Sports: Bartels’ Tour de Force Falls Short As Reading Takes League Title, 1-0

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Photo: Cole Bartels on the mound. 

Paraphrasing Tolstoy, all wins are alike; each defeat is lost in its own way.

For Belmont High School’s senior ace Cole Bartels, Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Reading Memorial High – securing the Middlesex Liberty Division championship to the Rockets – will go down as a tour-de-force performance spoiled by the flukes of the game that can make baseball such a cruel mistress to play.

“Déjà vu all over again,” said Marauder Head Coach Jim Brown, recalling a similar one-run heartbreaker to Reading for the league championship in 2007. 

“Bartels pitched great. He did his job. We just could not get the timely hit,” said Brown. “We got hits; we got men on base. Someone just has to step up and get the hit at the right time.”

Pitching one of his best performance of the season, the Penn State-commit dominated the league leaders, striking out 11 while giving up only a pair of singles. After a few early inning “butterflies,” last year’s Middlesex League all-star got down to business, and in the process, threw one of the best two innings plus stretches from a starter in recent league memory. 

After a leadoff walk to the number nine hitter in the bottom of the third, Bartels struck out the first two batters in the lineup on 1-2 counts with catcher Cal Christofori’s rocket throw to cut down the runner attempting to swipe second by a mile.

The fourth inning was a master class with Bartels’ fastball hit the low outside corner schooled the heart of Rockets order as the 3, 4, and 5 hitters each took the third strike looking. To cap the effort. Bartels sat down the first batter in the fifth on a reverse K.

“When I came out in the third it was just rock and fire,” said Bartels

It wasn’t as if Belmont hitters were as they had six hits off Reading. It was if Belmont was too eager at the plate, attempting to belt junior Corey DiLoreto’s off-speed offerings, only to lift the ball into the outfield. 

The dark clouds crept over Belmont in the bottom of the sixth when Bartels had leadoff hitter Connor Mulligan down two strikes only to see three straight targeted pitches were deemed balls to the consternation of the Marauder coaching staff and bench, leading to a critical no out walk.

The games “big” hit traveled the least distance when right fielder Carl Gillies attempted to move Mulligan to second launched a bunt attempt in the air along the third base line. But rather then an easy  out, the ball looped over third base David Bailey who was charging the plate. 

“What do you do? Normally a pop-up bunt is a certain out,” said Brown.

Making matters more difficult, a passed ball by Bartels’ battery mate Christofori placed runners in scoring a position at second and third with one out. After a strike out, an intentional walk to load the bases for left fielder Tommy White to loft a fly ball deep enough into center field to score Mulligan. 

It was then up to DiLoreto to set down Belmont in order for the clinching victory. 

“I couldn’t ask much more from my team. They try as hard as they could with good effort. It just wasn’t our day,” said Bartels.

Bartels and Belmont will see the Rockets this weekend in the opening game of the annual Brendan Grant Tournament at 2 p.m., Friday, May 27. 

Belmont, whose pitching staff sports a 1.00 ERA, has the throwers to make a run in the playoffs but like last season, hitting and runs remain a bugaboo for the team.

“We have to put the right pieces of the puzzle together” which may require a lineup change,” said Brown. “It could be putting kids in different parts of the lineup and just getting a hit,” he said.

For Bartels, the playoffs can’t happen fast enough.

“I feel extremely good. We’re going to be a great team and accomplish special things this post season,” he said.

Look What Was Dragged Out Of Clay Pit Pond

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Photo: The Clay Pit Pond Largemouth Bass.

On Sunday morning, May 22, Belmont High sophomore Brian Alper caught himself a damn good lookin’ largemouth bass coming in at an impressive eight-plus pounds. 

But it was where Alper reel in his catch that is just as jaw-dropping. No, he wasn’t on some crystal clear Berkshire County lake or in the wilds of Maine. Brian caught his bass in Clay Pit Pond.

CLAY PIT POND!

Yes, the man-made body of water – created in the late 1920s when the Wellington Brook was redirected into a pit where the New England Brick Company excavated clay for bricks – is unlikely to be on anyone’s list of fishin’ holes to find bass or much less anything living. For four decades, the land next to the pond was the town’s dump until the town opened the incinerator site near the Lexington town line in 1959.

In 1995, Belmont’s Conservation Commission asked the state to test the fish in Clay Pit Pond. Results showed unacceptably high levels of chlordane, a pesticide is associated with a variety of cancers. After the results were made public, the Massachusetts Public Health Department issued a public warning that is found on signs on the bank of the pond: “Do not eat fish caught in this pond. They may be poisoned with chemicals.”

