Monticello Men’s Softball

Fitness Factory’s dominance as easy as ABC

By ZAC BRIGHT

MONTICELLO, NY — A game that might well have foreshadowed a potential title match-up between unbeaten men’s modified pitch softball juggernauts Fitness Factory and ABC Title looked more like the men versus the boys on July 21 as ABC’s sloppy play and mental mistakes opened the door to a 17-4 drubbing at the hands of an unrelenting Fitness Factory offense.

Given ABC Title’s 13-0 record coming into this game, few could have predicted Fitness Factory’s utterly dominant performance over the defending champions of the Monticello Men’s softball league. ABC Title defeated Lewis Auto Parts in a one-game playoff last year to garner the crown, which Fitness Factory( 15-0) seems bound and determined to wrest away in the coming playoffs. Fitness Factory came into this game with a 12-0 record after defeating Lewis Auto Parts last week for the second time this season.

The July 21 thrashing by Fitness came as no surprise to Factory’s skipper Edwin Rodriguez who knew from the get-go what his team had that ABC Title’s didn’t.

“I don’t think they have the chemistry we have to tell you the truth,” remarked Rodriguez, who reached base all but once and who knocked in the go-ahead run in the second inning that would prove to signal the beginning of the end for ABC.

“We’ve been playing together for the last seven years. We know what each one of us can do and what we can’t do, and I think they’re a little inexperienced when it comes to that,” Rodriguez said.

ABC’s normally solid defense made even routine plays look difficult. In softball, baseball or any team sport in general, physical errors can be overcome with grit, teamwork and determination, but mental mistakes, on the other hand, can brutalize a team’s psyche, leading to a downward spiral of momentum that minimizes a team’s chances for a comeback. In nearly every inning, whether it was in the field or on the base paths, ABC Title proved to be its own worst enemy.

Yet while ABC Title was self-destructing in nearly every aspect of the game, Fitness Factory made it look easy. After Title’s four-run, first-inning, pitcher JoJo Vankeuren’s quick windmill delivery and control of the plate left ABC shaking their heads and repeatedly coming up empty.

Offensively, nearly everyone contributed to the onslaught. Eight Factory players were responsible for driving home at least one run, while Rodriguez, Aaron Dinkle, Jay Legends and Alex Salazar contributed two hits apiece.

“They don’t have any flaws,” ABC Title coach Mike Greco said, “but we expect to be matched up with them at the end of the season.”

In all likelihood, Greco has it right. There is a distinct possibility that these rivals will have a playoff meeting with much larger implications in a little over a month. The stakes: a potential championship anointed by a Gatorade bath versus a long, mournful wait for next season to begin.