Westfield, Mass.
It had been less than a month since the Newtown Sandy Hooks had visited southwestern Massachusetts on their much heralded assault on the Belchertown Civil War reenactment site where the Newtown contingent punished the Essex (MA) Nine in a 1861 match of base ball.

On Saturday they peddled to the neighboring community of Westfield (the Victorian home of the buggy whip and Columbia bicycles) to take on the Wheelmen who had upset the local ballists in the Pittsfield Tournament in late May. Both squads were light on manpower but, thanks to much after hours negotiating (by Tony 'Mudcat' Albano and Dennis 'Muhl' Snyder), a confident nine appeared at the Stanley Grounds for the afternoon test.

The record heat and humidity of the previous week had mercifully subsided as the two clubs met under bright skies on the undulating all grass pitch just west of the downtown center. Unlike the Sandy Hook's foreboding Asylum Grounds home field in Newtown, the ample, well-appointed park and arboretum provided a picturesque and comfortable location for young and old and a compliment to the vintage game.

Due to the inavailability of players, two new members wore the Sandy Hook stripes for the first time. Newtown's Mike 'Casey' Casey was posted in center field while Brian 'Bull' Jacobs from West Hartford anchored the third sack.

As 'Pops' O'Maxfield called both clubs to the field 'Muhl' Snyder in his usual role manned the box for the Newtowns and, as is generally the case, the jittery Hooks offered three easy aces to Dan Genovese's merry men in the very first frame. But, before one could say Ignaz Schwinn (considered a swear word in these parts) the aggressive Sandy Hooks where whipping-up mischief all over the diamond as 'Sparks' Marcucelli launched his first of what would be four base hits in the game, stole second and put himself in position after a fielder's choice and singles by Albano and 'Rock' Zulli to score the first of two runs in the bottom of the first. At the end of one full - Wheelmen three to Sandy Hooks two.

Snyder and the Hooks blanked the Wheelmen in the second inning then went back to the task of puncturing the pugnacious Westfield pitching in the bottom of the frame with back-to-back singles by Marcucelli, 'Rambo' Rambone and 'Pops' Pendergist followed by a awesome display of run scoring singles by Albano and Zulli. But, just as the mayhem was reaching full crescendo Zulli, running hell bent for third, got tangled in an unforeseen undulation (depression in the turf) just east of the third sack and dropped into a perplexed pile of flesh just in time to be tagged out by a surprised and amused Wheelman. Unsure whether this mainstay from the original Sandy Hooks and today's ninth man had torn a muscle, broken a limb, or something more serious the Newtown faithful held their collective breath as 'Rock' righted himself and jogged gingerly off the pitch. All hands down - five to three Sandy Hooks.