Sullivan County Women’s Softball League A division semifinals

Timber!

Buzz saw Klein and Sons Logging fells Charlie’s Angels to gain first-ever championship series berth

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY - With relentless batting that yielded upward of 20 hits, crisp fielding and walk-proof pitching by hurler Susan Waddell, Klein and Sons Logging ushered in a new era in Sullivan County Women’s Softball on August 9 by ousting Charlie’s Angels 14-3 in the third and deciding game of their A division semifinal series.

The win propelled Klein and Sons into its first-ever championship series, and offered Code Blue a chance to try and unseat defending champion Cooper Paint, a team they nearly beat a couple of weeks ago.

Bringing Charlie’s Angels down to earth was no small task, and despite Klein and Sons stellar regular season that netted only three losses, including a final at-bat defeat to Cooper Paint, it is likely that most onlookers fully expected K&S to play hard, but ultimately succumb to the team that has been synonymous with championships over the past two decades.

The loss by the Angels ended a four-year streak of being in the finals, during which they captured three playoff titles. The loss put an end to the halo ladies’ quest to recapture the title from arch rival Cooper Paint, a team that would now steel itself for a new rival in Klein and Sons, the league’s hottest team.

After playing the first two games of the series in a far from perfect manner, and gaining a split by virtue of its nine-lives performance in game two, it stood to reason that if Klein and Sons ever put together its “A” game that Charlie’s Angels would be severely tested.

After all, Klein and Sons had already bested Charlie’s Angels once during the regular season. Coming into the final game of the playoffs, they had beaten Charlie’s Angels in two of their four meetings this year.

Odds makers, fans, pundits and onlookers love to handicap games and offer up their predictions. So with Klein and Sons Logging superstar Michelle Ross missing in action due to a previously planned vacation, many figured her absence to be key as the teams geared up for the final fray.

Ross had gone four-for-four in game two and drove in the winning run. Her extraordinary defense and throwing ability from center field would be missed as well. But Klein and Sons coach Paul Hubert had already decided to put the team’s other great 2007 acquisition, Kayla Scannell, in center. Getting back third baseman Jane Smith, who was missing the night before, put Klein and Sons’ infield back in order. The team, already stoked from its prior night’s victory, had no intention of laying down for Charlie’s Angels. They came to win, and they showed it from the get go.

The Angels were missing a couple of players as well, including veteran Leanne Mangabang, who was by her daughter Krista’s bedside in Westchester following a serious Route 17B car accident in which the teen, who was a passenger, was injured .the night before. The good news in the Angels’ dugout was that Mangabang is going to be okay.

Concerns about well-being would later be transferred to Scannell, who suffered a serious blow near the ear on a close-range throw made by Angels’ shortstop Shannon Dietrich on a late-inning double-play attempt. After falling to the ground in a moment that is bound to inspire serious talk about the use of helmets next season, Scannell was attended by a physician who was a spectator. Following the game, she was escorted by several friends to seek further medical attention. The incident blunted, but did not forestall, Klein and Sons players from an emotional celebration following the win.

Angels’ catcher Terri Hess was also missing for the first part of the game, due to her responsibilities with the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce. Arriving late, she tried to do her part to help Charlie’s Angel continue its incredible run.

With the best players they could field ready and waiting, the teams flipped to determine who was home and away. Charlie’s won the coin toss, but, as the night unfolded, that would be all they would win.

Klein and Sons got two runs in the top of the first, as they hit a trio of singles off pitcher Diane Staves to load the bases. A fielder’s choice by Nikomi Thompson got Klein and Sons a lead they would never relinquish. A second run came on a ground out by Chris Powers.

The Angels responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame, as Nicki Krom blasted a triple into the gap in right center, and came home on a sac fly by Dietrich. Despite getting hits from Tonya Martin and captain Jo Walls, Charlie’s Angels couldn’t score any more runs in the inning. Their quiet bats, especially in key spots, were indicative of an offense that lacked the punch of bygone years.

Klein and Sons went scoreless in the second, and Charlie’s Angels tied the game up after Beth Fanning reached on a single and scored by dint of an E-6, and a subsequent throwing error on a ball hit by Cindy Ellmauer. Those errors were a queasy reminder of the seven miscues the night before. But Klein and Sons would make only one more error on the night.

The game continued to be a tight one, as Klein and Sons got a 3-2 lead in the third by loading the bases and getting a RBI single from Cheryl Sheerer. The Angels failed to score in the third, despite having runners on second and third from a single by Krom and a double by Martin. Two pop ups ended the threat.

Klein and Sons added two runs in the fourth, with RBI singles from Jill Hubert-Simon and Barbara Ward-Blank to make it a 5-1 game. The Angels had no answer in the fourth and succumbed to an inning-ending double play.

While they loudly encouraged each other to make the kind of landmark comeback evinced by rival Cooper Paint the night before that had ousted L&B Tack, it was not to be.

Klein and Sons had already added a sixth run in the fifth on a RBI from Chris Lopez (Celo). Four more in the sixth and seventh inning with a bevy of hard hit liners took Charlie’s Angels to the mill and planed them into submission. Klein and Sons turned a second inning-ending double play in the sixth, going 4-6-3 to punctuate their resolve.

The eight-run onslaught over the final two innings was being carefully watched by Cooper Paint players up on the hill. It included triples from Scannell, Ward-Blank and Kris Stant. The latter had spent hours, earlier in the day, working on batting practice. Virtually everyone in the line up had hits as well. It was in the midst of Klein and Sons’ seventh inning outburst that Scannell was injured.

After Celo led off with a single and Stant followed with a RBI triple, Scannell got aboard on a single, as Dietrich held the runner at third. A grounder by Waddell to Dietrich looked to be a perfect double- play ball as Dietrich stepped on second and fired to first, but Scannell came into second standing instead of sliding, something else the league needs to discuss in the off season, and Dietrich’s throw caught her up close and hard.

Action came to a halt for many anxious moments before Scannell was able to leave the field on her own power.

By inning’s end, a light drizzle had begun to fall. Waddell allowed a couple of hits in the seventh and a run, but the writing was already on the wall for Charlie’s Angels. They exited the series and the season with the greatest of class. No doubt they will look at Klein and Sons’ formula of blending in more young players as they mull over their plans for resurgence in 2008. Given the team’s history and inimitable record of success, there can be no doubt that Charlie’s Angels will be a force to be reckoned with once again.

Klein and Sons took on Cooper Paint in game one of the championship series on August 13, as indeed the league’s two best teams got set to vie for the title (see “Brush Strokes,” p. 25).

Visit riverreporter.com for a recap of game two of the series and many pictures.