SCCC Staff Dominates the Ball Field, Become 2009 Softball Champs
By Isacc Feldman
If you bet your philosophy teacher could beat your local civil servants at any sport, you’d be in some serious money right about now.
Last week some of Suffolk County Community
College’s finest staff hit the diamond in an attempt to nab the top spot from other school faculties and county/town workers across the island. The SCCC staff started off the season with a tremendous win over Child Protective Services or CPS. They were quickly humbled, however, when they lost to the County Probation Department. After that loss, Suffolk softball won 6 straight games. That early season loss to the probation officers was one of only two losses on a championship run. They finished with a 9-2 record which was atop the standings.
Making the World Series for SCCC staff wasn’t a big problem as they mowed down the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s staff 16-5 in the first round of the playoffs. The next game gave Suffolk a little more trouble, facing a relentless District Attorney team that was looking to upset the number-one-seeded Suffolk. Slipping past the District Attorney team 5-3, Suffolk set their sites on winning the big one.
The best of three series kicked off September 3, with SCCC putting their best pitcher on the mound, Sal Arnold. Arnold had a very strong year, and hoped to translate his great regular season into the playoffs. Right of the bat, Suffolk was put into a hole when the Suffolk County Executive’s office staff scored seven runs. This was all before the SCCC team had a chance to bat.
Suffolk’s morale was low; they were in an unfamiliar position, trailing by so much in such a small space of time. But, never doubt the heart of a champion, as SCCC scraped together an early run to preserve their championship hopes, even as they soaked up the scoring deficit.
If there was a single play that clearly stood out in SCCC’s comeback, it was a three-run homerun off the bat of the College’s Plant Operation Chief John Salerno. Even though the homerun didn’t take the lead, it let the players know that they still had some life left.
Another situation that challenged Suffolk’s heart was when Kristi Dinoia became injured sliding into second base. Dinoia braved the pain, especially after watching SCCC’s 5th inning rally to tie and eventually take the lead. Despite her injury, she insisted on playing the second game.
Once the SCCC staff took the lead in the late
innings, there was no looking back. The final score for the first game was 14-11. When asking SCCC’s starting pitcher Sal Arnold how he felt about that shaky first inning, he admitted feeling “discouraged, but more determined than ever to get the championship for these guys.” Sal’s leadership was accompanied by co-captains Nick Pulumbo and Nef Collazo. Sal felt two plays played a big role in Suffolk’s amazing comeback. “John’s (Salerno) home run was the turning point for us, and the late RBI which gave us the lead completely deflated the County Execs.”
As for game two, it was a game in which Suffolk held the lead for the entire game. There was one scare for Suffolk, however, when the tying run was brought to the plate in the bottom of the 7th. It was the County Execs slugger who earlier in the game hit a ball off the centerfield wall. Sal quickly dispatched him with a sharp ground ball to SCCC’s leading hitter and shortstop Joe D’Agostino.
A comeback from a seven run deficit, preserving a lead, and showing a lot of heart was the key to Suffolk’s softball team bringing the championship home.
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