It was the best of the best at this summer’s East Haven recreation league bocce league championship at the town beach. And that’s saying something. Among the competitors: Giuseppe “Joe” DeLucia, 73, who was, as East Haven Recreation Director Liz Franco-Spano put it, “on fire.”

“He’s hitting every shot,” said Franco-Spano, among the 50 onlookers on benches and leaning over the ledge, as the waves lapped onto the beach below. “He’s good, but tonight he’s just hitting everything.”