Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Team Wins Twice

By Ray Shaw

The Newtown Sandy Hooks Vintage Base Ball team hosted the Lyme Taverners for the first time at McLaughlin Vineyard on Saturday, and showed why they have been known to terrorize opposing nines.

The Hooks were dominant in game one and, with the help of timely hitting and ‘90’ Keane’s razzle-dazzle pitching, earned a respectable 13 to 4 victory. 

After the Hooks laid a giant eight spot on the Taverners in the initial inning of game one (1864 rules), it was clear the Newtowners would not let the upstarts from upstate gain a foothold in the match. Even though the Taverners showed great skill and determination, they seemed seriously over-matched by the likes of Maleri, Miller, Wheat, Donnelly, Ortiz, and the rest of the Newtowners who pounded pitch after pitch into fair ground and scored runs in bucket loads.

The Hooks also showed great mastery of McLaughlin’s unique dimensions with acrobatic catches, barehanded stabs of screaming liners, and the occasional double play to short-circuit potential rallies. For example, Newtown’s third baseman Zac Smith vaulted the four-foot stonewall that parallels the third base line, at full speed, to capture a foul pop-up. 

In game two (an 1865 affair), the Taverners held an early advantage over Newtown, and showed great potential until the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings when the Hooks scored 12 aces to run away with a 20 to 13 victory. At last count, the Sandy Hooks’ batsmen accumulated 60 base hits on the day and ‘Mister’ Edwards picked-up his second win of the season in rolling to a well-deserved victory.

Following the match, both clubs met at the One Eyed Pig to celebrate a memorable day at the ball yard and toast to each other’s accomplishments.

The Sandy Hooks will travel to Lyme on July 14. This weekend Newtown travels to Westfield to play an 1886 match with the Westfield Wheelmen on Saturday at 11 am.

The Wheelmen are scheduled to return the favor on June 9 when they meet the Sandy Hooks at Rogers Park in Danbury for the Danbury Historical Society’s celebration of base ball.