Softball

Fitness finesse

Fitness Factory wins second consecutive John Spear Tourney

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY — For the second year in a row, Fitness Factory deployed a perfect formula for winning the John Spear Memorial Tournament at Collins Park: go undefeated through the brackets and avoid a final test, courtesy of a monsoon.

Just as a year ago, in the tournament’s 2007 inaugural year, Fitness Factory disposed of its rivals to walk off with yet another trophy during a reign of terror that has brought the juggernaut a three peat of championships in the Monticello Men’s league, two consecutive titles in the Fremont Center Tournament and third place (again) in this year’s states.

While this writer was elsewhere on Saturday and looking forward to a hardy reunion with Fitness Factory late Sunday afternoon for the finals, the men in orange and blue were busy eliminating Radio Shack, Gil’s Guys and Dawson Motors, a team comprised of heavy hitters from Middletown. They whizzed through the winner’s bracket to await the loser’s bracket survivor.

Last year, Fitness Factory flattened Ratner Paving 8-0 in the winner’s bracket final. After Smallwood/Mongaup Valley Fire Department beat Ratner on a walk-off homer by Eric Lubniewski in the loser’s bracket finale, the championship game was washed away by a downpour that turned Collins Park into a mud slider’s delight as Fitness Factory’s Derwin Rivera slid through the mire for an iconic post-tourney photo. No such photo graces the pages this year because Fitness Factory never played in the finals.

This year, Dawson Motors waited as the clouds gathered over the July 27 loser’s semifinal match up between Sutphen East and Sullivan Fire, a Monticello Men’s League team that is also comprised of players from Church of God, another fine team from the Monticello league.

With Sullivan Fire leading 20-4, the skies opened up and the field disappeared under a lake. The monsoon was enough for park manager Dennis Dietrich to declare Fitness Factory the winner (again), Dawson Motors as the tournament runner up and Sullivan Fire as the third-place winner. Sutphen East and Sullivan Fire will go at each other for third-place bragging rights in the Monticello Men’s League standings on July 28.

Dietrich’s team, the Smallwood/Mongaup Valley Fire Department (SMVFD), was not in the finals mix of this year’s Spear tourney. They lost to Sullivan Fire in the Friday night opener and were vanquished by the same team on Saturday, resulting in their elimination. Last year, they took second place. Hard-hitting Sullivan Fire suffered a tough 7-6 loss to Dawson Motors to drop into the loser’s bracket.

Fitness Factory is currently undefeated in the Monticello Men’s Softball League. On August 1 and 2, they will seek to garner their third-straight championship in the Fremont Center Tournament.

Other teams in this year’s John Spear Tournament included Sullivan Sports and Burnwell Oil.

The tournament was created a year ago by Mike Greco and Rob Keesler in memory of John Spear, who lost his life in a tragic car crash on January 19, 2007. Spear, who coached baseball at Monticello High School and was a devoted father, husband and teacher, has been greatly missed. Following Spear’s death, Keesler assumed the helm of the Monticello varsity team. Beginning this year, former Sullivan County Community College coach Mike Marra will take over the reins.

Visit riverreportersports.com for photos from several of Spear tourney games.