Softball

Monties vanquished by Vikings

Nine-run Valley Central first inning proves to be the difference

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY - Taking your lumps is part and parcel of rebuilding a program and Monticello coach Mike Marra fully understands that reality. That said, having to play Class AA behemoths like Valley Central is a bit over the top.

The Vikings are a fearsome lot. Like their namesakes who raided Northern European countries from the eighth to the 11th centuries, wreaking havoc and vanquishing any resistance, Valley Central is a major baseball powerhouse, while Monticello is youthful, exuberant and still very green.

Marra isn’t complaining.

Far from it.

He is anxious for his team to play and gain experience, but he’d rather the Panther nation got to take the measure of itself against Class A teams in non-league games, teams like Wallkill, Rondout Valley or New Paltz, which are on the schedule, and not have to reckon with the likes of Valley Central, Warwick or Washingtonville.

The latter was willing to drop its game with the Panthers but Warwick didn’t want to give up a home game, so the Panthers will have to play there later this season. As for Valley Central, the disparity between the two teams took little time to manifest itself on April 9, as the Vikings piled up nine runs in the first inning, sending 16 batters to the plate against Montie starter Sean Reuss. Reuss lasted only two innings and gave up 12 runs on on 13 hits. James Durland pitched the next four innings, allowing only one run on three hits.

"James was terrific in relief today," said Marra. "That game could have really gotten away from us early. James kept us in it and we began to chip away late and won the final five innings of the game 7-4."

A grand slam by Tom Hand was the major portion of the Vikings’ early damage, as he tagged a Reuss fastball and sent it sailing over the left field fence. The Vikings (3-2) collected 18 hits on the day en route to a 16-7 victory and handing the Panthers (0-2) their second loss in as many days.

At least it wasn’t snowing this time out, something it was doing the day before when Monticello dropped its opener 8-4 to Wallkill. (See photo above, and www.riverreportersports.com for the story.)

Despite the loss, Marra remained positive. "Our effort is there; we continue to run out ground balls and make plays on defense. We need to do a better job of our execution of baseball plays. Throwing strikes, catching fly balls, putting the ball in play, those are the little things we have to do a better job at to stay in games late. This team plays a hard seven. We could have easily folded up the tents at 13-0, but we battled and scored seven runs in the final two innings.”

Valley Central’s Casey Cragan struck out 11 in 5 innings to earn the win.

Marra and the Panthers looked forward to the start of the John Spear Memorial Tournament this week, but they lost to Ellenville 9-1 on April 13. Other teams in the tournament include Liberty, Fallsburg, Sullivan West and Tri-Valley.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures and updates through the week on the ongoing Spear Memorial Tournament.