GAME TWO:  Sandy’s 19, Hitmen 16 (6 inn; time called)

The Hitmen cannot do much else, but they can hit – and did – scoring 5 in the top of the first off Glenn.  They announced they were in the game with a long, grunting HR to RC by their leadoff hitter.

In a nice reversal from game one we countered with hitting of our own.  Tony capped the inning with his first HR, a three run shot.  Russ had “tripled” on the first play of the game.  He hit a nice, soft liner over the middle and the LC fielder, playing him near the fence, came in to field the ball as though he lacked legs.  Russ actually broke into a trot going from 1^st to third when he realized no one was anywhere near the ball!  Barely recovered from the exertion of his ordeal, Tom Donnelly forced him into motion again with a hard liner to right, driving in our first run of the game.  Eddie and Andre singled to set up Tony’s HR.  Tom scored on Andre’s hit.

We stopped the Hitmen with 4 in the top of the second but could manage just 2 of our own – on an rbi single by Jim, driving home Phil, who walked, and via an error on the shortstop on John’s hit, sending Jay to the plate.  Jay had gotten on base when the left fielder mis-handled his pop-up.  Hitmen 9, Sandy’s 7.

Glenn held the bad guys to just one run and we (finally) capitalized.  Glen led off with a single but was forced by Gary at second.  Gary would score on a single by Eddie after being advanced by Russ.  Tom, who forced Russ at second, scored on a single by Andre.  Tony was semi-intentionally walked.  With the Hitmen playing the fence, Phil swung mightily and barely made contact with the bottom of the ball, sending a weak pop behind SS that found Phil on second and Tony on third, Tom and Eddy having scored.  Jeff knocked a clean single to score Tony for our 5^th run.  Sandy’s 12, Hitmen 10.

The Hitmen came right back with 4, taking the lead by 2.  If my memory is correct, Jim Fischetti uncorked a great throw to third and Jay hung in to make a fine catch and tag to wipe out the advancing runner.  The excellent play prevented the Hitmen from having a man on third with just one out.

Jim would be key offensively in the 4^th. He doubled and scored on John’s single.  Bill advanced him with a single.  Bill got wiped out on a peg to third.  Jerry hit a long fly to the fence and RC that their fielder could not hang onto and John scored.  Hitmen 14, Sandy’s 14.

Glenn and our defense held the Hitmen to a pair in the top of the 5^th but it left them 2 ahead with 16.  Gary took offense and singled sharply to lead off our half of the frame.  We liked his example; Russ and Tom singled, with Tom’s hit driving home Gary. Eddy then hit a 3-run bomb.  Andre got aboard on an error by the LC and Tony singled.  Phil drove home the 5^th run with a bleeder between the 2b and 1b.  Hitmen 16, Sandy’s 19. 

The Hitmen ran out of gas and had no answer in the top of the 6^th, the open-inning due to the clock. 

We punched out 21 hits en route to the victory – twice the number of our total in game one.

GAME THREE; Sandy’s 18, Cryan’s 16

The away team, we jumped on Cryan’s as they had against us in the first game, scoring 5 right out of the chute.  Russ doubled, Tom drove him home with a single, Eddy singled and Andre pushed home Tom while he fielder-choiced the ball to second, forcing out Eddy.  Tony hit a 2-run homer to make Andre feel better and Phil hit a home run because….?  Well, he did. 

Cryan’s was, apparently, shocked by our reversal of form and couldn’t achieve anything against Glenn in the first.  We were mentally prepared to use Cryan’s donut to bury them but we went quietly in 4 batters, Jim singling for our sole hit.  Sandy’s 5, Cryan’s 5.

Cryan’s was not embarrassed about burying us and put another 4 on the board, taking the lead by 4 in the third after we went down meekly in three in the top of the frame.

