Date: Fri 26-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Slo-Pitch-1983-Season

Full Text:

Slo-Pitch - 1983 Season/26 Teams

BY KIM J. HARMON

It might have been one of the greatest single game performances in history,

but when Rick Matern clubbed four home runs - including two grand slams - and

drove in 11 runs in a regular season game, it was just one of a number of

highlights of the 1983 Newtown Sunday Slo-Pitch Softball season.

But there have always been highlights similar to those, starting back in 1971

when the league was apparently born, all the way up through the current 1996

campaign. What makes the 1983 season significant, though, is that the Newtown

Slo-Pitch League was at its pinnacle. It has always expanded and contracted on

the whim of available sponsorship, but in 1983 the league fielded more teams

than ever before . . . or have since.

With 26 teams - 10 in the `A' Division and 16 more in the `B' Division - and

more than 450 players all told fighting for some piece of their respective

division championships, there was enough drama, enough stunning upsets and

improbable losses, and enough controversy to fill the pages of a Hollywood

script.

The League

A Division/East - Church Hill Gastop, Newtown Police, Tendler Realtors, Hurd

Construction, Spinetinglers.

A Division/West - Hawley Manor, Walsh Wood, Newtown Refuse, Warehouse Liquor,

Superstar Sports.

B Division/North - Troy Security, Dual Lite, Putnam Place, Dental Associates,

Question Mark, Loomis Corporation, Sanford Mead, Taunton Press.

B Division/South - Newtown Bees, Wild Cards, AIm Glass, Hubbell Plastics,

White Birch, Gervais Brothers, Hertberg Associates, Apex Glass.

Week 1: Church Hill Gastop banged out 30 hits - four each by Tom Wendel and

George Barrows - and punished Hurd Construction, 16-1, in Week 1, showing the

rest of the league that its loss to Hawley Manor in the 1982 league finals

wasn't about to stop the team from reaching for the brass ring again.

Warehouse Liquors, which won the B Division championship in 1982 as Spirit

Shoppe, lost its first A Division game, 10-5, to Newtown Refuse. Tom Miller

whacked a three-run triple for Refuse.

The B Division slate featured two offensive explosions, with Putnam's Place

crushing Sanford Mead, 20-4, and Dental Associates throttling Taunton Press,

26-9.    Week 2: Hawley Manor and Church Hill Gastop won again. The big

excitement, though, came in the B Division where Rich Frampton of Aim Glass

clubbed a grandslam homer in a 16-3 win over Sanford Mead. Putnam's Place once

again had the offense smoking, blasting Gervais 21-5. The Newtown Bees were

hot, too, as Dave Mead was 3-for-4 with a homer and six RBI in a 24-9 win over

Loomis Construction.

Week 3: Hawley Manor stayed undefeated, but so did Newtown Refuse, which

slapped an 11-3 decision on the winless Spinetinglers.

In a battle of the B Division unbeatens, Wild Cards nipped Putnam's Place,

16-15, when Tom Foley scored the winning run. White Birch won its first, a

13-8 decision over Dental Associates, when Doug Dean walloped three homers.

Week 4: The expansion Superstar Sports broke into the A Division win column

with a 7-6 win over Warehouse Liquors. Randy Below was 3-for-4 and drove in

the winning run. Church Hill Gastop saddled Newtown Refuse with its first

loss, 7-3. Lumper Clark was 3-for-3.

Troy Security nipped Hertberg Associates, 14-12, when Doug Moore cracked a

three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. Also, Sanford Mead won its first,

thanks in part to Bob Taylor's grandslam homer.

Week 5: The battle of the unbeatens and a little taste of what was to come.

Hawley Manor (4-0) handed Church Hill Gastop (3-0) its first loss of the

season, 10-6. Jack Matern and Jeff Robertson had three hits each.

In the B Division, Gervais Brothers won their first, 22-10, over Dual Lite.

Ron Rennert and Bruce Gervais collected five hits apiece.

Week 6: It's not a pitcher's game, but Stan Siebert begged to differ. He

allowed just 12 hits all afternoon, leading Newtown Refuse to a pair of A

Division wins.

Aim Glass nipped Troy Security, 5-4, in the B Division to stay ahead of the

Newtown Bees, who crushed Apex Glass, 14-2. Jeff Rousseau was 4-for-4 with

three RBI for the Bees.

Week 7: Church Hill Gastop took a commanding lead in A Division East when it

defeated the hapless Spinetinglers, 7-4, but the story this week was Rick

Mariani hitting for the cycle and driving in six runs to lead Warehouse

Liquors to a 22-10 win over Tendler. Brad Manning went 5-for-5.

In B Division, Question Mark edged Wild Cards, 20-19, in a 10-inning slugfest.

Roy Scheunemann belted a pair of homers. Jeff Almeida had four hits, including

a homer.

Week 8: Hurd Construction got itself back into the A Division East race,

sweeping a double dip over Superstar (10-5) and Warehouse Liquors (12-10) with

the help of Karl Svensson, who had three hits in Game 1 and a homer in Game 2.

In the B Division, Aim Glass lost its first, 10-5 to Hertberg Associates, and

also dropped out of first. The Newtown Bees, at 7-0 after a 10-0 blanking of

the Gervais Brothers, moved into first. That set up the Aim-Bees battle in

Week 9.

