Baseball

Biting back

Sullivan West uses sixth-inning outburst to avenge earlier season home loss to Monticello

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MONGAUP VALLEY, NY —When cats and dogs fight it can get awfully messy, and if they meet again, recollections of past wounds are apt to result in another spat.

The Lady Panthers of Monticello bested the Lady Bulldogs of Sullivan West on May 6, Sullivan West committing double-digit errors, many of which came in the early going.

Though the Dawgs’ defense improved later in that game, the damage had been done and the team slinked off its home field feeling embarrassed and angry.

With a rematch at Collins Park on May 18, the Lady Bulldogs vowed to bare their teeth and give the Lady Panthers something to remember them by.

Monticello, which has played well of late, hoped to bare its claws and swipe the Dawgs under the rug before moving on. But as fate would have it, leather laxity would be their undoing as they allowed the Westies to break open a game tied at seven-all in the sixth inning.

Monticello’s porous defense did not give hurler Sam Cohn the backup she needed on a day when her pitches were not fooling Sullivan West batters. The feisty Dawgs laced pitch after pitch up the middle or by gloves that should have stopped their progress.

By the time the Panthers returned to the dugout in the bottom of the sixth, they were down by seven runs. They went quietly at the plate in the bottom of the frame, posting no runs in response to the Dawgs’ deluge. They did get two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little and too late.

Sullivan West reliever Hannah Schwatz came on to bail out starter Autumn Ackermann in the fourth inning. Ackermann entered the inning nursing a 7-3 lead. She had been feeling under the weather and when she got into trouble, Schwatz came on and closed the door with a strike out and by inducing an inning-ending rising fly out from Cohn, ably snared by left fielder Morgan Pretty.

Schwatz had three singles, reached on an E-4, three RBI and scored thrice. Danielle Meyer had five hits and three RBI, and Lindsey Bauer recorded the longest hit of the day, a booming triple in the top of the fourth.

The Westies got three runs in the second courtesy of Schwatz, Meyer, Pretty, Ally Imbesi and Bauer. Monticello tied it up in the bottom of the frame thanks to Jamie Vandermulen, Shannon Reuss, Carlee Maree, Katie Oldfield and Jessica Venditti. Sullivan West retook the lead in the third with a pair of runs sparked by Ackermann, Schwatz, Meyer and Pretty.

The Dawgettes added two more runs in the fourth on Bauer’s triple and a single by Gabby Humleker.

Monticello came alive in the fourth with a trio of runs via Alissa Hermida, Reardon, Oldfield and Venditti. Cohn pitched a scoreless fifth and Monticello tied it up with an RBI single by Reardon.

Then the dam broke in the top of the sixth.

With RBI from Humleker, Ackermann, Meyer, Pretty and Julianne Reggero, the pesky Bulldogs sent 10 batters to the plate to garner seven runs. Schwatz pitched a scoreless sixth. Sullivan West went quietly in the seventh and Schwatz escaped a two-run seventh by getting Oldfield to pop up to her to end the game at 14-9.

Monticello coach Ed Kaufmann said his team gave the game away. “We didn’t take care of the ball. Not very gritty,” he noted.

Sullivan West coach Mike Ellmauer was glad his team got Monticello back. “We tried to be more aggressive on the bases to try and make things happen; before, we were letting things happen. Hannah did a great job coming on. We had some good defensive plays. We still have three league games to go so, hopefully, we’re coming around.”

Sullivan West improved to 7-9, while Monticello slipped to 9-8.

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