WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. June 3, 2008 UPDATED June 4, 2008 9:40 A.M.: Two Indians on, nobody out, and the Tigers held a 2-1 lead Tuesday afternoon in the last of the seventh in the quarter final of the fastpitch Class AA Sectional in Wappingers Falls.

The hardworking Tiger in the circle,  Lauren Sputo was over 100 pitches. She went 3-1 to R. C. Ketchum’s clean-up lady, Jess Syska. Senior catcher Sandra Mastrangelo went to talk with Lauren they touched gloves. Sputo came back getting two called strikes for out number one.

Next up came the number five hitter, Amanda Machio who took three balls. Tiger catcher Sandra Mastrangelo went out to the circle again and laid on the gloves  with Lauren. Then,  boom! Boom! Boom! Sputo came back to get  Machio  on another called third strike on the corner.

Two out and Sputo into her 130^th pitch, was facing Chelse Boyes, who had blasted a triple in the second inning, walked, and looped a liner to left. The first pitch was over for a strike, then a ball, a swing and miss, and a foul, 1-2, the runners led away. Sputo delivered a nasty pitch across the thighs tying her up inside , Boyes  connected hitting the inside pitch off the fists past the circle.

Christine Coppola positioned perfectly in the third base hole gathered  it in as the crowd held its breath. Gloving it with care,  as if the yellow roller  was a bounding land mine, she gingerly, carefully eased over to  third base and planted her right foot decisively on the bag for the game-ending force out. Here Christine is bringing the precious ball to the home plate umpire. The big out.

The Tiger softball team  (Co Champs of League 1-A with Scarsdale), had ousted the Number 1 seed! It was a clutch performance by the battery of Sputo and Mastrangelo that capped a taut afternoon in the sun, moving the Tigers into the Section 1 Semi-Final on Thursday where they will play Yorktown, last year's defending Section 1 Champion at 4:30 P.M. at Yorktown High School.

The game was scoreless  through the first 4-1/2 frames, as Chelse Boyes and Sputo dueled for the second time in two weeks. Boyes won the first battle in extra frames at the  Melissa Danielle Bisaccia tournament. The Tigers and R.C. Ketchum have a lot of great games with each other and Tigers Coach Ted O'Donnell plays that tournament very year because of the high calibre Ketchem competition. 

Ketchum scored in the fifth when Michelle Sasso hit a shot off Sputo to Christine Giansante behind the mound, who just missed throwing her out at first base. Sasso went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Lauren Boyes’ solid single up the middle into centerfield for a 1-0 lead. Sputo walked the next hitter, induced Syska to ground to Giansante at second, moving the runners up. Then Sputo fanned Amanda Macio on three pitches to retire the side.

Chelse Boyes had been mowing the Tigers down for the first five innings with the Tigers having no bona fide threats. Twice Chelse had cut down Tigers at second on sacrifice bunt attempts to avert scoring situations. 

Flooks Flyer Sets Up The Equalizer

In sixth the Tigers broke through. Jackie Flooks the leadoff Tiger, cued the ball  on a slapper from the left side in the third and short hole. The shortstop gunned it to first, but Jackie was safe on a banger.  

With pitcher Boyes deadly on bunts, Coach Ted O’Donnell put on the steal on the second pitch to Christine Coppolla and Flooks was flying.  The catcher’s throw was up the line, and the shortstop swipe tag missed Jackie's left shoulder going by, the umpire right on the play went palms down! Tying run on second.  Coach O'Donnell told WPCNR he wanted to shake things up a bit, and that's why he put the steal on.

R. C. Ketchum Talks it over as Coach O'Donnell instructs Flooks -- a familiar sight over the years -- Coach Ted O'Donnell endlessly communicating leaving nothing to chance.

Boyes then induced a grounder to second, and Jackie had to hold the second sack. A passed ball allowed Flooks to go to third. After Kate Smayda worked the count to full, and walked, Sandra Mastrangelo came to the plate. The first pitch to Sandra was a wild pitch all the way to the backstop and Jackie scored in a cloud of dust, the throw from the catcher  high and late and it was 1-1,  Smayda moving to second.

