Frankford

Once an injury-riddled, middle-of-the-pack baseball team, Frankford is two wins away from its third consecutive Public League title. "We were slumping in the middle of the season," senior Tim DiGiorgio said after the visiting Pioneers topped host George Washington, 7-4, Friday to claim the league's Class AAAA championship. "We weren't doing much right. All of that has changed. " Frankford struggled when regulars Kevin Montero and Carlos Ramirez were sidelined with ankle injuries.

A firefighter leaves the scene of a Frankford house fire which sent an unidentified woman to the hospital yesterday. The blaze occurred in the 4400 block of Elizabeth Street.

Baseball nut Jack Redfern could have remained at Julia Masterman for all four years of high school. Throughout that stint, however, he would have been miserable to a certain degree. Masterman's only sin, in Redfern's mind, was that it didn't (and still doesn't) offer baseball, so after two years he packed his books and his hopes of gaining at least a sliver of baseball acclaim and transferred to Frankford. Keep in mind, Masterman is among the city's top academic institutions whereas Frankford is a neighborhood school not without its share of problems.

This was Frankford's baseball game to lose. The Pioneers went in undefeated atop the Public League standings, a team of underclassmen antsy to keep their perfect record, and they faced a hungry Central team that sought to dethrone the only team ahead of it. Both teams figured it would be close, and neither conceded it was over until the umpire left the field. Only in the bottom of the ninth, two innings past regulation, did Frankford finally prevail in a game it had led comfortably before falling behind by two runs going into that final at-bat.

Entering yesterday's home-field showdown with Frankford, Germantown football coach Charlie Hicks was hoping for a test by which to measure his team's improved play over last season. Hicks was still unsure about the Bears, who struggled to a 4-6, fourth- place finish in the Public League's Division B in 1992, but had opened this season by ripping through their first four opponents. "This is a pivotal game for us; it'll show us where we stand in the league," Hicks had told his players.

Fourteen titles were tallied, and 14 tales were told at yesterday's PIAA District 12 wrestling tournament. Each District 12 and Public League wrestling champion took a separate path to the top at George Washington High. Both the winner and runner-up in each weight class continue their seasons at the regional championships on March 4-5 at Norristown High. Frankford, which has won nine straight Public League dual-meet crowns, was also the team tournament champion with 287.5 points.

Scanning the list of Public League football champions over the years, one school continues to come up. Frankford. If anything, tradition will be on Frankford's side Saturday, when the Pioneers (7-3) meet Bartram (8-1) for the Public League Championship at Northeast High (2 p.m.). Frankford has won 18 Public League titles outright, its last two years ago under John McAneney, who took over for the legendary Al Angelo. "They might have tradition," Bartram coach Tom Bazis said, "but at the same time, the typical Southwest Philly kid has no respect for tradition.

Had the Public League football final between front-runner Frankford and steady-playing Dobbins been scheduled a month ago, the prognosticators would have flocked to Frankford's bench. Then came the teams' last two games: confidence builders for Dobbins, spine shakers for Frankford. In today's league championship game at 2 p.m. at Northeast High, the Pioneers (10-1), coming off a loss, enter floundering in their championship gait, and once-perceived dark horse Dobbins (9-1)

The Frankford basketball team viewed this week's eight-team Seagull Classic as the perfect way to show the experts that coach Vince Miller's Pioneers deserve a ranking among the nation's best high school teams. The tournament at St. Joseph's University included nationally acclaimed St. Nicholas of Tolentine (N.Y.) - last year's national champion at 30-1 - imposing Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran and local powerhouse Chester. Frankford, ranked No. 1 in The Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10, got past Tolentine in the semifinals Tuesday.

Before Frankford beat Lincoln, 2-1, to win its third straight Public League soccer championship, Pioneers coach Bill Snyder told his team that a victory would mark the first time in more than 50 years that a Frankford team had achieved such a streak. From 1917 to 1919, the Pioneers won three straight. A victory Thursday at Philadelphia Textile would tie that, he said. So what if he pulled a Joe Isuzu? Actually, Frankford won five straight championships between 1964 and '68. Snyder played on three of those teams.

