Skip navigation.
Home » cape may

Herald-Exit Zero Game Nets $1,600 for V.I.M.

cape may | 7 weeks 1 day ago | Comments 6

By Jack Fichter

The Herald Skeeters. Photos by Harry B. Scheeler Jr.



COLD SPRING — A celebrity softball game July 17 at the Carl Mitnick School between the Cape May County Herald and Exit Zero raised over $1,600 for Volunteers in Medicine of Cape May County, an organization that provides free medical care for many county residents that do not have health insurance.

"The real winners in this game are the people helped by the great folks at Volunteers in Medicine of Cape May County who assist the county's residents who lack health insurance. The staffs of both publications are to be congratulated for taking part in this game," said Herald Publisher Art Hall.
The Herald Skeeters lost to the Exit Zero Zeroes, 30-10, in a six-inning game.

WCZT-98.7 Radio Newsman Phil Pizzi described the game as a “wipe-out.”
The Zeros took an early lead in the game from which the Skeeters were unable to recover.

While this reporter, in a light-hearted manner, accused the Exit Zero team of being “martini-sipping theater critics,” they proved to be formidable athletes.
Skeeters Coach Steve Mehl described the Zeroes as “Iron Men.” The Exit Zero team was all male with many of the players under the age of 30.

The Skeeters had seven women and six men with two male pitchers over the age of 40.

Despite coming out of the losing end of a slugfest, Herald Skeeters players Ed Quigley and Rick Racela hit home runs with Racela’s sailing over the fence.
Mehl described his mostly female team as “scrappy.”

The Skeeters suffered a number of injuries including starting pitcher Jim Vanore leaving the game with an injury in the second inning.
Pitcher Joe Hart pitched the remainder of the game.
Four other Skeeters finished the game with injuries.

The evening started with a half hour of live music from Shannon and Wesley followed by the National Anthem sung a cappella by Lois Smith, Cape May’s first lady of jazz.

Sen. Jeff Van Drew, (D-1st) through out the game's first pitch.

Groucho Marx impersonator Ron MacCloskey helped the Herald and Exit Zero give away almost $1,000 in prizes to spectators.

Coast Radio’s Scott Wahl provided lively commentary as game announcer.

Lower Township Councilman Thomas Conrad umpired the game.

Print | Email Updated 7 weeks 1 day ago
Post a comment on this article

Comments (6)

We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.

»

Tue, 07/22/2008 - 1:17pm

I think there should be a Softball game between the Lower Township Taxpayers Association and the Lower Township Police. Since the LTTA likes to take swings at the Police, maybe we can get something going here!! We could charge $5 a person to watch and all proceeds could go to the Lower Township general coffer to help alleviate the tax increase. Side bets would be allowed as long as the Township was able to collect 20% of all winnings. All proceeds from the concession stand would go to the Freeman Douglass Park Grass Replenishment Project and proceeds from the 50 - 50 would go to feeding the cats at Douglass Park!! Lets slide on down to "C" shall we !

»

Mon, 07/21/2008 - 11:37am

The game was a lotta fun! Jack, I just noticed however, that you really cannot blame our loss on the fact the Skeeters team was "mostly female."
I count 7 women and 7 men, with 8 tipping the scale on the men's side if you count Coach Steve Mehl.
The girls got plenty of hits, and while we didn't always score runs, we brought a lot of enthusiasm to the game. :)
Maybe if a game is set for next year, there could be a rule of half men half women on the team. That might even things up and make the game a bit more competitive.
Thanks, Exit Zero, for a fun night out for a great cause. I'm off to the doctor now.

»

Fri, 07/18/2008 - 1:04pm

From "Huge, Iconic" Terry O'Brien, Exit Zero (3B)--- I'm feeling every bit of my 38 years today with 4 seperate, distinct lower leg injuries and a shoulder that feels as if a rusty drill bit is entering it a half revolution at a time every 30 seconds (as anyone who saw me throw no less than a half-dozen balls into the air/ dirt/ sky/ first baseman's shins can attest, I have a rocket launcher for an arm... with no guidance system).

For the record, the left-handed at-bat was meant only to shut up our heckler, that I hit a dead center field home run surprised me as much as anybody... but it still felt pretty awesome.

»

Fri, 07/18/2008 - 12:36pm

I love how the kids got off the trees when we were up. It was a ton of fun. Vicky's video will be posted soon.

-Rick Racela 1B, 26 (injured)

»

Fri, 07/18/2008 - 11:03am

In a related story, shares of Aleve manufacturer Bayer rose 79% as the entire inventory in Cape May county pharmacies flew off the shelves.

Also, our team may have been all males, but we did have at least one guy in a dress.

-Will, Zeroes' Short Stop, Age 34 (i.e. over 30)

»

Fri, 07/18/2008 - 10:45am

From Jack Wright at Exit Zero... Nice story, Jack. We are all thrilled to read that many of us were under 30 years old. We must have really good genes. We only had two guys under 30 - our intern Dan Mathers and our Latvian photographer Aleksey who, like me, had never played before. The rest of us were: 50, 44, 43, 38, 35, 35, 31, and 30-and-a-half. Also, I thought you'd mention the fact that one of your players has a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves.
Let's do it all again next year. Was a helluva lot of fun! (Can I say "hell" on the Herald website?) Oh, and the Herald team conducted itself with real class - what a lovely bunch of people.

more spoutsMOST RECENT SPOUT OFFS

more homes TOP HOMES


more classifieds TOP CLASSIFIEDS