On Aug. 18, the Over the Hill Gang held its Annual Charity Fundraiser, this year benefiting Friends4Jillian. The night was extremely successful, raising a bountiful amount of money for this very worthy cause. The next article will address this event in detail along with recognizing all those who were the unsung heroes. For the first time the league played an All-Star game for the fundraiser, pitting the American League against the National for the league's bragging rights. The game started out as a pitcher's duel and by the bottom of the third inning it was the American League holding a 1-0 lead, but that soon ended as the Nationals unleashed a barrage of runs for a 6-1 lead heading into the fifth. Over the next two frames each team scored twice leaving the score at 8-3 in favor of the Nationals. From there they proceeded to bang across another seven runs in the seventh inning putting the game well out of reach for the American League who only managed just three more runs over the final two innings against a tough pitcher in Chris Solberg. Everyone performed at an All-Star level, and we want to thank all who participated in this very worthy cause. The victorious National League All-Stars were Benny Alberto, Joe Algerio, Mike Anzalone, Brian Caroll, John Cernuto, Larry Grieshaber, Henry Haseman, Steve Kirk, Ken Kuzma, Jerry Nardone, Paul Nardone, Dennis Passarretti, Chris Solberg, and Al Veneziano. The team was managed by Rich Brancaccio and assisted by Tommy Ball and Joe Trainer. The American League All-Stars were Joe Auer, Tim Jones, Bob Kirk, Don Carland, Kevin Moloney, Steve Jacobson, Dave Ringer, Tom Vannasco, Byrun Bodine, Kevin Brosman, Joe Fanning, Steve Johnsen, Bill Wahl, and Captain Ed Cullen. They were managed by Jim Reilly and assisted Jerry Iavarone.

Results from the Aug. 25 had Built-More-Builders beating Bar Boy 13-5 behind the solid pitching of Kris Solberg. The win for Solberg followed an equally impressive victory in the OTHG All-Star game two weeks ago. Against Bar Boy, BMB's infield defense was led by Brian Tinney, who handled numerous difficult chances, including a diving stop and throw from the ground. Pete Mendelson was sharp at shortstop, nailing a runner at the plate and starting a pair of double-plays. Beno Reverberi powered the offense, as he was a perfect 4-4 and his two-out; bases loaded single in the seventh inning broke the game open. Tom "T' Ball, Solberg and Jerry Mazza had three hits each, while John Defalco and Joe Cipolla pitched in with two hits each. Singletons won over M&T while Moby and Bethpage PT played to an 8-8 tie, with Moby's Andy Sullivan smacking a homerun. Changing Times won an exciting come from behind victory over Mers as they put together their winning rally in the bottom of the seventh. Hampton Air was victorious over a struggling Barco team, final score being 10-4. The only positive note for Barco this night was the defensive play of outfielder Dave Saur. By the way the team played, the rest of the team should have joined "Happy Feet" at his dance lessons. The final game found Synergy and Granny O'Sheas slogging it out (the fields were soaked) in the nightcap on the large field. Not much slugging occurred, as the damp weather seemed to keep the ball in the park all night. In a low scoring game, O'Sheas struck first by hitting five singles that scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Synergy then slowly chipped away at the lead scoring one in the third, two in the fourth, and two in the fifth. With the score now 5-4 in favor of Synergy, Grannys got three straight singles from Jay Donovan, Tommy Lanny and George Gamblin to load the bases. Key hits by Walter Haseman, Don Carlin and Rob Kirk helped deliver five crucial runs to put Grannys in front 9-5. Tommy Lanny then shut down the Synergy offense as he only yielded one more run over the last four innings in pitching a 10-6 win for O'Sheas. Tommy also went three-for-three to round out the night. Thanks also go out to George Gamblin (two singles, RBI), Walter Hasseman (two singles, two RBIs), Robbie Kirk (three singles, RBI), Mitch Maghakian (two singles, triple, RBI) and Don Carlin (two singles, RBI). In addition, Al Celeste and Andy Cohen each had an RBI.

On Sept. 1, the league was able to squeeze in a make-up which, as it turned out to be the same match-ups from the previous week. This divisional game helped Synergy enhance their lead, now at two games, in the American League. They were determined to avenge the prior week's loss to O'Sheas and they did so in a big way, 24-6. Although the game was played in a steady rain, it did not stop their offense. Leading the way with multi-hit nights were Denny "Ace" Oehl, Bob Cruickshank, Al Devine, Benny Macchia, Bob Huebner, and the "New" Bruce Coonan. Also chipping in were Billy Fitzpatrick, Rookie John Garrity, Mr. Steady Joe Lutz, and a three-for-three night by Little Mike Mormino. Ace Oehl pitched a gem on a tough night filling in for an ailing Richie Dargie and was helped out defensively by Bill Fitzpatrick, Tommy Vanasco, and Benny Macchia. Trying to stay within striking distance of Synergy, Barco also rebounded with an 11-2 victory over Hampton Air. The game started out slowly with Barco leading 4-2 after five before they eventually pulled away. Barco's defense was solid (including Dennis Ryan's praying catch) and received clutch hits from Terry McPartland (3-4 three runs RBI), Dave Ringer (3-4 RBI) and Kevin Moloney (2-3 3 RBIs). Adding to the offense were Phil Tripoli and Tony "Happy Feet" Falcone who were two-for-three and Steve Jacobson who added a two RBI triple. Also avenging a loss was Mers as they defeated Changing Times. On the National League side, Built-More-Builders, for the second week in a row, came out on top against Bar Boy. The latest win was one of BMB's best offensive performances of the year as they pounded 33 hits in a 19-5 victory. Marc Fischer and Pete Mendelson were both a perfect four-for-four. Kris Solberg, Beno Reverberi, Joe Cipolla, Ira Berger and Tom Dittmeier all had three hits each. One of Dittmeier's was a monster three-run homer. Jerry Mazza also had a three-run homer for BMB. Rounding out the offense were Tom "T" Ball, Bobby Schubert and Brian Tinney with two hits apiece. In the field, Richie D'Amico shined with back-to-back diving grabs in right-center and he also stepped up after, hosting a post-game get together. Other games had Moby winning by forfeit over Bethpage PT and no results were provided for the Singletons/M&T contest.

For more information visit www.othgny.com. To contact Gary Jambor or the Over the Hill Gang, email othg_gj@yahoo.com.