LAKE HUNTINGTON – Sullivan West hosted its annual baseball and softball tournament on Saturday, May 4. Both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs made it to the respective championships, with both Monticello teams and Port Jervis teams competing in the tournament along with Deposit-Hancock baseball and Tri-Valley softball. 

Port Jervis dominated the tournament as they went a combined 4-0 and took down Sullivan West in each championship. 

In the first matchups of the day, Monticello and Sullivan West faced off in both baseball and softball. 

The Bulldogs defeated the Panthers, 7-3, on the baseball diamond behind a three-hit game from Evan Ebert and 5 1/3 strong innings from starting pitcher Brandon Haass. 

The Bulldogs scored their first run in the first inning after Ebert singled, stole second and came around to score on an error. They added two more runs in the third and four in the fourth as they batted around in the latter frame. 

The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Panthers, 14-2, with seven different players scoring at least one run and six scoring at least two. Sullivan West pounced early with six runs in the first frame before adding five in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth. 

Elizabeth Reeves and Nicole Reeves recorded two hits and an RBI apiece, while Elizabeth Reeves scored three runs and Nicole Reeves scored two. Kaitlyn Drobysh recorded three RBI and scored a run. 

Port Jervis faced Deposit-Hancock in the second matchup of the day on the baseball diamond and defeated the Eagles 8-3 to earn a championship appearance against Sullivan West. 

Port Jervis faced off against Tri-Valley on the softball field and took them down, 12-4, as they scored two runs in the third and sent 13 batters to the plate in the fourth while scoring the other 10. Jenna Carmody and Angelia Raykoff recorded two hits apiece for the Lady Bears in the loss. 

In the consolation games, Deposit-Hancock defeated Monticello 9-2 in six innings as they reached the time limit. 

Tri-Valley went on to defeat Monticello, 14-7, in the softball consolation game. The Lady Bears scored two runs in the first, one in the second, four in the fifth and seven in the sixth. Jenna Carmody went 4-for-4 and drove in four runs as she was 6-for-8 overall in the tournament. 

For the softball championship, Port Jervis flexed their muscles and downed the Lady Bulldogs, 13-1. Elizabeth Reeves started the game on the mound and struck out five over 5 2/3 innings while surrendering 10 runs - six of them earned - on 10 hits and one walk. 

Sullivan West scored their one run in the third inning which was unearned. Elizabeth Reeves, Karlee Diehl and Sam Hellerer recorded two hits apiece. 

“I felt good [about the tournament],” said Sullivan West softball coach Anthony Durkin. “We had a good game against Monticello. We hit well in both games and we had more hits than Port Jervis, but we just had more errors.”

The baseball championship between Sullivan West and Port Jervis was competitive for all eight innings as it went to extras. The Port Jervis team has two players who are committed to Division 1 schools - John Fuller and Logan Morris. Fuller smashed two homers in their game one win and Morris mashed one in the first inning of the championship. 

The Morris home run put the Raiders up 2-0 early as Fuller got on base via a walk to lead off the game. The pair scored two more runs in the third frame as Port Jervis led 4-0. 

The Bulldogs got back into the game in the bottom of the third as they scored three runs with Alec Hubert driving in two runs and Jacob Hubert driving in one. 

Jacob Hubert worked a clean fourth frame on the mound as he struck out two. Hubert worked all seven regular frames and struck out eight. 

Sullivan West took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth as Allyn Walter recorded an RBI single and Austin Nystrom drove in the other run on a sacrifice fly. The boys continued to fight as it was back and forth all game. The teams each scored two runs in the fifth inning to trade leads with the Bulldogs entering the sixth with a 7-6 lead. 

The Raiders snatched the lead back the next frame as they scored two more runs. The Bulldogs then scored one in the bottom of the frame to even it up at 8-8. Jacob Hubert worked a clean top of the seventh as he walked just one batter. 

The Bulldogs were set up for a walkoff in the bottom of the seventh. Brandon Haass singled and courtesy runner Nick Perez stole second with one out to put them in prime position. However, the next two batters, Allyn Walter and Haden Nicosia, struck out to strand Perez and bring it to extras. Port Jervis pitcher Joseph Olenick struck out the side to force extras. 

In a tournament-only rule, each team started their extra frame with an extra runner on second base, like the extra-inning rule in the major leagues. The free runner was whoever made the final out of the previous inning. 

Fuller started the 8th on second and Port Jervis wasted no time as he stole third and came home on an RBI single from Justin Grusz. The Raiders would score two more runs in the inning to take an 11-8 lead. 

The Bulldogs didn’t go down without a fight. Nystrom walked to begin the bottom half, before two straight flyballs left them with one out to work with. Jacob Hubert came up clutch with a two-out, two-RBI single to put them back to within a run. The starting pitcher then stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Adam Ernst came up to the plate and fought off pitch after pitch but ultimately struck out looking to end the game. 

“[This was] the best game we played so far,” said Sullivan West baseball coach Ty Ebert. “[We] came out on the losing end, but happy with everything that happened there.”

“All the way through the lineup, we had runners on with base hits,” Ebert said. “Sucks losing, but if we’re gonna lose that’s the way to lose. Tough game, but [they’re a] good team and both teams played well.”