Softball

Golden moments

Sullivan West captures John Spear title; Honoring 1950 Monticello DUSO champs rekindles Panther tradition

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONTICELLO, NY — Much is being written these days about the need for sustainability.

With this gathering awareness about our lifestyle, people are beginning to turn back toward that which is more enduring and basic.

Renewable energy is central and, given the resolve and the resiliency of our nation, it is likely that we will find such in building a more sustainable future.

And we needn’t look further than our national pastime. The love of baseball is rekindled each spring as it stirs the passion of players and fans, just as it did in years past. We celebrate the memories of bygone greats, and revel in the exuberance of promising youth in a game that remains forever young.

Baseball glory, past and present, was on display on April 18 at the Second Annual John Spear Memorial Baseball tournament. The tournament was organized by Monticello baseball coach Mike Marra, whose energy and savvy are sparking a renewable energy in a school that has a tradition of its own.

Anxious to revive that excitement, which Marra refers to as “New Blue Tradition,” this year’s tournament was staged in memory of former Monticello baseball coach John Spear. Spear, who coached and taught at Monticello for 19 years, died in a car crash on January 20, 2007. A great inspiration to players and students, a scoreboard in his name was unveiled. His wife Elaine, son David and grandson Aydn were on hand. David threw out a ceremonial first pitch.

This year’s tournament featured an expanded number of teams, and was made resonant by the return of members from the school’s first-ever baseball championship team, the 1950 DUSO League champion Panthers.

In the championship game that capped off the tournament, Sullivan West (4-0) dominated Ellenville (2-2). The 13-2 win was predicated on the hallmarks of success of baseball: fine pitching, good defense and timely hitting.

Deploying similar virtues 50 years earlier, the Monticello Panthers defeated Liberty 8-1 to earn that coveted title.

Prior to the battle for third place between Monticello and Fallsburg, several iconic players of the 1950 team were called forth and lauded, just moments after the Sullivan West players had gathered at home plate around the gorgeous trophy presented to them by Monticello’s athletic director Doug Murphy.

Honorees included third baseman Irving “Red” Strassner, who traveled from Northridge, CA. Strassner drove in three runs in the title game. Bernie Cohen was the Rookie of the Year in 1950. He had an RBI single in that championship game that followed a triple by Strassner. Also present was Jim Culligan, a former member and president of the Monticello Board of Education and a member of the Monticello Fast Pitch Hall of Fame. Other honorees included John Sauchuk and Dr. William Somerville, son of Kenneth Somerville, the team’s head coach. Dr. Somerville played for his dad from 1947-1949. Each of the icons threw out a ceremonial first pitch to current Monticello players before the Fallsburg game, which the Comets won 6-3 with a four-run seventh-inning surge.

Westies complete dominant tourney run with thrashing of Ellenville

Sullivan West had easily disposed of its first two tournament opponents by beating Fallsburg 17-0 and Tri-Valley 13-1. Ryan Alsdorf and Brad Reimer had pitched in those games, respectively. This time out, coach Kurt Scheibe Jr. sent lefty senior ace Logan Grishaber to the mound.

Ellenville was 2-0 in the tournament, having disposed of Monticello 9-1 and Liberty 9-3. Ellenville coach Merrill Conner handed the ball to Adam Fallon for the championship game.

Sullivan West jumped out to a 5-0 lead, sparked by a two-run double from Mark Tesseyman and a booming two-run homer from Jeremy DeGori that sailed over the left-field fence. Ryan Alsdorf was credited with an RBI, as Lucas Bauer scored while he was at the plate. The inning ended as Gaston Owen was caught stealing.

The Bulldogs added a run in the second as Grishaber singled and stole second and then third. He came home on an RBI single by Reimer. The score burgeoned to 7-0 in the third, as the red hot DeGori tripled and then came home on a sac fly by Bauer.

Ellenville scored two runs in the bottom of the third, behind consecutive doubles from Daniel Matthews, Dean Ferraro and Fallon.

Grishaber bore down from there on and allowed only three more hits over the next three innings.

In the meantime, Sullivan West bats were still at it. The Bulldogs piled on four more runs in the fifth inning with a two-run single by Eric Minton, an RBI single from Grishaber and an RBI from Reimer, who reached on an E-6. The 13th and final run came in the seventh inning with an RBI single from RJ Rosa, who drove in pinch hitter E.J. Franskevicz, who had doubled.

Connor left Fallon in the game in an attempt to strengthen his arm for the coming season. Fallon was on a 90-pitch limit. Michael Yerkes replaced him in the sixth inning. Fallon was charged with all 13 runs.

Scheibe was able to deploy his entire roster. He was pleased with the effort and lauded Grishaber’s outing, the timely hitting and fine defensive play. The trophy, which was won by Liberty a year ago, will have an engraved plaque showing Sullivan West as the 2009 champion. It will reside with the Bulldogs until next year’s tournament.

Sullivan West now turns its attention toward more daunting foes, hoping to sustain their hot bats. Sullivan West produced 43 runs in three games, while limiting their opponents to just three in the tournament. This week, Sullivan West travels to Class A Cornwall and Goshen.

Fallsburg gets first win to take third place in tourney

Fallsburg was looking to garner its first win of the season. To that end, coach Mike Weiner brought up several junior varsity players to give his team more depth. After an opening day 11-3 loss to Tri-Valley, the Comets, who had been winning in that game until the fifth inning, were bombarded by Sullivan West. The Monties were supposed to play Tri-Valley for third place, but the Bears had to withdraw from the tournament due to the death of a parent of one of the Tri-Valley baseball players.

Neither team scored through the first three innings. Fallsburg got a run in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Nabil Javed. The Monties tied it up in the inning as Erik Mayberg doubled, advanced on a single by Jesse Levine and scored on a sac fly by Sean Reuss. The Comets got an RBI from Mike Melko to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth. The Panthers scored two in the sixth on an RBI triple by Mayberg and an RBI ground out by Levine. Fallsburg scored four runs in the seventh inning, as a pair of errors resulted in three unearned runs that went along with four hits. Fallsburg beat Monticello 6-3 to garner third-place. Winning pitcher Colin Whitaker went three for four for Fallsburg (1-2). Erik Mayberg was three for three with two doubles and a triple for Monticello (1-4).

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of photos from the tournament’s final day.