A State Of Perfect Grace
Manor Wins First-Ever State Baseball Title A Day After Girls Capture Second Softball Crown In A Row; Liberty’s Jessica Dunnigan Repeats As Division II 200 Champ At State Track Meet
Livingston Manor 13, Loudonville Christian 0 (NYSPHSAA Class D Baseball Championship)
Livingston Manor 8, Batavia Notre Dame 0 (NYSPHSAA Class D Softball Championship)
By RICHARD A. ROSS
A remarkable weekend to say the least! Livingston Manor's softball team (top-photo by Alex Rau) won their second consecutive state Class D softball title with an 8-0 win over Batavia Notre Dame. Marissa Diescher pitched a no-hitter after doing the same in the team's 3-1 win over Hamilton only hours earlier. Undaunted by a thunderstorm that postponed the conclusion of their dramatic 13-0 win over Loudonville Christian, the Livingston Manor boys garnered their first-ever state baseball title to join the girls in an unprecedented state sweep on the diamond. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Taggart). Liberty's Jessica Dunnigan repeated as NYSPHSAA Divsion II champion in the 200 with a dramatic win over Oxford's Emily Woolford. Dunnigan won the race in 25.02. Photo is from sportsinsightsny.com archives and not from the state meet.
SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY—Call it an alignment of the stars, manna from heaven or whatever you choose, but this weekend’s windfall of state titles rendered by Livingston Manor’s baseball and softball teams, as well as Liberty’s Jessica Dunnigan’s triumphant successful defense of her state title in the 200 meter at the state track meet, evoked boundless joy, smiles and a happy denouement to a spring beset by rain and adversity.
More about track monarch Dunnigan shortly..
For the town of Livingston Manor’s ardent supporters who have stood by their Wildcats often in the pouring rain and driving wind, this weekend’s uplifting triumphs represent a piece of local history that cannot be eclipsed.
For 17 years I taught English/Journalism at LMCS and as my former students will attest, Until I retired in 2002, I was a rabid fan, often one of the few who attended game after game in the spring, following many nightly sojourns during basketball season. All of this though I lived many miles away in Narrowsburg.
During my tenure there I never saw teams reach this pinnacle of success. The softball team did acquire an Eastern Regional title but lost in a rain-postponed game in the darkening skies.
But rain, postponements, darkness, change of venues or nothing else was going to stop this year’s bid for an unprecedented pair of Manor titles on the diamond. For the girls who won the school’s first-ever Class D softball title a year ago by downing Bolivar-Richburg 2-1, this final year of Marissa Diescher’s glorious career begged for a repeat performance.
Recently named the Gatorade/ESPN Rise state softball player of the year, an honor bestowed on the top player from all schools regardless of size, Diescher who is bound for Penn State in the fall had one more big fish to fry: namely to leave her beloved team, school and town with a legacy for the ages, back-to-back state championships.
To that end, Diescher fired a pair of no-hitters, first in a 3-0 blanking of Section Three’s Hamilton and then in an 8-0 erasure of Section Five’s Batavia Notre Dame. In both games the future Nittany Lion also used her mighty bat to help her cause. She ripped a triple in the opener and scored on an error to give her team the lead they would never relinquish. It was far from her only hit in the two game landslide.
In the breakout win over Batavia Notre Dame, Diescher’s acumen at the plate was ably assisted by two hits and two RBI from Samantha Scott, along with two hits from Maggi Calo. Paige Clancy and Angela Zayas, along with Scott drew run-scoring walks in the fourth inning.
Diescher ends her unmatched high school career with 24 no-hitters, 1,167 strike outs and an ERA that dropped from her tournament entering stingy 0.16 by virtue of her final two shut outs. Manor ended its glorious season at 17-1, its only loss was a 1-0 defeat against Chester.
Kudos to the Manor Lady Wildcats and their coaches Kevin Clifford and Charlie Hicks.
For the Livingston Manor baseball team, overcoming adversity and odds has been the team’s mantra this season. Bound and determined to become the schools’ first-ever baseball state champions, the team pointed towards this past weekend’s tournament with confidence and unity. In the opener against Section Five’s Lyndonville, junior starter Mike Mills pitched four scoreless innings before turning the ball over to senior Brandon (Opie) Smith.
Both hurlers have been nothing short of stellar this entire season but Smith had trouble locating the strike zone and issued a bevy of walks that abetted Lyndonville to get out to a 4-0 lead. Smith settled in and the Manor bats came alive as they scored seven unanswered runs in the sixth inning. It began with a double by Mills which was followed by a single by Smith. Five hits did the trick and Manor was heading to the final to face Section Two’s Loudonville Christian.
As it has so often this season, the sky opened up and rain poured down on the game with Manor leading 7-0 with four innings to play. Thunder postponed the remainder of the game until Sunday. Hearing the news about the girls victory and sensing their great chance to join the Lady Wildcats in the state sweep, the Wildcats vowed to keep their focus knowing full well that teams can erupt and change the course of events in a single inning.
Mills returned to the hill on Sunday for the game now moved to the NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton from the Johnson City High School venue from the day before. Throwing 88 pitches to go along with the 72 he had hurled in the semifinal, Mills turned in a total of 11 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking outs 13 as Manor (13-8) blanked Loudonville Christian to grab the coveted NYSPHSAA Championship plaque.
Junior shortstop Kenny Fisk had a three-run homer as part of the Wildcats’ outburst. Kudos to Coach Jeff Loeffler, along with assistants Ryan Edwards and Adam Larson.
No doubt, downtown Livingston Manor will soon become the Catksills version of the Canyon of Heroes as the town pours out to author a parade for its two state championship teams.
Dunnigan Remains Reigning Queen Of The D-II 200
Like Diescher, Liberty’s Jessica Dunnigan was anxious to punctuate the final moments of her storied high school career with an epic repeat victory as she stood ready to run in the state finals of the small schools Division II 200. Having been barely edged out at the finish line in the 100 earlier by Klarissa Ricks of Holy Names (12.13) as she posted her lifetime personal best time of 12.2, Dunnigan entered this race with immeasurable determination at the Caledonia-Mumford high school track.
To say the finish was dramatic would be a gross understatement as arch-rival Emily Woodford of Oxford fell head-first over the timing stripe as Dunnigan finished in 25.02 to Woodford’s 25.18, thereby garnering her second straight state title in the event.
Cheered on by her rabid teammates including 400 relay mavens Lara Heslop, Rebeccah Harman and Nikole Snyder, who along with Dunnigan had suffered a disappointing disqualification in their event due to a pass out of the zone, not to mention coaches Debbie Simpson and Ralph Bressler along with a cadre of parents and friends, the Liberty track standout was about to evince yet another championship performance.
Those of us who have catalogued her storied career expected nothing less. The star sprinter who had also qualified for states in the long jump where she finished 10th (16-2), beamed with pride as she posed for photos on the medal stand following her storybook ending to a track career that will live on as one of epic proportions. Dunnigan moves on to run for Northeastern. You can be sure we haven’t heard the last from her.
Rare indeed is the acquisition of a state championship title. That Sullivan County netted a trio of them in one weekend is a great source of pride to appreciative fans across this beleaguered region. Hard times, unspeakable weather and far too much personal tragedy have clouded the time of year Henry David Thoreau once penned as “An experience in immortality.”
And immortal indeed are the young men and women who gave their best and prevailed this past weekend. We salute you, revere you and hold you close in our hearts for you have brought the brightest rays of sunshine to dispel the seemingly interminable rain, thus ending our sullen spring beneath the aura of a glorious rainbow.
