Sullivan County Women’s Softball League

Dutch’s edges Klein & Sons Logging in Division A thriller

Noetzel’s homerun is the difference maker

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY - Pit two fine teams like Dutch’s Bar/T&C Tanning Salon and Klein & Sons Logging against each other and nine times out of ten, you’ll get a great game.

When the two teams met just a week ago, Dutch’s 23-7 victory was hardly representative of how close these teams really are. This time around was more like it.

After holding Klein & Sons scoreless in the top of the first on July 19, Dutch’s got out to a five-run, first-inning lead fueled by Klein & Sons shaky fielding. The ladies in blue and white made three errors that allowed RBI from Theresa Murdock, Amy Brudermann, Lisa Benjamin and Shannon Holland. Dutch’s got good swings off of Klein & Sons pitcher Susan Waddell, but quite a few of those hits should have been outs.

Klein & Sons got one back in the second inning on back-to-back doubles by Erin Peck and Waddell, but fine Dutch’s fielding, especially from outfielder Theresa Noetzel, put out the fire.

Noetzel is one of the league’s best outfielders. She has great instincts and terrific range as she moves on the contact of the bat and ball to get a great jump on fly balls. Stellar play at third by Justine Whitcomb would prove to be another defensive asset for Dutch’s as the game got close and dicey later in the evening.

Dutch’s added to their lead with a four-run second inning, and appeared to be on their way to another one-sided victory.

Kim Bradley’s leadoff single got the party started, but the first blow came from Tini Kaiser’s two-run homer. Candie Lake tripled and came home on a single by Murdock. Brudermann drove in the inning’s fourth run with a single.

That’s when Klein & Sons slammed the door shut.

Fine fielding replaced the earlier shoddy version as outfielder Annie Puleo tracked down every ball that was hit in her direction. Meanwhile, Klein’s bats came alive off of Dutch’s pitcher Benjamin. Klein & Sons scored three runs in the top of the third. Two of those came via a booming home run to right by Barbara Ward-Blank. Peck added a third run in the inning with an RBI single.

In the fourth inning, Kris Stant came on to pitch for Klein & Sons. She pitched two scoreless innings. Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth.

In the top of the six, trailing 9-4, Klein & Sons exploded for four runs, which by all rights should have been five or more. The log ladies got RBI from Cheryl Sheerer, Ward-Blank and a two-run single from Jill Hubert-Simon. With the bases loaded and one out, Klein & Sons didn’t send a runner home on a fly out to right, an oversight that may have cost them the game.

Dutch’s got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on a thunderous homer to deep left by Noetzel. That run would prove to be the difference as Klein & Sons tried to rally in the seventh.

They got really close as Jane Smith led off with a triple and Chris Powers brought her in with an RBI single to make it a 10-9 game. A tremendous grab of a Chris Klein liner by third baseman Whitcomb may well have saved the game for Dutch’s. Benjamin induced two fly-outs to end the game.

Dutch’s record improved to 11-2. Their only losses this season came against Cooper Paint and Charlie’s Angels, the league’s top two teams. Dutch’s will have another crack at each of them.

Klein & Sons’ record fell to 9-6, but they remain in the playoff hunt. They put up a great fight and were not discouraged after their early 9-1 deficit.

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