Two St. Bart’s Hall of Fame (HOF) quality pitchers – Frank Chupko and Harold Hopler – delivered a 1-2 punch on the mound that the St. Wolfgang team could not handle in a showdown against St. Francis in St. Bart’s Oldtimers Men’s Softball League action at Forest Road Park in Fanwood on June 25. The Fran Men became a hitting machine and emerged with a 15-6 triumph.

Chupko, the winningest pitcher in St. Bart’s history, pitched the first three innings and permitted six hits and three runs. Hopler hopped to the mound for the next four innings and yielded three runs and eight hits. St. Wolfgang pitcher Lou Blau had difficulty

navigating around the St. Francis offensive attack that amassed 22 hits, including five doubles.

With the exception of one player – but his HOF status on the mound would exempt him from any form of ridicule – the entire St. Francis team recorded hits. Hopler, who reached base safely in all four of his at-bats, went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and two RBI. Bill Scheiner rapped a two-run double and an RBI single. Mike Aribitg went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Ross Alpert doubled, singled, scored once and had two RBI. Gus Alvarez doubled, singled and scored twice. Jerry Isolda singled twice, had two RBI and scored once.

Chris Millar was one of the big guns for St. Wolfgang, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Blau went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Liam Nobile whacked a tworun double and singled. Mike McKenna doubled, singled and scored twice. Ed Fernandez singled twice, scored once and had an RBI.

Blau limited St. Francis to just a single to Hopler in the top of the first inning then his team took its only lead of the game with three runs in the bottom of the inning. After St. Fran shortstop Steve Sciaraffo chased down a difficult popup in shallow centerfield, McKenna legged out a single toward third. Blau lined a single to leftfield and Fernandez poked an RBI single to center. Nobile then brought home Blau and Fernandez with his double to left-center.

St. Fran quickly answered with three runs in the second inning. Isolda chopped a short single. Nick Dominguez dinked a short popup halfway between the plate and third base and the result was an infield single. Joe LoBrace (2-for-3, 2 runs) bounced an RBI single past first but as the right fielder attempted to prevent another run, his throw was offline and Dominguez scored. LoBrace scooted to third on the play. Pat MacDonnell (1-for-3, run) rolled a grounder back to the mound as LoBrace scuffed the plate to knot the score.

Chupko retired all three batters he faced in the second thanks to a smooth running catch in right field by Dominguez then the Frans tacked on five more runs in the third. Ben LoBrace slashed a one-out single past first and Sciaraffo plopped a single into shallow right. Hopler went the other way with a two-run double down the right field line. Alvarez doubled to center and Alpert slapped an RBI single to right-center. Isolda’s ground out to first scored Alvarez then Aribitg’s high chopping single scored Alpert.

Chupko yielded singles to Millar and Blau but escaped the inning permitting no runs. But St. Francis upped its lead to 10-3 with a pair of runs in the fourth. MacDonnell’s chopper was too difficult to handle. Russ Voorhees (2-for-3, run) drilled a single to left then Scheiner punched a two-run double to left.

Hopler retired all three Wolfmen he faced in the bottom of the fourth then St. Fran added a run in the fifth. Hopler hooked a one-out double down the right field line andAlvarez wiggled a single over second. Alpert followed with an RBI double then Millar would pull off a spectacular play in center. Millar made a diving and rolling snag of Isolda’s liner then fired home to catcher Tom Letterio, who bobbled the ball but had the mental acuity to flick the ball in time to Blau, who was covering the plate. The great play energized the Wolfmen’s bats somewhat in the bottom of the inning. Millar lined a one-out single to center and McKenna ripped a double to left. Blau poked a two-run single to left-center to make the score 11-5. Fernandez looped a single over first then Isolda at third, fielded a sharp grounder off the bat of Nobile, tagged third for the force out and fired to LoBrace at first for the rally-ending double play. St. Francis was not done and added two runs in the sixth. Aribitg whacked a leadoff single to left. Joe LoBrace’s hot grounder escaped the glove of the first baseman. MacDonnell’s grounder back to the mound resulted in a throwing error and a run scoring. Voorhees added a chopping single and Scheiner hacked an RBI single past the second baseman.

In the Wolfgang sixth, Litterio reached first on a force out. Tom Fazio lobbed a single into shallow center and Millar poked an RBI single to center, scoring Litterio. St. Francis added two more insurance runs in the seventh to up the lead to 15-6. A few errors and a force out put Hopler and Alvarez on second and first, respectively. Millar made another diving catch in center but a throw allowed Hopler to skip home. Isolda followed with an RBI single to center.

Hopler ceded singles to Nobile and Randy Marquez in the Wolfgang seventh but neither were able to score.

St. Francis 035 212 2 15 St. Wolfgang 300 021 0 6