Date: Fri 26-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Slo-Pitch-A-Division-History

Full Text:

Slo Pitch A Division History

B Y T.W YATT

" The league wasn't that strong in the beginning, certainly nothing like it is

today, " said John Daly, who played second base for the first-ever Newtown

Slo-Pitch Softball champions back in 1971 and who's two youngest sons, Chris

and Matt, play for the most recent champ. " A lot of us used wood bats and we

used only three outfielders and a short fielder. But we had some good

rivalries back then, and we had a lot of fun. "

The Newtown Slo-Pitch League officially began in the summer of 1971 - 25 years

ago - when part-time Parks and Recreation Director Charlie Chamberlin

organized a ten-team league, after having organized pickup games for his teams

for three years prior.

"Money-wise I worked part time, but it was never part time to me," laughed

Charlie, now 52 and living in Waterbury. "As Park & Rec Director, I wanted to

put together a league in town. We got ten teams that first year and we really

had a good time."

During the course of the last quarter century, players and teams have come and

gone and the league's popularity has risen and fallen like a bell-shaped

curve. The initial ten teams grew to an all-time high 26 teams by 1983 and

dipped all the way back down to the modern-day, 12.

But no matter the number of teams in the league, the competition has been a

constant. The league's first three years saw three different champions

crowned. During the next 22 seasons, though, the crown was shared by only two.

That's right, two. Good teams have come and gone, but the teams that started

out as DeCarlo and Church Hill Gastop - playing under a total of 13 different

sponsors between them - have denied anyone else the chance to call itself

league champions.

Following is a historical summary of Newtown's most-popular adult recreational

sport:    1971: It was only fitting that the league's founder, Charlie

Chamberlin, would lead his team to the league's first title. The team that

called itself Park & Rec 2, put together an undefeated season in that

inception season behind the efforts of all-stars Dave Mountain, Jim Glover,

John Daly, Jack Shpunt, Richie Milhaven, Bob McLaughlin, and Chamberlin

himself, P&R 2 played to a 13-0 mark to edge out DeCarlo (11-2) for the

National Division title. P&R then defeated American Division champion, White

Birch Inn, 20-17 in Game 2 of the best-of-three final to capture the title and

finish at 15-0.

Other teams that played in the first season included Jaycees Blue (7-6),

Fairfield Hills Hospital (7-9), Allied Container (0-13), Sandy Hook Fire

Department (8-5), Bolmer Sanitation (7-6), Park & Rec 1 (6-7), and Jaycees

White (1-12).

1972: In the league's second year a new format began where the season was

split into halves. The first-place teams from the first half would then face

the first-place teams from the second half in what would become divisional

playoff games.

P&R 2 remained the team to beat in the American Division as it rolled on to

another fine season of 15-1 and won both halves to win the title-game bid

automatically. The National Division, though, saw Solly's Wayside Tavern (a

new entry into the league) and Bolmer Sanitation square off for the chance to

face the defending champs.

In the deciding game, Solly's got four hits each and crunch-time home runs

from Rick Matern and George Eriquizzo as they won 22-19 to move on.

Solly's then beat P&R 2 6-5 in a ten-inning thriller in Game One. In Game Two,

though, P&R rallied to win 19-14 as Jackie Shpunt hit a pair of round

trippers. Game Three was all Solly's. The new champs won handily, 16-1 to

wrest away the title.

1973: The team that entered the league in 71 as DeCarlo, organized and run by

playing coach Tony DeCarlo, had become Honeychurch Realtors a year later and

narrowly missed out on the playoffs in each of the first two seasons. In the

next 23 years that would follow, it would never miss out on the playoffs

again. The 1973 season, in fact, would become the first of 15 " A " Division

championships won by DeCarlo's dynamoes as they went 15-1, winning both halves

of the season and waiting out a match between the league's first two champions

to become its first victim.

P&R 2 and Solly's (both at 13-3) met in the semifinals and P&R came up with a

15-12 victory as Tony Larsen tripled, Jack Shpunt and Chatts Zeletes each

homered, and Bob McLauglin blasted a grand slammer in a ten-run second inning.

