Tommy D's wins fourth annual Dowd Memorial Softball Tournament

Monroe - Tommy D's won the fourth Annual Tommy Dowd Memorial Softball Tournament by defeating J.B. McMinnion's 5-0. And for the second straight year, Tommy Gilbert earned the most valuable tournament pitcher award, this time for tossing a two-hitter. Greg O'Connor (two hits, RBI), Tom Lucardi (triple, 2 RBI's) and Nick Sansalone (double, RBI) supplied the offensive support. To get to the championship game, Tommy D's defeated McMinnions in the winner's bracket final 14-6. Tournament MVP John Davidson had three hits, a home run and 5 RBI's. Anthony Rizzi added three hits and 3 RBI's, O'Connor and Lucardi added two hits apiece while Sansalone knocked in two runs. Gilbert pitched the win. To get to the winner's bracket final, Tommy D's defeated a very game FGFP team by 6-3. Davidson accounted for almost the entire offense by knocking in four runs, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Winning pitcher Chris Fico outdueled Paul Perasso to earn the victory. In one stretch, Perasso retired 14 batters in a row until Anthony Rizzi reached on a walk in the top of the seventh inning. Perasso and FGFP were awarded the Team Sportsmanship Award. In the opening round, Tommy D's defeated Superior Shine 16-1. Chris Fico had two hits and four RBI's, Dave Krawczyk two hits and two RBI's, Anthony Rizzi two hits three RBI's and O'Connor had two hits and an RBI. Gilbert earned the win. In second round action, D's defeated archrival Captains Table/Budweiser 5-2. Gilbert pitched a masterpiece in holding the potent Bud lineup to only five hits. Davidson led the offense with two hits, including a run-scoring double in the sixth inning. Bruce Weyant had two hits and an RBI while John Lawson and Lucardi each had key run-scoring hits. T.I.S had a great tournament reaching the semi finals by winning five games in a row on Saturday. Kevin McGee led T.I.S going 18-23 (.783). Mike Mullahy 15-20 (.750), Lloyd Kurth 7-11 (.636), John Thuman 13-21 (.619), Rob McQuillan 14-23 (.609), Kevin Mare 12-20 (.600) and Greg Helbeck 9-15 (.600) all helped to beat Murphy's, Lang Allstate, D&D's, Loyal Tires and FGFP. John McCarter and Bill Austin both pitched great games throughout the tournament. T.I.S would like to thank the Austin brothers (Pete and Bill on loan from Monroe Jewelers/Jay's Deli) for their great defense and timely hitting. Rob McQuillan was named the defensive M.V.P. of the tournament, playing a great short stop. T.I.S also would like to thank Rob for the great play and the entertainment he provided during the breaks in the games (intentional and non-intentional). It was a great day and a lot of fun and T.I.S thanks everyone who played and supported the effort, including Greg and Pete for all the hard work. Meanwhile, in other tournament action: • Floors Galore Fischer Podiatry/ADG Realty defeated Wu-dale 13-0 as Paul Perasso pitched a one-hitter. Felix DeGato had a three-run homer and John Pintka had a solo blast. Wally Popailo had two hits and two RBI's and Paul Perasso helped himself with two hits and three RBI's. • FGFG/ADG defeated Pro-Motion 10-2 as Rick Hershner went the distance and had an RBI. Anthony Dziedzic had three hits and two RBI's, Brian O'Carroll played great defense and had two hits, Rob Francese had two hits and four RBI's and Josh Martinez had two hits. FGFP/ADG had a close game with eventual winner Tommy D's as Paul Perasso tossed a four-hitter in defeat. Paul Baum had two hits and two RBI's. In a close game FGFP/ADG rallied to defeat Captains Table/Bud 6-5 as Rick Hershner was the victor. Anthony Dziedzic had two hits and two RBI's, including a home run. Hershner helped himself with two hits and had a team effort on defense. For the tournament, Wally Popailo batted .500, Anthony Dziedzic batted .533 and Felix DeGato batted .538. • In first round action, Captains Table/Budweiser defeated Boars Head behind the pitching of Bruce Gephardt and the hitting of John Murray. Other games saw Loyal Tire (behind the pitching of Dave Hein and hitting of Pete Lanaro) over Billy Ball, Lang Allstate upend Murphy's and J.B. McMinnons edge T.I.S. • In other second round action, McMinnions defeated Lang and Loyal Tire beat the Dowd's. Jerry Aherne pitched the win and the Winters Bothers (Neil and Rob) led the offense. McMinnons won over Loyal to advance to the winner's bracket final. • In the loser's bracket, Boars Head defeated Superior Shine, D&D upended Wu-Dale, Pro-Motion edged D&D, Captains Table/Budweiser beat Boars Head, T.I.S. beat Murphy's, Lang and Dowds and the Captains Table/Bud overran Pro Motion. The losers bracket semis saw FGFP upset The Table/Bud and T.I.S. come from eight runs down to edge Loyal Tire 15-14. T.I.S. edged FGFP and McMinnions advanced to the finals by getting past T.I.S. • The Tommy Dowd Memorial Softball Tournament got off to a bang, or, more appropriately, a blast, as Chuck Todd put on an incredible display of power to win the home run hitting contest. Todd not only won the crown in the head-to-head competition, he won over his fellow competitors with drives that left the assembled crowd awestruck. The only things more impressive than his monstrous shots were the class and humility Todd displayed as he drilled bomb after bomb. Todd's five-homer final round gave him the victory over a determined Marty Diamond. Diamond reached the finals by consistently driving a number of high, long homers to the deepest parts of the park. The night's most impressive round went to Todd's fellow Bud Man, Scotty Morrison. In the opening round, Morrison resembled a hitting machine, ripping 10 dingers deep down the left field line. That enabled him to advance to the semi-finals, along with Todd, Diamond and Anthony Rizzi. Other competitors, all of whom sent a shot deep into the night, were Ben Roth, Warren Clemdemy, John Murray, Lloyd Kurth and Neil Riordan. The tournament is named after Thomas Dowd, a Monroe resident who played in the Monroe Senior League and who died in the attacks on the Word Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The Tournament Committee would like to thank all our sponsors, players and fans for their effort and support. A list of our donors and sponsors will be published in the next few weeks.