By Rob Potter
MONGAUP VALLEY — The Klein and Sons Logging team used two big innings to record a victory on Wednesday night in a Sullivan County Women’s Softball League (SCWSL) game at Edward M. Collins Memorial Park.
Klein and Sons scored seven runs in the first inning and seven runs in the fourth inning on its way to a 17-0 win over the Center For Discovery Diamonds.
The game was called after five innings due to the league’s 15-run mercy rule.
With the win, Klein and Sons improved its record to 13-2 on the season. Center For Discovery fell to 6-6.
Klein and Sons, a SCWSL “A” Division team, wasted little time in taking the lead. Jill Hubert-Simon began the top of the first inning by drawing a walk. Moments later, she scored the first run of the contest on a single by Michelle Ross.
Krys Stant and Cheryl Crumley then followed with an RBI double and a two-run single, respectively, to give Klein and Sons a 4-0 lead.
Klein and Sons added three more runs in the frame on a two-run single by Christina Price and an error.
After extending its advantage to 8-0 on Christine Lopez’s RBI single in the top of the third, Klein and Sons put seven more runs on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. With one out and two teammates on base, Kayla Scannell belted the ball into deep left-center field. Hubert-Simon and Barb Ward-Blank both scored easily on the hit. Scannell also scored when the throw from the outfield to third base was offline.
The next batter, Ross, doubled to right field and scored when Stant singled.
Klein and Sons scored three more times in the frame to extend its lead to 15-0. Stant and Chelsea Reuss both crossed home plate when Price ripped a double down the left field line.
Klein and Sons registered the final runs of the game in the top of the fifth. Scannell scored on Stant’s bloop single to center field and Nikomi Thompson scored when Crumley reached base on an error.
Despite falling behind early, the Center For Discovery Diamonds, a SCWSL “B” Division team, didn’t hang their heads in sadness. Instead, they kept hustling and playing hard the entire game.
The team played very good defense in the second and third innings, holding Klein and Sons to just one run during those frames. Diamonds’ first baseman Megan Roche ended the top of the second with a nice running catch of a pop fly. Reuss recorded the final out in the top of the third by snaring a hard line drive in her glove.
Center For Discovery’s best chance to get on the scoreboard was in the bottom of the first. With one out, Jackie LaBagh and Candy Sheerer hit back-to-back singles.
But Klein and Sons pitcher Susan Waddell retired the next two batters on a strikeout and a groundout, respectively, to end the inning.
The Diamonds had their leadoff batter reach base in both the bottom of the fourth and the bottom of the fifth. LaBagh started the fourth with an infield hit and Joan Krieger began the fifth with a single to center field. But in both frames, Waddell induced flyouts or groundouts from the next three batters to hold Center For Discovery scoreless.