By Rob Potter
MONTICELLO — June 22, 2010 — It was a battle of unbeaten teams as Fallsburg Lumber met Fitness Factory in a Sullivan County YMCA Softball League game on Thursday night at Kenneth H. Somerville Memorial Field in Monticello.
After falling behind by a run, Fitness Factory scored four times in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-1 lead. Fitness Factory (2-0) then extended that advantage over the remaining innings to record a 10-2 victory.
Fallsburg Lumber took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Leadoff batter Mike Cardo singled to left field and moved to third base on a double by Darren Kenney. Cardo then scored on Dave Luczyski’s sacrifice fly.
But Fitness Factory answered with four runs in the bottom of the first. Shane Conner, who hit a leadoff single and advanced to third base when Julian Dawson doubled, scored the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly by Dan Gallo.
Dawson scored the go-ahead run when Alex Salazar singled to left field. Salazar crossed home plate on a double by Falasca. Keith Shaddock then singled to left field to bring Falasca in to score, which gave Fitness Factory a 4-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the second, Conner scored on a single by Dawson to make it a 5-1 game.
Fallsburg Lumber (4-1) responded with a run in the top of the third. The first batter of the frame, Bill Wagner, ripped a triple to left field. Wagner scored when the next batter, Cardo, grounded out to first base.
The score remained 5-2 in favor of Fitness Factory until the bottom of the fifth. With two outs in the frame, Shaddock singled to bring Salazar in to score. Xavy Cardona then blasted a two-run, inside-the-park home run to deep center field to give Fitness Factory an 8-2 lead.
Fitness Factory scored its final two runs of the evening in the bottom of the sixth. Corey VanKeuren scored on a sacrifice fly by Conner and Des Gonzalez scored on a single by Gallo.
Fallsburg Lumber attempted to rally in the top of the seventh. Ron Fello reached base on a fielder’s choice and Johnny Hoefling singled to left field to put runners on first base and second base with one out.
But Fitness Factory pitcher JoJo VanKeuren got the next two batters to fly out and ground out, respectively, to end the game.