Rutherford National vs Lyndhurst East (27-Jul-1953)

                         NJ District 4 Little League Tournament
                          Rutherford National vs Lyndhurst East
                      27-Jul-1953 at Rutherford, NJ (Memorial Park)

Rutherford National 3 (1-0)                   Lyndhurst East 2 (0-1)

Player                      AB  R  H BI       Player                      AB  R  H BI
---------------------------------------       ---------------------------------------
Pete Poole lf..............  7  0  2  0       Anthony Zancanotta ss......  3  0  0  0
Richie Butcher rf/p........  8  1  3  0        Tommy Ferguson ss.........  4  0  0  0
Nils Wisloff c/2b..........  7  1  2  1       Richie Pezzolla 2b.........  4  0  0  0
Ry Alyea 1b................  7  0  2  1        Rich Allen 2b.............  2  0  0  0
Joe Gusera 3b..............  7  0  0  0        John LaFaso ph............  1  0  0  0
Bill Amberg ss.............  7  0  1  0       Whitey Tamaro 1b...........  7  1  1  0
Eugene Cole p/2b...........  6  1  2  1       Tom Longo cf...............  7  1  4  0
 Bill Tantum 2b............  0  0  0  0       Paul Stillwagon 3b.........  6  0  1  2
DeWitt Walker rf...........  4  0  0  0       Jim Murphy c...............  5  0  0  0
 Steve Cox cf..............  1  0  0  0       Billy Monisera lf/p........  7  0  0  0
Ned Lygas cf...............  4  0  0  0       Joe Tita rf................  6  0  1  0
 Bob Porter 2b.............  2  0  0  0       Charles Wormke p/lf........  7  0  0  0
Totals..................... 60  3 13  3       Totals..................... 59  2  7  2

Score by Innings                               R  H  E
------------------------------------------------------
Rutherford National. 002 000 000 000 000 01 -  3 13  1
Lyndhurst East...... 200 000 000 000 000 00 -  2  7  0
------------------------------------------------------

E - Porter. LOB - Rutherford N 17; Lyndhurst E 15. 2B - Poole, Tamaro, Longo. HR - Cole(1).

Rutherford National            IP  H  R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Eugene Cole................   9.0  4  2  0  2 13
Richie Butcher  W,1-0......   8.0  3  0  0  7 10

Lyndhurst East                 IP  H  R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Charles Wormke.............   9.0  5  2  2  1 10
Billy Monisera  L,0-1......   8.0  8  1  1  1  9

Umpires - HP: Rychik   1B: Buckley
Start: 18:00

Game notes:
Game suspended after 10 innings, darkness, completed 28-Jul
Game: 0727

The South Bergen News, Thursday, July 30, 1953

RUTHERFORD, July 28 – One of the most dramatic and thrilling games, Little League or otherwise, ever played in a South Bergen baseball park, began Monday evening at 6 p.m. at the Rutherford Little League Stadium. It ended seventeen innings and over twenty-four hours later after Eugene Cole, who pitched his heart out in the first nine innings for the Rutherford Nationals, slammed a two-out home-run over the center field fence to score the winning run as Rutherford copped a 3-2 marathon from the Lyndhurst Eastern All-Stars in the opening round of the Bergen County playoffs.

Record Blow for Rutherford

The blow sailed 200 feet and was the first ever hit over the Rutherford Little League Stadium center field fence. It broke the hearts of the Lyndhurst players and fans, but it was the climax of a long, hard fight for the winners in which they missed two possible chances to score earlier.

The victory gave Rutherford a clean sweep in the playoffs as on Friday night the Americans shutout the Garfield Nationals, 3-0, behind Morty Lefkowitz.

Game Called After 10

It will be a long time before either Lyndhurst or Rutherford fans will forget the National’s victory. On Monday evening the squads fought to a 2-2 stalemate in ten innings. As closely matched as one could conceive, the battlers resumed where they had left off on Tuesday evening and in a sudden-death encounter struggled for seven more innings before a decision was reached.

Rutherford was in a hole from the start as Lyndhurst tallied two unearned runs in the first. After that Cole and Richie Butcher shut the visiting team out for sixteen consecutive innings.

After Cole struck the first two Lyndhurst batters out in the opening frame Whitey Tamaro hit the left field fence on one bounce for a two-bagger. Tom Longo, who was put out only twice in eight chances at the plate, grounded to Bobby Porter’s left at second base. Porter raced over, made a nice scoop, but the ball stuck in the webbing of his glove and all hands were safe on a forgivable error. It turned out to be the first and last of a magnificently played game.

Stillwagon Produces

Paul Stillwagon followed by making his only hit of the game an important one. After Longo pilfered second he singled, to account for all the Lyndhurst scoring.

Rutherford didn’t get a hit until the third. With two men out Butcher singled. Nils Wisloff followed with a triple to send the first run across and Ry Alyea snarled it up with a tie-producing single. After that, strong pitching and superb fielding by both sides produced thirteen straight scoreless innings.

Play was broken up in the tenth because of darkness. When the boys came back the following night they continued the pace. In the top of the seventeenth, with two men out, Cole came to bat. He had started on the mound, went to second base after Little League rules prevented him from spinning more than nine innings and had taken over behind the plate for the final seven frames. He laced Lyndhurst pitcher Billy Monisera’s second toss over the center field fence, easily clearing the 190-foot sign. The blow gave Richie Butcher the win.

Fielding Gems Numerous

To single out the individual fielding plays that made the pitchers on both sides look good would take up this entire page. Ry Alyea was responsible for several circus-day scoop-ups at first, Joe Gusera’s throwing arm prevented many an infield single at third base and Johnny Poole surprised everyone with his dependability in left field for the Nationals. The Lyndhurst team presented a ball-hawking outfield and a sharp first-sacker in Whitey Tamaro. Nils Wisloff of the victors and Jim Murphy of the East squad put on a fine catching exhibition, both executing pin-point toss-outs and handling the hurlers with confidence.

Richie Butcher’s fast ball was sizzling. What impressed most was his poise, for twice with two men on base the young hurler was behind 3-0 on the batter and still managed to strike him out to avoid a bases full situation.

Scoring Tries Fail

Rutherford had two cracks at a score before Cole’s four-master. In the seventh Cole opened with a single and stole second. After two outs Poole lashed out a single and Cole tried to come all the way in but was nailed on a beautiful peg by Monisera. He bowled Murphy over like a bean-bag, but the plucky Lyndhurst catcher hung on for the tag.

In the sixteenth Poole again came through, this time with a double, but in trying to stretch was pegged out at third by Tom Longo. The next batter, Nils Wisloff, slammed a long single that would easily have produced the run. As it was, though, the dramatic ending was more satisfactory to one and all – except the Lyndhurst boys and their fans, who lost a ball game that anyone could be proud of, even in defeat.

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