Sullivan County Women’s Softball

Cooper dodges a bullet

L&B Tack gives league leaders a real run for their money

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY — In the National Football League, the saying goes “On any given Sunday any team can beat any other.” That quotable gem, which gave rise to the movie “Any Given Sunday,” certainly applies to the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League on a nearly daily basis. This season, however, Cooper Paint seems to be in the process of trying to prove that the old adage applies to everyone but them.

For the better part of their third match up of the season with Cooper Paint on July 19, L&B Tack (7-7) looked to be on the verge of upsetting the 18-0 juggernaut. Several Cooper players arrived late for the 6:00 p.m. game and the team looked listless at the plate and extremely vulnerable in the field. Normally one of the best defensive teams in the league, Cooper outfielders misjudged and misplayed flies, which gave Tack lots of base runners and a rising sense of confidence.

Both teams were scoreless in the first, but Cooper struck paydirt in the top of the second with a leadoff double by Ally McCarthy, followed by an RBI triple from Lori Brown. Liz Weickum helped by registering an RBI with a fielder’s choice. L&B Tack managed only two hits over the first two innings but came alive in the bottom of the third to plate a trio of runs. Lori Froehlich led off with a single and was driven in by Denise Smith’s double. Robin DeMarmels knocked Smith in with a single, and Tack’s standout player Mary Hall hit a booming triple to left that plated the inning’s third run. Hall also sparkled at short with a number of great fielding plays and laser throws to first.

Cooper got those three runs back in the top of the fourth when Amanda Irwin led off with a single, McCarthy doubled, Weickum singled, Jen Wright reached on an E-6 and Erin Shuart recorded a sac fly.

Barb Merton’s grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning capped off a five-run inning by L&B Tack giving them an 8-5 lead. Merton drove in Lacy Dalrymple, April Aldrich and Denise Smith. Smith’s single had already brought Sherry Urguidez home. Later, Merton made a great catch in the outfield, coming across from left to center to rob Wright of a hit with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.

Cooper did score in the fifth, and Tack added a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to work up an impressive 10-5 lead. Sensing the urgency, players in the Cooper dugout started to bristle at the thought of losing. They urged each other on and fired up their rally-chicken puppet, which pumped out a noisy melody that gave the team a chance for punctuated clapping. It wasn’t the first time this season they found themselves trailing and their bats came alive, aided and abetted by some untimely errors in the field by Tack.

Cooper scored four runs in the top of the sixth. RBI’s from Erin Shuart and Natalie Cillis gave the tie-dyed ladies three, and a blast to deep left brought in Charish Priest and Denise VanKeuren. That brought Cooper within one at 10-9.

L&B Tack added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth but that policy defaulted when Cooper exploded for eight runs in the top of the seventh. VanKeuren led off with a single and in the game’s defining play, a mix-up at second base resulted in an E-4, which allowed Charish Priest to reach first safely. Amanda Cox made Tack pay for that foible with a three-run blast to deep left. Singles by Amanda Irwin and McCarthy and a walk to Weickum loaded the bases. A second E-4 allowed Wright to reach first, which drove in another run.

That wasn’t the end of it. Shuart’s triple plated a pair of runs and Rocky Irwin’s single gave Cooper a six run lead heading to the bottom of the seventh. Tack had two on with one out in their last licks with singles by Dalyrymple and Froelich. Smith drove in Dalrymple with a single but the inning ended when Merton tried to stretch a triple and was tagged out at home. Cooper Paint took the 17-12 win but knew they had dodged a bullet. As for L&B Tack, they let what would have been the biggest upset of the season slip through their fingers.