Over The Hill Softball League, celebrating their 30th Season had their opening night Friday, April 22. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn't provide the best of evening's weather wise as the night consisted of intermittent rain in cold and raw conditions. On hand to wish the OTH League luck were Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto and Town Clerk Steve Labriola. Supervisor Venditto demonstrated his pitching skill by going to the mound and opened the season by tossing a strike to Jim Nolan.

The early games had Bethpage PT opening up against Changing Times with Bethpage coming out the victor. The other early game had Barco Construction battling Granny O'Shea's Pub with Barco coming out hot, overcoming O'Shea's by the score of 24-8. Starting out sizzling for Barco were Dave Ringer and Dennis Ryan. Dave was definitely in a zone (6-6) as he stroked two doubles and three HRs good for six RBIs while Dennis (4-6) smacked 2 HRs while driving in eight. Also adding to Barco's cause were Steve Jacobson, 4-5 and three RBIs and Steve "Baby Steps" Schwind who was 4-6 w/ a HR and two RBIs.

The middle games had Hampton Air East facing off against Moby Drugs with Hampton Air opening their season with a 10-4 win. Hampton Air came out hitting and playing excellent defense with Hal "Mutt" Edelman leading the way with three "inside the park" HRs. The middle game paring on the 90' had last years League Champs Singleton's Restaurant against a much improved Bar Boy team. Singleton's started out with a 10 run burst after just two innings with Bar-Boy answering back with four of their own. After six innings the score was 11-8 still in favor of Big Red until the seventh when BB scored two runs to bring them within one run of tying the game, but a scoreless 8th and final inning left Singleton's with an 11-10 final score victory. Hitting stars on the night Jack Howlett with three hits, Benny Alberto and Gary Saccaro with two hits apiece and Frank (Grandpa) Gordon adding three key walks.

The late games pitted Synergy against arch rivals Mers Pub with Synergy opening up with an impressive victory. The final game to report on had Built-More Builders (BMB), formerly known B&M Electric and before that as Darien, opening up against McCourt and Trudden Funeral Home with BMB winning 22-14. This game was played in a steady drizzle, but the weather did nothing to slow pitcher Kris Solberg. Solberg recorded six strikeouts, several in key situations with runners in scoring position. The offense was led Brian Tinney, Jerry Mazza, Pete Mendelson, Kris Solberg, Beno Reverberi, John DeFalco and Joe Cipolla. Tinney was especially impressive, launching several long drives. Was it off-season training or the new bat of rookie Tom Dittmeier? Dittmeier and fellow rookie Bill Hartenstine both played well in their OTHG debuts. We welcome them to Built-More Builders as well as the OTH League who also extend the best wishes to all the new additions to the organization.

On a personal note, I would like to extend an apology to Synergy's Bob Cruickshank and Bethpage PT's Frank Aimetti and their teams, both who sent their team highlights which I apparently sent into cyber space, no where to be found. Till next time.