Softball

Cloud nine

Charlie’s Angels ascend to championship in nine-inning thriller over feisty L&B Tack

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY — It was far from an easy passing, but Charlie’s Angels are finally home again, delivered from their earthbound trials and tribulations to their celestial perch atop the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League.

Following an implausibly dramatic 7-5 ninth-inning win over L&B Tack on August 13 and with their 25-1 season behind them, Charlie’s Angels can finally drift on Cloud Nine and enjoy their well-deserved rest. But were it not for an odd twist of fate here or there, that peaceful slumber could have been forestalled, or prevented, by L&P Tack, a team that has been graced this year with its own healthy share of fine play, good fortune and true grit.

Tack deployed those assets to oust two-time defending champion Cooper Paint in the semifinals with come-from-behind dramatics in the seventh inning of game three.

After being rolled over by the Angels 7-1 in the final series opener (see www.riverreportersports.com for details), the ladies in maroon arose from their dormancy to nearly prevent the Angels’ heavenly aspirations from coming to pass in game two. They tied the game up not once, but twice, and nearly won it in the bottom of the seventh.

In a game that was far from perfect from either team’s standpoint, the team that could survive the most adversity would emerge the winner. During various times, each team would lay claim to being this year’s team of destiny.

The Angels took the early lead with a three-run first inning with RBI from Heidi Blade, Tonya Martin and Leanne Mangabang. But their bats would go strangely quiet for four innings, including one stretch when Tack pitcher Barb Merton would retire eight in a row before Sue Zieres broke through with a single in the fifth.

Meanwhile, Tack tied it in the third by getting a RBI from Trish Tuttle and a two-run clutch single from Fran Kaiser.

Trying to keep their heavenly appointment, the halos retook the lead in the sixth with a timely triple by Jess Bradley. A 6-3-2 double play, executed by Tack, capitalized on questionable base running by the Angels. That heads-up Tack play prevented additional runs from scoring in the frame, as Bradley missed the dish and was tagged out at the plate by catcher Lacy Dalrymple.

The Angels held L&B at bay in the bottom of the sixth and tacked on a run in the top of the seventh with a timely double by veteran Debi Ackerley. But once again, poor base running cost them potentially more runs as Zieres was tagged out at home.

The game seemed to have reached its most critical nexus when Barb Merton delivered a game-tying triple in the bottom of the seventh with one out. At that juncture, it seemed as if L&B Tack was the team destined to win this thriller.

All that was needed was a sacrifice fly and Merton could come home with the winning run and force an unlikely game three.

Call it destiny. Call it fate. Call it what you will, but games can take unforeseen twists and what was about to happen was part and parcel of the destiny of both teams, leading the Angels to recapture their crown and for Tack to finish its best-ever season, just short of final glory.

Those hallowed moments unfolded thusly.

Trish Tuttle launched a fly ball to deep left. As Merton looked toward home plate, she heard one of her teammates yell, “it’s over her head,” referring to left fielder Beth Fanning. Merton started for home but Fanning had gone back and caught the ball and Merton lost valuable seconds racing back to the bag.

Fanning sent a perfect relay to shortstop Shannon Dietrich, who fired a strike to catcher Ackerley in time to tag out Merton for an inning-ending double play.

Instead of winning 6-5, Tack had given the Angels another life. By night’s end, that would be nine lives (one for each of the nine innings) as Tack failed to score again the rest of the way.

The reincarnated host of Angels would turn that twist of fate to their own advantage two innings later. Neither team scored in the eighth inning, setting the scene for the dramatic ninth.

A leadoff single by Analey Dietrich put the go-ahead run aboard and before you could say Mango Bango, Mangabang continued her emergence from prior game-hitting doldrums to deliver her third hit, a tie-breaking triple to give the Angels the lead that would propel them skyward.

The miraculous top of the ninth continued as Fanning reached on an E-10 that plated the seventh run. A deflated L&B Tack team went quietly in the bottom of the inning as their glorious run came up just short.

Merton, who has played stellar softball all season and throughout the playoffs, was most distraught, but she deserves no blame. A base runner should always have a coach to keep her on the bag until the ball is either caught or still in play. No one has eyes in the back of their head. But great players like Merton always take the weight of their team’s losses on their own shoulders. Merton still gets this writer’s vote as a contender for league MVP.

The win uncorked a jubilant celebration, led most effusively by Angels captain Jo Walls. Although the tense moments of the playoffs had taken their toll on the veteran, causing her to lose the strike zone at times, the feisty pitcher came through. She jumped around like a teenager as her team celebrated its storied playoff title that capped off a glorious season.

Since its last ascension to the crown in 2005, Charlie’s Angels had been consigned to mortality, losing to Cooper Paint in the finals in 2006 and having their wings clipped by Klein and Sons Logging in the semifinals in 2007.

But when your time has come and your number is called, you get to leave this earthbound realm for the loftier perch above.

For Charlie’s Angels, that time turned out to be 2008, as they completed a season that turned out to be nothing short of miraculous. The final-game win came just two days prior to what would have been Charlie Walls’ 93rd birthday on August 15. Jo’s dad, for whom the team is named, is surely smiling aloft to see his beloved Angels re-ascend to glory.

Walls tried to find the words to express her joy following the win. “These girls are behind me 100 percent,” she said, referring to her team’s crisp defense. Walls also gave credit to L&B Tack. “They played a wonderful series.” Asked about Mangabang’s clutch hitting, Walls noted that she had dropped the struggling veteran down in the lineup, due to her recent difficulties. Mangabang clearly responded to the challenge.

Teammate Martin, who has been through many of these wars and suffered with her team’s shortcomings the past couple of years, summed up the championship win this way: “It’s about time!”

Shannon Dietrich agreed that the Angels were due. “We were just a little better,” she noted, admitting that the Angels had to rely strongly on their defense and timely hitting, as they are not a team that is apt to clobber its opponents. “Last week, that defense nearly let us down,” she noted, referring to the errors almost cost them the series against Klein and Sons. Dietrich praised L&B Tack’s noble efforts.

Asked if she was relieved that the series was over, the league’s finest shortstop demurred. “I love this game. I could play it 365 days a year.”

Robyn Gannon, who has been playing with the Angels from the start in 1987, noted, “It’s nice to play someone else,” referring to a change from the oft-seen wars with Cooper Paint. “Two thumbs up for L&B Tack, for playing as well as they did. This was the first time they ever reached the finals.”

L& B Tack finished its season at 19-8. Coach Doug Gosney commended his team, that never missed a game despite having only 10 players. Any one of these playoff teams could have emerged as this year’s champion. But, for the next 12 months at least, that title has wings and a halo as Charlie’s Angels heads into the afterglow of the season as the 2008 champions.

Visit riverreportersports.com for albums of pictures from both games and the story from game one entitled, “Hit and run.”