Pick Up Sticks
Sullivan West Gets The Big Hits To Outscore Liberty In Division IV Encounter As Bulldogs Rack Up Second League Win Following Vanquishing Of O’Neill
Sullivan West 13, Liberty 10
By RICHARD A. ROSS
The Westies win (clockwise): Sullivan West's Hannah Schwatz fires a strike and then shows her power with a bases-clearing triple. Liberty's Olivia Baum also had a bases clearing hit. Liberty's Rachel Bayer hurls a strike. Sullivan West's Katie Taylor slides under a tag from Liberty catcher Justice Dingevan. Liberty's Ashley Wallgren is safe at second as Bethanii Padu tries to tag her out. Sullivan West's Victoria Haas is safe at home.
JEFFERSONVILLE, NY- Fall, winter or spring, when it comes to Sullivan West versus Liberty, the name of the game is rivalry and the urgency for each team to advance its cause at the expense of the other never diminishes.
To be sure while the heated clashes of soccer, football and basketball between teams from the neighboring schools are far more strident, the trials and tribulations on the diamond are equally important in their own right as each team knows that a sectional berth down the line may very well hinge on the outcome.
One day after Sullivan West’s 6-1 league win over O’Neill, the Lady Bulldogs looked to run their winning streak to four in a row as they got set to host Liberty. The pitching duel featured Sullivan West fireballer Hannah Schwatz vs. Liberty’s Rachel Bayer. As the day would soon evince, both teams would have good success with their bats as hits aplenty were scattered about.
In the early going it seemed as if Sullivan West’s fielding yips were going to be its undoing. In the first inning four leather miscues contributed to Liberty’s 2-0 early lead as Olivia Baum and Katie Robisch knocked in runs.
The Lady Westies got one of those back in the bottom of the first as Bethanii Padu led off with a double, stole third and scored off a fielder’s choice hit by Emma Seidl.
Neither team scored in the second and Liberty also failed to register a run in the top of the third. That quiet was soon replaced by the Lady Bulldogs’ breakout with four runs. Victoria Haas reached on single and advanced on a passed ball. Padu singled and Marianne Durkin put down a perfect bunt to load the bases with no outs. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Seidl allowed one run to score.
Schwatz walked to load them up again before Katie Taylor batted in the second run with a single. A ground out by Brittany Milk and a single by Carly Grishaber completed the inning’s outpouring as Sullivan West now led 5-2.
Liberty answered back with four runs in the top of the fourth as Genesis Suarez had an RBI single and Baum cleared the bases with a booming double up the middle as Liberty assumed a 6-5 lead.
Bayer’s pitching was no problem for Sullivan West which continued to swing the bats with authority. With bases loaded and one out, Schwatz nearly hit one out of the park as she cleared the bases with a booming double which put Sullivan West back on top 8-6.
Neither team scored in the fifth but Liberty tied it up in the top of the sixth with RBI’s from Justice Dingevan and a run-scoring double off the bat of Robisch. Coach Matt Stoddard knew his girls had to hold the line against Sullivan West in the bottom of the frame if they were going to have a chance to record their second win of the season.
But once again it was Padu that rose to the occasion with a lead off double. She stole second and soon scored to give the Lady Bulldogs the lead they would never again relinquish. RBI singles from Schwatz, Taylor, Grishaber and Katie Slater put up a five spot in the inning for the 13-8 lead. Liberty scored twice in the top of the seventh but fell short 13-10.
Sullivan West improved to 4-3 (2-O OCIAA), while Liberty fell to 1-4 (0-1 OCIAA).
“They really hit the ball well today,” said Stoddard who wasn’t surprised after scouting the O’Neill game the day before.
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Fast Start
Monticello Downs Short-Handed Liberty For Third Straight Win In Young Season; Lady Indians Come Alive In Fourth Quarter On A Night When Indians’ Shots Just Wouldn’t Fall
Monticello 46, Liberty 23
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Scenes from Monticello's 46-23 non-league win over Liberty (clockwise): Monticello freshman Lena Episalla goes up for a shot and is fouled. She had nine rebounds in the game. Liberty's Tea Williams is hemmed in by Monticello's Shamira Moore and Zaquia Revell. Revell had ten steals and Moore had seven. Liberty's Justice Dingevan fires up a three-pointer. She canned two of them in the final quarter. She is defended by Monticello's Lena Episalla. Liberty's Olivia Baum scores the first points for the Lady Indians midway through the second quarter. Baum ended up with a team-high 17 on the night. The 2011-12 Monticello Lady Panthers. Monticello junior Yadira Montes cans a free throw. The Monties need a lot of work from the line as they converted just 31.8 percent from the stripe.
MONTICELLO, NY—When it comes to school size, Monticello and Liberty are the bigs in Sullivan County. As such, their encounters with one another, though always of a non-league variety, have a special allure even if one or both teams is struggling as has been the case in recent years.
But it’s a new season now and the Lady Panthers as well as the Lady Indians are fielding teams that are a blend of experienced players along with a cadre of youngsters who are new to the varsity realm.
