Sixth Annual Fremont Benefit Tournament

Matthew's On Main captures Fremont benefit tourney

Men in blue post feisty comeback win over Stone Arch Inn to cap great fundraising weekend

By RICHARD A. ROSS

FREMONT CENTER, NY — In the end, the Sixth Annual Fremont Benefit tournament held on August 6 to 7 was all about the kids. Certainly, the remarkable weekend of non-stop adult softball featuring 11 teams in a double-elimination tournament was rife with action, thrills and memories preserved in the many photos taken during the weekend. (Visit riverreporter.com.) Matthew*s On Main capped off the outstanding marathon of games with a down-to-the-wire comeback 10-9 win over Stone Arch Inn to win the tournament.

While that game and the preliminary battles that led up to it comprise a compelling story soon to be recounted, the enduring value of the tournament lies in its contribution to two great causes directly related to children.

First, the tournament raised money for Fremont Center’s new playground. The former playground was washed away during the April 1, 2005 devastating floods. The field, which is used for men’s softball, little league and Cal Ripken Babe Ruth Baseball, was purchased by tournament organizer Loreen Gebelein of Fremont Center 10 years ago. She and her husband, Brian, along with Ed and Susan Kelting, run the benefit tournament. Some of the money raised this year may be used to construct a pavilion next year, which will offer some shade from the unrelenting sun that bakes the loyal fans. Many of those hardy souls sat out for nearly 20 hours of some of the best softball our area has to offer.

Proceeds from the tournament will also benefit Grace Hillriegel of Callicoon, NY whose battle with Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) has taken a turn for the worse. Doctors recently deemed that Grace will need a bone marrow transplant and according to her parents, Jeannie and Brian, a testing area will soon be set up in the Delaware Youth Center to search for a possible matching donor.

Wild tourney leads up to final between Matthew*s On Main and Stone Arch Inn

After two days that featured epic battles among the tournament’s 11 teams, it came down in the end to the two teams most people thought had the best chance to win, namely Matthew*s on Main and Stone Arch Inn. The two teams had played earlier in the day when both were still undefeated. Matthew*s had already defeated Davis Excavating, Garden Creations and Westy’s, while Stone Arch Inn had beaten Heinle’s and Ronny’s Ringers.

In the first game between Matthew*s and Stone Arch, both teams remained scoreless for the first three innings that were defined by several outstanding defensive catches from Chris ‘Bone’ Hubert of Stone Arch in deep center and a fabulous running catch by Matthew*sright fielder Jayson Legenos. After Stone Arch Inn took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, Matthew*sexploded for 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back-to-back home runs from Craig Smith (grand slam), Mike Weir and Frank Exner to fuel the 11-1 win.

Subsequently Stone Arch Inn defeated eventual third-place-winner Westy’s, a team made up of Pennsylvania All-Stars. The stage was now set for Matthew*s and Stone Arch to go at it again in what might turn out to be the tournament decider. A win by Matthew*s would give them the tournament title, but a Stone Arch win would require the teams to play again.

Tim ‘Chopper’ Ackermann took the mound for his third start of the day for Stone Arch while Matthew*s countered with Brian ‘Mooner’ Buday. Stone Arch got three runs in the top of the first from Brian Brustman’s bases-loaded double and a single by Dennis Brockner. Matthew*s came back and took the lead with RBI singles from Brian Kitson, Mike Pickett and Joe Meyer. Chris Reichmann reached on an E-5, which plated another run. Neither team scored in the second, but Stone Arch Inn took a 7-4 lead in the third and added two more runs in the top of the fourth to make it 9-2. Rob Hubert’s RBI triple got the show started. Dave Hubert, Rich Thony and Josh Milucki drove in runs in the third while Brian Brustman and Brocker had RBI’s in the fourth.

Sensing the urgency, Matthew*s got off the mat, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Craig Smith’s two-run single and Frank Exner’s two-run double got Matthew*s within one run as Glen Rosenberger, Matt Buddenhagen, Smith and Weir scored.

Stone Arch clung to the narrow 9-8 lead as the fifth inning saw both teams go down in order. Mooner held Stone Arch scoreless again in the sixth as well, as Rosenberger flipped to Keith Shaddock who turned a great 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Weir’s sac fly brought Buddenhagen home and the game was tied. Bob Head came on to pitch the seventh for Matthew*s and allowed only one hit. The Matthew*s men came into the dugout urging each other on in the bottom of the seventh, but two quick outs boded the gruesome possibility of an extra inning continuance. Then Shaddock got a timely hit to right and advanced to second on an interference call. That left it up to the veteran Rosenberger who has been playing men’s softball since 1978.

Rosenberger fisted a flare to right and Shaddock blazed home icing the 10-9 win, which was punctuated by the jubilant cheers of his teammates and roars of approval from many of the crowd’s avid fans who had seen quite enough softball to last them for the duration.

Fine play by Heinle’s, McGurrin’s Pub, Garden Creations, Davis Excavating, American Electric (the team of the future), Ronny’s Ringers, Westy’s, Sidetracks and Sutphen East led up to the finals.