July 3, 2009 — COCHRANTON — The Cochranton High School softball team accomplished something pretty special this season, going a perfect 17-0 during the regular season for the first time in school history.
One year of success, however, isn’t exactly what Cochranton head coach Mark McGuire and the rest of the Cochranton softball community has in mind. What they would like to do is build a dynasty, and they’re relying on the help of their feeder programs like Little League to help them get there.
So far, so good.
Cochranton Little League proved its up to that challenge Thursday by opening the District 1 Little League Softball Tournament with a 9-3 win over FCVA. Cochranton, then combined with Mid-East, won the District 1 Little League crown last year.
“Mark (McGuire) should be salivating here a little bit,” Cochranton Little League coach Darwin DuPont said. “He’s seeing now what a lot of times he’s had to teach in junior varsity. We’re trying to teach them that stuff a little earlier.”
Stuff like good base-running and how to take advantage of other teams’ mistakes, which is exactly what Cochranton did last night against FCVA.
Yesterday’s game looked like it was going to be a dandy through the first two innings with both teams working out of some tough situations on defense to keep the game scoreless. But in the third inning, Cochranton did all the damage it would need.
Cochranton scored five runs in the third without the benefit of a hit. FCVA committed three errors in the frame, one of which allowed two runs to score, giving Cochranton a 3-0 lead. Kendell Dickson plated the eventual game-winning run on a fielder’s choice grounder to third base. The third baseman fielded the ball and tried to get Natalie Brock leaving third base, but was unable to do so.
She then threw to first base, but Dickson had already beaten the throw, allowing Brock to score.
Cochranton added another run on a passed ball in the inning to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
FCVA did answer back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of its own. Jessica Tomiczek delivered the big hit, a two-run single to right field. Brooke Parker also had an RBI single in the frame. But that is all the Saegertown-based club could muster.
Brock added a two-run single, Cochranton’s lone hit, in the fourth, and Cochranton scored a pair of runs on passed balls in the sixth, to secure the win.
“We didn’t hit very well,” DuPont said. “But we ran the bases real well and took advantage of a few mistakes.
Cochranton advances to the semifinals where it will face Titusville, a 10-0 winner over Mid-East, at 6 p.m. Monday back in Cochranton.
FCVA drops into the loser’s bracket. It will play McLane at 6 p.m. today in Edinboro.
Local Sports
Dozen free passes lead to Cochranton win
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DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Big Reds shut down Lions
SLIPPERY ROCK — The Linesville baseball team, with its mix of experienced and lesser-experienced players, has been capable of two different kinds of games this season.
The first is the sharp, skillful kind of effort the Lions put together Monday in their 10-7 win over Cochranton in the District 10 Class A quarterfinals. -
DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Mercyhurst outslugs Lake in D-10 semis
ERIE — After a District 10 Class A championship game appearance last year, the Conneaut Lake baseball team lost four seniors who were important to the team’s success.
Even though the talented quartet graduated and Lake featured just three seniors this year, the team came together and reached the district semifinals. The team’s end result, and the school’s last game as a baseball team due to Conneaut Lake, Conneaut Valley, and Linesville consolidating into Conneaut Area Senior High, was a 15-4 loss in six innings to Mercyhurst Prep on Friday at Ainsworth Field in Erie. -
DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Panthers edge Tigers, reach D-10 title game
ERIE — The Saegertown baseball team made an art form of compiling mercy rule wins this season. Nearly all of the Panthers’ 20 regular season victories were by 10 runs or more, as double-digit hits and runs scored were the norm.
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BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Cardinals come back from losers’ bracket to win D-10 title
The very first word spoken by Cochranton boys volleyball coach Brad Custead in his post-match interview will sum up Friday night’s District 10 championship finale better than all the words that follow it.
“Incredible,” he said. -
Bulldogs' trio ready for state track and field meet
Meadville’s best now look to be among Pennsylvania’s best as Paige Kassab, Chaykala Lindsey and Heather Sternby compete in the PIAA Class AAA Track and Field Championships, which run Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.
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D-10 SOFTBALL: Tigers no-hit in loss to Braves
HARBORCREEK TOWNSHIP — The Maplewood softball team had no answer for Iroquois starting pitcher Megan Martin on Tuesday during the District 10 Class AA quarterfinals on the campus of Penn State Behrend in Erie.
Martin worked around two errors during a no-hitter that included zero walks. And the Braves’ offense was sure to back her up during Iroquois’ 10-0 victory in five innings. -
D-10 BASEBALL: Prep rolls past ’Dogs in four innings
ERIE — Hitting, they say, is contagious. And the Cathedral Prep baseball team had a full-blown outbreak against Meadville on Tuesday at Ainsworth Field, notching 13 base hits in a 16-1, four-inning rout of the Bulldogs during opening round action of the District 10 Class AAA playoffs.
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DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Lake storms past Eisenhower
ERIE — The Conneaut Lake baseball team started off its postseason with a bang. Numerous bangs, actually.
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DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Lions top Cards
ERIE — If this story had to describe every clutch hit, gutsy pitch, run-saving defensive play, or momentum-shifting moment during Monday’s playoff classic between Region 3 foes Cochranton and Linesville; there wouldn’t be room for much else in today’s newspaper.
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Meadville junior Matt Izbinski laced a hard spike down the line, and so ended the regular season for the Bulldogs boys volleyball team — with a 3-1 win over McDowell, and a 9-0 run through Region 1. It all summed up on Friday night at the House of Thrills.
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