First-Time
Winners
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Democrat Photo by Frank Rizzo
THE FIRST
TIME: Monticello Senior Softball
girls’ all-star team celebrated its first
District 19 championship last week. Members are,
front row from the left: Erin Shuart, Monticello;
Holli Schoonmaker, White Lake; Megan Drobysh,
Rock Hill; and Tricia Parks, Kiamesha Lake. Back
row, from the left: Coach Pat Shuart, Monticello;
Samantha Lynch-Stefl, Smallwood; Crystal Forget,
Wurtsboro; Amelia Devlin, Forestburgh; Amanda
DeSimone, Monticello; and coach James DeSimone,
Monticello. Missing from photo were Kim Donohue
and Shannon Dietrich of Smallwood, who were away
at a national tournament with a Port Jervis-based
softball squad.
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Monticello
Senior Softball
Girls Celebrating
By Frank Rizzo
MONTICELLO — July 28, 2000 – The Monticello
Little League Senior girls’ softball team made
history when it won its first-ever District 19 title on
July 20.
On Wednesday evening, in Albany, it kept its sense of
destiny alive with an 11-10 comeback win over Whitehall
to clinch a spot in this weekend’s state final four
tournament.
Little League Seniors are in the 14-16 age bracket.
“Someone is smiling on us, we keep pulling them
out,” said Monticello coach Pat Shuart, a veteran
softballer with Frankie’s Restaurant of the
Monticello Women’s Softball League.
“They’ve been in a zone, and have been playing
great defensively. That’s kept us in the
games.”
Dispatching Newburgh
In the double elimination District 19 (which comprises
all of Orange and parts of Sullivan counties) Tournament
the Monticello all-stars, after a win over Wallkill, lost
to the Town of Newburgh 9-7 and were dropped into the
losers’ bracket.
Monticello then had to beat Cornwall and Warwick before
facing Newburgh again.
Megan Drobysh, despite little pitching experience (she
played outfield on the Monticello HS jayvee team), went
the distance, allowing seven hits and three earned runs
as Monticello prevailed 9-4. The losing pitcher, Kristina
LeRoy, pitched for the Newburgh Free Academy varsity
softball squad this spring.
Tricia Parks slammed a two-out, two-run double in the
fourth to put Monticello ahead 5-1. A two-run double by
Tricia Kaiser highlighted a four-run sixth which put the
game away.
The next evening Amanda Devlin got plenty of support as
she hurled an 11-4 win despite fighting exhaustion and a
sore back.
Monticello put the game away in the third with eight
runs, the big blows a three-run triple by Kaiser and a
two-run double by Shannon Dietrich.
On to States
In the opening round of the state tournament, Monticello
drubbed the Ulster American 15-2, a game stopped by the
10-run mercy rule after the fifth. Drobysh got the win,
pitching a five hitter and getting two hits. Samantha
Lynch-Stefl and Donohue also had two hits each.
Monticello then advanced by beating Wappingers Falls 5-2
last Sunday, scoring three times in the ninth. Drobysh
got the win in relief of Devlin, who pitched seven
innings and limited Wappingers to two runs.
Little League rules state that after five innings on the
mound, a pitcher must rest for 24 hours.
Surprise in Albany
The team traveled to Albany to play Whitehall on Thursday
and got a surprise.
“We showed up at the field and there were a bunch of
very large boys (playing with Whitehall),” Shuart
said. “We were told they were allowed to play. I
understand it from the legal standpoint, but someone has
to address the safety issue.”
Shuart mentioned a near-collision at second base, and a
shot off the bat of a batter — both involving boys
— which could have resulted in injuries.
Still, Monticello overcame this to pull off a comeback in
the bottom of the seventh., Down 10-5, the team used a
double by Amanda DeSimone to tie the score. Lynch-Stefl
then singled to score Parks with the winning run.
Monticello will play Long Beach in Queens tomorrow in the
first of two saturday games in the double-elimination
final four tournament.
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