Ronny’s Ringers Softball Tournament

The tie that binds

Stone Arch Inn and Matthews on Main share title as light wanes on tourney’s final day

By RICHARD A. ROSS

COCHECTON CENTER, NY — It’s official, summer is here. It was ushered in by the annual rite of passage known as the Ronny’s Ringers Softball tournament, a gathering of beer league teams playing before swarms of happy-go-lucky fans. Crowds on onlookers on June 16 through 18 were enticed by great weather, heated softball rivalries, the smell of hot dogs and quenching quaffs of cold drinks to stave off the blistering heat.

This year’s tournament, which served as a fundraiser for the Cochecton Center Community Center, featured 10 teams in a double-elimination format. Most savvy observers looked at the brackets and schedule and figured that getting in the last game on June 18 at 6:30 p.m. might be a problem, especially if a team came in undefeated from the winner’s bracket and had to be beaten twice by the winner of the loser’s bracket.

And that’s just the way it turned out.

At tournament’s end, 2005 defending champions Matthews on Main defeated Stone Arch Inn 13-1 by the 10-run rule, reversing the polarity of a game between the two teams from nearly 12 hours earlier.

Early Sunday morning, Stone Arch emerged the victor by the score of 24-13 in a game in which Matthews committed countless errors.

Following that early morning defeat, Matthews fought its way back through the losers’ bracket with three wins to arrive at the final game against undefeated Stone Arch. It was Matthews’ fifth game of the day. Using knuckleball pitcher Mike Weir to spell eventual tournament MVP Brian ‘Mooner’ Buday proved key for Matthews in the intervening games, saving Mooner to pitch in the final.

Matthews showed its ability to come from behind as it amassed seven runs in the seventh inning to defeat Ronny’s Ringers, a team they beat on Saturday. That game was highlighted by a 6-4-3-2 triple play, executed by Matthews, that ended with a tag out at the plate applied by Kurt Buddenhagen.

They also came back with a six-run sixth inning to eliminate American Electric 12-9, before pounding an exhausted Davis Excavating team in the losers’ bracket final.

Davis ended up taking third place in the tournament. Pitcher Jim Davis had pitched in back-to-back games and eventually gave way to fill-in Chris Teeple. Matthews won the game 25-10 in six innings, piling up 24 runs in the final four frames.

Matthews capped off its day with an offensive explosion against Stone Arch Inn.

“See, we’re not an early-morning team,” Weir said, as Matthews began its late-day surge, fueled by the timely hitting of newcomers Joe Meyer and Billy Nordenhold, along with veterans Craig Smith, Chris Reichmann, Matt and Kurt Buddenhagen, E.T. Toledo, Brian Kitson, Glen Rosenberger and Weir.

Matthews also picked up veteran Kevin Hendrickson, who helped the cause, as did bench player Eric ‘Zeke’ Kratz.

Stone Arch got its lone run via a booming homerun from Chris ‘Bone’ Hubert in the second inning. But great defense, especially at third base by Rosenberger, limited the heavy hitters. Pitcher Tim ‘Chopper’ Ackermann had to leave the game after being hit on a terribly sore thumb that he has been nursing for the past week. Matthews piled up nine runs in the fifth inning to make short work of Stone Arch to end the game by the 10-run rule.

The problem was there should have been a second game since it was a double elimination tournament. But with the light waning, the two teams amicably agreed to share the title as co-champions. Both teams had scored 47 runs during their tournament run. The two teams posed side-by-side with Stone Arch captain Dennis Brockner and Matthews’ captain Buday holding the trophy. In that halcyon moment, the weekend concluded on a peaceful note, a stark departure from last year’s controversy. (We won’t go there.)

“It was a great tournament,” said Brockner, who was not disgruntled by the outcome. Stone Arch defeated American Electric 11-5 on Saturday before embarrassing Matthews on Sunday morning. They went on to edge out Davis Excavating 5-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Buday beamed as he shook Ronny Campfield’s hand, while holding the MVP trophy. Campfield, who is now 58, will probably play one more year before retiring.

The tournament’s heated action began on the evening of June 16 in Callicoon with teams that included McGurrin’s Pub, Drew-Cal, Lake Huntington Garage, American Electric, Davis Excavating, R+H Gorr, Sidetracks, Ronny’s Ringers, Matthew’s on Main and the Stone Arch Inn. The tournament’s outcome was a function of a pair of games between Matthews on Main and Stone Arch Inn.

Many of the players on the teams were veterans who have been around the beer league for years, but this year was marked by the continued influx of younger guys who have added life and verve to the teams they have joined. Young teams, such as Sidetracks, American Electric and Lake Huntington Garage (formerly Heinle’s), clearly improved their lot from last year. Nearly a year ago, many of these same teams gathered for a benefit tournament to raise money for Chad Powell, who had been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident.

Miraculously Powell not only recovered, he is playing for Lake Huntington Garage this summer.

During the course of the weekend, many fine players, whose names are too numerous to mention, excelled. Most of the games leading up to the tourney’s conclusion were first rate. Many of the same teams will amass for the Fremont Center Tournament, which will be held on July 15 and 16.

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