By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — June 1, 2001 – Monticello scored at least one run in four different innings en route to an 11-1 victory over Goshen in a Section IX — Class B softball quarterfinal game Wednesday afternoon at Edward Collins Memorial Park.
With the win — the first ever sectional victory by a Monticello softball team — the Lady Panthers moved on to the semifinals. Monticello (18–4), the second seed in the Class B tournament, was scheduled to host sixth-seeded New Paltz yesterday at Collins Park with the winner of that contest advancing to tomorrow’s championship game in Minisink Valley.
The Lady Panthers pounded out 17 hits on the day and wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the first, Megan Drobysh beat out a grounder to short and Cindy Jessup reached first base safely after bunting to put runners on the corners with one out. Clean-up batter Kim Donohue ripped a single to left to score Drobysh.
Shannon Dietrich then singled to bring Jessup home for a 2-0 Monticello lead.
The Lady Panthers put together a two-out rally to pad their lead in the second inning. A double by Sam Lynch allowed Analey Dietrich, who had reached base on a single, to run home. Drobysh then got a hit to bring Lynch to the plate.
Drobysh scored the fifth Lady Panther run when Jessup reached base safely thanks to a Goshen (8–10) error.
Monticello added some insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth. Sam Lynch smashed a triple to the left field fence with the bases loaded to give the Lady Panthers a 8-1 lead and Drobysh made it 9-1 when she beat out a bunt to allow Lynch to scamper home from third base.
“We were hitting early then we went into a little lull,” Monticello coach Ed Kaufman said. “Sam Lynch’s triple helped seal the win. And we played well defensively today, which is our forte.”
Donohue, Shannon Dietrich, Drobysh and Lynch each went 3-for-4 at the plate, with Lynch recording four RBI. Dietrich and Drobysh each knocked in a pair of runs and Donohue had one RBI.
Analey Dietrich helped her own cause by hitting a pair of singles.
She also pitched well, allowing Goshen batters just six hits in the game. She walked one and struck out two.
The senior hurler also got out of jams in the third and fourth innings. She got Goshen’s Valerie Woodall to ground out with the bases loaded and two outs in the third and induced a ground out off the bat of Cynthia Nuara with two on and two outs in the fourth.
“We were making contact with the ball,” Goshen coach Cindy McGlynn said. “But we didn’t get timely hits to score some runs.”
“We had the bases loaded in one inning and runners on second and third in another and didn’t get a hit,” added Goshen assistant coach Mike Isseks. “If we could have gotten a hit in those situations it might have been a different game.”
Kaufman noted that while the win was “a milestone” for the Monticello softball program, he and his team want a little more.
“The goal since the beginning of the season has been to get to the finals and play Cornwall,” Kaufman said.
Top-seeded Cornwall beat the Panthers twice in the OCIAA Division III regular season and were the undefeated division champs. The Green Dragons faced Onteora in the other semifinal yesterday. Results were unavailable.