Jul 24, 2009 - Week Fourteen Article
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Let's Hit One Downtown for Down Syndrome... Friday, August 7th!!!

The Over the Hill Gang is once again gearing up for its annual charity fundraiser. Please save the date, Friday, August 7th at Allen Park. This year the league is teaming up with Long Island’s Greatest Hits radio station, B-103, to raise money for children with Down Syndrome. The evening’s festivities will include an appearance by radio personalities Wiseman and Frank, refreshments, a night of softball, a magic show and valuable raffle prizes. Everyone is welcome. It is a great night to spend some time with your friends and neighbors while raising money for a fantastic cause. It is also your chance to see if your neighbor across the street can really play softball!

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7:00pm - Zwanger Pesiri Radiology versus Lockie & Nowachek - 90ft field

Zwanger Pesiri Radiology lost to Lockie & Nowachek Family Chiropractors 16-15, but finally showed some offensive punch. After trailing the entire game, ZP tied the game in the 8th when Joe Algerio, Pete Mendelson, Vinny Ciullo and Jerry Mazza strung together clutch hits. For the night, ZP was led by rookie John Hernandez who had 4 hits and continued to make all the plays at shortstop. Veteran Richie D’Amico returned after a few weeks off and brought his bat. Richie had three key hits. Marc Fischer and Bino Reverberi also had three hits on the night, while John DeFalco and Ira Berger had two. On defense, Reverberi gunned down a slew of runners at the plate with cutoff help from pitcher Brian Tinney.

8:20pm - McCourt & Trudden versus Granny O'Shea's - 90ft field

McCourt & Trudden Funeral Home visited Granny O’Shea’s on Friday as the both teams looked to notch a victory in a tough season so far. Heading into the third inning, M&T had a 3-1 lead over Granny O’Shea’s when Bob Thompson sent one screaming into right-center field. That 3 run HR put O’Shea’s in the lead 4-3. The rest of the night O’Shea’s bats came to life as the team welcomed back the hit parade. Perfect nights were had at the plate by Don Carlin (5 hits/3 RBIs) and Lenny Balestrieri (6 hits/5 RBIs), while Lyle Nigro belted out 4 hits with 2 runs scored. Injuries have forced O’Shea’s to move people around all year as Al Celeste found himself visiting the outfield and hauling in a blast to left center that was heading for Chicago. Brian Mulcahy dug a few tough throws out at first and O’Shea’s helped seal the victory with a 9 run eighth inning. In the final tally, Granny’s 31 hits lead to a 19-10 victory over McCourt & Trudden.

9:40pm - Barco Construction versus Bar-Boy - 60ft field

On Friday night against a tough Bar Boy squad, Barco again found a way to win; this victory was due to their solid defensive play in earning their 9-5 “W”. Barco held their opponent to 7 runs or less for the third week in a row in winning their 6th straight, improving their record to 10-2. Early in the game Dennis “Gimpy Grandpa” Ryan made a sterling sliding catch setting the tone for a defensive battle between both teams. Barco has been strong up the middle defensively all season and was evident this night as exemplified by Dave Saur’s fine running catch in R/C along with the combination of Russ Graham (SS), Steve Jacobson (2b) and Gary Jambor (P) turning 5 DPs, preventing Bar Boy from mounting any rallies early on and keeping them off the board till the seventh. By then Barco had built a 6-0 lead, scoring in the 1st on Dave Saur’s 2 run double after Dave Ringer’s RBI single and again in the 4th when Bob Diamond and Jim Hose came through with clutch two outs RBI hits to increase Barco’s lead. Bar Boy finally scored, plating two in the 7th, but Barco responded immediately with three more in the 8th on Bob Bergsten’s double and Terry McPartland’s clutch two out single. That provided Barco a needed cushion as Bar Boy added three in the bottom half cutting Barco’s lead to 9-5 heading into the ninth. Fortunately Barco was able to get out of a bases loaded situation without giving up a run to secure another closely contested game. As a footnote to Barco’s win, to the amazement of many, the ball bucket survived for yet another week. It seems Steve Jacobson immediately went into shock after taking a called 3rd strike and didn’t come out of his daze until he was revived on the bench (given a whiff of smelling salts). The team knew something was amiss immediately when he walked back to the bench and calmly sat down.

The Barco families would like to extend their appreciation to Debbie and Steve Jacobson for offering up their house and pool in hosting this year’s team BBQ. Also a “Special Thanks” goes out to both Anne Jambor, for all the time and effort (coordination, shopping, arranging for good weather, etc) she put in making it all possible, along with Sara “Belle” Cook for watching Lilly.