Sullivan County Women’s Softball League A Division Championship Series

Brush strokes

Cooper Paint mounts 20-hit attack to take game one over Klein and Sons Logging in playoff finals

By RICHARD A. ROSS

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, NY - Relentless hitting on the part of Cooper Paint masked a good effort by dangerous contender Klein and Sons Logging on August 13 in the A division opener of the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League playoffs.

Ecstatic about the return of Kayla Scannell, who suffered a serious injury late in the victorious game over Charlie’s Angels, the log ladies stayed close until the middle of the fifth inning. Then, their tie dyed adversaries put the hammer down and claimed the opener by the score of 15-9. The victory put Cooper Paint one win away from a repeat playoff title, after garnering the regular-season title for the third straight year.

Intent on “Packing their lunch and having a day,” a phrase coined by Klein and Sons star acquisition Michelle Ross, who is currently basking in the sun in Mexico on vacation while her team vies for the ultimate bragging rights, Klein and Sons was clearly up for the challenge after ousting heavyweight Charlie’s Angels in the best of three semifinal series with a resounding 14-3 win in the rubber game that propelled them to the finals.

Armed with their lunch bags, replete with their jersey numbers and Funyuns with Whoppers inside, Klein and Sons looked loose and stoked as they posed for a pre-game photo. Despite some pre-game levity of its own, Cooper Paint, which had dodged a bullet and needed two-out clout by Amanda Irwin in the bottom of the seventh to best Klein and Sons the last time, viewed this game as no laughing matter.

They had watched with rapt attention as Code Blue dismantled Charlie’s Angels by piling up 20-plus hits in the semifinal clincher. They knew they were going to be challenged, and they were anxious to get things underway.

Neither team scored in the first inning. Klein and Sons tried to set the tone in the second by getting out to a 2-0 lead. Lax infield play by Cooper Paint allowed slow grounders to turn into hits, as Klein and Sons loaded the bases and got RBI from Anna Puleo and Susan Waddell. Kris Stant was tagged out at the plate, trying to score on Waddell’s single, to end the inning.

Klein and Sons Logging is often described with references to lumber, but when it comes to wielding big sticks, Cooper Paint is in a class by itself. In its half of the inning, Cooper Paint responded with four runs. Lori Brown led off with a towering solo homer. An E-4 issued to Leyna Madison and back-to-back singles by Rocky Irwin and Erin Shuart loaded the bases, as Natalie Cillis, Charish Priest and Jackie Litwak knocked in runs to make it 4-2.

Never rattled and always focused, Klein and Sons came back to tie the game at four apiece in the third, with a two-run double by Nikomi Thompson that sailed over the head of left fielder Amanda Cox.

Cooper returned to its bench seeing red, yellow, green and purple and proceeded to send 10 batters to the plate, who fired off a barrage of singles yielding RBI from Madison, Rocky Irwin, Shuart, Cillis and Priest to make it 9-4. They took the field figuring they had left Klein and Sons in the dust, but the league’s most improved team wasn’t ready to call it a night. They did go down in order in the fourth, and fell behind 10-4 in the bottom of the inning as Amanda Irwin drove in a run. But in the top of the fifth, they amassed four runs to let Cooper Paint know they were still there as they trailed 10-8.

The rally began with a dropped ball at first base on what should have been out number one. A single and a fielder’s choice put runners on second and third, as heavy hitting Barbara Ward-Blank blasted a two-run double. Jane Smith followed with a two bagger of her own. A single by Thompson closed the gap to two runs. The chain saws were a-buzzing and notions of toppling the champs danced like sugarplums in the heads of Code Blue.

But dreams against Cooper Paint can soon turn into nightmares.

Klein and Sons is a feisty group, but Cooper Paint has the confidence born of experience. They answered Klein and Sons’ four-run inning with a five-run inning of their own. Looking to keep Cooper Paint off balance, Klein and Sons coach Paul Hubert switched his pitcher and catcher, sending Kris Stant to the mound to replace Waddell. The tactic worked in the past, but this time out Stant had trouble throwing strikes.

She walked the first two batters in the fifth on eight straight balls, and allowed Cooper Paint to load the bases with no outs. RBI singles by Cillis, Priest, Litwak and Cox plated five runs, making a close game begin to bear the markings of a blowout. Taking a page out of painter Jackson Pollock’s style, Cooper splattered hits all over the canvas to create their latest work of art, putting themselves just seven innings away from their second consecutive crown.

Down by seven as they came to their last at-bat, Klein and Sons hoped for some late magic. Scannell, fresh from her brief stay in Westchester Medical Center, showed her revitalized health and verve by blasting a solo homer. But Susan Waddell was called out on a swinging bunt, a call that infuriated Hubert, which stood nonetheless. Cooper Paint worked around a single by Ward-Blank to induce a game-ending comebacker from Jane Smith for the win.

The teams were scheduled to resume play at Swan Lake on August 14. Klein and Sons hoped to summon more mystique to extend the series one more night and afford themselves a chance to win. Cooper Paint clearly was hoped to apply the finish coat and frame another one for the gallery.

(Editor’s note: Cooper Paint defeated Klein & Sons 22 to 12 for the SCWSL Division A champioship. Visit riverreportersports.com for an update and photos galore.)