For most residents, the creature most likely seen swimming in Clay Pit Pond is a rat or Blinky, the three-eyed orange fish found in the lake outside the nuclear power plant in “The Simpsons.” 

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But for Brian – who has been fishing Clay Pit for the past two years – and other hearty locals, the allure of casting a lure into a body of water outweighs most of the concerns they may face. And if Boston Harbor and the Charles River can be reclaimed to be “swimmable” after centuries of pollution, whose to say Belmont’s own “Pond” will one day … ummm, no. 

As for the bass – he was not named by Brian – he will continue to swim (it’s likely he has spent the past decade in the pond) contently in his watery home for now.

“Of course, it got thrown back. No one should EVER eat fish out of there,” said Brian’s father, David, the long-time chair of the town’s Board of Health. 

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Breaking: Trapelo Road Closed Until 5 PM Due To Haz Mat Concerns

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Photo: The vehicle in front of the CVS.

A man was arrested, and a portion of Trapelo Road has been shut down by Belmont Police due to a potential hazardous material incident that occurred at approximately 1 p.m.

The arrested man has not be identified by Belmont Police nor has the charges against him. 

Belmont Police stated on social media the main thoroughfare in Belmont will be closed from Slade to Walnut streets until 5 p.m. as state Hazardous Material personnel examine the late model sedan which came to rest in front of the CVS/Pharmacy at 264 Trapelo Rd. 

“They came in and told us we have to leave,” said one CVS employee who wondered if she would be able to go back to the store before her shift ended at 3 p.m.

The store was evacuated soon after the accident and arrest.

According to Belmont Fire Chief David L. Frizzell, apparently the vehicle hit a newly-installed island that now runs along Trapelo Road, blowing out both driver side tires. As police officers arrived, they arrested the driver. They soon discovered a stash of chemicals in the back seat of the car.  

Soon after Belmont Fire arrived – the incident occurred 100 feet from the fire department’s headquarters on Trapelo Road – the department called for state Haz Mat team to examine the vehicle. 

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Belmont Tracksters Naumann, Girls 400 Relay, Peterson Middlesex Champs

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Photo: Sara Naumann during the cross country season.

Despite attending Belmont High for just this school year before moving back to her native Northwest, junior Sara Naumann is set to leave her mark on Marauders’ track by making a few changes to the school’s track record book.

After smashing the school record in the 600 meter indoors by nearly four seconds (1 minute, 36.92 seconds) during winter sports season and finishing 4th in the Division 3 state championships, Naumann has been just as dominate outside in the 800 meters, having run the distance in 2:15.76, currently the sixth fastest time in Massachusetts. At the Middlesex League championships held on Monday, May 17 at Regis College, Naumann lead the field to take the 800 meters in 2:20.34, a second over Wilmington’s Julia Gake. 

Naumann led the Belmont girls to an impressive third-place team finish with 70 points. 

Just as impressive, if not more is so, is Naumann’s contribution in the 4×400 relay as the team is the only quartet to break the four-minute barrier (3:59.97) establishing the fastes time among all high school across the five divisions in Massachusetts.

On Monday, the team of junior 200 meter specialist Julia Cella, junior Danielle Kelly, senior 400 meter hurdler Meggie MacAulay and Naumann running anchor finished first in 4:02.26, 15 meters in front of Lexington. 

But it wasn’t just the girls who were setting some impressive marks. 

Marauder senior Luke Peterson was not just the only competitor at the championships to break the 20-foot mark in the long jump, he did it four times in five legal jumps, easily distancing the field by a foot with a 20-foot, eight inch jump. Peterson’s 21’10” effort earlier in May is the fifth best jump this year in the state. 

Some highlights at the Middlesex League meet for the girls”

Julia Cella 3rd and Emily Duffy 7th in the 200

Danielle Kelly 6th in the 400

Ally Bailey 5th in the 800

Olivia Cella 5th and Alexa Sabatino 7th in the 1 mile

Rachel Berets 4th and Sammy Kelts 8th in the 100 hurdles

Guilia Rufo 4th in the 400 hurdles

Katrina Rokosz 3rd in javelin

4×100 team of Emily Duffy, Rachel Berets, Momoko Tokuo, and Naria Sealy was 4th

4×800 team of Olivia Cella, Nicole Thoma, Danielle Baiany, and Alexa Sabatino was 2nd

For the boys:

Mekhai Johnson 10th in the 100.