In the final, though, Honeychurch swept the series in two, winning 7-6 and 8-3

largely behind the efforts of Jim Guariglia, Mark Szaley, Jeff Robertson, and

Bob Barrett. The die had been cast.

1974: This year saw the advent of the " B " Division, but Solly's, P&R,

Honeychurch, and a new squad, Dupont, took turns winning games in the new

eight-team " A " Division. In the new format, the first-half winner would face

the second-half winner in the finals, no playoffs.

When championship time rolled around again, it was Honeychurch and Solly's

left standing. In the title game, Honeychurch got big days at the plate from

Tony DeCarlo, Jim Stiewing, and Rainer Ertl as they won 14-9 to become the

first team to successfully defend its crown.

1975: Honeychurch became Matty's Restaurant and aquired slugger Rick Matern

when Solly's called it quits. The team coasted to a 15-1 regular season, but

its one loss cost it the first-half title which was won by Park & Rec. The two

teams then met for the title with Matty's coming out the winner after 14-11

and 11-9 victories in the best-of-three finals.

1976: A new club, Church Hill Gastop, run by Tom Ramsdell, became a force in

it first year in the league and ripped off a 13-1 record and undisputed league

championship, winning both halves of the season. The team included such

characters as Dick Girgasky, Jason Stevens, Mike Trosan, Chuck Tilson, Sten

Seibert, and Aureo Ruiz. Gastop stopped what had been a three-year

championship run by Matty's and a fierce rivalry was born.

1977: The Park & Rec boys re-emerged under a new sponsorship, McCulloch

Agency, and earned the right to face Matty's in the league final when it won

the second-half title. Rick Matern, and Tony DeCarlo had big days at the plate

as Matty's took the first game of the series, 15-5.

In Game Two, Jack and Jerry Shpunt and Mickey Lucas, put up a fight for

McCulloch but, with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth,

Tom Ganong flied out to end the ballgame and Matty's won, 7-4, to regain the

title.    1978: Gastop won the first half of the season and finished 13-3.

Matty's won the second half and finished at 15-1. In the league final, which

came down to a deciding Game Three, Matty's repeated with a 5-1 victory.

1979: Matty's changed its name to Hertberg Associates and aquired George

Matern from the Center Package team, giving them a total of four Matern

brothers (Rick, George, Jack, and Chris). These four would become the

foundation that would keep DeCarlo's dynasty clicking.

Hertberg coasted to an undefeated 16-0 season as Jim Guariglia, Joe Geiger,

Jeff Robertson, and Rick and George Matern all had huge years and defeated

Curtiss and Crandon in the " A " Division semifinals as the league undertook a

round-robin playoff format for the first time. In the other semifinal, Gastop

(12-4 on the year) beat VP Realty behind a 3-for-5 day and a home run from

Chuck Tilson.

Gastop then handed Hertberg its first loss of the season, 15-5 in the winner's

bracket final before taking the league title game, 6-5 as Dennis Keane crossed

the plate with the winning run.

The loss was devistating for the previously unbeaten Hertberg boys. But the

next year would see them begin a run of an unprecedented six-straight

championships.    1980: The eighties began as the decade of the home run.

Hertberg signed super-slugger Chatts Zeletes and stuck him in an awesome

long-ball lineup with the Matern boys. Gastop and Hertberg finished the

regular season with respective records of 16-2 and 16-3 and met, once again,

in the title tilt.

In Game One, George Matern was 4-for-4, Rainer Ertl was 3-for-4, and Rick

Matern and Zeletes each mashed three-run homers as Hertberg won, 12-6.

Game Two saw Gastop rebound, despite two homers by Rick Matern, as Terry

Hemmings enjoyed a four-hit day.

In the deciding Game Three, though, Rick Matern ripped his fourth homer of the

series, Zeletes added another, and Gary Andrews and Charlie Jacobi each

pounded three hits and Herberg won 11-2.

1981: Hertberg changed its sponsorship, once again, to Hawley Manor Inn in a

season that saw rival Gastop fall off to a 9-9 record and miss the playoffs.