We were not dead; Tom and Eddy scored.  Tom FC’d Gary at second (Gary had singled) and came around from first to score on Eddy’s double.  Andre banged Eddy to the plate with a single.  Glenn and company stopped Cryan’s cold in the home half with no runs.  Sandy’s 7, Cryan’s 9.

In the 5^th we re-took the lead, scoring 3.  Phil led off with a double and scored on Jay’s single.  Jim launched a 2-run home run.  John doubled and Phil went in to run for him.  Bill drove a shot to the hole at short and Phil, wanting to score on the hit, took off from second.  Somehow the SS managed to dive to his right and snare the hot shot.  He flipped the ball to third where Phil was a dead duck.  Jerry then got a nice single on which Phil could easily have scored from second.  Phil felt bad but would not be too repentant. 

We now had 10, one more than Cryan’s but they would come up with a couple to again take the lead, 12-10.  Gary led off the 6^th with a single and two outs later Eddy hit a homer to drive him home. Score tied. 

Cryan’s beat us with hitting in the first game and made a bid to put us under, scoring 5.  With great pride we roared right back.  Tony singled and Phil partially made up for his base-running gaff with a 2-run homer to left.  Inspired, Jeff, Jay and Jim all singled; Jim’s driving in a run.  Bill and Jerry singled, each pushing a run across.  Gary singled but Tom D got his signals crossed and waved Jerry around third in an attempt to score from first.  He was out by 10 feet.  Still, we had answered with 6 runs and now led 2.  It was enough to rattle Cryan’s, who had no answer in the bottom of the 7^th against Glenn and our defense.

GAME FOUR:  Sweet 27, Sandy’s 15

Once again the visiting team, we got off to a great start in an odd way.  Russ and Tom flied out to start the game and long-range shelling followed.  Eddie doubled.  Andre hit a 2-run dinger.  Tony singled and Phil hit a 2-run shot.  Jeff liked that so well that he put one out, though cursing himself for hitting a HR with no one on base.  Oh, poor Jeff!  Ha! 

John took the mound for the title game and found out fast that Sweet’s liked him.  They rocked John for 5 and we ran ourselves right off the bases.  Two of the three outs in the inning occurred as our guys were thrown out trying to take an extra base.  Sweet took advantage of our donut and went up by 5.

In the third we managed a single only.  Sweets left a crack in the door by plating just 2.

We closed the gap with 4 in the 4^th.  Eddy, Andre and Tony singled; Tony’s hit driving home Eddy.  Phil, over-eager, swung at the first pitch and SAC’d home Andre with his fly-ball out to the left-field fence.  Jay boomed a 2-run HR to end our scoring.

Sweet had no scoring problems, crossing the plate 5 times for the 3^rd time in the game.  Sweet 17, Sandy’s 9.

Jerry launched a 2-run HR in the top of the 5^th.  John, who had singled, scored ahead of him.  Sadly, that was all we could manage.  Sweet scored 5 more; led by 22-11.

The top of the order stayed hot.  Russ, Tom, Andre, Tony, Phil and Jay all singled for 4 runs but that was our best.  Sweet inexorably stamped home 5 MORE times; fiving us 5 times in 6 innings.

Losing 27-15, Bill and Jerry singled with one out in the top of the 7^th, but Glenn’s bid for a single down the right field line instead turned into a 3-6-3 double play; end of game.

THE REST OF THE STORY

We earned second place in the tournament and got a surprisingly nice trophy that will help decorate Sandy’s Cozy Corner Restaurant in Lakehurst, NJ on Rte 70. 

We had 4 offensive stars on the day – the criteria that I just made up is to list those who batted over .700.  That list is led by Eddie Sindoni with an .818 avg, Tony - .800, Phil - .778 and Andre at .727.  Those 4 scored 28 of our 56 runs (50%) and drove home 32 of the runs 57%.  Hopefully we will score more like 100 runs in 4 games next time and each player will have 7 runs driven in.  Click on “stats”, then “Readington” to see our overall stats and to view each games production.