The Philipstown coaches couldn’t remember the last time a Little League All-Star softball team made it to a championship game. Philipstown’s population is so small, the “all-stars” often include everyone on the team.
But perseverance and pluck got them to the July 11 title game against visiting Poughkeepsie, a town with more than three times the population to draw its ages 10-and-under all-stars from. The locals were hindered further because, at the last minute, a third of its lineup was unavailable, in one case because of a broken foot. (She came on crutches to cheer.) Because a team must field at least nine players, three replacements were brought in from a younger age group.
The Philipstown girls, who had been pummeled during the season by teams from much larger places, held their own. The game went into extra innings before Poughkeepsie pulled it out, 5-4. Over seven innings, Philipstown pitcher Rosie Valentine struck out 12 and yielded only five hits. She also scored twice.
I enjoyed Ross Corsair’s photos! While the current coaches did not remember the last time the Philipstown Little League girls’ softball team played in a championship game, nearly 20 years ago, in 2007, the senior team defeated LaGrange, 9-2, on July 9 for the District 17 title and Chatham, 9-2, on July 18 for the Section II title. From there, they advanced to the state finals, where they finished second.
Like this year’s team, as July wore on, it was difficult to field the required number of players!
The team included Chelsea Lisikatos, Jade Lyons, Meaghan Barcavage, Gina DiMeo, Laura Campbell, Kaitlyn Mastrantone, Cassie Barcavage, Jen Lombardo, Alex Milner, Lily Rubino, Emily Marsh, Liz Milner, Meagan Spratt, Holly Whitson and Chloe Solomon. The coach was Nick Lisikatos and I was the manager.
These championships kicked off the 2007-08 school year, during which most of the girls played for the state champion volleyball team, the state champion basketball team and/or the Section I champion softball team.