By Ray ‘Shutta’ Shaw

The Sandy Hooks met the Bridgeport Orators officially for the first time on the palatial lawns of McLaughlin Vineyard in Sandy Hook for a two game set.

The two clubs had scrimmaged twice early in the season when the newfound Orators were trying to acclimate to the vintage game. Since that time the talented Bridgeporter’s stood the game on its ear with the shocking upset of the Boston Colonials in the first round of the Pittsfield Tournament on Memorial Day weekend.

But in subsequent weeks, the Orators have found little to cheer about.

The Sandy Hooks, on the other hand, have experienced an up and down season while showing great promise in the field and at the bat bringing a five win and eight loss record into Sunday’s match. On this day, the Hooks and the Orators offered the accumulated cranks the spectacle of watching the always entertaining Dieckman twins joust in the initial ‘1867’ match of the day.

As Orator captain ‘Howitzer’ Lungariello prepared his club for battle, ‘Shutta’ Shaw took his ringside position as referee as the pugilistic Dieckman’s, ‘BB’ for the Sandy Hook’s and ‘Chief’ Dieckman for the Bridgeports, snarled at each other from either side of the pitcher’s box.

The Orators took first shot at the Sandy Hook Dieckman in inning number one, teeing-off on a half dozen bullets aimed at tri-sacker ‘Moose’ Margolus who had everything to do to catch his breath before reacting to another blast bounding off the irregular vineyard turf. Margolus survived the inning but the Sandy Hooks did not as the Orators rung-up six aces before the Hooks knew what had hit them.

The Bridgeport Dieckman took no prisoners in the bottom of the first holding the impatient Hooks to a single, unfulfilling run.

The match see-sawed back and forth with the Orators maintaining control and determination through the next hour and a half of battle never letting the Newtown nine draw closer than within three runs of tying the match. The Dieckman’s continued to antagonize each other at every opportunity by taunting, intentionally pitching at each other, stealing bases, and making a general nuisance of themselves while displaying a evident lack of decorum that siblings are known to pleasure in.

In spite of that fact, the match remained close and competitive with the sure-handed Bridgeports seeming to cruise to the eventual win. With the score set at a somewhat comfortable 11 to 5 margin for the Orators, the Sandy Hooks plated four in the sixth, thanks to doubles by ‘Doughboy’ Norwich and ‘Zack’ Wheat, and aggressive baserunning tactics to pull within of 11 to 9 of the Orators.

The Orators added a run in the top of the seventh to make it 12 to 9. But the Sandy Hooks came to bat in the bottom of the seventh and last inning to face ‘PK’ Wehmann, a hurler of high regard, and immediately teed-off on his effort with ‘Honus’ Pernerewski, Dieckman and Norwich reaching base with a covey of singles to load the sacks for one of the most feared hitters in vintage ball to take his place at the line – ‘Pops’ Pendergist.

Pendergist, who was no stranger to similar situations having punctuated a couple of earlier matches this season with awe inspiring blasts that put the local nine in ultimate control, stepped to the line to test his metal against the Bridgeport closer. As the hurler unfurled his pitch ‘Pops’ quickly coiled and released a day’s worth of pent-up oomph and shot the sphere to the deepest reaches of the yard for a bases clearing four-run homer that sealed the match for the Sandy Hooks and sent the distressed Orators to examine their shoe tops.

What might have been a satisfying 12 to 9 victory for the Orators suddenly became a crushing 12 to 13 defeat for the upstart Orators.

Match two was nearly a carbon copy in reverse of the first match.

With ace ‘90’ Keane manning the box for Newtown, the Hooks got on board early and held the Orators at bay throughout the match. The scores climbed at an anxious rate with each team taking advantage of the other’s miscues while the Hooks continued to drive confidently toward their second win of the day.

In typical Pendergist fashion, ‘Pops’ made two astonishing catches in deep left to rob the explosive Orators for stealing the lead from the home club. And, as if that wasn’t enough, in the top of the seventh he again strode to his place at the striker’s line and shot a Bridgeport offering to the upper levels of the lavender in left, far beyond the sure-handed Khalid Washington, nearly thumping a poor patron who was quietly sipping her Merlot as the ball retuned rudely to earth.

Down by a five-run margin in the bottom of the seventh, the Orators stormed back to cobble together three runs before pin-point hurling by Keane and a stout defense closed the door on any further damage.

The Sandy Hooks had eked-out two wins to take home their fourth victory in a row with a final score 14 for the Newtowns and 12 for the Bridgeports.

As the two clubs saluted the continuation of a long friendship, the vineyard wine and Sandy Hook soda toasted another not-to-be-forgotten day behind Cady Mountain. Hitting stars for the Newtown nine included Pendergist with his six hits, two home runs and seven runs batted in, Norwich with seven timely hits, Pernerewski with five hits including a double and Wheat with two rally spawning doubles.

The Sandy Hooks travel to Bridgeport on Sunday to take on the Orators at Harbor Yard before a Bluefish game. The exhibition will start at 12 noon. Then, the Sandy Hooks will be back in action on Fourth of July at Seaside Park in Bridgeport to take part in a four-team, all day vintage base ball tournament starting at 10 am.

There is no admission to the tournament and everyone is invited to the seaside venue for a day of old-fashioned base ball and Fourth of July festivities.