By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — April 27, 2004 – Under gray clouds and amid quite a few rain drops Sunday afternoon, the Monroe Community College Lady Mustangs swept a Region XV softball doubleheader from the Sullivan County Community College Lady Generals at Edward M. Collins Memorial Park.
Monroe CC scored nine runs in the final three innings of the opener to record a 10-7 victory. In the second game, Monroe (7-11, 7-9 Region XV) scored two runs in both the first and third innings and added three in the fifth on its way to a 12-2 win.
SCCC (3-11, 3-9 Region XV) took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning of the first game. But the Lady Mustangs responded with five runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, an RBI single by Destiny Hinkley allowed SCCC to pull within 6-4.
After the three Monroe batters were retired in order in the top of the sixth, the Lady Generals rallied to regain the lead. With one out, Jamie Hopkins, Jen Wright and Katrina Meyer hit consecutive singles to load the bases.
Clean-up batter Alesia Rexford then sent all three of her teammates across home plate by ripping a stand-up triple to left center.
Down 7-6 in its last at-bat, Monroe scored four runs. Erika Marchetti’s RBI single gave the Lady Mustangs an 8-7 lead. The next batter, Amy Santiago, smashed a triple to left field to bring Marchetti in to score. Santiago scored when Kiesha Milstrey hit a ground-rule double to center field.
Santiago, who pitched both games for Monroe, then set the SCCC batters down in order in the bottom of the seventh to record the victory.
Second Game
In the second game, Monroe scored twice in the first inning.
Then in the third, the Lady Mustangs extended their lead to 4-0 on an RBI groundout by Marchetti and an RBI single by Milstrey.
In the bottom of the third, SCCC responded with a run. With two outs and two runners on, Amber Gray beat out an infield grounder, which allowed Hopkins to score on the play.
After Monroe took a 7-1 lead in the top of the fifth, the Lady Generals attempted to rally in the bottom of the frame.
With one out and one on, Meyer and Rexford hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Gray then patiently drew a walk from Santiago, which allowed Wright to trot home from third base.
But Santiago got the next two Lady General batters to strike out and ground out, respectively, to maintain the Lady Mustangs’ five-run lead.
Monroe scored five times in the top of the sixth to ensure its victory.
“They’re a good team and they’re well-coached,” Monroe Coach Jim McCormack said. “[SCCC Coach] Kyle [Walter] has done a good job with them. We were fortunate to come back and win that first game.”
Walter noted that the Lady Generals’ performed well in one key aspect of the sport of softball, but not in another.
“We played good defense, but our bats just went to sleep,” he said.
Notes: SCCC has six games remaining in the regular season, all of which are scheduled to be played at Collins Park. At 3 p.m. today, the Lady Generals are slated to host Queensborough Community College in a Region XV doubleheader.
Then at 3 p.m. on Friday, SCCC will face Nassau Community College in another Region XV twinbill.
At noon this Saturday (May 1), SCCC will play Suffolk Community College-West for two Region XV games.