in Game 2. Attard has been blessed with great defense and massive run support this year, unlike the previous years that he has pitched. Attard was a bit rusty on the mound, earning a season high of eight runs, but still managed to get his third win of the season. Attard helped his own cause with the bases loaded, hitting a long shot in right, which bounced over the wall for a ground rule double. Josef Reeshu and Portelli also had big at bats, both hitting extra base hits. Reeshu also hit a mammoth shot to right field, for an easy triple. Gozo won the game 19-9, on mercy rule.

The Gozo Tornadoes were swept by the Pembroke Torpedoes two weeks ago. Gozo has never won against Pembroke this year. Unfortunately, nobody knows the scores because no scorekeeper was present.

Rivals Mellieha and Gozo fought tooth and nail last Sunday in a battle for supremacy between Malta’s top two teams. When the dust settled the two teams had split their two game series and little was settled. Mellieha won game 1 by the narrowest of margins in a 7-6 nail-biter. Both teams scored 2 runs in the first inning as a result of aggressive base running. Gozo took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning after stringing together 3 consecutive hits, the pick of which was a long double to right field off the bat of Steve Ellis. Mellieha struck back in the fifth and scored 5 runs to take a 7-5 lead. Marlon Borg highlighted the inning with a rocket triple to the left field fence, which drove in a run. Gozo stuck back in the 7^th inning scoring one run but came up just short in the end. Keith Bartolo pitched extremely well for Mellieha throughout the game and ended up striking out a record 17 Gozo players with a blistering fastball and biting curve.

In Game 2 Gozo came out for revenge and handed Mellieha their first defeat of the season, a 13-3 drubbing. Charles Attard pitched well and won for the second consecutive week allowing only 2 earned runs and 2 hits. Jeff Tabone led the offence driving in 4 of the Gozitan runs. Steve Ellis, Joe Portelli and Josef Vella added 2 rbi’s apiece. Keith Bartolo performed well again for Mellieha as he displayed his powerful arm from behind the plate and threw out the only runner who tried to steal a base against him. Mellieha stayed top of the table and looks the team to beat this season.

Saturday in Marsa – Mellieha vs. Gzira – Game 1 at 13:00, Game 2 at 16:00

Mellieha Northenders demolished Pembroke Torpedoes over the weekend 13-1 and 31-14. Keith Bartolo was again the star for Mellieha, striking out seven batters in game one; as well as going 3-3 with a mammoth homerun and three rbi's.

In other action, Gzira Mustangs and Gozo Tornadoes shared two games on Sunday. Gzira won the first game 4-3 on the back of fine pitching performance from veteran ace Patrick Pace. Gozo came back strong in the second game as Charles Attard pitched superbly in a 15-2 victory.