By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — July 27, 2001 – The members of the Charlie’s Angels and Frankie’s softball teams have little trouble getting psyched for games against each other.
For the past five years the teams have battled for the championship of the Monticello Women’s Softball League. Each year from 1996 to 1999, Frankie’s claimed the regular season title and the subsequent playoff championship. But last season, Charlie’s Angels won the regular season title before Frankie’s captured the playoff crown in the league, renamed the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League.
On Tuesday night, the rivals added another chapter to their story in a regular season game at Collins Park in Mongaup Valley.
Charlie’s Angels scored five runs in the top of the first and maintained the lead throughout the contest, posting a 12-7 victory over Frankie’s. With the win, Charlie’s Angels pushed its record to 22–0 on the season, while Frankie’s fell to 14–6.
Deb Ackerley, Twila Herbert and Terri Hess all stroked RBI singles in that first inning to give Charlie’s Angels a quick 5-0 lead.
Frankie’s responded in the bottom of the first, however. Marie Frunzi smashed a one-out RBI double to left and later in the frame Shirley Felder and Pat Shuart each hit an RBI single to cut the Angels’ lead to only one run.
The Angels padded their lead in the second, taking advantage of an error and RBI singles by Tonya Ackerley and Deb Ackerley to make it an 8-4 game.
In the sixth inning, Charlie’s Angels added some insurance runs after Frankie’s had narrowed the gap to only a pair of runs. RBI singles by pinch hitters Chris Decker and Lacy Dalrymple highlighted the frame as the Angels took an 11-6 lead.
“This was a good game,” Charlie’s
Angels player/manager Jo Walls said. “Those pinch hitters really worked out great. We had some nice plays, good backup and good throws. Everybody played well.”
With victories in its final two regular season games, Charlie’s Angels would finish with a spotless 24-0 record. But the team is not focused on that mark.
“It would be sweet if it happens,” Walls said. “But there’s no pressure to do it. And on any given night, any team can beat any other team.”
Of course, members of the Frankie’s squad were hoping to knock off their rival and be the first to blemish that perfect record. But they were happy that the score was closer than their two earlier meetings with Charlie’s Angels this season. (Both of those games were 15-run-rule victories for the Angels.)
“It was a tough one to lose,” Frankie’s player/manager Val Fersch said. “It was a good game, though. Hopefully, we will see them again in the playoffs and things will be different then.”