by Ken Sawyers
5/3/2018

Week 3 at Stoddard Park had 2 marquee match ups that did not disappoint.   In the first game, Kampersal rallied past Downtown 7-6 sparked by the ageless Buzzy Milan’s single with one out.  He was later driven home by Bryn Smith’s game-winning single after an intentional walk to the- always -dangerous, Tom Kampersal.  No issues postgame for Tom as Mom Kampersal (loyal reader) set Tom straight with her words of wisdom.  For Downtown, it appears Grady Little is in charge of the line-up as slugger OF Tim McCarron was dropped to 6th in the order.  McCarron is a Holliston Sr Softball lifetime .645 hitter and a first ballot HSS Hall of Famer.  Sources tell me he and other teammates are dismayed at how manager John Potemri sets the line-up.  Could mean some major changes in the off-season for Downtown, we’ll monitor that situation closely. 

In game 2, Dalton Rd seems to have put a disastrous 2017 season behind them as they posted an impressive 9-7 win over ‘A’ League power Braggville.  The “Thunder & Lightening” duo for Dalton Rd was at it again as OF Tim McDevitt homered, drove in 3 runs, and scored twice while clean-up hitter Dave Birmingham had a key 2-out RBI double in the 6th   to give his team the lead.  Perennial all-star SS Dan Geary prevented extra innings with a gorgeous back-handed stab of a grounder headed into center and displayed an even prettier glove flip to get the force at second.  DYR got a much-needed win as they took care of Mudville 14-5 despite the night 3B “Gameday” Kuharich had for Mudville.  The 3B was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.  He singled in the first, doubled in the 3rd (he was headed to third on the hit but was hit by sniper fire from the grassy knoll and crumpled to the ground. Thankfully, his special forces training then kicked in and he crawled his way back to safety on the second base bag), he then hit a 2-run HR to put Mudville ahead 5-4 in the 5th.   Despite having his retinas burned to the core in wk 2 at Stoddard beach, DYR LF Ken Sawyers did play with the help of a pair of BluBlockers he borrowed from his mom.   Shorthanded Jasper Rock remains undefeated with a 11-8 win over Brentwood as OF Tom Dumas went 4 for 4 and drove in 2 for the victors while All-star 3B Doug Herman sat this game out in an apparent attempt to get his contract re-negotiated.  Player-manager Derek Cordon was non-too pleased with Herman.  Stay-tuned…

South picked up its first win of the year as they blanked Long Distance Tire 10-0 behind crafty veteran P Bryan Sweeney who notched his 52nd career shutout (Holliston Sr Softball record is currently held by 5th Ave Liquor/DYR legend, Al Auerr with 59).  LDT had a chance to end the shutout in the 7th as they loaded the bases with 2 out but 2B Chris Landers just missed a grand slam as he fouled out to the catcher to end the game.  Queens beat the Hood 7-3 as John Abucewicz collected 3 hits and 4 RBI’s for the winners.  The Hood welcomed back OF Greg Andreaola to their line-up after his 2-month sabbatical studying his passion, Interpretive Dance, at the London Center for Music & Arts.  Welcome back, Greg!  Anthony’s East stretched its win streak to 2 with an 8-3 win over the Lions.  Player-manager John Shanahan did arrive on time thanks to his teammates getting him an Uber, collected 2 hits and 2 RBI’s in the win while Lions OF Ernie Tomacelli banged out 3 more hits in a losing effort.

Division A Standings through 29 Apr

Division B Standings through 29 Apr