Sullivan County Women’s Softball League A Division Semifinals

Charmed life

Astounding seventh-inning comeback sends Cooper Paint back to the championship round after L&B Tack shocker

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY - Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens that makes it all new again. Such was the case in the bizarre unfolding of game two of the A division semifinal series between defending champion Cooper Paint and fourth-seeded L&B Tack.

Following Cooper Paint’s opening night 19-3 bashing of L&B Tack, few expected the ladies in maroon and white to make it a series. But that they did, aided and abetted by some unforeseen events, including a dark-induced continuance of a game they had tied at three all in the bottom of the fifth inning the night before at Swan Lake.

That game had been halted as a helicopter from Catskill Regional Medical Center landed on the field, responding to a fatal hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of 82-year-old Josid Zharkin, a summer resident who had been struck while walking nearby.

The tragedy and the darkness forestalled the continuance of the game, which Tack had tied with RBI from Lori Froehlich and Lacy Dalrymple. Liz Stubits had scored an earlier run on a RBI single. Cooper Paint, playing a sluggish game following its landslide win the night before, had gotten an early RBI from Amanda Cox and two from Amanda Irwin. Cox, unaware of the count, had struck out looking to end the fifth inning, before the game was halted.

With the game tied, play resumed at Collins Park, following Klein and Sons’ dramatic come-from-behind nine-inning win over Charlie’s Angels in game two. Cooper Paint’s intention was to quickly put L&B Tack to rest by piling up a bunch of runs and calling it a night. To that end, Ally McCarthy got on with a one-out single, and Lori Brown hit a thunderous triple to deep left. But a great relay throw from Trish Tuttle at short gunned McCarthy down at the plate, as Dalrymple held on for the tag. Meanwhile, Brown was halfway home and was nearly doubled off as she retreated to third. Leyna Madison popped up to first to end the inning, and Cooper had nothing to show for its efforts.

By sharp contrast, L&B Tack’s sixth inning spoke volumes. Barb Merton led off with a single and came home on a triple blasted by Tuttle. A pair of errors led to the inning’s second run, as Karen Smith’s bouncer to short was misplayed. Froehlich loaded them up with a single, and Dalrymple’s ground out got in run number three. Robin DeMarmels knocked in the next, and a Jamie Hopkins single led to three more runs as two runners were called safe at the plate despite tag attempts by Cooper Paint catcher Leyna Madison.

When the dust cleared, Cooper Paint players were down by seven runs trailing 10-3, and faced the prospect of having to play a third and deciding game following this meltdown. Team manager Pat Shuart gathered her team at the mound to calm them down. Following a ground out by Stubits in the bottom of the sixth, Cooper Paint came to the plate with mission impossible: get at least seven runs to stay alive.

While it seemed highly unlikely that Cooper would come back to tie or win, one must be aware that this team already had garnered wins in two big games it looked to have lost. The first was the division-leading victory over Charlie’s Angels that involved an eight-run sixth-inning outburst. The second was a 9-8 win over Klein and Sons Logging that enabled them to clinch the A division regular season title.

A trio of walks issued by pitcher Jamie Hopkins and a single by Natalie Cillis gave Cooper Paint its first run. But a collision involving Charish Priest at third gave the Cooper Paint vet yet another headache. Two weeks ago, she was beaned by a throw from Charlie’s Angels’ shortstop Shannon Dietrich heading to the same bag. A clutch single by Jackie Litwak plated two more runs to make it 10-6. Cox hit a sac fly to make it 10-7, but Cooper was down to its last out.

But to close out a great team, you have to get that final out, and Cooper Paint refused to die. McCarthy launched a triple that rolled all the way to the wall and two more runs came in to make it 10-9. Lori Brown’s incredible clutch RBI double tied it up at 10 apiece. A grounder by Madison found its way through the legs of the second baseman for the go-ahead run.

Cooper Paint went to its now legendary closer Amanda “Mo Rivera” Irwin to try and seal the win in the bottom of the seventh. All L&B Tack needed was one run to send the game into extra innings or two to win it, but unflappable Mo got Merton to ground to short, as Erin Shuart gobbled up the ball and fired a strike to McCarthy at first. Tuttle hit a laser that seemed destined to sail over Priest’s head at third, but the embattled third baseman went aloft and snared it for out number two.

Denise Smith’s fly fell in between Katie Yaun and Cox for a single, but Kaiser popped up to Yaun to end the game. The sting of the loss for L&B Tack was hard to bear. For Cooper Paint, the comeback win and the chance to advance to the finals represented another page in the burgeoning scrapbook of sponsor Alan Cooper.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures and to keep up with the championship series.