Baseball

Enduring memories

Monticello hosts a baseball tournament in memory of John Spear; Liberty captures championship with mighty bats

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY — While some memories fade with time, those associated with people and events that make us feel valued and worthy stay fresh in our minds.

For those who had the privilege of knowing John Spear, most significantly his beloved family members, colleagues and the legions of baseball players that put on the Monticello uniform and called him coach, cherished memories of times with Spear remain fresh and vital and are likely to endure for the rest of their lives.

Spear left this world on January 20, 2007, but his legacy shines on brightly.

In a fitting tribute, Monticello High School hosted the first annual John Spear Memorial Baseball Tournament on April 19.

The Panthers are currently coached by Rob Keesler, who played for Spear from 1995 to 1997, and assistant Mike Greco, who hearkens back to Spear’s ’85-’86 seasons. Steve Duarte manned the sidelines as Spear’s most recent assistant coach.

For this first tournament, Monticello played host to Fallsburg in the day’s second game. A number of Panthers wore a baseball patch on their sleeves with Spear’s number 13. In the opener, Liberty soundly defeated Livingston Manor 13-4 and displayed the kind of firepower that would later carry them to a 17-5 win over Monticello in the championship game.

The victory gave the Indians (5-2) the gorgeous trophy, sponsored by the Sullivan County Umpires Association. The trophy will be passed onto subsequent winners in years to come.

As a coach, Spear instilled a love of the game in his players, as he emphasized character, sportsmanship and respect. He was a loving husband, father, teacher, dear friend and mentor.

Assembled on the baseball diamond, which was a key part of Spear’s world from 1985 to 2007, were many of the people who mattered most to him and who, in return, loved him dearly, including his wife, Elaine, son, David, and grandson, Adyn. David threw out the first pitch in the game between Monticello and Fallsburg, as Elaine demurely passed on throwing out a pitch as well.

She had been escorted to the diamond by high school principal Arleene Siegel and superintendent Patrick Michel. Athletic director Doug Murphy welcomed the crowd and introduced Marina Lombardi. who sang a sonorous rendition of the national anthem.

Watching the opening ceremony were not only the players from Monticello, Fallsburg and Liberty (Manor players had left for the consolation game at Somerville Field), but also a cadre of former Monticello players who came back to honor the memory of the coach who touched their lives so profoundly.

They represented Spear’s teams from his first year to his last, and they could fill a book with stories about those days. Donald Appel remembers losing to Minisink Valley 3-2 in the 1988 sectional final. He’ll tell you that teammate Tim Phipps made the last out and Phipps will add that he was robbed as his hard-hit liner was snagged to end a potential winning rally.

Others in attendance included William Saunders (’85-’87), Allen Lungen (’88), Antonio Simmons (’93-’94), Chris Connolly (’94-’96), Edwin (“Flaco”) Rodriguez and Steve Rivera (’95), Julian Dawson (’98-’99), Mike Washington (’05-’06), Billy DeCarlo (’05-’06), Alexis Bruno (’07) and Walt Saunders, who served as Spear’s assistant from ’85 to ’87.

Liberty’s opening round victory was a pleasant change from its hard-luck 20-10 loss to Marlboro the day before. Getting three strong innings from Trevor Tompkins and timely hitting across the lineup, the Indians benefited from Manor’s lack of available arms. Manor coach Ryan Carlson inserted spot starter Brian Caputo. The Wildcats had to reckon with a game later in the day and the prospect of facing Tri-Valley and Sullivan West on Monday and Tuesday.

Caputo committed a trio of balks and threw a bunch of passed balls as Liberty got out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. Relievers Justin Mendez and Jonah Hinkley tried to keep Liberty at bay but the Indians continued to hit and run in a preview of what they would later do to Monticello.

Monticello and Fallsburg came in winless but the Panthers emerged with their first victory of the season by downing Fallsburg 6-2 behind four strong innings from freshman Patrick Ripa. He relieved freshman starter Bobby Wagner as Monticello held a narrow 3-2 lead after three innings. Ripa struck out six and yielded just one hit. That runner was erased by a crisp 8-6-3 double play.

Monticello got a run in the first inning on a RBI grounder from Erik Mayberg. They added two more runs in the third and it might have been more. Leadoff batter Billy Albronda doubled but was erased from the base paths by batter interference. A pair of walks led to two unearned runs on a single by Jesse Levine.

Fallsburg (0-6) scored two in the third as a walk, single by Matt Seletsky, a passed ball, an E-2 errant throw and an E-1 showed Monticello’s inexperience. Keesler’s squad is heavy with freshmen and sophomores.

The Monti’s (1-6) got three more in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-clearing hit by Anthony Williams.

Fallsburg left to play Manor in the consolation game, while Liberty and Monticello warmed up for the championship.

The enlivened young Panthers had the Indians on the ropes in the first inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out off Liberty starter Abi Rubio. A single by Mayberg plated two runs, but a double play and ground out ended the inning.

Liberty took the lead in the bottom of the frame as Justin Katz led off with a booming homer to left. Kirsch tripled in Chris Lake and Justen Mills brought in Kirsch on a sac fly. Dustin VanLieu’s fourth homer of the season, a three-run blast in the third inning, made it 10-2 after his brother Ryan had knocked in a run with a single. Dustin had four RBI in the game for Liberty (5-2).

Southpaw Levine had trouble with Liberty’s powerful lineup. He gave way to Albronda and finally Mayberg as Liberty bats continued to smolder. Two more runs in the fourth and five in the fifth led to a quiet sixth inning when coach John Wilhelm inserted his bench players.

Earlier Monticello runs were driven in by Ripa and Williams.

Murphy presented Liberty coaches Wilhelm and assistant Phil Fanning with the trophy. The team then gathered to show off the hardware, capping off a great day of baseball.

It wouldn’t be a reach to imagine Spear in his dugout in heaven smiling to see the Panthers get their first win of the season.

“We miss him,” said Keesler. “That first win was for him,” he added as he commented on his young team’s improvement. “I see growth. We started the year trying to fit pieces into different places. We just had a tough week against Cornwall but these guys bounced back and played with upbeat confidence. That was a great outing from Ripa.” Monticello will play a rescheduled game against Tri-Valley on April 25.

Wilhelm referred to Liberty’s ongoing batting proficiency. “We’ve scored runs, but our defense has been shaky,” he said. In the game against Marlboro, Liberty got out to a 4-0 lead but gave it all back. Scoring 10 runs should have been enough to win but Wilhelm hopes the improvement in defense shown during the Spear tourney and the fine pitching put forth by Tompkins, Ryan VanLieu, who ate up innings, and Rubio, who gave the Indians five strong innings, are harbingers of good things to come.

With the batting power evinced by Liberty’s 30-run day, Liberty’s prospects for another successful season do look promising.

Liberty traveled to Chester on April 23 and then hosts O’Neill, looking for the series sweep on April 25.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of tournament pictures.