Four Sullivan County Boys Make The Cut At OCIAA Golf Championships; Sullivan West Girls Clinch Softball Division IV Title; SW Boys Golf Notch Ninth Consecutive Division IV Crown; Liberty Baseball Red Storm Swirls By Bulldogs

By RICHARD A. ROSS

rross@sportsinsightsny.com

Glory Days (clockwise) OCIAA Golf Success- Drew Billard (SW), Richie Elliott (Fallsburg) and Jimmy Bernstein (T-V) make the cut at the OCIAA Golf Championships. Sullivan West's softball team clinches their second Division IV title in the past three years. Liberty's Tino Casiano pitches a complete game as the Indians beat Sullivan West 15-3 to make it 2-0 in their series with the Bulldogs thus far. Liberty has already clinched a playoff berth.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY—Help me mama. I don’t know which way to turn.  Pardon me while I lapse into a bit of adapted poetry inspired by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Golf to the left of me,

Baseball to the right of me,

Softball behind me, volleyed and thundered.

Oh what a track week it is,

Keeping up with so much sports biz,

This writing and photo wiz

Is exhausted and sundered.

Soon it will all be done,

Then in the summer sun,

I’ll swim miles til the day is done

My hours no longer plundered.

But for the coming week

Into each sport I’ll peak,

Creating the pix the folks seek,

Picturing all that they wondered.

Soon it  will be June at last,

With all this maelstrom past

God I hope it gets here fast.

As I pen post six hundred.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, how about a quick overview of some milestones.

Billard, Elliott, Powers and Bernstein Make the Cut At OCIAA Championships

I guess I’ll never understand why the powers  that be sent those golfers out in that maelstrom and not surprisingly had to postpone the rest of the tournament for a gorgeous , bright afternoon two days later.

Just how much did that weather interfere with the aspirations of local golfers like defending OCIAA champion, Fallsburg’s Richie Elliott? We’ll never really know. We do know however that it was Nick Marotta of Monroe-Woodbury who prevailed, shooting a two-over par 73 to advance to the Section Nine opening round at his home course Mason Ridge on May 21.

As for the Sullivan County entrants of which there were seven four made the cut as part of the fortunate 32 who get to advance. They included Sullivan West’s Drew Billard (39-41-80) who came in fourth overall. Elliott was one stroke behind him (41-40-81) part of a three way tie for fifth place. Eldred eighth grader David Powers (49-45-84) was part of a five-way tie for seventh place, while Tri-Valley’s Jimmy Bernstein (41-49-90) in 13^th place.

Tri-Valley’s Connor Walsh , Monticello’s Angelo Niforatos and Roscoe’s Jesse Higgins missed the cut.

Here are the results:

(at Grossinger Country Club, Liberty, par 71; the top 29 and ties advanced to the Section 9 first round Monday at The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge in Monroe)

Nick Marotta (Monroe-Woodbury) 38-35-73; Scott Clark (Monroe-Woodbury) 35-41-76; Nick Hoffstatter (Kingston) 38-48-78; Brandon Waaland (Washingtonville) 41-37-78; Drew Billard (Sullivan West) 39-41-80; Eric Cohen (Monroe-Woodbury) 42-39-81; Lucas Durland (Warwick) 38-43-81; Rich Elliott (Fallsburg) 41-40-81; Ryan Rodriguez (Cornwall) 42-41-83; Zach Cantelmo (Warwick) 41-43-84; Dylan Kelly (Pine Bush) 38-46-84; David Powers (Eldred) 39-45-84; Brendan Riley (James I. O’Neill) 42-42-84; Pete Rodriguez (Minisink Valley) 42-42-84; Justin Thelig (Kingston) 41-44-85; Grant Gadomski (Warwick) 45-41-86; James Purcell (Monroe-Woodbury) 45-42-87; Sean Ginley (Warwick) 41-47-88; Nikolai Quigley (Warwick) 44-44-88; Josh Hoffner (Newburgh Free Academy) 49-40-89; Bradley Miller (Valley Central) 46-43-89; Jimmy Bernstein (Tri-Valley) 41-49-90; Conor Campbell (Port Jervis) 46-44-90; Jack Donnellan (Monroe-Woodbury) 46-44-90; Connor Cook (Newburgh Free Academy) 42-49-91; Mike Friedman (Monroe-Woodbury) 45-46-91; Jason Sherman (Middletown) 43-48-91; Taylor Stovall (Cornwall) 41-50-91; Pat Morris (Monroe-Woodbury) 44-48-92; Kyle O’Connell (Cornwall) 42-50-92; Justin Pitman (Pine Bush) 45-47-92; Jimmy Stradley (James I. O’Neill) 43-49-92.

