League Report: Remembering Sal Gioeli
It was a bittersweet week for members of the Over the Hill Gang (OTHG) softball league. The 2011 season kicked off Friday, but not before the league paid tribute to Sal Gioeli. Gioeli was an OTHG pioneer, one of the men who helped build the league to what it is today. On Tuesday, several dozen OTHG players, past and present, formed an honor guard as Gioeli’s funeral procession drove past Allen Park one final time.
In Friday’s game action: Look out, Changing Times (CT) Pub has a new look. Over the winter, CT retired several players and was able to get some young blood. On opening day, CT posted 13 runs in the first inning and added runs each inning to defeat McCourt & Trudden Funeral Home (31-15.)
CT saw run product from Dave Thorburn (5-5) who opened the game with a bonafide homerun, but third base coach Jack Scherer held Thorburn at third.
Rookies Jim Cullen (3-4), Dan Davies (5-5), Neil Strocchia (3-4), Stu Koch (1-4) are off to a good start. Mike Dawson hit a home run in the third inning, which we still are waiting for the ball to come down. Old Timers Ed Cullen, Rob Bishop have been moved to the infield which proved to be a great decision by returning manager Jerry Iavarone. It looks to be a good start for CT.
Moby Drugs beat LaCorte Family Auto (16-15.) Both teams throughout this hard fought battle displayed great camaraderie and sportsmanship on a bitter cold night.
Either way, Moby Drugs held the lead going into the final inning but Lacorte would not be frozen. They knocked the ice off their bats and like a hailstorm, scattered balls to all parts of the field to go ahead by a run. Just as quick, in the bottom of the inning the score was tied. With a man on third and one out, Tommy Dorsey chillingly roped a “walk off” single for Moby to eek out the victory. Here’s to hoping Scotty of Moby recovers quickly from a pulled hammy and a great season to all!
Zwanger-Pesiri (ZP) Radiology came up short against Bar-Boy (15-10.) But the game marked the beginning of a new era for ZP with Tom “T” Ball and Joe Trainer handling the coaching duties. John DeFalco led the way for the offense, with four hits. Marc Fischer and John Hernandez added two hits each, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the hard-hitting Bar Boy lineup. ZP welcomes rookie Anthony Nicolich who broke the ice with a late game hit, the first of many more to come.
Barco Construction got off to a rough start to the new season as they opened up with a disappointing loss (19-13) to Paradox Cafe. Paradox jumped out to a quick lead (9-1) after two before Barco was able to get untracked, getting to within 9-8 in the sixth before Paradox pulled away for good.
Russ Graham, who had four RBIs with three coming on a monster homerun, led Barco. Also having good starts were Bill White (three hits and two RBIs) along with Terry McPartland and Mike Angarita. James Widmer had a good defensive game. Although it was only the start of the season, there was one thing for Barco that was in mid-season form and that was Terry’s non-stop chatter and “wit.”
