It’s good to be home after four days in upstate New York. And there’s no better time to look back on my stay in Herkimer than after a nearly five-hour drive back to Queens.
I already know your first questions: Where the heck is Herkimer and what on Earth is Mudville? Both fair inquiries.
The former is a small upstate town about 13 miles south of Utica. The latter is something that has to be seen to be believed – five softball fields built from scratch in one man’s backyard that hosts a number of high-school softball tournaments during the spring.
St. Joseph by the Sea, Moore Catholic, Construction and Susan Wagner – all teams ranked in The Post’s NYC top 10 – happened to be competing Tuesday and Wednesday in the second annual Missy Lasowski Breast Cancer Awareness Tournament. Their presence and a short ride to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown made Mudville a no-brainer destination for Joe Staszewski and me this week.
Here are some little nuggets from the past few days:
— Mudville is a cute name, derived from the famous Casey at the Bat poem. But make no mistake: when it rains in Herkimer – which it did quite a bit both days, Perry Novak’s facility is indeed Mudville. Leave those fancy shoes and white sneakers home. Parking can also be a difficult proposition. Staszewski almost got his car stuck not once, but twice.
— I was trying to talk Wagner coach Marco Altieri and St. Joseph by the Sea star third baseman Jackie Kelly into playing a little volleyball on Mudville’s outdoor courts. Altieri is, of course, his school’s girls volleyball extremely successful coach and Kelly plays the sport at Sea. However, they declined. The courts had the same consistency of the two parking spots Staszewski almost got his car stuck in.
— Shoutouts to Sea assistant coach Mike Jordan, who could not have been happier to operate the technologically impaired Mudville scoreboards. And that’s only partially sarcastic. Jordan had to battle some unique conditions on Field 3, including on-deck hitters and something that amounted to almost a moat around the Vikings dugout. On Tuesday morning, he was quick on the uptake when Sea center fielder Maria Scopellito was shirking her scoreboard duties during a game in which she only pinch ran.
— I’m not sure if the Construction girls were more happy or surprised to see me Monday afternoon. Speedy outfielder Delana Murray asked if I flew up from the city. I said, “Yeah, my plan landed in center field.” I think first baseman Linda McKernan told her I was joking, but I’m not positive.
— Sea almost had a catcher controversy Tuesday. Kelly was left shaking her head in the morning against Wagner. She was behind the plate for the first time since one inning freshman year against St. Peter’s and the responsibility of catching and writing in her trademark hitting book was too much. Things got worse later when umpires told regular backstop Michelle Abolt that her mask had a screw loose. Fill in your own joke here. Sea coach Mike Ponsiglione had to take matters into his own hands, taking screws off another helmet and putting them on Abolt’s. Now I know why Novak chose him for NYS Coach of the Year in 2011.
— Luckily for Abolt, who is a dead ringer for Glee star Dianna Agron, that her infamous hairbows were not banned like they were in non-leagues in New Jersey recently. However, Staszewski made a dangerous bet – if Sea makes the CHSAA state final, he has to wear a bow on his hat. That could be high comedy. The Vikings are tough on my guy. Kelly was killing him for drinking a red Gatorade, because that’s Moore Catholic’s color. Man, I’m glad I cover the PSAL.
Special thanks to Novak and his wife Kate for having us for the two days – that hot chocolate brought to us Tuesday during the final game especially hit the spot. The whole thing was a pretty cool and memorable experience.
Check back later this week for a larger feature about the Novaks and their incredible story.