Hawley, though, remained the team to beat and went 16-3. The league

championship that season saw Hawley Manor and Tendler play a best-of-three

series. Tendler was led by the services of Gary DuBoise, Drew Arnold, John

Daly, Hank Schmidt, and Hank Krell, but Hawley was too great. Rick Matern

ripped three home runs and Johnny Miles went 5-for-5 as Hawley won the first

game, 13-10. Miles then legged out two inside-the-park homers to lead Hawley

to an 8-6 win in Game Two.

1982: The youngest Matern brother, Chris, began shaping up as one of the

league's premier sluggers this year and helped lead Hawley Manor to an 18-2

regular-season record. Gastop, with the addition of left-handed slugger Billy

Clark, leapt back into the playoff picture as well. Clark went 5-for-5 with

four home runs and a double to power Gastop over Fireside in the playoffs and

set up a meeting with the Manor. Gastop, having lost a game in the tournament,

needed to win twice in the double-elimination format to win the title.

In Game One Jack Matern went 5-for-5 and Rick Matern mashed a homer for the

Manor, but Gastop won a tight one, 9-7 as Pete Weaver went 3-for-3 and Dick

Gargaki and Gary Pepe each homered.

Game Two, though, was all Manor. Andy Shpunt ripped a three-run triple to put

it out of reach as Hawley Manor won, 8-3 to defend its title. Jack Matern had

gone 11-for-18 in the playoffs for the champs.

1983: Hawley coasted through the season in first place, finishing 16-2, and

moved into the championship unbeaten with wins over first-year Warehouse

Liquor and Newtown Refuse. Warehouse - led by Bryan and Chris Kachur, Kevin

Booker, Glenn Rooney, and co - was a new team in the league having won the B

Division a year earlier and the C Division the year before that. Newtown

Refuse was also a semi-new force in the league with sluggers like Steve Brown,

Randy Gunther, Tim Miller, Frank Pospisil, and Ricky Terrill.

Depite the tough newcomers, Hawley and Gastop again wound up in the finals.

Gastop lost a first-round shocker to Refuse and, consequently had to beat

Hawley twice in the final to win the belt.

They could not. Chris Matern's homer was the decisive blow as Hawley won, 8-3.

1984: With its crafty new pitcher, Billy Girard, Gastop became the class of

the league running off a 16-1 record during the season. Hawley went 12-5 as

did Newtown Refuse, while Warehouse changed its name to Pizza Palace and went

11-7 to make the playoffs again.

Pizza Palace gave Gastop all it could handle in the first-round playoff game,

but with two outs in the ninth, Bill Clark legged out a single and Bob Kayser

smashed a home run to send the game to extra innings. Gastop then won 7-6 when

George Barrows collected his fourth hit of the ballgame.

In the finals that year Hawley, this time, had to defeat Gastop twice or lose

its crown.

Kayser and Clark had homered as Gastop handed Hawley its first loss of the

tournament, but the momentum shifted on the final day.

Rick Matern had four hits and a home run as Hawley won the first game, 13-2.

In Game Two, Chris Matern went 4-for-4 with a homer and John Miles homered as

well to lead Hawley to a stunning 13-5 upset and fifth-straight league crown.

1985: Hawley changed its sponsor to McLaughlin Vineyard wne turned in a 14-3

season. Superstar Sports came next at 14-4, while Gastop was 13-5 and Pizza

Palace 11-6.

Persistance finally paid off for the Pizza boys as they earned their

first-ever trip to the league final only to be beaten 9-6 in the title game as

Chris Matern wallopped his third and fourth home runs of the tournament.

1986: McLaughlin's streak of six-consecutive titles was haulted this season as

Gastop, under the new sponsorship of Heritage Pension and Chuck Tilson taking

over as manager, took the reigns. McLaughlin was the top team during the

season at 14-3 while Heritage went 13-3. In the playoffs, though, behind

newcomer Al Gary and mainstay Bill Clark, Heritage put on a show. In the

finals against McLaughlin, Heritage could only watch as Rick and Chris Matern

combined for three home runs in a 14-6 win that forced one game to decide the

title. Heritage saw visions of 1984 when McLaughlin had beaten them twice on

the final day to win the crown, and didn't want that to happen again. After

Rick Matern's two-run homer in the first inning, Heritage skipper Chuck Tilson

employed the intentional walk for both he and his brother Chris for the

remainder of the game.