Ben Jones 10th in the 200

4x400 team of Calvin Perkins, Mike Ferrante, Ian Bowe, and Bryan Huang was 3rd

Fun, Food, Dogs, Dunk Tank and Classic Cars: Belmont Town Day This Saturday

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Photo: Belmont Town Day on Saturday.

Food, animals, kiddy carnival rides, a dog show, classic cars, live music, a dunk tank and thousands of residents on Leonard Street can only mean one thing: the 26th annual Belmont Town Day is Saturday, May 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Proudly sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank and run by the Belmont Center Business Association, the yearly event closes down Belmont’s largest business hub so families, friends and gaggles of kids (and especially teens) can wander up and down the High Street to eat samples from the Center’s eateries, listen – and dance – to a live rock band, view classic cars at Belmont Savings (and vote on your favorite) and visit approximately 60 tables set up by businesses, schools and local groups and organizations, several with interesting raffles items.

This year, there will be a photo booth for families with World Marathon Challenge finisher Becca Pizzi.  

And there will be a dunk tank near il Casale. Three chances to throw a strike and knock a kid into freezing water. 

 

“Belmont Savings once again looks forward to welcoming everyone at this year’s Town Day on May 21, which promises to offer the most fun-filled tribute to the Town of Belmont yet,” said Bob Mahoney, President and CEO of Belmont Savings Bank.

“This year, the bank encourages Belmont families and Town Day attendees to stop by our sixth annual car show, our third annual dog show and – for the first time – a photo booth with World Marathon Challenger, and local resident, Becca Pizzi.”

Belmont Savings’ third annual dog show will begin at noon on the main stage. Prizes will be awarded for categories such as Best Trick and Cutest Puppy. Town Day attendees will select the “best-in-show” by the loudest applause. “Best-in-show” will receive a $100 Belmont Pet Supply gift card while each entrant will receive a gift bag.

The Town Day schedule includes face painting in front of the Belmont Savings main branch located at 2 Leonard Street and pony rides from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. under the Leonard Street Bridge, also sponsored by Belmont Savings.

This year a photo booth for families with Becca Pizzi will be open from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Pizzi completed the 2016 World Marathon Challenge, participating in seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. The 35-year-old business owner, manager, and mother held the fastest time in the women’s category and placed third overall. Last April, Belmont Savings sponsored the first-ever Becca Pizzi Family Fun Run 5k and 1-mile kids run.

Belmont Savings introduced the car exhibit in 2011, giving proud area collectors an opportunity to show off their pristine cars. Originally showcasing 12 cars, the show has grown to more than 40 cars. The cars will be at 2 Leonard Street and along Moore Street in Belmont Center.

Attendees will also have a chance to enter the cash cube adjacent to the Belmont Savings booth, where they can try their luck at catching flying dollar bills. Running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., participants may enter the cash cube, with half the collected dollars being donated to the Foundation for Belmont Education.

Perennials, Please! Garden Club Yearly Plant Sale Saturday, May 21

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Photo: The annual plant sale on Saturday.

Belmont Town Day would be incomplete if you did take home something for your garden or that empty patch from the Belmont Garden Club’s 2016 Annual Perennial Sale.

The plants are grown by the members and include shade and sun-loving perennials, annuals and herbs. 

The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 21 in front of The Lions Club adjacent the MBTA commuter rail station, at the intersection of Common Street and Royal Road. 

The proceeds raised from this annual event help fund the club’s community projects and its scholarship fund.

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Belmont High Senior Prom Today; Promenade Begins At 4 PM

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Photo: The pre-prom promenade

Be advised to drive carefully through Belmont this afternoon as residents will be blocking the roadway with their vehicles as others haphazardly cross the street to get a good look at what’s happening.

Are people staring at the aftermath of an accident? Is a natural phenomenon about to occur which residents want a good look?

It turns out the gawking is connected to an annual occurrence in which many teens are transformed from ultra casual to totally chic, having photos taken in front yards or at Clay Pit Pond in Belmont’s version of “Fashion Week.”

That’s because Friday is Belmont High School Senior/Junior Prom.

What is becoming a great annual community event will begin at approximately 4 p.m. as the students  attending the big dance will take part in the Pre-Prom Promenade, in which the high schoolers are “presented” before fawning parents, siblings, friends and the public in the Belmont High School auditorium.

