By Laura Stabbert
SWAN LAKE — On Tuesday, Aug. 18, the Sullivan County Seniors softball team played Charlie’s Angels at the Swan Lake Firefighters’ Max Eronimous Field.
The Sullivan County Seniors have been competing for about 30 years and the team used to play in statewide tournaments in Cortland.
Original team members still playing include Sonny Bose, Tom Schmidt, Al Hall, Bill Engle and Lenny Steinberg.
However, the Sullivan County Seniors were not able to defeat Charlie’s Angels, who still had momentum from winning the Sullivan County Women’s Softball League “A” Division playoff championship by defeating L&B Tack in the best-of-three game finals series the previous week.
The Angels came from behind and edged out the Seniors, 8-6, after a seventh-inning rally.
The Seniors took an early lead in the game. In the bottom of the first inning, Steve Ross scored, and then Ron Moore scored off Preston Lyon’s double to give the Seniors a 2-0 advantage.
In the top of the second, pitcher Tom Schmidt set down the three Charlie’s Angels batters in order.
The next change of score came in the top of the fourth inning. Tonya Martin, Shannon Dietrich and Robyn Gannon all scored to put the Angels ahead 3-2.
The Seniors responded in the bottom of the fourth. With no outs, Steve Ross scored off Moore’s double to tie the score. But the Angels’ defense held for the rest of the frame, keeping the score 3-3 going into the fifth.
The score remained the same until the bottom of sixth.
Dennis Finley and Ross both scored, giving the Seniors a 5-3 lead going into the seventh inning.
It was the final at-bat for the Angels and they delivered. The top of the seventh started with a Jo Walls’ hitting a double. After an out was recorded she scored off Martin’s hit to deep right field. The next batter, Shannon Dietrich, belted a two-run home run to give the Angels a 6-5 advantage.
Deb Ackerley then scored off Gannon’s single. With the bases loaded, Christine Costa-Decker singled, which allowed Walls, who was running for Lisa Krom, to score.
Those runs allowed the Angels to extend their lead to 8-5.
With bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Jack Costello singled. Finley scored on the hit to bring the Seniors within two runs.
But Charlie’s Angels quickly recorded two outs to seal the victory.