Billy Girard slammed out three hits for Heritage and Gary and Clark both

homered in the late innings, and Heritage had stopped McLaughlin's domination

of the eighties. Heritage won the title.

1987: Heritage, McLaughlin, Pizza Palace, and playoff newcomer John's Quality

Meats met in the playoff tournament after McLaughlin's 15-2 regular season was

tops. Pizza Palace then bumped off Heritage to gain its second shot at the

brass ring. The Palace got close again, but an RBI single in the bottom of the

ninth inning by Andy Shpunt propelled McLaughlin to a 10-9 win and the league

crown.

1988: The Kachur brothers and Pizza Palace rose to the top of the pack with a

15-3 regular-season record. Heritage changed its name to Gervais Bros Roofing

and went 14-4, McLaughlin was 13-4, and a newcomer to the league, The Homeboys

emerged and sneaked into the playoffs as Tom Wyatt went 4-for-4 with three

home runs in the season finale. The Homeboys would go on to upset Pizza Palace

in the first round as Wyatt and Steve Smith combined for eight RBI in an 11-10

win, but McLaughlin and Gervais wound up - as usual - playing for the title.

In a tooth-and-nail championship game, Rick Matern homered to lift McLaughlin

to a 7-6 victory.

1989: Pizza Palace again earned first-place honors this season with a 15-3

mark ahead of McLaughlin's 14-4, Gervais' 12-5, and the Homeboys at 10-8. When

the playoffs rolled around this time, the juggernaut Homeboys took it one step

further. After falling to top-seeded Pizza Palace in the first round, the

Homeboys upset Gervais, eliminating them, and then bounced Pizza Palace in the

next round behind two Bob Hickson homers and a 4-for-4 day by Jeff Wyatt. The

Homeboys had reached the finals, but McLaughlin was too great a champion.

Rick Matern and Gary Andrews both homered as McLaughlin built a 7-0 lead and

held on to win, 7-5.

1990: The new decade saw the tragic death of Chris Matern while McLaughlin

changed its name, again, this time to Question Mark Cafe. The name turned out

to be prophetic, as the team failed to reach the finals for the first time in

18 years.

Hertberg/Hawley/McLaughlin had been the team of the eighties, winning nine

titles, but now a new dynasty took shape. Gervais Bros.

Gervais finished second during the regular season at 12-5, behind the 13-5

Question Mark, Pizza Palace made it back to the playoffs, as did first timer,

ReMax. It was actually ReMax, behind the efforts of Steve Smith, Doug Dean,

and the Andrews brothers, Gary and Ed, who eliminated Question Mark, but in

the finals, Gervais dismantled the underdogs 12-5 behind 4-for-4 days by Bill

Clark, Kevin Wilkison, and Gary Pepe.

1991: The Homeboys, who had crumbled through internal pressures in 1990 and

failed to make the playoffs, disolved at season's end. From that team, Tom and

Jeff Wyatt and Scott Terrill moved over to join forces with the Gervais Bros.

The team went 15-4 to take first-place honors during the regular season and

when the playoffs began, so did the fireworks.

The Wyatt brothers combined for eight home runs and 21 RBI as Gervais won the

first two games of the playoffs against Savoy Linen (formerly Question Mark)

and 100 Church Hill (formerly Pizza Palace). In the league final, Savoy had to

defeate Gervais twice and succeeded in the first game as Gene Chappell, George

Matern, Rick Matern, and Jim Pope all homered in an 18-12 win.

In the decider, though, Bill Clark, Jeff Wyatt, Kevin Wilkison, and John

Gramesty all enjoyed 3-for-4 days as Gervais won, 16-10, and became the first

team ever - other than DeCarlo's boys - to repeat a championship.

