Baseball

Section Nine Class B Quarterfinals

Justin time

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY - Liberty came with fire in their eyes and the indomitable desire to win. They believed that their year, their time and their moment of truth had arrived.

Coming into the season with eight seniors that included veterans Justin Garritt, Justin Green and Scott Hamlin, the Indians had dreamed of bringing Liberty baseball back to its former glory. Other Indians dreamed of victory as well, including Evan Kirsch and teammate Mike Dunnigan, who left their mark on this sectional

quarterfinal before the day was through.

For Liberty, which had suffered many losses in every sport, baseball became the standard bearer to rekindle pride. Liberty won two of three regular season games from defending champion John S. Burke Catholic and seemed ready to capture the division.

But like past years, Sullivan West stood in the way. Their baseball rivalry extends beyond the pale.

Players know each other well and a couple are best friends. Last year, the two teams knocked each other out of postseason contention. This year, each aspired to make it to sectionals.

But Liberty found itself victimized in a series sweep: three games in which Liberty had victory snatched away by Sullivan West late heroics. The Bulldogs showed their grit and resiliency and angled for the postseason unswayed by being swept by Burke later in the season.

Both teams made it to sectionals and would play in the one game that would matter the most.

Hope burned resoundingly in the heart of senior catcher Garrett Owen, who had spent his high school career playing, practicing, recovering from devastating injuries and dreaming of ending his playing days at Sullivan West in exultation.

Seeking to guide Sullivan West ace Jimmy Moloney through the paces from behind the dish, Owen witnessed his team’s unraveling at the hands of an inspired Liberty squad. The Indians got a sterling pitching performance from Justin Green and nothing short of explosive hitting up and down the lineup.

Reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s famous speech, following the catastrophic defeat of the allied forces at Dunkirk, Liberty forged something historic.

In June of 1940, Churchill told the British House of Commons, “We have to think of the future, not the past.” He predicted that if the embattled British citizenry would brace itself to its duties and ultimately triumph, that people would look back and say, “This was their finest hour.”

As Liberty players embraced a tearful Green at game’s end, proud Liberty parents and friends looked on with pride and joy at their team’s finest hour.

Baseball games have their defining moments and this game was no exception. After quickly disposing of Liberty in the top of the first inning, working around one of Kirsch’s three hits on the day, Sullivan West looked to draw first blood in its turn at bat.

A jittery Green walked Owen to start the game. Moloney teed off on a Green pitch and sent the ball that seemed destined for the far reaches of left center and had RBI written all over it.

But center fielder Trevor Tompkins got a great jump, raced and came up with a highlight reel catch. As it turned out, Tompkins saved more than a run. He saved a potential momentum shift. Green got Mark Tesseyman to bounce out to end the inning. While Sullivan West had missed its chance for the early lead, Liberty did not.

Their batters zoned in on Moloney’s fastball and started rocketing his pitches with authority. Kelly Hamlin’s one-out infield single lit the fire. An E-4 allowed Justin Mills to give the Indians runners on first and second, before Green helped his own cause with an RBI double.

Dunnigan followed with an RBI single. Garritt walked and Kirsch banged a two-run double. Moloney got his second strikeout of the inning by fanning Tompkins to end Liberty’s hit parade. Liberty led 4-0 but, given its past collapses, the Indians weren’t counting on a victory yet.

With one out after Brad Reimer singled and Chris Freebes walked, a sharp liner off the bat of Greg McArthur was snared by shortstop Hamlin, who fired to second to double off Reimer and end the inning in another defining moment.

Moloney threw 47 pitches in the first two innings and as Owen noted after the game, despite being one of the best pitchers in the county, his fastball wasn’t getting by Liberty batters.

Meanwhile, Green was using a wicked curve that Owen noted had plenty of tail on it and was breaking away from the predominantly right-handed Sullivan West line up. He mixed in an effective change up and used a deceptively lively fastball to keep Sullivan West batters off balance. By game’s end, he had allowed only three hits and one unearned run in the fourth inning, a product of an E-7 and an RBI double by senior Freebes.

Fired up by Garritt’s cries of “Who wants this?” Liberty’s defense made the plays it needed to make. Responding to his cries of “We want more,” Liberty batters scored runs with startling regularity.

