By Ted Waddell
MONTICELLO — June 1, 2001 – You snooze, you lose.
For most of the regular season, the Monticello batsmen seemed like they were auditioning for the role of Rip Van Winkle, as their bats were asleep at the trigger. In recent games however, the Panthers swatters woke up and started pounding out hits.
In Tuesday’s opening round of Class B sectional play however, Monticello decided to take a snooze as they managed a meager two hits in their 4-3 loss to the Raiders of Red Hook.
The Raiders’ Cody Trayer started Red Hook’s march to victory in the top of the second inning with a 400-foot solo homer off Monticello starter Rich fello. The ball sailed over the fence to land on the softball field somewhere near third base. Eric Palmatier reached on a single and a hit by Jordan Schoonmaker scored Palmatier to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
As the home team stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the second, Jose Suarez led off with a walk and stole second. Jon Freeman reached on a bunt, and the errant throw by the Red Hook pitcher to first allowed Suarez to score. Freeman advanced to second and then third on passed balls but was left stranded on the hot corner as his teammates had three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning. The score was now 2-1.
Both teams scored two runs in the fifth frame.
Red Hook’s Andrew Byrne walked, and Trayer’s single advanced Byrne to second. Palmatier reached on an error which scored Byrne, and stole second. Ryan Richardson hit to the second baseman, driving in Thayer from third to make it a 4-1 game.
In the bottom of the fifth, Chris Langano was hit by a pitch. Ed Motl reached on an error by the Raiders third baseman, and it was back to the top of the order for Monticello. After Steve Figura lined out to the third baseman, Motl stole second. Langano scored on a pickoff attempt at third that misfired, and Motl advanced top third. Rich Fello reached on an error at third, which allowed Motl to cross the plate to end the game’s scoring at 4-3.
Red Hook’s Ryan Richardson picked up the win, giving up two hits and three runs. He struck out 12.
Monticello’s Fello gave up six hits, four runs (three earned) and struck out six.
“The big factor was our hitting,” said Raiders coach Matt King. “I thought we hit the ball pretty well, and Cody Trayer got things going with his home run in the second… we hit the ball solid to the left side of the field.
“Ryan Richardson is our best pitcher,” he added. “He focused real well today and threw great.”
According to Panthers coach John Spear, he thought it was a good game, for the most part played well on both sides of the field.
“We never really threatened after the bottom of the fifth,” said Spear, reflecting upon watching batter after batter strike out as the Monticello’s hopes of advancing in sectional play faded into the late afternoon sun.