Softball

18 wheeler

Runaway Charlie’s Angels roll to 18th straight win bypassing Cooper Paint for third time this season

By RICHARD A. ROSS

SWAN LAKE, NY — After a pair of one-run losses to undefeated Charlie’s Angels this season, defending Sullivan County Women’s Softball League champion Cooper Paint hoped to put the brakes on the Angels’ runaway express on July 16 in their third and final match up with the teal terrors this season.

But when the dust cleared after another high-tension fray between the rivals, Charlie’s Angels had rolled to its 18th win against no defeats. Cooper Paint not only bore the tread marks of its fifth loss this season, but had to reckon with the loss of its talented third baseman Jackie Litwak. “Jumper,” as she is affectionately called by her teammates, suffered a serious ankle injury in a late play that netted the Angels the insurance runs they needed for their 9-6 victory.

In games played by both teams earlier in the week, a pattern continued to emerge that Cooper Paint can only hope to break once the playoffs begin in a couple of weeks. In their game against L&B Tack the night before, Cooper Paint watched as their maroon-jerseyed challengers came from behind in the sixth inning to eke out a 12-11 win. Last year, Cooper Paint ousted L&B Tack in the semifinals before beating Klein and Sons for their second-straight SCWSL crown.

By contrast, Charlie’s Angels battered Klein and Sons 14-1 behind three hits and two RBI from Jessica Bradley, four hits and four RBI from Tonya Martin, two hits and four RBI from Analey Dietrich and additional runs from Shannon Dietrich and Deb Ackerley.

For this final regular season match up, both the Angels and Cooper Paint teams hoped to send a message to each other. Cooper wanted to let Charlie’s know that the title is still theirs to lose. Charlie’s brought out virtually its entire squad to reinforce its unity of purpose in recapturing the title they last won in 2005.

With two teams of this caliber, the fine points of the game are apt to decide the winner. Fielding and base running would prove to be two of those aspects that would propel Charlie’s Angels to victory, and Cooper Paint to what pitcher Amanda Irwin considered its unfathomable fifth loss.

“I can’t remember ever losing this many games,” said Irwin, whose bat has been known to send opposing fielders into paroxysms of terror before she injured her bicep and lost some of her brute force that once sent nine balls out of Collins Park in one season.

In key points of the game, Cooper Paint ran itself out of two innings by trying to send a runner to third with two outs and getting cut down on both occasions. A number of fielding and throwing errors also opened the door for the Angels, who, like most high quality teams, will make you pay for your miscues by scoring runs with the extra outs afforded to them.

Cooper Paint led off in the top of the first, facing Jo Walls, who seemed uncomfortable on the peculiar mound at Swan Lake. Jen Wright drew a leadoff walk but was erased on a grounder by Diana

Sherman, who took second on an errant throw from short on the attempted double play. Lori Brown singled, and Irwin walked to load the bases. But Walls got out of the jam by inducing a first-pitch grounder from Jackie Litwak to Shannon Dietrich at short for the force out. Dietrich’s virtually flawless play would be key in the Angels’ win before the night was over.

Charlie’s Angels got two on with one out in the bottom of the frame, behind a walk issued to Bradley and a single by Leanne Mangabang. A single by Martin and a ground out by Analey Dietrich gave Charlie’s a 2-0 lead after one inning.

Cooper went down in order in the second. A fine catch by left fielder Beth Fanning on a fly hit by Charish Priest expedited Cooper’s short stint at the plate.

Cooper hurler Irwin worked around two Angel base runners in the second to escape without further damage. In the top of the third, Cooper Paint cut the lead in half, but by all rights they should have had more. Walls walked Kate Mahan and Wright, but grounders erased the lead runner on the next two at bats. Lori Brown banged a RBI single, but Ally McCarthy was easily out at third trying to get the extra bag.

A cardinal rule in baseball and softball is that you never make the final out of an inning at third base.

The Angels added to their lead in the bottom of the third with two more runs. Cooper Paint’s troubles began with an E-10 throw that put Bradley in scoring position at second base. Irwin induced two fly outs, but a deep fly over Brown’s head in left netted Shannon Dietrich a RBI triple. Her sister, Analey, singled her home and the Angels now led 4-1.

Cooper Paint, whose bat proficiency has been fearsome in recent years, seemed strangely quiet. In the fourth inning, all they got was a leadoff single by Irwin. In the fifth, they had two on with one out but Shannon Dietrich went deep in the hole at short to effect a force on a Wright grounder, and Sherman banged back to the mound for the final out of the inning.

While Cooper Paint’s play was muted, the Angels were anything but. They added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth as they began with a trio of singles by Fanning, Ackerley and Sue Ziers. A pinch-hit grounder by veteran Lisa Krom got the first run in, and a triple by Bradley netted two more as the Angels’ lead burgeoned to 7-1.

Cooper Paint got Charlie’s Angels out in a rare one, two, three in the fifth before they finally awoke with five runs in the top of the sixth in their best bid to retake the lead and possibly quell some of the Angels’s rising swagger.

With one out, singles by Brown and Irwin put runners at the corners. Jackie Litwak banged a RBI single before Priest was called out on an infield fly rule. Rocky Irwin walked to load the bases and Erin Shuart plated two runs with a single that lined over the third-base bag. Mahan’s infield grounder scored Irwin, who just got by an attempted tag by Ackerley at the plate. Wright singled in the fifth run of the inning, but Mahan was gunned down at third by Dietrich on the relay from the outfield on a ball off the bat of Sherman to end the threat.

Charlie’s led 7-6, but Cooper was right back in it if they could only hold the Angels down. That looked like it was going to happen as Irwin got Heidi Hewlett and Fanning to ground out to short to start the sixth. A single by Terri Hess, and a subsequent single by Sue Ziers, led to Cooper’s demise. Instead of settling for runners on first and second with two out, an errant throw led to Litwak’s injury at third and a run scoring. A long delay ensued while the ambulance arrived and tended to the injured third baseman.

Once the ambulance had departed, Robyn Gannon came up with a runner on third and singled her home, extending the Angels’ lead to 9-6.

Needing base runners to challenge that lead, Cooper led off with back-to-back singles from Wright and Ally McCarthy, but the Angels recorded two infield outs on a grounder to short and a fly out to third. Val Fersch came on in place of the injured Litwak and drew a walk to load the bases, but Priest banged out to short to end the threat, sending the Angels another step closer to an undefeated season at 18-0. Cooper Paint fell to 11-5.

With only three games left to play, Charlie’s is assured of the one seed in the upcoming “A” Division playoffs. They will probably face either Klein and Sons or New Hope Community in the first round. Dutch’s has an outside chance of garnering that last playoff berth.

As for Cooper Paint, they will likely face a semifinal rematch with L&B Tack. The two teams are currently tied for second and still have one game remaining with each other. In all likelihood one of them will end up in second place and the other in third before all is said and done.

Then it’s on to the playoffs where, indeed, anything can happen.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.