Sullivan County Women’s Softball ‘A’ Division Championship Series

Angels soar to cloud nine with ‘A’ series championship

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY—All season long Charlie’s Angels were bedeviled by Cooper Paint but in the end they exorcised that hindrance and soared to the ethereal heights of winning the playoffs. The Angels (23-4) downed Cooper (25-2) in game three by the score of 14-6 winning the series two games to one in the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League (SCWSL) ‘A” Division Championship. They bounced back from a game one defeat that seemed to portend Cooper’s ongoing dominance this year over the defending champs. Rather than fold, Charlie’s Angels reached down deep and came up with two convincing wins propelled by the stuff championship teams are made of: great pitching, stellar defense, heads up base running and timely hitting.

With the series tied at a game apiece, Charlie’s took Cooper’s best shot and answered back for the first two innings. Winning the toss and being designated as the home team the Angels took the field and withstood Cooper’s first salvo wherein Ally McCarthy hit a two run double and Leyna Madison brought her home with a base hit and just like that Cooper led 3-0.

Rattled? No way.

Charlie’s Angels capitalized on a bases loaded two run single by Karen Fisher and an RBI from Terri Hess to tie the score. Cooper loaded the bases with no out in the second. The inning begun with a booming triple by Rocky Irwin who scored on a single by Erin Shuart. Cooper promptly reloaded the bases but the Angels’ neutralized that threat with a 1-2-6 double play on a grounder hit by Charish Priest. “That defense really backs me up out there,” smiled Angels pitcher Lisa Krom between innings.

The Angels got that run right back with an RBI single by Krom and the league’s two top teams were deadlocked at four apiece after two innings.

Cooper went quietly in the third and their body language started to show their frustration. Meanwhile, the Angels looked confident, efficient and hungry. They scored three in the third set up by a triple by Shannon Dietrich. Hess brought her home with a double. Christine Decker and Robyn Gannon then each drove in a run. Cooper came back with two in the top of the fourth behind Shuart’s RBI triple and an RBI from Natalie Cillis but the relentless Angels put on their halos and rose above any thought of losing. A six run fourth inning took what was left of Cooper’s resolve. Sending ten batters to the plate and capitalizing on Cooper’s shaky fielding, runners scored with startling regularity off the bats of Tonya Martin, Debbi Ackerley, Fisher, Dietrich, Hess, Cindy Ellmauer and Decker to give the Angels a 14-6 lead that would stand up for the win. Cooper failed to score for the rest of the game as the Angel’s turned in their fourth double play in two games on a Priest grounder in the seventh that punctuated their statement: We are the champions!

Give Cooper credit for a great season. They won the league and that’s not bad for a group of ladies that just came together this year. Slugger Amanda Irwin was philosophically calm. “They were hungrier, they played better than us and they deserved to win. We did great for this being our first year together,” she noted. Charlie’s Angels players didn’t need to be quoted. They made their statement on the field like they always do. They are a veteran team with poise, talent and resolve. All in all the series was a fitting end to a great season proving resoundingly once again that the ladies of the SCWSL are in a league of their own.

GAME TWO: FISHER’S SINGLE PROPELS CHARLIE’S ANGEL’S NINTH INNING WIN TO EVEN THE SERIES

There’s no way to deny it. Charlie’s Angels is a team with great pride, talent and history. Faced with the double whammy of having their arch rivals Cooper Paint sweep them out of the playoffs and go undefeated, the resilient Angels came out fighting. Using crisp defense that featured a great catch by Christine Decker on an Amanda Irwin first inning blast, a trio of 5-4-3 double plays begun by stellar shortstop Shannon Dietrich and a great grab of a hot liner in extra innings by Jo Walls at third, the Angels kept Cooper Paint at bay.

For their part, the tie dyed Devils fueled the angelic fire with error after error in the field. For all of that, despite trailing from the bottom of the first on, Cooper Paint mounted a seventh inning rally coming back from a five run deficit to tie the game at 10-all but could only manage one hit off of Angel’s hurler Lisa Krom in two extra innings. As the home team the Angels needed only one run to get off the mat and tie the series and they got that in the bottom of the ninth.