Sandra Mastrangelo Turns Second and Holds On as Coach O'Donnell Holds Her up, after the SandraShot puts Tigers ahead 2-1.

Boyes’ next pitch to Mastrangelo, Sandra told WPCNR was outside and a little up and she got ALLLLLL of it. Out it soared to the opposite field, a long screaming line drive into the gap that scored Kate Smayda from second to put the Tigers ahead 2 to 1.

Going to the bottom of the sixth, Sputo had thrown 75 pitches on the warm afternoon, and after a catch of a hump back Texas Leaguer into shallow left by Tiger Shortstop Christy Reina, and a ground out, surrendered a hit and a walk, but fanned lead off hitter Michello Sasso on three pitches to closeout the threat.

The Tigers did not score in their half of the seventh, setting the stage for Sputo’s great clutch performance in the last of the seventh.

Put it In the Books

Unofficially Sputo threw between 125 to 135 pitches.  (On WCBS 880, Yankee broadcasters were worrying that Joba Chamberlain had thrown  39 pitches in the first inning, and only was going to go for 60 pitches, the poor baby).

Sputo  struck out 10, walked 6.  Sputo’s mental toughness to come back from 3 ball counts to strike out the Number 4 and 5 hitters with the tying and winning runs aboard – and catcher Mastrangelo’s ability to pull her pitcher through the crisis  pitch by pitch – showed catcher-pitcher coordination at the highest level. Coach O’Donnell did not leave the bench in the seventh inning crunch – a gesture of confidence in his senior catcher and the sophomore windmiller that speaks volumes. (If O'Donnell had been managing the Mets last September, things might have turned out differently in Flushing.)

Tiger Paws at Work

A key play of the game was the Ketchum pitcher Chelse Boyes' triple in the second inning. Boyes facing Sputo on a 1-2 count got all of a pitch up and drove it majestically one hop the the red right field net in straight away right. Rightfielder Laura DeMarte ran it down and launched a long throw to third to Christine Coppola covering. Coppola slapped the tag on Boyes who had beaten the throw, but Boyes momentum pulled her foot off the bag!

Too late!

 Coppola, alert to the baserunning miscue,  instinctively slapped the tag on again and the plate umpire -- right there  within 3 feet of the play -- pointed to the foot off the bag and punched her out. It was a great call! No argument. Credit Demarte for the great throw, and thirdbaser Coppola for not giving up on the play.

DeMarte in rightfield also made a fine running catch in foul territory down the rightfield line to retire Sam Tierney to begin the bottom of the sixth, when the wind was blowing the ball away from her.

It was a great team victory by the Tigers who played a perfect defensive game.

Meeting at Home Plate: Coach Ted O'Donnell and Captains Sandra Mastrangelo and Jackie Flooks, going over the ground rules at the traditional meeting at "Grand Central Terminal." 

Mastrangelo's catlike movements and intensity behind the plate are reminiscent of the great Pete Rose in hustle, desire and "fastpitch instrincts." In the seventh she chased a foul ball behind the backstop (out of play) just on sheer will to catch the ball. You may see other ballplayers who hustle as much as Ms. Mastrangelo -- but you will never see another who hustles more.

Fastpitch Sunset

The sad thing about such a great contest is that one team feels sky high, and plays again, and the other team’s season ends. That pathos was evident as the runner on second base for R.C. Ketchum, a team with five seniors, senior Lauren Boyes who had started the seventh so promisingly, was forced out to end the game.

She sank to her knees in front of third base, silently crying in the infield dirt.

The ball game was over.

Her season was over.

She would never play fastpitch for RC Ketchem again.

Just like that.

Perhaps no end of game is more agonizing than the final out.

No more days in the sun on the clay  field in between the lines -- the greatest place you can be if you’re 17 and live the fastpitch life.