Softball

Log ladies rein in L&B Tack again

Improved Klein and Sons Logging completes regular season sweep of this year’s giant killers

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY — “We’ve beaten the best, now we have to beat the rest,” was the gist of what L&B Tack players had in mind as they warmed up to face Klein and Sons Logging, one of the three teams that had beaten them this season. Remarkably, league-leading Charlie’s Angels does not share that distinction.

At least not yet.

L&B Tack showed its awesome potential by beating the Angels and defending champion Cooper Paint, thereby raising its stock and making its bid as one of this year’s main contenders in the A division of the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League.

The win against Cooper was payback for an early season loss to the tie-dyed defending champs, who are having struggles of their own this year trying to get back to the mountaintop. L&B Tack’s only other loss was to New Hope Community. L&B Tack entered its July 2 rematch with Klein and Sons Logging boasting a 6-3 record and looking for some much-desired payback against the ladies in royal blue and white.

Despite slaying giants like the league’s number one and two teams, Tack players weren’t downplaying the importance of topping other teams purportedly not on that level.

But over in the other dugout, something else was cooking. Also coming into this fray with only three losses, Klein and Sons (7-3) had already bested one of the league’s top teams in Dutch’s Bar/T&C Tanning to go along with its victory over L&B Tack. But unlike the ladies across the way, they could not brag about wins against Cooper Paint or Charlie’s Angels. That said, a sweep of L&B Tack would be great grist for the mill.

Klein and Sons added two fine players this year in right fielder Kayla Scannell, a recent Tri-Valley grad and softball MVP, and center field gunner Michelle Ross, who can fire a ball from the far reaches of the outfield to a base minimizing an opponent’s inclination to stretch a base hit into something extra. Both can wield a bat with authority, something they were soon to prove in this game. Both have good range in the outfield. The rest of the cast is the same as last year, fun, feisty and full of pep. They’re a lively group that plays fast and loose.

This game promised to be special and it immediately began to live up to the billing as Tack leadoff southpaw Robin Demarmels blasted a sizzler down the right field line for a homer off Klein and Sons starter Susan Waddell. The ladies in maroon tacked on a second run with a RBI off the bat of Denise Smith, who drove in Liz Stubits to make it 2-0.

L&B Tack held Klein and Sons in check for the first two innings, as pitcher Barb Merton allowed only a single to Nikomi Thompson over the first two frames. But instead of building on their lead, L&B also went quietly, abetted by a nifty 6-6-3 double play turned in by Klein and Son’s shortstop Jill Hubert-Simon, quelling a third inning that began with an E-4 that allowed Demarmels to reach safely. Two more singles went for naught, as the inning ended with a fly out to Ross in center.

Klein and Sons bats came alive for five in the bottom of the third. Singles by Chris Powers and Anna Puleo set the table for Waddell’s RBI base hit. An E-6 gave Hubert-Simon a RBI and a ground out by Barbara Ward-Blank gave Klein and Sons a 3-2 lead, before Ross blasted a shot down the right field line for a two-run round tripper.

Klein and Sons held L&B Tack scoreless again in the fourth and then built on their lead in the bottom of the inning with RBI from Powers and Scannell to make it 7-2.

L&B awakened from its slumber for a trio of runs in the top of the fifth, fueled by a two-run single from Merton and a RBI from Denise Smith. Tack stranded three runners with an inning-ending grounder to short.

Klein and Sons wasted no time in getting those three runs right back in the bottom of the fifth, with lively hitting by Ross and Thompson that set the table for RBI from Cheryl Sheerer, Chrissy Jersey and the game’s eventual hero, Kris “Mama” Stant. Mama Mia that lady can play. Not only did she man the hot corner with some sleek leather, she came on in relief of Waddell in the sixth inning and would account for a tie-breaking game-winning hit in the bottom of the seventh.

More on “Mama” later.

L&B Tack narrowed the lead to 10-8 in the top of the sixth by plating three runs, two of which came off a triple by Demarmels and another from a sac fly from Jamie Hopkins. Scannell showed great range, roaming to right center to snare a fly from Stubits that would have extended the inning.

Klein and Sons made it 11-8 by adding a run in the bottom of the sixth with a RBI from Ross. But L&B Tack was chomping at the bit to win this game and refused to go quietly in the seventh. An E-3 on a throw allowed the inning leadoff batter Merton to reach safely. Smith singled and Trish Tuttle scored them both with a double to make it 11-10. A ground out by Jackie DePaola nearly turned into a double play, but the throw from first to third was a second too late to nail Tuttle, who subsequently came home on a ground out hit by Karen Smith.

With the score tied at 11-all, Klein and Sons came up in the bottom of the seventh looking for just one precious run. Sheerer reached on an E-6 that took a wicked hop and got away from Tuttle at short. Jersey followed with a single to left as “Mama” Stant came to the plate amidst cheers and shouts from her adoring teammates in the dugout. When Stant’s hit went through, scoring Sheerer, “Mama’s family” erupted in joy with hugs, high fives and grins.

Players from both teams earnestly congratulated each other on what was truly a great game. L&B Tack fell to 6-4 while Klein and Sons improved to 8-3. The win gave Klein and Sons the regular-season sweep of L&B Tack, but these two teams could see each other again in the playoffs. If they do, dial it up as a premiere match up. Either team is capable of doing some major damage in the postseason and this writer wouldn’t bet against either of them.

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