Cooper made a questionable decision to walk leadoff batter Tonya Martin for the third straight time. It is a cardinal rule that you don’t intentionally put the go ahead runner on base but Cooper feared Martin’s ability to win the game with a single swing. She had already driven in four runs so they walked her. Debbi Ackerley hit into a fielder’s choice and Diane Staves came in to run for her. With one out and a runner on first Karen Fisher hit a drive over second base that went right through the legs of short fielder Amanda Cox. That allowed Staves to race home with the winning run giving Charlie’s Angels an 11-10 win and setting up a winner-takes-all third game on August 17.

Things seemed to go Charlie’s way from the beginning. Cooper got a run in the top of the first with an RBI single from Ally McCarthy but Decker’s catch of Irwin’s shot to center prevented at least two more runs from scoring. The Angels put up three in their half of the inning with five singles including a two run base hit by Martin and an RBI from Fisher. Backed up by great defense, Krom kept Cooper scoreless for seven of the nine innings over the night and worked around a grand slam by McCarthy down the right field line in the fourth to limit the damage. Meanwhile, the Angels continued to pour it on getting four runs in the second. Decker hit a homer to deep left and a two out E-5 opened the door to three more runs in the frame. That errant throw which would have ended the inning at third base sailed over Amanda Irwin’s head and she hyper-extended her knee jumping up to reach it. The Angels added a run in the third and two more in the sixth to take a 10-5 lead into the seventh.

But Cooper has often proven to be a late inning menace. Three singles in a row to Jen Wright, Rocky Irwin and Erin Shuart plated one run but with two outs Cooper got back to back RBI triples from Charish Priest (two runs), Amanda Cox (one run) and an RBI single from Amanda Irwin. McCarthy flied out to end the inning. Neither team could score in the eighth and Cooper went down one-two-three in the ninth before allowing the Angels to score the winning run in their half of the inning. It was the first time this season that Charlie’s Angels (22-4) beat Cooper Paint (25-1). A jubilant Angels team posed for a photo at home plate hoping to do the same on the following night with their crown intact. Among the heavily weighted Angels crowd were Jason and Debbie Madnick who had traveled all the way from Key Largo to see their friend Lianne Mangabang play. After watching the Angels win, the trip seemed that much more worthwhile.

Last season the Angels won it all and were undefeated.

One win away

Undefeated Cooper Paint goes for ‘A’ title; Charlie’s Angels have backs to the wall

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY — Historically Charlie’s Angels is the best team in the annals of Sullivan County Women’s League Softball with a 115-11 record over five years and a 21-4 mark this season. Today they find themselves beaten four times in a row, including the August 15 final ‘A” series finals, by Cooper Paint (25-0) with a 13-10 loss.

After an eight-run second inning by Cooper that featured 12 batters coming to the plate, a monstrous two-run homer by Amanda Irwin that sailed out of the park, and RBI from up and down the lineup, the Angels came back in the third capitalizing on a leadoff E-3 with triples by Tonya Martin and Cindy Ellmauer, a double by Debbi Ackerley and a host of singles. In a game defined by great defense, collisions at home plate and big innings, Cooper saw its 10-2 second-inning lead get shorn down as the Angels rode a two-out rally in the third inning to put up a five spot.

Action heated up with two collisions at the plate. First Cooper’s Erin Shuart collided with Terri Hess, and later Shannon Dietrich crashed into Leyna Madison. Shuart was called out, Dietrich was safe but tempers were flaring. Dietrich made great plays at short and Amanda Cox pulled in a Sportscenter-highlight diving catch in left field. Irwin’s home run was her tenth of the year to leave the park. It sailed over the Buster’s Barbecue sign in left center.

Strangely after all the early offense, both teams went scoreless for the last three innings as Cooper took a 1-0 lead in the best of three series against the defending champs. Charlie’s Angels was undefeated last year but now face an uphill battle of trying to best a team twice in a row that they haven’t beaten all year.