LIBERTY –– Paesanos went head-to-head against Goodfellas in the opening round of the playoffs in the Liberty Men’s Softball League. The winner of the best of three series will go on to play winner of the AJD versus Vincenzo’s series.

Both teams came out hot, scoring right away in the first inning. Paesanos was able to keep that pace of scoring throughout the game and ended the game with 14 runs. Unfortunately for the Goodfellas, their scoring pace fell off, leaving them short at the end of the game by a margin of 14 to 8.

With runs coming at such a premium, neither team could afford to make mistakes out in the field, and in this first game, Paesanos held a clear defensive advantage.

Offensively, Paesanos consistently scored runs, powered by the hot bat of John Schmidt who had a fantastic day at the plate. Schmidt cracked 2 home runs and drove in 6 runs. Joe Franke was also a big contributor, getting on base 4 times with a home run and 3 RBIs.

For the Goodfellas, their leader in game 1 was Mario Cuadrado who had 4 hits and 2 RBIs. But the teams’ efforts fell short in the first meeting. After the game they re-focused themselves and will try to bounce back in game 2.