On the 25th, the Over the Hill Gang softball league opened its 2003 season. Mother Nature was kind enough to delay the rain long enough so all the games could be completed, although a few teams wished the rains would have come sooner. The early game winners were Mers over M&T and Moby besting Bethpage PT (formerly Synergy) 28-16. Moby broke open a close game with an 11 run 6th inning. John Cernuto led the Bethpage PT hitting attack with 3 hits including a HR and 4 RBIs. Charlie Arbia, Frank Horoszewski, Jim Nolan, Charlie Kohn and Bob Baumann pitched in with multi-hit games. The middle game winners were Changing Times edging out J-2 28-24 and Singleton's thumping Granny O'Sheas 25-8, invoking the new 18 run mercy rule in the 8th. O'Sheas took the lead in the 1st but Singleton's came back with a vengeance, scoring 8 in their half. Bob Davis pitched a beauty, holding O'Sheas to 8 runs, getting help from some solid defense, which included 2 DPs. One came on a cannot throw to 3rd from Tom (Tino) Sorrentino to end an O'Sheas rally. Singleton's hitting start included both rookies Dennis Passaretti (3-3 RBIs) and Gary Saccaro (2-4 w/a long HR). Others with big games were John Gannon (3-4, 5 RBIs, HR), Tom (Satch) Camarda (3-4, game ending HR), Tom Calahan (3-4), and Steve Buchter (2-2, 3 RBIs). For O'Sheas, SS Robbie Kirk (3 hits, 3 runs) led the team along with Andy Cohen's 4 RBIs. The team was heard saying "there's always a game like this for us, hopefully we got it out of our system early". The late game victors were Synergy (formerly Morgan B's - don't ask) over Bar Boy and Darien topping Barco 11-8. Darien's Kris Solberg and Barco's Gary Jambor kept the teams bats quiet through the first 7 innings but Darien broke it open with a 6 run 8th. Darien was led by John DeFalso (3-3, 3 RBIs), Tom Bailey (3-3, 2 RBIs), Jerry Mazza (3-4, 2 RBIs), and Rich D'Amico (2 hits, 2 RBIs). Barco's Rick Pedone got off to a good start with 2 hits including a HR. Also adding to Barco's offense were Bill Stack, Tom Burke and Gary Jambor. A sad note, we say a special good bye to Scott Golden, who retired this year. Scott was one of the Barco originals and was always a fun, enjoyable individual. He gave his all always (attesting to his numerous injuries) and had a good time, never taking the game too seriously. Scott, best wishes, you'll be missed.

As a reminder, managers should note and agree with the umpires on game starting times, noting same in the scorebook. This will help prevent problems later on.