The Over the Hill Gang softball league opened its 39th season Friday, April 11 with six games at Allen Park. Bar-Boy began with an impressive 25-8 win over Bethpage Pharmacy. After scoring one run in the first, BB exploded for 7 runs in the 2nd inning and never looked back. For the night, Ken Kuzman went 4 for 6 with 2 RBIs, Steve Kirk went 4 for 5 with 2 RBIs, Frank Badalmenti went 5 for 6 with 5 RBIs and a homer, pitcher John Czarnecki went 5 for 6 with 5 RBIs, rookie Jason Cinnelli went 3 for 6 with a homer and manager Ken Kohlmann went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs.
On a night that Zwanger-Pesiri’s defense was not so great, 3rd baseman Sean O’Flynn flashed some leather when it was needed the most. Sean’s diving catch ended the game with the tying run on 3rd base lifting ZP to an 18-17 win over McCourt & Trudden Funeral Home. Marc Fischer got the win with steady pitching and a big bat. He had 4 hits and 3 RBI’s to lead a 26 hit attack. ZP scored in 7 of 8 innings with everyone contributing. Jerry Mazza, John Hernandez and Marty Dunn had three hits. Steve Lenci,
John DeFalco, Tyrone Clark, Anthony Nicolich and Pete Mendelson had two hits each. ZP sends a shout out to long-time teammate Brian Tinney who is taking a year off after a 20 year run. Opening Day was not the same without Brian.
Changing Times Pub opened the season with a thrilling come from behind victory over Paradox Café. CT’s defense and offense thawed out like this year’s snow with an icy cold start while Paradox scored 4 runs in the top of the first. The 4th inning is when the ice began to melt and the magic began to happen for CT with 4 runs scored. Dan Davies (4-4) 3 RBIs broke the ice with a line drive RBI single, followed by Mike Corda (2-3) 5 RBIs who hit a 3 run blast. From there, CT chipped away at Paradox’s lead with timely hitting by Stu Koch (2-2), Joe Stephan (3-4) and solid pitching by Darren Azar (2-4) with a key 2 RBI triple. After CT took the lead they never looked back and closed out the game.
— Submitted by Jerry Mazza
