Still no warm temp but at least we didn't get rained on Friday as the American and National Leagues faced off against each other for the first time this season. Leading the National League, now at 3-1, is the resurgent Hampton Air East squad, and what better way to prove that they are a contender than defeat last years champs, HR Singletons.

Ron Schwabe, Butch Flecker, Chris Theohrides all went 2-3 but the big blow came when Jerry Sutherland smashed a 1-1 count over the left fielders head for a 3 run blast that solidified the win for Hampton Air, who is off to their best start in 10 years. Singletons, who are struggling so far, dropped to 1-3. Granny O'Shea's finally broke into the win column with a victory over Changing Times, 19-9. The first inning started off great with rookie Walter Hasemann smoking a shot to left field to put O'Shea's on top 2-0 which Andy Cohen followed up with a SAC fly for 3-0 lead. Unfortunately for O'Shea's, Changing Times came back in the bottom of the inning and it was a battle the rest of the game.

The next inning found Bruce Kubert knocking a triple followed by hot hitting Walter again with an RBI single. Much to O'Shea's dismay things started to turn over the next few innings and Changing Times battled back for the lead. A miracle happened when "Fast" Eddie, last year's coach, showed up around the 6th. Eddie helped rally the players to "focus" and Bruce Kubart responded with a 3 run HR. Dave Aitchison followed up with a two run single and O'Sheas never gave up the lead again. Additional runs were added in the 7th as base hits by rookie Kevin "where you been" Donnelly and Andy Cohen set the table for Jay Donovan's two RBI single. With the help of Mike Hagnagy's RBI single and Bill Manny's SAC fly, O'Sheas was on their way to their best offensive display for the season. Come the 8th and 9th innings, Andy "where'd you get that power" Cohen knocked another HR for the season, and Mitch Maghakian added a two run RBI single.

MVP for the day goes to Walter Hasemann who went 4-5 and had a great throw to the plate. Thanks also go to Bob Myers for keeping O'Shea's in the game by throwing those first pitch strikes. One final note, keep your eye on the HR contest between Bob T. and Mitch M, all proceeds from this friendly wager go to the charity of their choice. In another win for the National League, M&T beat a slumping Bar Boy team 16-10. Led by new coaches John Cardile and Tony Lacorte, and Rich McClorey's 4-4 night, M&T evened their record at 2-2 while Bar Boy fell to 0-4. M & T took an early lead and never looked back. Bar Boy made a game of it in the 7th, coming within 2 runs, but in the 8th M & T, led by Tommy Arcuri, Brian Caroll, Brian Sammut, and Bill Kelly, exploded with 5 unanswered runs.

Mers Ale House has come back strongly from their opening day loss by winning the next 3 games running their record to 3-1 with a 27-8 thrashing over Built More Builders, now 2-2. Byron Bodine has gone 15 for 15 in this three game win streak. Bodine was simply fantastic against BNM going 7 for 7 with 3 RBIs. Kevin Brosnan was 6 for 6 leading the team with 7 RBIs by hitting the circuit with a HR, two triples, a double, two singles, and a long SAC fly. Joe Girimonte also had a big night at the plate going 6 for 7 with 4 RBIs. Tom Fitzpatrick was 5 for 7; Tom Vella was 4 for 5, while Bob Rozakis, Joe Fanning, and Bill Sutherland were all 3 for 6.

Ed Healy finished up big going 3 for 7 after having problems early in the game with foul balls with a two strike count. The "Mersmen" were superb in the field once again turning 4 double plays along with some big catches in the outfield to back up another strong pitching performance by Joe Fanning. It seems it's either feast or famine for Bethpage PT, after piling up 28 runs the previous week; PT had a tough time finding home as they dropped a 15-5 decision to a revived Synergy team. In fact until the 7th when Bethpage tallied 3 times they were held to only the 2 runs they scored in the first.

Consecutive one-out hits by Mike Anzalone, Mike Muscara and Mike Kochen made it 1-0 and one out later yet another Mike--Mike Colecchia's hit made it 2-0, but then PT's bats went cold (or was it Synergy's Richie Dargie's good pitching). The game stayed close however. Synergy scored a run in the second, and it wasn't until the 4th when Synergy rallied for 4 more that they finally took a solid 5-2 lead. Synergy finished off Bethpage in the 7th for good with a 5-run explosion to take a commanding 13-2 lead.

Bethpage's last gasp in the 7th started promising--bases loaded, none out, 3 runs in (and you know you never know in softball!), but three straight outs ensued, and solo runs by Synergy in the 8th and 9th finished out the scoring. Synergy rookies Aldo Balducci, Benny Macchia and Bob Huebner continued to provide a spark for their offense. Benny hit another HR deep into left field which backed pitcher Richie Dargie, who kept BPT from having a big inning. Other key hits came from Dave Rubino, Al Devine, and Joe Lutz.

New manager, Dennis Oehl, would like to thank his players for making him look like he knows what he's doing. With the loss Bethpage drops to 2-2 while Synergy stays undefeated at 4-0 and tied for the American League with Barco who defeated Moby 17-8. Barco continues to play solid ball with the entire roster taking turns coming up with clutch hits including Jim "On my farewell tour" Reilly. This week Kevin Moloney (3-3), Steve Jacobson (2-2 2BB), Gary Jambor and Steve Schwind (3-4) set the stage for Terry McPartland (4 RBIs), Dave Ringer and Bill Stack (3 RBIs) while Dennis "Weebles" Ryan added yet another HR. It seems pitcher Gary "oops - missed another one" Jambor took some "undeserved" ribbing, led by jokester Bill White, over his unfortunate golfing mishap (who said golf wasn't a contact sport). You know the saying .... "Paybacks are a ...." On a serious note, congratulations to Jeff Elie and his fiancée Gina on their engagement and pending Las Vegas wedding.