Before we get to the highlights this week, the Over the Hill Gang softball league would like to invite the entire Farmingdale community to attend its annual charity fundraiser, Friday, Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m. at Allen Park on Motor Avenue in Farmingdale. The recipient this year is a young boy named Jake who has been diagnosed with leukemia.

Over the Hill players, please do your part by returning your raffle tickets to your team manager.

On paper, Friday's early game between Singleton's and Hampton Air had the makings of a barnburner, it was that and more. The game started out with both teams hitting well and after three innings Hampton held a slim 5-4 lead. Over the next three innings, Hampton let out a notch in their belts and scored six unanswered runs building up a seven-run advantage. Once again Big Red came to life and answered with five runs to close the gap to two runs heading into the eighth inning. While managing to hold Hampton Air in their half, Singleton's banged across three runs for a 12-11 lead and held in the ninth for a hard fought victory, their sixth of the year. Frank Gordon and Tommy Sorrentino each had three hits (including Tom's long homerun). Alan Rapfogel was on base three times and belted a homer while once again Gary Saccaro came up big with four RBIs, a homerun and the game-winning hit.

Granny O'Sheas played host to Changing Times and jumped to a quick 7-0 lead by batting around and getting RBI singles from Mike Hadnagy, Mickey Newbeck, Jay Donovan and Al Celeste. The second inning had CT get a run while Granny's added four more with timely RBI singles by Bob Thompson, Mike Hadnagy and Bob Myers. Mitch Maghakian capped it off with a solo shot over the center field fence. If you heard a thud from the small field over the next two innings it was due to the "dead" ball the umpires kept in play, as both teams hit the ball hard but it didn't go very far. The comedy ended when the dead ball was hit out of bounds. Changing Times then fought back with five runs to close the gap when Al Celeste hit a three-run home run for Granny's in the fourth to open a 15-6 lead. CT stayed in the game as they scored four more runs over the next two innings. Some insurance was needed by Granny's and Gary Innes provided it with an RBI single along with Don "I'm back from vacation" Carlin's two-run homer that helped stretch the lead to 19-10. In the last inning CT scored five more runs, but it was not enough as Granny's pulled out the victory 19-15. O'Sheas record is now 7-3.

Someone must have slipped the league a bad batch of balls, because Built-More Builders and Bethpage Physical Therapy also played four innings with a "dud." BPT was able to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first with a homer, but after that, it looked like infield practice for a few innings. BMB waited until the eighth inning to really get their bats going. John Defalco, Bobby Schubert, Ira Berger and Karl Dessel all had key hits in that inning to help BMB take the lead for the first time all night. BPT answered with two runs in the ninth to re-take the lead, but BMB wasn't done. Tyrone Clark, Kris Solberg, Jerry Mazza, Rich D'Amico, T-Ball, Beno Reverberi and finally Joe Manning with the winning hit, all came through to make pitcher Kris Solberg a winner. The win was the third straight for BMB improving its record to 5-5.

Barco again struggled this past week as they lost a close battle to Mers 23-19. Mers jumped out to a quick five-run lead which stood till the third as Barco scored 12 runs, all after two outs were made. Key RBI hits came from Gary Jambor, Terry McPartland, Kevin Moloney, Dennis Ryan, Bill White, Dave Saur, Tony Ranieri and Rick Pedone. Both teams scored three in the fifth with Barco holding a 15-8 lead, but Mers pushed across eight unanswered runs in the sixth to go up 16-15. Barco tried to keep it close after Mers scored another five in the seventh with four of their own. The runs were driven in on a three-run homerun by Steve Schwind and a solo blast by Bob Diamond, but the Barco bats couldn't produce any heroics in the last inning.

The Barco family, along with the OTHG League, would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Tina and Bob Diamond on the recent passing of Tina's sister, Mary Eckert.

Synergy got back on track with an 18-11 win over Bar Boy who kept it close the entire game. Veteran Richie Dargie pitched brilliantly, keeping Bar Boy from catching up all game. The defense came through where they have struggled recently with John Garrity and Aldo Balducci closing up the middle and an ailing Tommy Vanasco stepping up at third base. Garrity added a homerun over the right center fence. Also adding to the offensive attack were Vanasco (who limped to first like an old man), Joe "Mr. Steady" Lutz, and Balducci with multi-hit nights.

And in one other game, Paul Nardone belted a fence-clearing homer as Moby Drugs banged out 24 hits in a 20-16 win over McCourt and Trudden.