By Ted Waddell
MONGAUP VALLEY — July 2, 2004 – It was a good deal for everybody involved.
Monday’s night’s Sullivan County Women’s Softball League game between Mr. Willy’s and HC Sports at Edward M. Collins Memorial Park in Mongaup Valley featured a total of 37 runs and a win by the trailing team in the final frame.
To top it all off, the local volunteer fire department made a few bucks selling burgers and beer to the fans.
Of course, the players had to wait for the end of the game for a well- deserved brew.
In the opening inning, fans got the idea pretty quickly that they weren’t going to be bored, as both teams pounded out four runs.
There was even more excitement in the subsequent innings. Mr. Willy’s fell behind by as many as seven runs after the first inning, but kept chipping away at the HC Sports’ lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Mr. Willy’s scored six runs to earn a 19-18 victory.
HC Sports picked up two runs in the top of the fifth and a run in the top of the seventh to take a 18-13 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
Mr. Willy’s swung into action at their turn at-bat in the final frame.
The team scored four runs to cut its deficit to a single run. Then Megan Sheeley singled, sending Diane Meyer home to tie it up, 18-18.
Beth Cogswell stepped up to the plate and singled to score Cindy LaRuffa with the winning run for Mr. Willy’s.
Pitcher Chrissy Schiff earned the win, while Bonnie Blackwell took the loss for HC Sports.
“I thought we were doing good, but when we get to the end of a game and we’re ahead, everything falls apart,” said Amanda Irwin, who is the HC Sports’ player/coach. “One mistake turns into fifty.”
Schiff was grinning like a Cheshire cat with the come-from- behind victory over a hard-slugging team.
“It was a good win for us,” said Schiff, who is the player/coach for Mr. Willy’s and serves as president of the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League. “We were really nervous at the beginning…but we came back strong.”
With the game tied 4-4 at bottom of the second, HC Sports figured it was time to send a few runners to third base, and as the inning advanced, seven HC Sports players legged it from the hot corner to home plate to take an 11-4 lead.
Mr. Willy’s got three runs in the third. In HC Sports’ turn at-bat, the team scored two runs to maintain a six-run lead (13-7).
In the fourth, Mr. Willy’s battled back with six runs. Although HC Sports got two back, the team saw its lead shaved to just a couple of runs (15-13).
For further information about the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League – such as a schedule of games and directions to the various fields where the teams play – visit the Web site www.scwomenssoftball.com