Week 9: Hawley Manor was 9-0 and the Spinetinglers were 0-9 and there was no

question who was favored, but the Spinetinglers pulled out the shocking, 8-7,

win.

In the B Division, the Newtown Bees stayed undefeated and dropped Aim Glass to

its second consecutive loss, 9-1. The Bees topped the division at 8-0, while

Aim fell to 7-2.

Week 10: After banging out 26 hits t e week before, Church Hill Gastop

collected more 30 hits in a 20-12 win over Superstar. In A Division West,

Newtown Refuse stayed within striking distance of Hawley Manor with an 8-3 win

over Tendler Realty in which Steve Brown collected five hits, one of those a

homer. In B Division, the Newtown Bees lost their first, an 8-7 decision to

Dual Lite, but the Bees stayed ahead of Aim Glass while whupping up on Wild

Cards, 20-5. Murphy Reeves was 5-for-6 with five RBI in that game.

Week 11: Church Hill Gastop and Hawley Manor, the division leaders, met up

again and this time it was Church Hill on top.

In other A action, Spinetinglers, 1-10 entering the weekend, swept a double

dip over Superstar (13-12) and Tendler Realty (14-5) when Bruce Gordon had a

pair of three-hit games.

Hertberg Associates won its fifth in a row in B Division, crushing Loomis,

24-5, when Gary Mancini banged a grand slam and Bob McHugh collected four

hits. Aim Glass stayed one game behind the Bees (10-1) with a 22-14 win over

Taunton. Aim rapped out 31 hits, including six homers. Bob Merrill had two

homers, two doubles, and five RBI.

Week 12: Rick Matern blasted four consecutive home runs - two of them grand

slams - to power Hawley Manor to a 20-2 win over Tendler. Matern slammed in

the third and eighth innings and finished with 11 RBI. Hawley also defeated

Hurd Construction, 23-16, and Rick collected three more hits.

Church Hill lost its second, falling to 10-2 with a 7-6 loss to Warehouse

Liquors. In B Division, Hertberg Associates won its seventh in a row, a 13-7

decision over White Birch. Kevin O'Sullivan had four hits. Hertberg then

defeated Dental, 20-4, with five homers (including one from Bill Manfredonia).

Week 13: Warehouse Liquors swept a double dip to go to 9-6 on the year.

Meanwhile, Hawley Manor defeated Spinetinglers, 9-8, on George Matern's

run-scoring single.

In the B Division, Aim Glass scored 12 runs in the first inning enroute to a

17-5 win over Loomis. Rich Dexter was 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI.

Week 14: Church Hill Gastop clinched the A Division East while Hawley Manor

clinched A Division West. Newtown Refuse (12-4) and Warehouse Liquors (10-6)

also clinched playoff berths in the four-team A Division tournament.

Meanwhile, B Division was faced with a looming controversy over illegal

players. Troy Security (11-2) and Question Mark (10-4) had apparently earned

playoff berths in North while the Newtown Bees (13-1) and Aim Glass (11-4)

clinched berths in South.

Week 15: Troy Security, which had a 13-2 for first in B North, was declared

ineligible for the playoffs after having used illegal players. Troy was

stripped of nine victories, technically dropping it to 4-11. Apex Glass took

the open slot when its losses to Troy were turned into wins.

Playoffs/First Round: Hawley Manor outlasted Warehouse Liquors, 16-15, when a

Warehouse rally came up short in the ninth. Manor scored five runs in top of

the eighth to take lead. Rick Matern had a three-run shot and Chris Matern

banged a solo. The Manor then went on to beat Newtown Refuse, 17-5, as Chris

Matern, George Matern and Rainer Ertl had three hits each.

Newtown Refuse stunned Church Hill Gastop earlier in the day, 15-2, when Tom

Miller banged a three-run homer. Steve Brown and Randy Gunther also homered.

In B Division, Hertberg Associates eliminated Dual Lite (15-6) and Aim Glass

eliminated Apex (15-10) in the playdowns. Eric Nyitray had a three-run homer

and five RBI for Hertberg while Marchelle Sperling, one of three women playing

B Division softball, clubbed a three-run homer for Aim Glass.

After the two playdowns and the tournament changed to double elimination,

Hertberg defeated Aim Glass, 2-1, when Bill Manfredonia drove in the winning

run with a single in the ninth.

Playoffs/A Division Finals - B Division Second Round: They split the season

series and the decider - the A Division championship game - went to Hawley

Manor, which upended Church Hill Gastop, 8-3. Chris Matern doubled and homered

and Rainer Ertl had a two-run single.

In B Division, Question Mark reached the championship with a 9-8 win over

Hertberg Associates in 14 innings. Bill Saren drove in the winning run in the

bottom of the 14th.

Meanwhile, the Newtown Bees defeated Hertberg Associates, 5-3, to get into the

title game.

Playoffs/B Division Finals: The Newtown Bees unleashed a 19-hit attack and

battered Question Mark Cafe, 10-5, for the B Division championship. John

Stratman was 4-for-4 and Morris Morgan was 3-for-4. The Bees, known as the

Basics in 1982, finished the regular season at 15-1 and the playoff schedule

at 3-0, for a total record of 18-1.