1992: The GBros rang up a 14-4 regular season record as did 100 Church Hill

during the regular season. Savoy went 13-5 to make the playoffs while the

Bandits, formerly ReMax, made the playoffs at 11-7.

Billy Girard hit a two-run homer and Tom Wyatt added a three-run blast as

Gervais beat the Bandits 11-7 in the first round. In the second-round Wyatt,

Karl Svensson, and Ray Forestieri combined for five home runs as Gervais

routed 100 Church Hill, 25-10.

In the league final, Gervais beat Church Hill again, this time 10-5, as the

championship game was played on the open field at Treadwell Park for the first

time history. Jeff Saputo and Johnny Marcinczyk were both 3-for-4 to lead the

offense.    1993: Church Hill crowned a batting champion in Rick Mariani and

saw Bryan and Chris Kachur, Chris Medve, and Tee O'Grady all make the top ten

in hitting. The team also added the services of a young slugger named Chris

Dennis, but even all that couldn't stop Gervais from a fourth-straight crown.

Playoff newcomer K's Korner upset Church Hill 21-20 in the first round as Rick

Kasbarian's home run prevailed. But meanwhile Tom Wyatt and Karl Svensson were

mashing homers for Gervais in an 11-10 win over Economy Linen (formerly Savoy

Linen). In its three playoff games, Gervais would go on to hit a total of 16

home runs (seven by Tom Wyatt), and in the championship game, a 29-17 Gervais

victory, Jeff Wyatt set a league and playoff record with a 7-for-7 day that

earned him tournament MVP honors.

Chris Dennis, despite his team's losing, hit a pair of home runs in each of

the three games.

1994: The Gervais Bros championship run of the nineties was snapped this

season as Newtown Exxon (switched over from Economy Linen) and ran the table.

In Chuck Tilson's last year as the Gervais coach, and Billy Girard's last year

as its pitcher, the team suffered a 10-10 season but made it back to the

finals to face its old rival for the first time in three years. George's Deli,

a new A Division team, fresh off a pair of B-league titles, made the playoffs

after an 11-8 campaign but were bumped off by the defending champs.

In the title game, after a 16-15 Gervais win - highlighted by a pair of Chris

Daly home runs and dingers by Tom and Jeff Wyatt and Kevin Wilkison - forced

one final game.

This time it was all Newtown Exxon. Dave Green, league-MVP Gary Andrews, and

George Matern belted back-to-back-to-back homers to drive the final nail in a

15-1 spanking. Ed Andrews was 3-for-4 in the game as well.

Chuck Tilson stepped down as the Gervais manager having led the team to a

nine-year record of 134-56 that included five championships.

1995: In a state of semi-rebuilding, Gervais did what no other team before it

had ever done. Win back the title with a losing record. Gervais went only 6-10

during the regular season, sneaking into the playoffs as the fourth seed in a

five-team league, and winning via the long ball. Gervais shocked first-place

George's Deli in the first round of the playoffs 16-12 as Jeff Wyatt went

5-for-5 with a homer, Jeff Saputo hit two homers, and Tom Wyatt and Bill Clark

combined to go 7-for-9 each with homers.

Exxon, meanwhile, got a pair of home runs from old faithful, Rick Matern, as

it beat R&R Foundations (formerly K's) in the other opener.

When it got down to the title game, only Gervais and Exxon were standing.

The two met at Dickinson Park and Gervais emerged a 23-12 winner after

slugging out seven home runs.

League MVP Tom Wyatt hit three round trippers, Jeff Wyatt added two, and Jeff

Saputo and Gino LoRicco each added one.

Tony DeCarlo resigned as the coach of Newtown Exxon having amassed 16

championships, and a lifetime regular-season record of 367-96, a 50-17

post-season record, and an amazing total of 417 victories. In his 25 years,

Tony DeCarlo never had a losing record.

1996: Gervais, George's, Newtown Exxon, Olde Newtown Tavern (formerly R&R),

and Tilford Piano Movers make up the cast for the 26th " A " Divison

championship battle. Through the season's halfway point, George's was

undefeated but the rest of the pack has begun to gain.

The next seven or eight weeks will determine who adds the the legacy that

started over a quarter century ago.