After not having a game for three weeks, Barco Construction finally took the field against division rival LaCorte Family Auto and played to an 11-11 tie. Barco jumped out with three quick runs in the top of the 1st on RBIs from Russ Graham, Kevin Moloney and Dave Saur, but LaCorte immediately tied up the game in their half. Barco took the lead again with 2 runs in the 4th, again with RBI hits by Dave Saur and Dennis Ryan, but again LaCorte responded immediately scoring three in the lower half.
LaCorte built on their lead by adding three in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th to go up 11-5. Fortunately Barco shut down LaCorte from there on end while chipping away at the lead, scoring three in the 8th on Dave Saur and Dennis Ryan’s (2 RBIs) hits.
Down to their last out in the 9th, Barco was able to tie the game on Gary Jambor’s 2 run double and Steve Jacobson’s single. For Barco, Dennis Ryan led the way with a 4-4 night followed by Dave Saur, Russ Graham, and Gary Jambor with 3 hits apiece. Barco’s James Widmer, who made a spectacular backhand catch in left with the bases loaded, turned in the play of the game.
Changing Times Pub (CT) and Paradox Cafe met on the 60-foot field for the Friday Night Cap. Paradox had finally gotten in a grove winning last week after a few tough loses in a row. CT came out strong and steadily built a 9-4 lead with solid hitting and fielding over the first 5 innings. Then the rumbling started. Don “Freight Train” Carlin pulled out of the station and snuffed out a CT rally with a beautiful sliding catch in right center field. He then proceeded to hit for the “cycle” with 5 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Andy “The Prophet” Cohen said he would go 5/5 at the beginning of the game and he did; a masterful job of 5 hits, 5 runs and 6 RBIs. Bill Gonzalez found the stroke also as he went 4 for 4 with 4 runs and 3 RBIs and Al Celeste punched four hits for 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Leave it to Gary Innes to make a stellar over the shoulder catch from second base into right field that kept CT from getting back in the game.
Notable mentions are Steve Finelli as he launched 2 home runs over the right field fence, Bob Thompson with 3 hits and 2 RBIs, James Mignone with a clutch 2 RBI shot and Tony Scime with a 2 RBI night. Lenny Balestrieri also had two unassisted double plays to go with his 3 for 5 night. Paradox Cafe had scored 18 runs in the final 3 innings to beat CT, 24-11.
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In the late game Friday, Aug. 5, Paradox Cafe beat LaCorte Family Auto 23-22. The visiting “Paradoxians” came out racing with back-to-back homeruns by Mitch Maghakian (4/5, 4r’s, 3 RBIs) and Steve Fanelli (3/3, 3r’s, 3 RBIs).
With Paradox scoring four in the top half of the first inning, LaCorte came back with 3 of their own. The top of the second had James Mignone (2/2, 1r, 1 RBI) and Tony Scime (3/3, 2r’s 1 RBI) began their excellent evenings with hits to give the top of the order another go around as Lenny Balestrieri (3/5, 2r’s, 2 RBIs) got into his hard hitting groove as Paradox plated five more runs.
Of course, not to be outdone, LaCorte came back with five runs of their own and now trailed 9-8.
The third inning had LaCorte scoring 11 runs in the home half to take a 19-9 lead. Paradox came back to score eight runs in the 4th inning as LaCorte’s pitcher took a shot off of his wrist and relief pitchers were called upon.
Bob Thompson (3/4 3r’s, 3 RBIs) continued his hot hitting to help get the score closer as Paradox pulled within two runs. It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Paradox pulled out to a 20 – 19 lead only to see it disappear in the bottom of the sixth with LaCorte matching the three Paradox had scored.
The score was now 22-20 going into the seventh when the Umpire barked out, “Last Inning!” Trailing by two, Paradox got by with a sac fly, and clutch hits by Andy Cohen (3/5, 2r’s, RBI) and Brian Mulcahy (4/4, r, 2 RBI) to give them a 23-22 lead.
The bottom of the seventh had LaCorte loading the bases with one out but the brilliant relief pitching of Steve Fanelli kept the batters off balance, just as he had done in the previous four innings to earn the victory for Paradox.
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For the week ending July 30, Zwanger Pesiri Radiology (ZP) beat Moby Drugs 6-1 in a rain-shortened game. Once again defense was key for ZP. John DeFalco made a fantastic scoop at first base to end a double play and he topped that with a really nice run saving stop at third.
Middle infielders, John Hernandez and Rich D’Amico also turned a pair of double plays, while pitcher Brian Tinney slowed numerous shots zipping past him.
In the outfield, Bino Reverberi nailed another runner, as players continue to unsuccessfully test his laser arm.
With Tinney holding a first-place team to only one run, ZP scored just enough to win. The biggest hit came off the powerful bat of Marc Fischer in the seventh inning.
After third base coach Joe Trainer pointed to the outfield and told him to hit a homer, he did just that. Fischer blasted a rocket over the left field tee-ball fence on the 60-foot field. The win lifts ZP’s record to 6-5.
