By ERIC AHLQVIST
Cooperstown Crier
Philip Pohl went batty last
week.
The senior catcher, mired in a
hitting slump, decided to switch
from an aluminum to a wood bat
before Friday’s game against Canastota,
and responded with a triple
and home run in a 7-3 victory.
On Monday, he hit two long
home runs over the leftfield fence
at Doubleday Field in his only two
official at bats, giving him three
home runs and a triple with the
wood bat.
``I think I’ll keep using it,’’ dead panned
Pohl, who played in a wood
bat league last summer.
Pohl’s home runs on Monday led
to a key, 8-5, Center State Conference
victory over Mt. Markham,
the Redskins’ eighth straight win.
The next night Cooperstown
beat Canastota again, 8-3, to earn
their second straight CSC Division
II title. The Redskins are 9-0 in
league play and 12-3 overall a year
after winning the Class C title.
``We haven’t swept Mt. Markham
in a season series since I’ve been
playing,’’ said Pohl, a four year
starter heading to Clemson University
next fall on a baseball scholarship.
``We started out 4-3 this
year, but obviously we’ve been
playing well since then and really
finding our groove.’’
``It’s been a pleasant evolution,’’
said CCS baseball coach Frank Miosek.
``We went from three guys
contributing early in the season to
10 or 11 now. The other guys have
really come along and filled in the
missing pieces.’’
Pohl, a dominant pitcher when
he’s not catching, and fellow senior
and captain Jim Fort are two big
reasons why CCS was able to repeat
this season despite losing six
starters to graduation. Fort pitched
six innings against Canastota,
striking out 10 and walking just
one. Fort has a 6-1 record on the
mound, while Pohl is 3-1, and Kyle
Liner and Brad Ashford have been
effective on the mound as well, Miosek
said.
Softball moves to 9-8
The Cooperstown softball team
lost three of five games last week,
but their 9-8 record has already
earned them a trip back to sectionals
after missing the Class C tournament
last year. Two of the three
losses came to powerhouse Canastota
by a combined 31-2 score, including
a 21-1 loss on Tuesday
when CCS had just eight healthy
players and had to call up a junior
varsity player just before the
game.
Cooperstown came up with one
of their best wins of the season last
Wednesday at Waterville, as freshman
pitcher Anna Sams struck out
13 batters and allowed three hits
in a 5-2 victory. The win avenged
an earlier season loss to Waterville.
``Anna pitched well, and we hit
the ball well and made just two errors,’’
said head coach Dave Bliss.
``It was a good win over a very solid
club.’’
Cailin Huggins had two hits and
Sawyer Graham also had two hits
and drove in two runs.
On Saturday, the Lady Redskins
lost to Class A Oneonta at home,
5-2. Oneonta led 2-0 heading to to
the top of the seventh inning, but
broke the game open with three
runs.
Cooperstown’s Sam Fox drove in
both runs with a single in the bottom
of the seventh, and had two
hits.
On Monday, Cooperstown took a
3-2 victory over Mt. Markham
when winning pitcher Sams singled
in Jen Wehner in the bottom
of the seventh inning to break a 2-2
tie. Wehner had singled and stole
second to start the inning. Sams
struck out 10 in the game.