Coming into the Pit in Monticello is always a challenge for Liberty teams but on this December 13 night, Coach Beth Quatrale knew it would be even more daunting without three of her key starters in NIkole Snyder, Selena Vargas and Katie Giarratano all missing in action for a variety of reasons. That would leave veterans Olivia Baum and Justice Dingevan to carry the load and as it turned out, they would be the only two players to score on the night as Baum would post 17 to Dingevan’s pair of treys.
Liberty struggled mightily early on as it went scoreless throughout the first quarter and halfway through the second when Baum finally converted a steal into a layup. She’d go on to score two more buckets in the second stanza to provide Liberty with six points by halftime to Monticellos’s 23. The Lady Panthers led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Four of those first quarter points came from junior standout Shamira Moore. The Lady Monties also got buckets from junior Arianna Decosta and freshman Yamilersy Reyes. Moore added a pair of free throws in the second quarter as part of Monticello’s seven-point output. Senior Zequia Revell posted her lone basket and Monticello benefited from two free throws from Yadira Montes and one from Yami Reyes.
Both teams had trouble converting shots as well as taking care of the basketball. Turnovers abounded as errant passes were picked off both ways giving both Quatrale and Monticello Coach Karen Atack plenty to concentrate on in upcoming practices.
Moore was the big difference in this game as she evinced outstanding play at both ends of the floor. In the third quarter she netted 14 points. Her only issue was her lackluster free throw shooting as she canned only two-for-11 from the stripe. To their credit, Liberty held her scoreless in the final frame.
Decosta was Monticello’s other major weapon. She scored 11 points on the night, seven of which came in the fourth quarter and included the Monties’ lone trey of the game.
As for Liberty, were it not for Baum’s relentless pursuit, even in the face of early struggles, the final outcome could have been far worse. Monticello’s fourth quarter defensive laxity that featured players out of positions and at times an uncontested path to the basket for Baum, allowed her to catch fire. Needless to say, Atack was not pleased with that aspect of the game.
Monticello improved to 3-0 adding this victory to a pair of commanding wins over struggling Family. The Lady Monties will test their early season mettle against winless Sullivan West on the Lady Bulldogs home court debut on December 14. Sullivan West scouted this game to get a preview of the Lady Monties and of course Division IV rival Liberty which fell to 1-2. Its lone win came against S.S. Seward in the Spartan Invitational Tournament. They lost the title game to Goshen.
Quatrale was upbeat about her team’s efforts despite the outcome. “I thought the biggest difference was that my team was playing relaxed in the fourth quarter. It’s tough when the ball won’t go in the basket, but if you force it, it still won’t go in. As I told my team, I can’t be upset with a game like that when I know that every girl on the court was giving 100 percent. The heart was there, the ball just wasn’t falling.
Liberty hosts Port Jervis for its home opener on December 15. It’s next game will come after the New Year. With three starters not here tonight, it gave younger girls a chance to step up and show that they really deserve to be on the court. There were few mental mistakes. We were where we were supposed to be. It’s just a case of putting the ball in the basket now,” she concluded.
Atack is certainly pleased with her team’s 3-0 start. “We’ll take it,’ she said while emphasizing the things that need a lot of work if the success is to continue against far tougher teams. The Lady Monties host Cornwall on December 16 and the type of play they evinced in this game won’t fly against the Lady Dragons.
“We realize we played a weakened team tonight,” said Atack referencing the fact that Liberty was missing key players. “If we don’t take care of the ball we know what is going to happen. We still have a lot of things we have to iron out. We have a young team. They’re willing to work and they never give up. The hustle is there but we just made a lot of errors.
Rebounding was not one of the problems. Moore led the team with 17 boards and Revell had 12. Freshman guard Lena Episalla had nine rebounds. Revell had 10 steals and Moore had seven.” Atack credited Moore and Revell with playing an excellent game.
“We need to have better leadership. If I don’t call it out, no one is presently calling it out on the court. We have a lot more talent than we’ve had in the recent past but it’s not tamed yet,” she noted. “We’re having a problem with getting five people to do what they’re supposed to do at the same time.
Monticello’s three win start constitutes half of its total season victory total from last year. But Atack, ever conscious of what it takes to win against tough opponents will not let her team sit back on their early season laurels. For one thing Monticello was a woeful seven-for 22 from the line (31.8%).
“We have a really young team,” added Atack who was missing junior tall tree Nyasia Blakney for this outing. With only one senior in Revell, the squad goes to war with five juniors in Decosta, Moore, Yadira Montes, Blakney and Amber Grobusch. Three sophomores include Quasia Walker, Latise Sanders and Deanna Snowden, along with freshmen Shandell Jones, Yami Reyes and Lena Episalla.
Liberty’s team on this night was comprised of Rachel Bayer, Zaira Pabon, Erin Kinne, Cindy Fuentes, Stephanie Heisler, Olivia Baum, Amanda Bertholf, Justice Dingevan, Kelly Santos, Brittany Roa and Tea Williams.
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