Of all the achievements and special honors bestowed upon Steven Lungen, the former Sullivan County District Attorney, to me this was the most memorable:

When Mr. Lungen and I were much younger, there was the Sullivan County Volunteer Fire Department Softball League, and most of the eastern Sullivan County fire departments fielded a softball team.

This was a serious competitive business, complete with playoffs, and the winners received large trophies with a baseball player swinging a bat on top. The trophy was as big as the trophy awarded at the firemen’s parades.

The Mountaindale Fire Department, one of the smaller fire departments, proudly fielded their hometown team. Steve was the captain of the team. He was also the lead-off hitter.

Now, truth be told, sometimes Mountaindale didn’t have enough players to field a team. So, bending the rules a bit, they played two men in the outfield instead of three. Steve, studying the situation, figured the odds were in his favor. 

Let’s play ball!

I’m on the Grahamsville Fire Department Team (mostly on the bench), and on the schedule is Mountaindale with its two-man outfield at game time.

Grahamsville has its star pitcher on the mound: Old Don Terbush with his deadly slow pitch. Don is smoking his corncob pipe on the mound.

For the non-softball people, Don’s deadly slow pitch is thrown underhand, virtually straight up in a slow looping arc, dropping down over the plate, and driving the batter nuts.

Spitballs may be illegal, but tobacco juice on the ball gives you a better grip on the ball.

Pitcher Don gets set. He does not take any warm-up pitches, but he does wave all three outfielders back to the outfield fence.

Steve rubs dirt on the bat and steps in.  Don’s first high blooper pitch lands behind Steve. “Ball one.” 

Don is sending a message.

“No batter, no batter,” yells the shortstop, Ken Terbush. (Ken is Don’s son, and he plays in the professional Town of Liberty League.)

Without expression, Steve bends down and rubs more dirt on his bat. He did not take the time off from his prosecutorial duties to “walk.” He digs in. Don double-checks that the outfielders move further out.

Don Terbush’s next slow-ball pitch is extra high. Steve patiently waits for it to drop and then swings.

The center fielder doesn’t move as he watches the ball sail over his head and far over the fence.

As Steve flips the bat and rounds third, heading for home, he cracks a slight smile. Like Aaron Judge, he points his index finger at the pitcher, like a pistol, and says, “See ya.”

I, for one, will always see and remember Sullivan County District Attorney Steve Lungen, the magnificent athlete, during one of his happiest moments.

Humbly submitted,

William A. Brenner, Esq.
William A. Brenner is an attorney in Grahamsville, NY.