Ninety years ago, on July 1, 1928, the Manteca Maulers’ mighty artillery was too much for the Tracy Tigers at Tracy. The Maulers took the opening game of the second half of the Don Pedro League by the score of 16-6. The Mauler players bombed 22 hits off of Connolly and Hamilton, Tiger pitchers. Ed Forsell, Manteca’s left fielder, starred with the willow, getting two three-base hits and a double. Louis Bianchi, Dewey Percival and Milt Converse also collected three hits apiece.

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from the Bulletin files:

80 years ago: July 7, 1938 – Coming from behind in the last inning to score twice, the Regal Amber softball team defeated the Spreckels Honeydews 3-2 at Recreation Park Friday night.

70 years ago: July 9, 1948 – Tracy Junior Legion defeated Manteca Junior Legion by a score of 14-6 in Manteca on Sunday. Otto Petersen, Manteca pitcher, spaced 11 hits but gave up eight walks, and was given loose support from his teammates. Bob Wheeler and Gene Clarke got two hits apiece for Manteca.

60 years ago: July 10, 1958 – The Manteca Junior Legion team dropped the first two games of the second half of league play. Last Sunday, Karl Ross Post of Stockton dumped the locals, 11-0. A week later, the Manteca squad found themselves on the short end of a 7-6 score against another Stockton team, the Ed Stewart Post.

50 years ago: July 5, 1968 – Manteca’s recreation swim team took its second triangular meet of the season Saturday, winning over Oakdale and Turlock. Greg Williams almost single-handedly brought the Mantecans the win. The 13-14 age group individual accounted for three first places and helped man two winning relay teams.

The Manteca Legion stands 2-1 in second half play, thanks to a Rio Vista forfeit and a clutch eighth-inning triple by Kent Hinton, which handed the locals a 10-7 win over Amador.

40 years ago: July 7, 1978 – Steve Vasquez was named the 13-15 year-old Babe Ruth Baseball Most Valuable Player for 1978 at a coaches and managers meeting last week. Vasquez’s credentials spoke for themselves: his batting average was .464, which led the league; 15 RBI’s, good for second place; nine stolen bases and the best win-loss pitching percentage in the league at 5-0. Vasquez acted as team captain for the league champion Lions Club.

30 years ago: July 4, 1988 – American Division leaders Frank’s Exxon blasted Ripon twice in a pair of five-inning games yesterday at the Manteca High diamond to up its Tri-County Babe Ruth 16-18 Baseball record to 12-1. Ripon, which was guilty of 10 errors on the day, proved to be little competition for Frank’s, which won 13-3 and 10-0. Eric Hill pitched the first game for Frank’s, striking out 10 and scattering three hits. Offensively, Ronnie Hall collected two doubles and drove in four runs. In the final game, pitchers Jon Fannin and Eric Jones combined on a three-hitter. Kenny Huckaby and Alberto Almeida were 2-for-3 as the offense scored in every inning.

Dennis Gase came to the mound in the seventh inning with bases loaded and no outs, threw three pitches and bailed the Manteca Chiropractic Lancers out in a wild 8-7 win over Modesto’s Diamond Lighting, salvaging a split of a twin bill Sunday in a Tri-County Babe Ruth 16-18 Baseball action. The Lancers dropped the first game, 9-5. The second game saw Mike Gase single in Philip Menchaca with the eventual winning run in the fifth inning, Matt Stokes and Stacy Ross each had three hits to lead the Lancers in that game.

After absorbing a first-round loss in the District 1 Babe Ruth 13 year-old tournament, the Manteca squad rectified itself in resounding fashion Sunday in Modesto, whipping Linden-Waterloo 16-4 to stay alive. Elbert Bartlett, Mike Chavez and Jared Damiano each tallied two runs to pace the locals.

20 years ago: July 5, 1998 – After losing its first game to Bel Passi of Modesto, the Manteca Babe Ruth 13 year-old all-stars out-dueled Bel Passi 10-4 in the championship game of the District 1 tournament late Saturday on the East Union High diamond. Manteca broke the game open with a five-run surge in the top of the seventh inning on a 90-plus degree day. In the bottom of the inning, relief pitcher Ryan Garibay retired the side on three straight ground balls. Garibay collected two hits in each of day’s games.

A nine-run third inning highlighted a 16-4, five-inning romp for the Manteca Babe Ruth all-stars over the West Side all-stars in the District 1 tournament for 15 year-olds Thursday afternoon. Led by the powerful bats of Ryan Teicheira and Clayton Cook, Manteca cruised to its second straight tourney victory. Cook was a perfect 4-for-4 and knocked in a team-high five runs. Teicheira was 3-for-3, including a pair of doubles, and scored three times.

Brad Evans scored the go-ahead run and Brian Park tossed two shutout innings of relief as the Manteca Babe Ruth 14 year-old all-stars slipped past West Side 5-4 in the opening round of the District 1 tournament on Saturday in Hollister. Evans collected three hits and scored three runs in the game.

After sewing up the championship in the first game, Uncle Frank’s Grill swung away enroute to a doubleheader sweep of East Union in the Babe Ruth 16-18 finals for both teams Sunday afternoon. Uncle Frank’s banged out an 8-2 win in the first game and then took a 13-3 decision in five innings in the second game. A six-run salvo in the fourth inning clinched the win in the opener. Steven Smalley drove in four runs with a single and a baes-loaded triple. In the second game, Coach Carlon Perry’s squad combined 10 hits, nine walks and three East Union errors to record its seventh 10-run victory this season. Alex Gonzalez had the hot bat for the winners, going three-for-three, including a triple, and driving in three runs. Teammate David Altstatt also drove in three runs and scored three times. Andrew Rossman and Matt O’Brien each had two hits and accounted for all three EU runs.

In other Tri-County BR 16-18 action, Sierra collected 26 hits in rolling by the Tracy Brewers 5-2 and 14-5. Luis Almeida had six hits ad Brian Danley and Buster Foret hurled complete games to lead Sierra to the doubleheader sweep. Almeida went 3-for-4 in both games to lead the winners at bat. In the second game, Sierra ripped out 14 hits, with Jim Bylow collecting three of those, including a double.

10 years ago: July 10, 2008 – Seven errors almost always lead to a loss, and Manteca Babe Ruth Baseball’s 14 year-old all-star nearly overcame that in a 13-8 loss to O’Keefe of Stockton Wednesday at Grace Davis High in Modesto. The loss eliminated them from the District 1 Central California State Tournament. O’Keefe scored six runs in the first inning on four hits and three errors. Only five of O’Keefe’s runs were earned. Anthony Louie drove in three of Manteca’s runs.

Manteca’s Matt Burrows pitched a gem and his defense limited San Benito to just three hits in a 4-1 victory that advances the locals to the District 1 Central California Babe Ruth 15 year-old Baseball championship round in Tracy. Nathan O’Leary had two hits for Manteca.