Missed the cut: Steve Auer (Monroe-Woodbury) 48-45-93; Chris Otis (Kingston) 45-48-93; Aaron Goyzueta (Goshen) 50-44-94; Jake Porada (John S. Burke Catholic) 48-46-94; James Sullivan (Port Jervis) 44-50-94; Blake Waaland (Washingtonville) 48-46-94; Chris Love (Cornwall) 48-47-95; James Turcott (Washingtonville) 48-48-96; Matt Biagi (Goshen) 45-52-97; Nick Garafalo (Minisink Valley) 45-52-97;

Angelo Niforatos (Monticello) 48-49-97; Mike Quinn (Port Jervis) 46-51-97; Connor Walsh (Tri-Valley) 46-51-97; Steve Herschel (John S. Burke Catholic) 48-52-100; Ryan Hickey (John S. Burke Catholic) 49-52-101; Jesse Higgins (Roscoe) 53-48-101; Russ Auth (Warwick) 49-55-104; Shailen Patel (Goshen) WD; Jake McManus (John S. Burke Catholic) WD.

Sullivan West Girls Clinch Division IV Crown

With their 4-3 win over John S. Burke Catholic, the Lady Bulldogs of Sullivan West clinched their second Division IV crown in the past three years. With a 7-7 overall record, but more notably a 7-1 league mark, the Lady Westies get to see another banner go up in the Bulldogs’ gym. Their appearance in sectionals this year with mark the 27^th time the Lady Bulldogs made it to the postseason under the 30 year watch of Coach Mike Ellmauer.

Helping the cause in this game was Marianne Durkin who went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. Hannah Schwatz was 2-for-3 with an double and an RBI.

Liberty Rides Casiano Complete Game Outing and  Scheibe Hit Fusillade To Pummel Sullivan West

With their 9-4 win over Sullivan West two days prior, Liberty clinched a sectional berth but was still one game shy of evening its league record at 4-4. Making a visit to Lions Field in Jeffersonville, the Indians soon attained that goal with a 15-3 trouncing of their rivals.

Indeed, as I have noted before, the ardor of the rivalry between the two schools reignited this year by Sullivan West’s OT football victory that barred Liberty from the postseason and the two “Revelry and Rivalry” basketball games both won by the Indians this winter, were preludes to the much-anticipated meeting of local version of  the Hatfields and McCoys in baseball.

But for these two games thus far, it’s been far from the kind of nail biting nip and tuck tussels of bygone years. The Westies will look to try and stave off the sweep on May 21 when they travel to Indian Country for the third and final game of the series. Liberty improved to 10-5 (4-4) OCIAA, keeping its second half of the season unblemished. They travel to Monticello on May 18 to face the Monties in the opening round of this year’s John Spear Tournament.

The  winner will face Rondout Valley for the tourney title.  The Ganders defeated Ellenville 8-7 in the other tournament opener.

In this game against Sullivan West, Liberty got a run in the top of the first as leadoff hitter Tino Casiano reached on an E-5, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch from Westie hurler Cody Franskevicz.  A nifty 4-6-3 double play by the Westies extinguished the threat of further damage.

Casiano retired the side in order in the first, notching two of his eventual 10 strike outs.

Liberty plated six runs in the second inning as they sent ten batters to the dish. Anthony Mercado and Casiano knocked in two apied with back-to-back doubles. An error that resulted off the bat of Anthony Covington plated two more. When the dust settled, the Indians led 7-0.

Casiano worked around a leadoff double by Andrew Parsons to notch another zero. By day’s end in his complete game outing, he’d scatter ten hits and yield just three runs.

Liberty piled on with two more runs in the third. Nick Scheibe got the first of his three straight singles and came in on single by Mercado. A wild pitch to Joe Franke sent Scheibe home as Liberty extended its lead to 9-0.

Sullivan West woke up in the bottom of the third stanza as Patrick Pierce knocked in a run with a double to right. Parsons brought him in with a single and Zach O’Connor drove in the third run with a base hit.

That would be it for the Bulldogs’ scoring on the day. On the mound, Franskevicz the younger gave way to his brother E.J. in the fifth inning after yielding another run in the fourth on an RBI single by Scheibe. Liberty topped off its day with three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. In the sixth inning a bases loaded walk issued to Quinn Jackson brought in the first run. A run scored on a collision at home plate and the second runner followed suit across the dish.

It was at that juncture that this writer exited so how Liberty amassed its final two runs will remain a mystery to me. At 13-3 I had already seen enough and knew I had much to do so I made my departure.

On Saturday it’s back to track as I head to Warwick for the second day of the OCIAA League Championships. It’s one of my favorite track meets of the year.

SW Boys Clinch Ninth Straight Division IV Golf Title

With their 227-260 win over Fallsburg on May 11, Sullivan West (10-0 Division IV) clinched its ninth consecutive division title. Drew Billard led the way with a four-over par 39 on the front nine at the Villa Roma. Fallsburg’s Richie Elliott shot a three-over 38 but for the rest of the golfers it was far from close. Here were the scores: Drew Billard 39; Devon Muruzuk 43; Cody Kubenik 45; Jim Finn 48; Ryan Graham 52.

Fallsburg: Rich Elliott 38; Braiden DeGraw 50; Zak Steingart 53; Aaron Schmitt 59; Charles Marsden 60.

Records: Sullivan West 12-5 (10-0 OCIAA); Fallsburg 4-7-1 (4-6-1 OCIAA).

For an album of photos from the Liberty-Sullivan West game, visit www.sportsinsights.smugmug.com. I also took some shots of Billard, Elliott, Walsh and Bernstein at the OCIAA Golf Tourney. I’ll post those soon.