Archives - June - September 2001

THE GOZO TORNADOES OFFICIAL WEBSITE ARCHIVES PAGE : JUNE-SEPTEMBER 2001

OFF TO SICILY (06/09/2001)

This week, three of our Tornado players will represent Malta in 2 exhibition games against the Paterno' Warriors. Jeff Tabone and Shaun Camilleri are on to their second trip to Sicily, after playing in a tournament last year in Messina, while Silvio Sultana has been called up by Maltese coach Patrick Pace, for his first trip abroad with the national team. Both three players showed sensational progress throughout the season and surely showed their full potential in the 2001 season.

Jeff Tabone is surely the most deserved player to be on the team, after winning his first pitching crown, leading the Maltese National League in wins (3), ERA (7.00) and strikeouts (34). He also struck out 21 Mustang batters in the final 2 game series against Marsa. He also pitched 3 complete games in the 6 games the Tornadoes played in. Again, Jeff showed a lot of potential in his batting too, finishing 5th in the league in batting (.500) and 3rd in hits (7). Jeff also knocked a homerun in his first swing of the season against the Torpedoes.

Shaun Camilleri will be making his second trip to Sicily, but this time he'll be a regular player after being benched last year in the Messina tournament. The Tornadoes' shortstop had a really good start in the season, where he batted over .600 in the first few games. Shaun finished 5th in batting (.500), 3rd in RBI's (7), 3rd in runs (9), 4th in hits (6) and 3rd in stolen bases (6). He also went 2 for 5 in the NLCS, scoring 3 runs in the 2 game series.

After missing most of the 2000 season due to personal reasons, Silvio Sultana came back with a bang, leading the Gozo Tornadoes in batting average with a .538 mark. Silvio began his career as a catcher with the Tornadoes but this year, he was moved to first base. Silvio is also playing the infield.

MALTA FACES ITALIAN SERIE A TEAM IN 2 EXHIBITION GAMES IN SICILY (06/09/2001)

This weekend, the Maltese national team will go to Sicily to play against the Paterno' Warriors. The Warriors are 19-35 in the league, 3 places up from last.

The Warriors are experiencing the worst feat in the last 3 years, after finishing 22-14 and 11-17 in the last 2 years. Although the Warriors are not performing well in the Italian Serie A, Malta will definitely find a tough team to beat as several players of the national team will be missing. Malta will be without 3rd baseman Trevor Shaw, 1st baseman Victor Calleja, center fielder Daniel Swift and left fielder Charles E. Attard. Both 4 players are potential players which might add up some spice to the team.

Marco Sforza, Robert Fontana and Guillermo Larreal are probably the best players of the Sicilian team. Sforza, acquired by the Warriors this season, is on to his best year of his career, batting .315 with 11 doubles and 20 RBI's while Fontana is batting .274 with 7 doubles, 4 triples and 17 RBI's in his rookie season. Pitcher Larreal, also a rookie in the Italian league, is 9 wins to 6 with a 2.69 ERA in 127 innings.

Pitching the exhibition games for Malta will probably be Jeff Tabone and Nicky Bartolo. Good luck Malta and good luck to our Tornado players.

J K ALL THE WAY (21/07/2001)

This year's championship win has been a team effort, where the Tornadoes batted over .400, scored 54 runs in 111 at bats and only had 18 K's during the season, but most of the winning effort came from Tornado star Jeff Tabone.

Jeff struck out 34 batters during the regular season and struck out another 21 batters in the National League Championship Series. Jeff also led the National League in wins (3) and in ERA (7.00) allowing him to win his first Pitchers Crown. Facing Jeff in the Maltese National League is like facing BoSox ace Pedro Martinez or facing the rocket, Roger Clemens in the Majors, where he had an average of nearly 2 strike outs per inning. His batting was pretty good too. He smacked a homerun in his first swing of the 2001 season and he batted .500 during the regular season. Maybe he wasn't satisfied with his batting in the NLCS (.143) but his 21 K's were enough to send the Mustangs back to Marsa and take the title to Gozo for the first time in history

THERE IS NO NEED OF PUBLICITY TO BECOME A HERO!!!! (15/07/2001)

We don't see his name in the papers and we might not consider him as a superstar, but if it wasn't for him, we're definitely not champions today. If it wasn't for him, who would've caught those fastballs and curveballs pitched by starting pitcher Jeff Tabone? Who would've bated 3rd in the line up? Who would've drove in 4 huge rbi's in the NLCS? Who would've made us a team?

