2008 John B. Steele Memorial Tournament

CHAMPIONS

Gateway 9, Fairhaven 7
The first game was a back and forth battle against a strong Fairhaven team.  Offensively Gateway was powered by Andrew Augustine, who went 2-2 with 3 runs, Ryan Zakrzewski, 2-4 with a run, Will Harris, 2-3 with an RBI and a run, and Brett Labonte with a run and a double, driving two runs at a critical point in the game.  Kyle Garvey and Nathan Taber added a hit, RBI, and a run each, and Joe Tortora added a hit.  Speedster Ted Costa had a couple of stolen bases and a run.
 
Will Harris pitched 5 strong innings with 8 strikeouts.  Ian Gray closed the last two, striking out 5.  Defensively Kyle Garvey made a heads-up double play catching a line-drive and running across second base before the runner could get back.  Nathan Taber had a couple of put-outs from shortstop.
 
The tournament committee selected Will Harris for "First-Star" award and Brett Labonte for "Third-Star" award.
 
Gateway 11, Barrington 0
Gateway powered its way through Barrington with relentless offense and errorless defense.  Brandon Heal pitched an outstanding game, fanning 5 over five innings to end the game by 10-run rule.  Defensively shortstop Nathan Taber had 4 errorless put-outs and Will Harris had several fine catches at center field and a heads-up fielder's choice out to Taber covering second base.  Nick Mathieu caught a dangerous pop-up at second base with 2 runners on base.
 
Gateway's offense generated 11 hits in 4 innings.  It was lead by Brandon Heal who went 2-3 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs, Nathan Taber who went 2-3 with 2 RBI's and a run, and Andrew Augustine who hit a 2 RBI double.  Will Harris added a hit and a run, Joe Tortora added a hit and two runs, Brett Labonte added a double, an RBI and a run, Brandon Mello a hit, an RBI and two runs, and Fred Correia a hit, an RBI and two runs.
 
The tournament committee selected Brandon Heal for "First-Star" award and Nathan Taber for "Third-Star" award.
 
Gateway 10, Dartmouth 4
Gateway with its explosive offense overpowered the tournament host team.  Offensively, Joe Tortora went 3-4 with 2 singles, a double, 4 RBIs and a run, Kyle Garvey went 2-2, with 4 runs, Will Harris a single, 2 RBIs and 3 runs, Nathan Taber added a single and 2 runs, Brett Labonte and Andrew Augustine a single each, Brandon Heal a single and a RBI, and Fred Correia hit a clutch 2 RBI double that put the out of reach for Dartmouth in the seventh.
 
Defensively Brandon Heal played a solid first base, making a couple of unassisted outs.  Brett Labonte had 2 put-outs from third and Nathan Taber had 3 put-outs from shortstop.  Andrew Augustine ranged in right field to make a great running catch.  Ian Gray pitched 6 outstanding innings, fanning 8. Harris closed the last inning.
 
The tournament committee selected Joe Tortora for "First-Star" award and Kyle Garvey for "Third-Star" award.
 
Gateway 11, Tiverton 10
Gateway wins the championship in another nail-biter 11-10, against the well-hitting Tiverton team. In the end, it was Gateway's strong offense that powered the team to their victory.  Joe Tortora and Nathan Taber both homered with deep shots over the left field fence.  Joe Tortora went 2-3 with 3 RBI's and 1 run, Ryan Zakrzewski went 3-4 with 2 doubles, 2 RBIs and 2 runs, Nathan Taber went 1-2 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs, Will Harris got 2 RBI's and 2 runs, and Brandon Mello went 1-2 with a run.
 
Defensively, Brandon Mello played outstanding third-base with 4 put-outs, and a 5-4-3 double play. Ryan Zakrzewski had several nice catches at center field and Nathan Taber had a couple of put-outs at shortstop. Will Harris pitched 4 strong innings and made an outstanding running catch at center field late in the game. Nathan Taber was middle reliever and Ian Gray closed, perfectly executing a fearless pick-off to first-base to dramatically end the game.  
 
The tournament committee selected Joe Tortora for "First-Star" award and Ryan Zakrzewski for "Third-Star" award.
 
Gateway cleaned up in post tournament awards.  Will Harris earned the Tournament MVP award, with dominant pitching (9 K's over 10 innings), many fine catches at center field, and potent offense with a batting average of .364, 5 RBIs, 7 runs, and an on-base-percentage of .533.  Joe Tortora, who was outstanding behind the plate the whole tournament, won the Batting Trophy with 1 homerun, a batting average of .700, 7 RBIs, 4 runs, and an on-base-percentage of .769.  Selected to the All-Tourney team was shortstop/pitcher Nathan Taber, who played excellent defense with 11 put-outs, a batting average of .500 with 5 RBIs, 6 runs, 1 homerun, and an on-base-percentage of .667.  Also selected was center/left fielder Ryan Zakrzewski who batted .429 with 2 RBIs, 4 runs, and an on-base-percentage of .429. Ryan played excellent defense catching every ball that came his way in the outfield.
 

Top Row: Manager Jeff Augustine, Brandon Heal, Joe Tortora, Brett Labonte, Will Harris, Brandon Mello, Fred Correia, Ian Gray, Nathan Taber, Coach Brad Taber
Bottom Row: Ryan Zakrzewski, Scott Harrison, Luke Mattar, Kyle Garvey, Ted Costa, Andrew Augustine, Anthony Abbott
Not Pictured:
Coach John Garvey

In the 13 year old division, Gateway bested a tough Falmouth team 7-4.  Will Harris went the distance and pitched an exceptional game for the win.  Leading the offense with two hits each were Andrew Augustine and Nathan Taber.  Ian Gray contributed with a key double late in the game driving in two runs.  There were strong defensive plays by Kyle Garvey at second base and Nathan Taber at shortstop.  Joe Tortora turned in an excellent performance behind the plate. In game #2, Gateway defeated Martha's Vinyard 14-2.  Ian Gray pitched five strong innings letting up only 3 hits and striking out 9.  Nathan Taber closed the last two letting up only one hit.  The offense was lead by Brett Labonte going 3 for 3, Brandon Mello 2 for 2, Will Harris going 2 for 4, and Fred Correia going 2 for 3 with a key double driving in three runs.  Scott Harrison at shortstop and Brett Labonte at first base made some great defensive plays.