By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — August 17, 2010 — Since the 29th annual Edward M. Collins Memorial Softball Tournament was held on the traditional Woodstock weekend, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that rain played a role in the outcome of the tourney.
On Sunday afternoon, DeGroodt Bros. and Zubi’s Lawn Care were tied at 4-4 in the sixth inning of a loser’s bracket semifinal game when a steady rain forced the game to be halted. After waiting about an hour, Tournament Director Dennis Dietrich met with the umpires, coaches from DeGroodt Bros. and Zubi’s as well as the coaches from Huffcut Concrete and the Marlins – which were the other two teams remaining in the double-elimination tournament – to decide what to do. Based on the field conditions and the fact that the rain showed no signs of letting up, the decision was made to end the tournament at that point.
Since they were the only team without a loss, the Marlins were declared the tournament champions. Huffcut Concrete, which had already advanced to the loser’s bracket final, was awarded the second place trophy. Third place was determined by a coin flip, which was won by Zubi’s Lawn Care.
Todd Smoker, who won all three games for the Marlins, was named the tourney’s MVP Pitcher. Ronnie DeGroodt of DeGroodt Bros. was selected to receive the MVP Defense award. Chris Bogash of Huffcut Concrete was chosen as the MVP.
“We had fun in the games we played,” said Marlins Coach Marlin Smoker, whose team went 3-0 in the tournament.
His business, Smoker’s Sports Store in Lancaster, Pa., sponsors the Marlins.
Dietrich noted that in spite of the rain, “everything went great.
“We had some good games and all the games were on schedule until today,” he said.
“It’s too bad that we had to use a coin flip for third place,” Dietrich added. “If there were just three local teams left, we might have been here playing until 12 o’clock tonight. But one of the teams has about a four-hour drive home.”
The 30th annual Collins Tournament is slated for next August in the Mongaup Valley park named in memory of Edward M. Collins and Dietrich noted that it will be special. For example, he said that he will try to get two of the teams which originally entered this year’s tournament but had to withdraw from the field – The Legends of Boston, Mass. and Halfmoon of Albany – to enter the tournament.
The 11 teams which played in this year’s tourney were Marlins of Lancaster Pa.; Huffcut Concrete of Middletown; Zubi’s Lawn Care of Greenville; DeGroodt Bros. of Montgomery; Dutch’s Bombers of Monticello; Hollywood Towing of Middletown; Kestler’s Well Drilling of Shohola, Pa.; Radio Shack of Hamlin, Pa.; Seduttos of Staten Island; State Farm Insurance of Middletown and Switch Inn Bar and Grill of Middletown.
The results of the games which were played are as follows:
Friday: Zubi’s Lawn Care 14, Radio Shack 3; DeGroodt Bros. 8, Hollywood Towing 0; Huffcut Concrete 9, Switch Inn 1; Marlins 4, Dutch’s 2
Saturday: Kestler’s Well Drilling 3, Zubi’s 2; State Farm Insurance 7, DeGroodt Bros. 4; Huffcut Concrete 9, Seduttos 2; Dutch’s 9, Hollywood Towing 1; Zubi’s 3, Switch Inn 1; DeGroodt Bros. 8, Radio Shack 0; Zubi’s 6, Dutch’s 2; DeGroodt Bros. 6, Seduttos 4; Marlins 6, Kestler’s 5; Huffcut Concrete 11, State Farm Insurance 1
Sunday: DeGroodt Bros. 2, Kestler’s 0; Zubi’s 7, State Farm Insurance 0; Marlins 2, Huffcut Concrete 1.