The students will then head into the cafeteria (for the “once over” by school officials) before boarding buses to take them to a ritzy hotel for a night of dancing and fun.

Pats Give a Boost To High School Sports Supporters Group

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Photo:
 
The stands along the court’s edge at Belmont High School’s Wenner Field House Monday, May 16 – was filled with boisterous kids and rambunctious adults to cheer on a half dozen member of the New England Patriots that took on a team of high school athletes and residents. At half time, the lines to have the players sign autographs stretched across the length of the basketball court. 
 
While the final score was not that important, the outcome of ticket sales and sponsor donations will help the Belmont Boosters in supporting its mission of assisting sports in the public schools. In the past six years, the Boosters have donated close to $170,000 to the athletic programs at Belmont High School including renovating the fitness room, placing a new floor on the basketball court in the field house and remaking the White Field House.
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According to Booster’s Vice President Larry Christofori, the game with Patriot players such as running back LeGarrette Blount and Super Bowl XLIX hero Malcolm Butler generated between $15,000 to $20,000.
 
“It is not the biggest fundraiser for the Boosters, but without a doubt it is truly important because each of our three historically ‘big’ fundraisers – the basketball game, the annual fall Booster Drive and the yearly Golf Tournament – are comparable in terms of net proceeds to the Boosters,” said Christofori.
 
And while the Patriots usually has a three-game maximum series at each town, “we are negotiating now for future games as so many enjoy the game,” said Booster’s President Jim Reynolds.

New Cushing Square Traffic Light Pattern Set to Start May 31

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Photo: The intersection at Cushing Square.

As of May 31, driving efficiency will be coming to Cushing Square, whether you’re ready or not.

While it was apparent that many residents were happy with the old pattern of traffic lights at the busy intersection of Trapelo Road and Common Street, one entity that wasn’t were the engineers from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation which has been working on the $17 million Trapelo Road/Belmont Street Corridor Reconstruction project for the past two years.

According to State Sen. Will Brownsberger in a note to his constituents, the engineers will introduce a new traffic light phasing that will allow a greater number of vehicles to move through the square than under the current system.

This is the state’s second attempt to alter the long-time pattern of red and green lights at the corner – last fall it tried unsuccessfully to change the light phasing only to go back to the pre-project configuration.

The current system allows vehicles on Common Street headed towards Watertown get a green light to either travel straight or take a left while cars headed down Common into Belmont have to stop at a red light. Then, that reverses happens.

“This is very inefficient because most of the traffic in both directions would like to go straight. One wants the two straight movements to share green time,” noted Brownsberger. “After a lot of debate, a new approach has emerged which should be clear for drivers and is more efficient than any of the previously attempted configurations.”

The engineer’s explanation of this new approach appears below (with some additions from me):

  • For vehicles traveling on Trapelo Road, there will be no change.
  • The south bound Common Street (towards Watertown) lights will have a left arrow and a green ball light that still turn green simultaneously.
  • But, the south-bound green arrow will turn to red while the south bound straight ball light remains green, allowing vehicles on Common Street heading toward Watertown to continue towards Watertown.  But vehicles in the left turn lane which are turning left onto Trapelo Road will have to stop.
  • When that south-bound left arrow goes red, the north-Belmont bound Common Street lights will go green for both north lanes.  For south bound vehicles on Common Street in the right lane and heading toward Watertown, they will find that, during the latter part of their green phase, traffic will start coming from the opposite direction of Common Street and some of that traffic will be wanting to turn left in front of them.
  • The North Belmont bound vehicles will see green balls only (no left arrow), as is common at many intersections around the state. There will be a “left-turn-yield-on-green ball” sign, again as is common at many intersections. For vehicles on Common Street coming from Watertown, they will now find that traffic will be coming from the opposite direction of Common Street when they have the green indication and the vehicles turning left into Trapelo Road toward Waverley Square will need to yield to traffic coming from the other direction of Common Street.

“The beauty of this approach is that (a) the signage will be simpler — the complicated signs with three-headed arrows will be less critical; and (b) if north-bound traffic makes the mistake that it tends to make — thinking that the straight move to continue on Common Street is a left turn, they will actually not conflict with the straight movement from the other direction,” said Brownsberger.

The only time they will need to think is when they are making the hard left onto Trapelo and on that movement, it is reasonable to expect the drivers will exercise the caution that they generally should on a left turn with no arrow, he noted.