By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — April 18, 2003 – Prior to Tuesday’s OCIAA Division II softball game versus visiting Warwick, Monticello Coach Ed Kaufman noted that his team had played well defensively in the first two games of the season.
But he quickly added that his squad struggled offensively in losses to Marlboro and Port Jervis.
Unfortunately for the Lady Panthers, their offensive woes continued against Warwick.
Warwick pitcher Megan Pappas struck out 13 batters as the Lady Wildcats shut out Monticello 8-0 at Edward M. Collins Memorial Park in Mongaup Valley.
Warwick (1-2, 1-1 Division II) wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard. Meri Gorton led off the game with an infield hit and scored when the next batter, Lindsey Peruso, bunted and reached base on a Monticello throwing error.
Sue Lendzian then hit a bloop single to bring Peruso in to score. Pappas followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Lady Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
Gorton and Lendzian each had an RBI single in the second inning when Warwick scored three more runs.
Warwick added a pair of runs in the fourth inning.
Pappas allowed only three hits and issued three walks.
Tricia Parks (0-3) took the loss for the Lady Panthers.
“Megan pitched very well and Sue Lendzian had a couple of RBIs,” Warwick Coach Matt McGinnis said. “The girls did what they had to do to score some runs. We did a fairly good job getting some timely hits.”
One bright spot for Monticello (0-3, 0-1 Division II) was the play of second baseman Casey Berson. In both the sixth and seventh innings, Berson fielded a ground ball with a runner on first base, calmly tagged out the runner and then threw the ball to first base to complete the double play.
Berson, Liz Pavese and Holli Schoonmaker were the only Lady Panthers to record hits in the contest.
“We just can’t hit the ball,” Kaufman said. “Defensively, we played well today. But offensively, we’re really struggling.”