With the arrival of Memorial Day and hopefully with summer right around the corner, it is obvious that there have been some major surprises in the league. Teams who have experienced some lean times have brought in new blood and have found success while a couple of teams, who expected to win, have started out slowly. Hampton Air East continued their winning ways Friday with a 10-5 victory over M&T although the victory comes with an asterisk for the moment.

It has been reported that M&T had protested the game and the league is waiting to hear from the ASA's Chief Umpire's decision on the matter. For Hampton Air, it was another solid performance by lead off hitter Glen Sullivan (3-3) who keeps setting the table for the big boys. Hal Edelman, Ron Schwabe, Joe Auer all hit homers to help maintain their first place position on the NL side. On the defensive side they are much improved, getting some great defensive plays particularly in the outfield, by Chris Theohrides, whose diving catches are a highlight film in itself and Butch Flecker, who is getting a great jump on the ball, cutting off balls before they get into the gap. Other notables are Tom Giorelle, who went 2-3 and pitched a great game, as well as Bill Camacho who went 2-3.

The middle game between Moby and Bethpage PT was a come from behind victory for Moby as the hitting woes continued for Bethpage PT. The game started fine for Bethpage, scoring in the first on RBI hits by Mike Kochen and Chris Tuttle for a quick 2-0 lead. PT added another in the second on consecutive hits by Manny Asta, John Leone and Bob "Pops" Shellhorn. In the third one more crossed the plate on Doug Dervin's triple and Frank Aimetti's RBI grounder giving Bethpage a 4-0 lead and the feeling they were in control. Moby broke the ice with a run of their own to make it 4-1 as PT bats went cold, getting only two hits over the next three innings.

It finally caught up to Bethpage in the sixth, as the dormant Moby bats came alive, aided by some shabby PT defense and a couple of walks, as they scored seven big runs to suddenly take an 8-4 lead against the shocked Bethpage crew. Bethpage's bats finally woke up, coming through in the eighth with three runs to close the gap to 8-7, but Moby, responded with two of their own to up their lead, paving the way to 10-7 victory and gaining their first win of the year. In the late game, Changing Times continued their improved play with a win over the now struggling Built More Builders, who lost their third in a row. On the 60' field, the early game saw Synergy keep their winning streak alive by beating Bar Boy 25-6.

Bobby Joyce had his "stuff" and stayed ahead of the Bar Boy hitters most of the game while rookie sensation Benny Macchia hit two home runs to the opposite field. The Synergy squad was also treated to watching "Big Mike" Mormino speed into third base like a battleship with a triple. One teammate was heard to say Mike was unable to make the turn toward home because his momentum wouldn't allow it. Also with big nights at the plate for Synergy were Richie Dargie, Bill Fitzpatrick, and Bob Cruickshank. Another highlight was manager Dennis Oehl, who didn't make an out or an error the entire game...he arrived in the last inning.

In a close contest, Barco kept pace with Synergy as they edged out Mers 7-4. Although they didn't hit as well as they did in their first four games, the Barco Boys were clutch when it counted. Mers opened up with a two run lead in their first at-bat only to have Barco immediately respond with two of their own, the first on Dave Ringer's sac fly and then Kevin Moloney's two-out single. Barco pushed across one more on Jeff Elie's two-out hit in the third and added two more in the fourth, again with two outs, on Terry McPartland's triple and a Dave Ringer single, opening their lead to 5-2. Mers made it real close adding single runs in the seventh and eighth to make it 5-4 but Barco bounced back with two in their half of the eighth, once again with clutch two out hits, this time by Dave Saur and Tom Burke.

The nightcap had Granny O'Sheas facing off against Singletons with O'Sheas looking to keep the ball rolling. A lead off triple by hot hitting Bruce Kubert got the team rolling and Robbie Kirk knocked him in with a fielder's choice RBI but an inning ending DP snuffed out the early rally. The next few innings Granny's bats went quiet while Singleton's exploded for a 12-1 lead. Things finally broke Granny's way when they strung together a huge inning. A single by Bryan Mulcahy scored two runs and a two out triple with the bases loaded by Mitch Maghakian brought in three more capping an eight-run fourth. The score was now 12-9 in Singleton's favor.

Singletons continued their hot hitting and added on 10 more runs throughout the last five innings. The eighth inning looked like another rally for Grannys with a single by Dave Aitchison and a walk to Bob Myers. Bruce Kubert then came through with a two RBI single and Walter Hasemann had a SAC fly but it ended there with three runs in. The game ended with Singletons winning 22-12, ending their three game losing streak. MVP of the night for O'Sheas goes to Bruce Kubert with a 4-4 night (triple, two RBIs). Other notables go to Brian Mulcahy (2-4, two RBIs), Gary Innes (3-4), Mitch Maghakian (3-3, triple) and two-hit nights by Dave A., Bryan M, and Kevin Donnelly. Grannys is hoping for an undefeated June to turn the season around.

American League Standings		National League Standings
Barco	5-0	Hampton Air (awaiting ASA decision)	4-1*
Synergy	5-0	Changing Times	3-2
Mers	3-2	Bethpage PT	2-3
Singletons	2-3	Built More Builders	2-3
O'Sheas	1-4	M&T (of protested game)	2-3*
Bar Boy	0-5	Moby	1-4