Softball

East beast

Red-hot Sutphen East continues storied run with win over Ratner Paving

By RICHARD A. ROSS

FALLSBURG, NY — Great teams are like fine wine, they get better as they age and mature. Such is the case with Sutphen East, a team that is stocked with veterans who have logged their time in men’s softball for years, some of them journeying from team to team.

Comprised of a gritty group of hard-nosed players, Sutphen East is making its case as a legitimate challenger to Fitness Factory’s stranglehold on Monticello Men’s Softball. In their only outing this year, Fitness Factory did get the win over the league’s latest team to throw down the gauntlet against the men in orange and blue. But as Sutphen’s Nick Maori sees it, if things play out right, the red storm could get another crack at the elite Fitness in this year’s finals.

Sutphen East is currently leading the Culligan Division by three games, while undefeated Fitness Factory holds a two-game lead over another fine contender, Sullivan Fire.

Of course, it must be noted that hopeful aspirations expressed by other teams in bygone years haven’t stopped Fitness Factory from nailing down three straight titles in Monticello Men’s Softball. But, perhaps, this is the year that some team, perchance Sutphen East, will find a way to stop the Fitness juggernaut.

Time will tell.

Sutphen East is certainly making a statement that has all eyes looking their way. Hard-hitting, aggressive base running and fine fielding once again helped the Easties, as they downed a talented, but somewhat struggling, Ratner Paving team by the score of 16-8 on July 17.

Ratner Paving is also a team of seasoned veterans. But, sometimes things just don’t break right, no matter how much experience you bring to the table. Thus far, that has been the case.

Wasting no time in putting their mark on this game, Sutphen East led off the first inning with a four-run outburst. Leadoff hitter John Bell roped a single and promptly stole second. A one-out walk to Josh Lowitz set the table for Maori, who drove in both base runners with a double that he extended to a triple on the throw to the plate.

Gary Miller scored Maori with a base hit. He moved up on a passed ball and came home on Derrick Kilcoin’s single. A 4-4-3 double play ended the rally. Ratner Paving was down four-zip, but the men in yellow and blue seem unfazed as they took to the dugout in the bottom of the first.

Shane Weigand led off with a walk and Mike Mulligan’s single put runners on the corners with no outs. Gil Suarez walked but was caught off first after Kort Wheeler drew the third walk of the inning issued by Chris Marston. A booming blast to deep left by Jason Garritt scored the first run on a ground-rule double. Garritt hit the ball a ton and had the game been played at Somerville Field, instead of the much nicer Morningside Park, it would have been a three-run homer.

D.J. Pugh’s single brought Garritt in to cut Sutphen’s lead in half at 4-2 after the first inning.

Smokin’ Sutphen came back with two more runs in the second inning with RBI from Richie Edwards and Lowitz. Edwards showed great zeal on the base paths and, while he is known for his continuous chatter, which has been known to irk people at times, he backed up his babble with his bat, base running and fielding.

Marston settled in and retired Ratner batters in order in the second. Hardly content with a 6-2 lead, Sutphen East went back to work against Ratner hurler Pugh. A RBI single by Kilcoin followed a leadoff triple over the first-base bag by Miller. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Marston plated the second run of the inning. By the time Ratner came to bat, they were down 8-2.

Once again, Ratner went quietly in the third. Its only base runners came from an E-6 and a walk. Both were left stranded.

Looking to put the hammer down and solidify their 12th win of the season, Sutphen East piled on three more runs in the fourth inning, which began with a leadoff homer by Bell. Edwards doubled and came in on a misplay, which followed a walk to Lowitz. The third run came home on a ground out by Marston. The red men now led 11-2.

Ratner got one run in the fourth on a double by Pugh, but it was going to take a major rally to make this a game. That rally would come in the fifth inning, after Sutphen scored its 12th run in the top of the frame on a double by Edwards.

In the bottom of the fifth, Justin Garritt got on via an E-6 and moved up on a passed ball. Weigand walked and after Mulligan banged into a force at third, Suarez walked to load the bases. Wheeler drove in two runs with a double, and a walk to Jason Garritt loaded the bases again. A double by Pugh netted two more runs and Ratner seemed ready to pave the way for a big comeback.

Lou Velasco drew another walk to load the bases for the third time. Then an unfathomable play occurred. Joey Bertholf banged a grounder to short and the runners simply froze, allowing Lowitz to throw to catcher Brandon Mariner for one out. He relayed it back to third for the 6-2-5 double play.

That was clearly the turning point of the game. The four runs scored made it a 12-7 game, but by all rights, Ratner should have gotten much closer.

Sutphen scored another run in the sixth and three more in the seventh, drawing the distinction of having scored in every frame. In the sixth, a double by Maori and a sac fly by Miller got a run in. In the seventh, a two-run triple by Lowitz and a RBI ground out by Miller completed the damage, as Sutphen’s total burgeoned to 16.

A RBI single by Wheeler in the bottom of the seventh was all Ratner Paving could manage. Sutphen East improved to 12-3, while Ratner Paving fell to 5-8.

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