( 2- 0) RUTHERFORD NL 0 0 0 0 1 0 -- 1 3 1
( 0- 1) LYNDHURST E 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0 3 0
W - Hands (1-0)
L - Christ (0-1)
Heads-up team play and Billy Hands’ three-hit hurling enabled the Nats to shut out Lyndhurst’s defending district champions 1 to 0 on Tuesday to register the most startling upset of the tournament’s opening rounds.
About 500 fans saw the local boys outhustle the losers on their own diamond. The game’s only run came in the fifth inning when Ritchie Butcher beat out an infield bounder which the overconfident Lyndhurst shortstop neglected to charge, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.
Hands’ crooked-ball pitching had the Lyndhurst batters at his mercy all the way. But four batters reached base against him, one on Nils Wisloff’s first-inning bobble, the game’s only error. Hands struck out six and did not give up a walk.
Lyndhurst threatened in the first when an infield hit and an error put men on first and second with two away. Scuirba popped up to short to end the inning. Rutherford likewise stranded two in the second when Frank Pollara singled to left and Ron Haugh doubled.
In the third, Bob Dionisio got as far as third on a walk and two infield outs. In the bottom of the inning, Franchina doubled with two down but Hands bore down to get Gallagher.
Two scoreless turns preceded Rutherford’s one-run fifth. The Nats’ Tommy Tanton, who made the fielding play of the game in snaring Scuirba’s 4th inning line drive, opened the sixth with an infield single and got as far as third before Hands flied out to end the inning.