The Indians got three more runs in the top of the fourth that began with an E-1 that allowed Garritt to reach second on a throw that sailed over Tesseyman’s head. Justin Katz executed a perfect sac bunt to advance him to third and Kirsch chipped in with his third RBI on a single.

Sullivan West coach Kurt Scheibe had seen enough and lifted Moloney after his 68-pitch day in favor of lefty Logan Grishaber, who inherited the runner on third. Hamlin greeted Grishaber by sending a booming RBI triple to the far reaches of the outfield. Tompkins’ sac fly to right scored Hamlin, who slid into home just ahead of a tag from Owen. Grishaber struck out Kelly Hamlin to end the inning, but Liberty now led 7-1.

The final run came in the fifth inning on Dunnigan’s second RBI.

In the top of the seventh, Grishaber allowed a single to Mills and struck out the side to bring the Bulldogs to the eleventh hour of their season. Although Grishaber, like his Bulldog teammates, was sorely disappointed by the impending loss, he gave his team nearly four innings of sterling relief.

Scheibe noted after the game that the team never gave up. Every player stood at the fence and cheered on their teammates as the Bulldogs got two runners on, courtesy of a leadoff single by Reimer and a walk eked out by McArthur.

But Green had not come all this way to lose. Hamlin made a trip to the mound and yelled to his infielders, “We’re not folding,” and they didn’t.

Green fanned pinch hitter Gaston Owen, the senior’s brother and heir-apparent to his place behind the plate. He then turned his attention to Owen the elder and induced the aforementioned grounder to Hamlin that ended the game.

Tears ran down Green’s face as his teammates mobbed him and lifted him up in one of those moments that will have years of shelf life. This was their World Series game seven. This was their version of David versus Goliath and on a resplendent spring afternoon, this was indeed their finest hour.

Players brimmed with emotion following the game.

Justin Garritt’s take: “It feels amazing. This is the year. This is the team, the one with the best chemistry I’ve ever played on.”

Green was overcome with emotion. “I struggled in the first two innings, but once I got going I felt much better,” he said. Green exuded praise for his team’s run support and said he never worried about the prior collapses that Liberty had suffered.

Coach John Wilhelm said, “We really hit the ball well, something we didn’t do in the three games before. But no lead is ever safe. We wanted to build on it and get more runs.” Wilhelm praised Green’s fine outing, his team’s fire and Garritt’s leadership. After being drenched by the water bucket, he grinned and continued. “This was the chance we were hoping for.”

Hamlin noted, “We saw a lot in the newspapers about how no one gave us credit. We knew we had a great team with senior leadership, which has been key. We’ve been practicing hard. This win was huge for our school spirit.”

Scheibe said, “They came to play, pitched a great game and kept us off balance. When we hit the ball hard they made the plays.” The coach wasn’t surprised at Liberty’s fervor. “They come cranked every time we play them. It’s like Yankees-Mets,” he said.

“It’s a game of inches,” he said, referring to balls that just veered off gloves, while others were caught. Losing two seniors will be tough, but Scheibe has a host of fine young players coming back.

Standing beside the now empty field, Owen and this writer talked at length about the game, his career and his feelings. “I’ve practiced every day since seventh grade all year long,” he noted wistfully, trying to absorb the finality of it all and wondering what could replace it. “It’s disappointing,” he said, but without the least trace of rancor. “We got down early and when we hit the ball, they made the tough plays.”

Counting Hamlin as his best friend, Owen noted that the two refrained from talking about this game in the days leading up to it. Their friendship would survive no matter what the outcome. Owen knew Liberty was a fastball hitting team. “When they got the bat on the ball, it went a mile.” Owen praised all of the day’s pitchers for their efforts, including Green for his impressive curve and out pitches, as well as Grishaber, who kept the ball down and worked effectively.

As the shadows began to fall on what has been his Field of Dreams, the stalwart catcher accepted the outcome with quiet grace and poise. Given his work ethic, there is apt to be a wealth of success in other arenas of his life. But now it’s time to reckon with the rite of passage that comes with the end of his high school sports career and his impending graduation. Change is hard, but when you’re strong of heart, it is something you just accept.

Sullivan West ended its season at 11-7, while Liberty (14-7) moved on to play top-seeded Pine Plains on the road on May 31. Liberty lost that game 4-2. See “Happy Trail’s End” on page 33.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of Liberty-Sullivan West game pictures.