SOUTH SALEM, N.Y. - On Thursday, July 9, CMDR took on 10-4 George at Onatru Farm Park. Last year's champions had the upper hand in the standings, and the home team didn’t take long to assert itself. Taking a 3-0 first-inning lead, the second-place club didn’t let a scoreless second slow its momentum.
CMDR scored four more runs in the third and went on to a 12-0 mercy-rule victory.
The visitors threatened early, however. Rebecca Del Greco led off with a single to left, and one pitch later Karen D’Alessio followed with an opposite-field bloop to right. Unfortunately, a pair of infield flies and a pop-up to center ended the threat.
Erin Bamback took the circle and didn’t flinch when Dawn Ianiri hit a liner back at her. The pitcher fielded it on one hop and recorded the first out.
Lauren Whitten followed with a much slower hit. Good for an infield single, it got CMDR started, and the knee brace Laura Statuti wore proved no impediment for the third baseman.
“My team needed me,” she said.
Her line drive down the third-base line scored Whitten.
Wendy O’Donnell followed with a single to put runners on the corners, leaving Theresa Pepe to rely on her trademark opposite-field swing.
“It’s just natural,” she said.
Run No. 2 came home on Pepe’s single, and Doreen Schmidt stepped to the plate knowing she has lost a step after such a long career.
“I make it work,” she said.
A bloop single to left certainly did.
Donna Thomas then did the dirty work at first, digging out Ianiri’s low throw. With the leadoff runner erased, Schmidt retired the side in the second inning.
CMDR went quietly in the bottom of the second, and aside from an infield single by Bamback, so did 10-4. In the bottom of the third, a throwing error at shortstop sparked another CMDR rally.
O’Donnell’s ground ball to short resulted in a high throw, and with one out, Pepe looked for her pitch.
“If they pitch me inside, I don’t swing,” she said.
Of course, if she sees it a second time, she has little choice.
“Sometimes I go to center,” Pepe said, and that’s exactly where her line-drive single landed.
Schmidt then reached on a throwing error at third. After Del Greco recorded a force out at third base, it appeared the damage might be limited. Unfortunately for 10-4, a throwing error by Bamback kept the inning alive, and Ianiri’s RBI single made it 7-0.
Schmidt’s defense and experience helped keep it that way.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’m used to getting balls down the middle, so you have to be quick,” the pitcher said.
She was, recording the second out of the inning.
Taking their pitcher’s cue, CMDR added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, leaving just three outs to secure the win. Two more comebackers to Schmidt did the trick, and with GHC sitting in first place, CMDR has its sights set on another championship.
“We just beat them,” Pepe said, “and that’s the goal when the playoffs arrive.”
Despite the defeat, the day was far from a total loss for 10-4, especially with the good humor provided by first baseman Christine Hennings.
“We have so much positivity in our lives that sometimes we have to let other teams win,” Hennings said, tongue in cheek.
She has good reason to laugh. After undergoing knee replacement surgery, Hennings doesn’t take any day on the field for granted. The postgame gathering helps, too.
“We have some beverages and chips and hang out until the bugs start to bite,” Hennings said.
A member of the team for more than 40 years, Nancy Haggerty shares that appreciation.
“I never plan to quit,” she said. “I can’t imagine not playing.”
D’Alessio feels much the same.
“I’ve known Nancy for 30 years. We’re like sisters,” said the left fielder.
That family atmosphere extends to Del Greco and, in all likelihood, reflects the sentiment on both sides of the diamond.
“You’re outside, you’re with your friends. We have a great time,” the shortstop said.
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