On the Christie Hillside: Blasting Bombs and Stirring Souls

Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - June 13 to 19, 2022

A pair of Jordan Castaldo home runs bookended all the Week 5 action for the Toronto Maple Leafs

On Wednesday night, all of Christie Pits watched as Jordan Castaldo's monster home run departed Toronto and entered international airspace.

Maple Leafs baseball is good for the soul.

Players, fans, staff and volunteers -- everyone knows this. Each time one sets foot on the grass and paths of Christie Pits, all the crap of daily life is set aside for a few hours. An unlikely community from all walks of life comes together.

The imagination is fed. The quiet cut loose. The mild-mannered become legends. As a Leafs player recently put it, on game days he is the mayor of exactly one acre of Toronto, acclaimed by the electorate on the hillsides.

The baseball Leafs are the only major sports team in the city that lets its fans watch without charging admission. Free baseball for free! What's not to love. The players, the moonshots, the runs and the heckling. You get swept up in it all.

Even when the home side is down, there are moments that stir, like Jordan Castaldo's monster home run on Wednesday night. The game was eventually lost, but the moment remains.

After a road win in Kitchener, the Pits was the scene of more drama on Sunday. The Leafs were in a jam, but the boys battled back from a five-run deficit to the Hamilton Cardinals. They tied the game, lost the lead again, then raised everyone up in a hallelujah chorus with two home runs in a row to tie the game, then win in a walkoff. Once again, Castaldo with the heroics.

It's a different hero every game, which bodes well for the postseason. Justin Marra and Aiden McAskie launching bombs. Johnathan Solazzo and Luca Boscarino driving in runs. Zach Sloan and Marek Deska dominating on the mound. A bottomless bullpen setting up showstoppers Chris Nagorski and Dustin Richardson. And Damon Topolie defying time with timely hitting.

Week 5 of the IBL season had it all.

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - Kitchener Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs

Well you know a photo like this is not a good sign.

On Wednesday night, the Leafs welcomed the Kitchener Panthers to Christie Pits.

The visitors put on an appalling display of bad manners, scoring runs in bunches and taking off with a win. They battered Leafs pitching for 14 hits, scored 14 runs and refused to play along with the theme that no lead is safe at the Pits.

Their lead was quite safe.

Diego Dominguez made the start on the bump for Toronto, and cruised through the first couple of innings.

In the bottom of the 2nd, the Leafs took a 1-0 lead when right fielder Luca Boscarino scored on a sac fly by DH Damon Topolie.

Kitchener struck back in the 3rd with three runs to take the lead.

The Mapes evened the score in the bottom of the 3rd. First baseman Jordan Castaldo hit a bomb over the centerfield fence, a monster shot that wowed everyone at the ballpark. Third baseman Johnathan Solazzo followed that with a single, and scored on an RBI double by Boscarino to make it a 3-3 ballgame through three.

It all went downhill after that.

The Panthers chased Dominguez in the top of the 4th. They then pounced on reliever Yusei Teraoka, who battled through three innings of relief but gave up a bunch of runs. After six innings, the Panthers enjoyed an 11-4 lead.

In the bottom of the 7th, catcher Justin Marra hit a 2-run homer to make it an 11-6 ballgame.

At that point, the unruly houseguests barged into the kitchen, drank the rest of the booze, broke a couple of glasses and took off with grandad's prized ashtray AND his prized butane lighter from the army. Appalling. 14-6 was the FINAL for Kitchener.

Kitchener 14 14 1

Toronto 6 12 0

W - Douglas (2-0, 2.40)

L - Dominguez (0-1, 6.54)

BOXSCORE

Thursday, June 16, 2022 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Kitchener Panthers

Aiden McAskie is greeted at the plate after hitting a grand slam, his second home run in consecutive at bats on Thursday night in Kitchener. (Image: Panthers Baseball Online YouTube)

Thursday night in Old Berlin, those Panthers were singing a different song. It went: "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen," which means "You Spanked Our Bottoms. Again Please!" *

With revenge on their minds, the Maple Leafs rolled into Jack Couch Park and went nuts.

Four hits in the 1st inning, including RBI singles from right fielder Luca Boscarino and second baseman Grant Tamane, made it a 2-0 ballgame right from the get-go.

The Leafs scored three more in the top of the 3rd, courtesy of home runs by catcher Justin Marra and third baseman Aidan McAskie. That made it a 5-0 ballgame.

McAskie returned to the plate in the top of the 4th and smashed a grand slam to make it a 9-0 ballgame. And the rout was on.

Zach Sloan made the start for the Leafs and he pitched four innings, giving up just one run. He was relieved by Ryan Wells for three innings. Dylan Jacober pitched a scoreless 8th.

By then, it was a 13-1 ballgame. The Leafs piled it on in the top of the 9th, adding five more runs including a two-run home run off the bat of first baseman Jordan Castaldo. It was the Leafs fifth homer of the night, with McAskie and Justin Marra each hitting two earlier.

In "garbage time", Kitchener scrounged up five runs but the game was already well out of reach. Chris Nagorski put the black cats out of their misery in the bottom of the 9th for an 18-6 FINAL and a great bounce-back victory for the boys in blue.

* German is a deeply weird language.

Toronto 18-16-1

Kitchener 6-11-1

W - Wells (1-0, 6.00)

L - Schnarr (0-1, 10.12)

BOXSCORE

Sunday, June 19, 2022 - Hamilton Cardinals at Toronto Maple Leafs

Jordan Castaldo sealed another winning week for the Leafs with a walk off home run on Sunday. (Photo: Craig Aiken / caps_sports_photography)

A month into the season, the Maple Leafs played the Hamilton Cardinals for the first time.

Not a great start to the season for Hamilton, who began the day with a 4-7 record.

Great start to the game, though. Through the first six innings on Father's Day, the Redbirds smacked pitchers Dylan Jacober and Sam Greene around for a 6-1 lead. The lone Leafs run came way back in the 1st inning courtesy of an RBI single by catcher Justin Marra.

As they say on the hillsides: no lead is safe.

Bottom of the 7th. Bases loaded. The man from Japan, left fielder Yusei Teruoka hit a sac fly to bring in one run and make it a 6-2 score.

Bottom of the 8th. Rally time. With two outs and a man on first, second baseman Johnathan Solazzo hit an RBI double. Up next was Luca Boscarino, who singled and moved Solazzo to third. Up next was centerfielder Connor Lewis, who hit a stylish single and plated Solazzo. Up next was first baseman Damon Topolie, who doubled in Boscarino and Lewis to tie the game 6-6 through eight innings.

No lead is safe!

But the Cardinals were determined to play the spoilers. In the top of the 9th, Chris Nagorski took the mound for Toronto. He recorded two outs, then surrendered a walk and two singles to give Hamilton a 7-6 lead.

In the bottom of the 9th, Cardinals pitcher Daury Torrez recorded two outs to start the inning. Justin Marra stepped up to the plate and battled Torrez through seven pitches, working the count to 2 and 2 before belting a solo home run. It was Marra's fourth consecutive game with a homer. Moments after Marra crossed home plate, third baseman Jordan Castaldo stepped up and launched the first pitch from Torrez for a game winner. Walk off! A week that began with a Castaldo bomb ended the same way. 8-7 FINAL for the Leafs! Happy Father's Day!

Hamilton 7 9 1

Toronto 8 14 1

W - Nagorski (2-0, 10.28)

L - Torrez (0-2, 5.40)

BOXSCORE

Below photos are from Wednesday night, June 15 vs Kitchener Panthers