In their first meeting, the Moran Club edged out the Seapointers 4-2 behind John Gregorio’s bases clearing triple in the second inning. Gregorio will need more of a supporting cast the second time around, as Seapoint appears hungry and ready for the challenge.

Turning to last weeks league action, Molly Darcy’s continued their winning ways with two hard fought victories. On Monday, Steven Muldowney hit a seventh inning single to break a tie as Molly’s went on to upset the Boston Beer Garden 10-8. In their next game, Molly’s used another late inning rally to snatch a victory away from the Corner Tavern. Tony Moran pulled through with the big hit this time when he smashed a RBI single to center that broke a 5-5 tie.

The ‘Game of the Week’ featured the Sidewalk Café and the Seapoint Restaurant and was played on Wednesday night. After three innings of play, the game remained scoreless as pitchers Paul Alessi and Steve Lannon held batters to just two hits. But Lannon and the Sidewalk ran into trouble in the fourth inning when Seapoint’s Marty Jiminez hit a one-hopper down the first base line that eluded the fielder. Pat Sullivan, who had reached with a single, scored on the play and the Seapoint Restaurant had a 1-0 lead.

Lannon ran into more trouble in the fifth when Donald Bolstad and Jimmy MacEvoy opened with a pair of singles. The next two batters grounded out and it appeared as if Sidewalk would escape the inning unharmed. But Ed Toland came through in the clutch, ripping a bases clearing single to right-center which put Seapoint up 3-0. Alessi took the mound for Seapoint in the sixth inning and had only given up one hit in the game. With two outs and a runner on first base, the Sidewalk bats came to life. Tommy Connolly, Jason O’Connell, and Bob Dobay all got hits to cut the lead to a run. That would be as close as Sidewalk would get as Alessi shut them down in the seventh inning to earn the 3-2 victory. It was Seapoint’s second straight win over Sidewalk and the two teams will face each other one more time before the season ends.

Last Saturday, members of the Sidewalk Café and Seapoint’s Paul Alessi joined forces for the night and traveled to Wilmington Town Field to play two exhibition games against two-time National Champion, Tighe-Tarr Club.

The Tighe-Tarr Club, which is gearing up for an upcoming match, is a semi-professional softball team that competes at the highest level of play (majors) for men’s modified softball. The ‘majors’ is very similar to playing baseball where bunting and stealing is a common occurrence as is pitchers who throw the ball 80 MPH from just forty-six feet away! The Tighe-Tarr Club is made up of players who come from as far away as Tennessee and as nearby as Watertown. Many of them are former division one standouts who are paid to play. When asked who he had pitching, coach, Jay Tighe answered, “Tony Lito. He’ll probably throw two no-hitters tonight and finish each game with eighteen strikeouts.”

It was obvious that the Sidewalk Cafe was a heavy underdog entering the game and would need a small miracle to pull off a win. The miracle never happened as the Sidewalk Café went down hard in both games (13-1, 18-3). Even with scores like that, there were some great performances by the boys in green that are worth noting.

In the first game, pitcher Paul Alessi held his own for four innings and gave the Sidewalk players a ray of hope. Bob Sweeney and Pat Egan put a stop to the no-hitter talk in the third inning when they hit back to back singles. Bobby Wogan ended Lito’s shutout bid when he scored in the fifth inning on Mike Linskey’s hard ground out. However, Lito did end the game with thirteen strikeouts in only six innings of work.

In the second game, things were looking good for Sidewalk when Pat Egan led the game off with a walk. Egan then stole second and would later score on a passed ball giving Sidewalk a 1-0 lead. Sidewalk added to their lead in the second inning when they executed some good old-fashion baseball fundamentals. Wogan led off with a double followed by a perfect sacrifice bunt by Tommy Nelson. Tommy Connolly then knocked Wogan in from third with a sacrifice fly. But from that point on it was all down hill for Sidewalk as the Tighe-Tarr hitters knocked the ball all over the pea patch.

Although they got it handed to them in both games, the Sidewalk Café players looked at the games as a positive learning experience and displayed a lot of class by thanking the Tighe-Tarr Club for the opportunity.

In other news, ‘The Rifleman’ was forced to call it quits after suffering from extreme pain that was related to a nine-inning sixteen strikeout pitching effort on Tuesday night. We will miss you Larry!