ELKS 0 4 0 0 0 0 -- 4 6 3
ROTARY 5 0 1 0 1 x -- 7 9 1
W - Hands
L - Place
HR - Dionisio, Pollara 2
The National Little League dumped the American circuit in both ends of the Independence Day double-header played at Rutherford Field before more than 200 fans. Rotary downed the Elks handily in the opening clash between the two league-leading nines.
Rotary’s Frank Pollara, who weighed in with a pair of homers, two doubles and a single for his day’s work at the plate in addition to delivering two innings of hitless pitching in the All-Star contest, was the outstanding player of the day.
Rotary’s five-run first inning at the expense of Phil Place, was enough to earn the National League leaders their victory in the opener, despite a second-inning Elk rally which almost erased the winners’ advantage.
Kreiling opened the big first with a single. An infield error and Billy Hands’ one-bagger loaded the bases. Pollara promptly cleared them with a double and Bob Dionisio homered, scoring Pollara ahead of him to put the Nationals out in front, 5-0.
The Elks bounced right back with four in their second inning on singles by Cappy Arata and Place, a walk to Jeff Porter, a pair of infield plays and Tommy Vanderveer’s double, but that was the extent of their scoring for the day. Pollara smacked out a bases-empty circuit blow in the third to put his team out in front, 6-4, and duplicated the feat in the fifth to account for the game’s final run.