IT WILL BE Frankford vs. Frankford Offshoot for the Public League baseball championship today, 3:15, at Richie Ashburn Field, in South Philly's FDR Park. The Pioneers' foe, Franklin Towne Charter, is located on the former Frankford Arsenal property, in Bridesburg, and draws many of its students from the same neighborhoods. FTC opened in 2000 and joined the Pub for baseball in 2004. Kyle Riley has been the coach for all 10 seasons. This will be a charter school's first appearance in the championship game.

CARLOS RAMIREZ received the news via social media and, at first, his reaction, understandably, was somewhat low-key. Though Ramirez was aware of Edwin "Tito" Rohena, the former Frankford High baseball star who lost his life Friday night after crashing his motorcycle on Roosevelt Boulevard, he was not a friend or former teammate and it was tough to completely identify. Then came the rest of the weekend, and the early part of Monday, and the 6-foot, 145-pound Ramirez, a senior righthander who plays third base or the outfield when not on the mound, found himself feeling levels of agony to approach all others'.

Once an injury-riddled, middle-of-the-pack baseball team, Frankford is two wins away from its third consecutive Public League title. "We were slumping in the middle of the season," senior Tim DiGiorgio said after the visiting Pioneers topped host George Washington, 7-4, Friday to claim the league's Class AAAA championship. "We weren't doing much right. All of that has changed. " Frankford struggled when regulars Kevin Montero and Carlos Ramirez were sidelined with ankle injuries.

POLICE HAVE arrested a Frankford man on gun and conspiracy charges after he admitted he bought two handguns for someone else, an offense called straw purchasing. William Santore, 24, of Jackson Street near Wakeling, told detectives he purchased a 9 mm Astra semiautomatic handgun and a .40-caliber Steyr semiautomatic handgun on March 26 at a city gun shop for a man he identified only as "Fat Cat," according to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Authorities discovered the illegal buy after police recovered one of the illicit guns when they arrested Jonathan Sanchez on April 16 in Frankford on burglary and gun charges.

In opting to attend Central High and play baseball there, Tom Benek followed in the footsteps of brothers Jim and Larry. Tuesday afternoon, the senior might have cemented his position as best clutch performer. Capping a remarkable comeback against Public League Division A rival Frankford, Tom Benek delivered a two-out RBI single to give the host Lancers a 13-12 victory at Ogontz and Somerville. Before his deciding hit to right field, the third baseman received a few words of advice from brother Jim, a first-year assistant coach at Central.

NOT OFTEN does a masked man take to the mound. We're not talking about a bank robber, a hazmat worker or even the Lone Ranger. We're talking about a catcher. That position was almost exclusively the one and only played last season by Eduardo "Cheese" Sanchez for Frankford High's baseball team. But now the 5-10, 220-pound senior is a two-spot guy and one is 60 feet, 6 inches from the other. Monday, in a career first, Sanchez spent his time at both as the visiting Pioneers downed George Washington, 7-3, in a Public A clash.

A 29-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot Thursday night during a home invasion in the city's Frankford section, police said. About 8:17, the man was shot once in the left side of his chest inside a residence in the 1700 block of Brill Street, police said. He was taken by private automobile to Aria Health-Frankford Campus. Three suspects were later arrested in the 6000 block of Charles Street in Wissinoming. - Robert Moran

A SEPTA bus struck a teenager who was riding his bicycle in Northeast Philadelphia, injuring the bicyclist and two bus passengers Monday afternoon, the transit agency said. The collision occurred about 4:30 p.m. near Bridge and Marlowe Streets in Frankford as the bicyclist "darted in front of the bus," said SEPTA spokeswoman Kristin Geiger. The passengers were hurt as the bus came to a sudden stop, Geiger said. She said the injuries to the bicyclist and passengers did not appear to be life-threatening.

Nettie Salamon, 100, of Northeast Philadelphia, who ran Nettie's Food Market in Frankford until it closed in the 1970s, died Friday, Feb. 8, of heart failure at Jeanes Hospital. A positive person, Miss Salamon's last words were: "Everything is all right here," said her sister-in-law, Bernice Salamon. Miss Salamon inherited her family's mom-and-pop grocery at 3876 Frankford Ave. She sold meat, dairy, produce, and staple goods before closing the store to take a job as a clerical worker with what is now Verizon.