By Lisa Byers
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.