I'm talking about Mario Debono, the guy who made our dreams come true by making us champions in just three years. Although he lives in Malta, he still found time to come up to Gozo every Saturday, just to give us a two hour practice session. He played pretty good too. In the regular season, he finished 4th in runs (8) and runs batted in (6) and he finished 6th in batting average (.455). In the NLCS, Mario finished 1st in most categories. He finished 1st in batting average (.600), hits (3), on base percentage (.750) and runs batted in (4) and finished 2nd in runs scored (3). He also pitched 4 innings in the regular season were he struck out 6 batters and earned only 2 runs, holding on to an ERA of 4.50. His defense behind the plate was amazing all year long, controlling Jeff Tabone very well during the season and gave confidence to the team.

Mario, we owe you a lot, not only for the patience and time, but for the possibility you gave us and made us top quality players in the Maltese National League. There is no need of publicity to become a hero, because you're already a hero, a hero deep down in our hearts. You really showed us what baseball's all about. It's not about winning and fame, but it's about friendship and fun. It's been three great years.

THANKS A LOT MARIO!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOZO TORNADOES GOZITAN TEAM OF THE YEAR (05/06/2001)

On Friday, the 1st of June, our three Tornado nominees enjoyed a successful award edition.

In the 13th edition of the Sportivi Ghawdxin tas Sena Awards, Alison Mifsud finished 2nd in the Best Female Athlete category (1st - Sylvia Portelli (Basketball), 2nd - Alison Mifsud (Softball)) and Charles Elvis Attard finished with a surprising 3rd place, only 2 points shy from 2nd place Charlie Calleja (1st - Tony Cauchi (Horse racing), 2nd - Charlie Calleja (Clay shooting), 3rd - Charles Elvis Attard (Baseball), 4th - Reuben Mercieca (Soccer), 5th - Raymond Aguis (Athletics), 6th - George Lewis Zammit (Water polo)). Jeff Tabone was also given a Special Award, for his MVP Award in the year 2000. But history was made in the Best Gozitan Team category. The Gozo Tornadoes, who finished 3rd last year, won the award (1st - Gozo Tornadoes Baseball), 2nd - Victoria Hotspurs (Soccer), 3rd - Gozo Oasi (Basketball). The Tornadoes were awarded with two trophies, which one of them is kept for one year. The trophies were presented by Minister Giovanna Debono. Jeff and Charles also had an interview with Joe Bajada, which will probably be on TV next Thursday, on TVM at 6.40pm.

Congratulations to the Tornadoes and all those players who played with the 2000 team. Most of them are now Maltese Champions, but let's not forget George Attard, Andrew Muscat, Robert Pisani, Brian Theuma and Josef Vella, who helped us a lot in the 2000 season.

Congratulations also to Jeff, Charles and Alison. Keep it up Gozo, and a special thanks must go to former coach Mario Debono, for his dedication and time, and created a bunch of gozitans into MALTESE CHAMPIONS

GOZO TORNADOES, NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2001 (01/06/2001)

Kercem Gozo - Mike Portelli went 2 for 2 with 4 runs scored and a record 6 stolen bases and Silvio Sultana hit a triple with 3 RBI’s to help the Gozo Tornadoes claim there first national championship in just their 3rd season. The Tornadoes were blessed with another strong performance from starter Jeff Tabone who struck out 9 and walked just 4 in the 14 - 6 win. Jeff struck out the side in both the 2nd and 6th inning and victimized a total of 21 Mustangs during his 2 series wins.
The Mustangs got off to a slow start against Gozo. Pitcher Pat Pace walked the bases loaded in the 1st inning allowing all 3 to score on a sacrifice fly and the triple by Sultana. Pat then continued to walk the lead off batter in 3 out of the next 4 innings, each time allowing the runner to score. Although the Mustangs scored 6 runs they managed just 3 hits off Tabone, all singles.

MARSA 1 0 0 0 5 0 6 3

GOZO 5 2 1 1 5 x 14 10

Winning pitcher: Jeff Tabone
Losing pitcher: Pat Pace
Umpire: Keith Bartolo

Report by Trevor Shaw