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It may have been boiling hot, but no matter.
Some 316 soldiers ran the first-ever Baghdad Boilermaker in Iraq on July 13, organized by Jim Carraba, who in real life – he was deployed May 4 to Iraq and is expected to return Oct. 13 – is safety & education coordinator at Bassett Healtcare’s NYCAMH, the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health.
One of the many things he missed was the Utica Boilermaker – the Bassett team took first place this year in the July 13 event stateside – so Carraba organized a boilermaker of his own.
“We thought it would be really fun to have an event like this right on Sather [Air Base], Carrabba said via e-mail after the race. “It was a lot of work, much more than I expected. We threw all of this together in just two weeks while also fulfilling our regular duties.”
“It was incredible to have so many runners,” he said. “We had quite a few people tell us how much they enjoyed the race. That was very rewarding. I saw smiles on a lot of people’s faces this morning and that definitely made it all worthwhile.”
Finishing the Baghdad course in 67 minutes, Carraba beat his fastest Utica time.
“It has definitely been the highlight of my deployment here,” he concluded. “I will always remember this event. It was such a great experience to run in it and to work with everybody that volunteered to help out.”


COOPERSTOWN

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CCS Friends of Football kick-off meeting for the 2008 season will be at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 19th, at the high school circle.
If the weather does not allow an outdoor meeting, an alternative location will be posted on the main-entrance doors.
All parents of 2008 modified, JV and varsity football players and cheerleaders are encouraged to attend.
The Friends of Football is made up of parents, school staff, students and fans who work together to make the total CCS football season a fun and rewarding experience.
Questions? Call Bill Senif at 547-7190.

ADDING PEPPER: The LGWA played Mr. Pepper Tuesday, Aug. 12, eliminating holes #2, #4, and #10 from each player’s gross score.
Full handicaps were then subtracted from total scores, with the following winners resulting:
Flight A: 1. Deb Cembriski; 2. Andrea Johnson and Carol Robinson (tied)
Flight B: 1. Linda Kehoe; 2. Anne O’Connell
Flight C: 1. Martha Harausz; 2. Jane Feisthamel

Labels: Sports

CHARLIE VASCELLARO

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THE SPORTS BEAT

COOPERSTOWN

Not quite lost in the fanfare of last week’s Hall of Fame Inductions, the first and perhaps most significant ceremony of the weekend was the dedication of a life-size bronze statue of legendary Negro Leagues’ ambassador and lifelong baseball man Buck O’Neil and the creation of a lifetime achievement award to be presented in his name.
The award will be presented not more frequently than once every three years, to individuals whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball’s positive impact on society, broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity are comparable to the qualities exhibited by O’Neil.
“It makes a lot of sense, especially for the Hall of Fame, who really has been trying to find a way to honor people like Buck and people who make contributions to the game that clearly have impact and clearly mean a lot to the fans of the game, but perhaps don’t fit into any statistical categories or contributions by owners and executives,” said Ray Doswell, deputy director and chief curator of the Negro Leagues Baseball Musuem in Kansas City. “So he’s a unique contributor to the game, and there are probably many other people like that who the Hall of Fame would like to honor.”
Recognizing Major League Baseball’s segregated past while honoring those who toiled in the Negro Leagues has always been a daunting task for the Hall of Fame.
It wasn’t until the 1966 Induction that honoring Negro leagues players came to the consciousness of the Hall of Fame. In a memorable acceptance speech that day, inductee Ted Williams spoke on behalf of a community that he did not represent.
“Inside this building are plaques dedicated to baseball men of all generations, and I’m privileged to join them,” said Williams. “I hope someday the names of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the great Negro players that are not here, only because they were not given a chance.”
Williams’ words pierced the ears of the baseball establishment, prompting the formation of the Hall of Fame’s Committee on Negro League Veterans in 1971, which selected Satchel Paige as its first honoree.
A couple of years ago the Hall of Fame made a legitimate attempt to right other historical slights with the induction of 17 Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues professional baseball players and executives. The group represented the largest induction class in the Hall of Fame’s history and was elected from a pool of 39 nominees chosen by “The Negro Leagues Researchers/Authors Group,” a body of 12 researchers and historians selected by the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors.
In spite of the large number of inductees, debate brewed over who may have been overlooked. Notably absent was O’Neil, who delivered opening remarks at the Induction, then died at age 94 just a few months later.
“This is outstanding. I’ve been a lot of places, I’ve done a lot of things that I really liked doing. I hit the home run, I hit the grand slam home run, I hit for the cycle. I’ve hit a hole in one in golf. I’ve done a lot of things I like doing… but I’d rather be right here right now representing these people that helped build a bridge across the chasm of prejudice,” said O’Neil.
The comprehensive study conducted by the research group was supposed to be the last word on Negro Leagues’ history as far as inducting former players is concerned, but O’Neil’s supporters are still lobbying for him and others he might have continued to champion.
“I personally don’t believe that the door on the Negro Leagues should be shut because, even after that 17, there were still some guys that I believe deserve to be in the Hall of Fame,” said Bob Kendrick, Negro Leagues Museum director of marketing and assistant to the executive director.
“ And Buck would have picked up that baton and as a Hall of Famer, if he were elected, it would have been easier to champion for those other guys that he felt wholeheartedly should be in,” said Kendrick. “He used to carry around a little list of people that he thought belonged in the Hall.”
Perhaps the most high profile former Negro Leagues player ever, O’Neil came to National prominence with his vivid depictions of the life and times of the Negro Leagues as an interviewee in filmmaker Ken Burns, Baseball documentary series for PBS.
A 16-year veteran of the Negro Leagues, O’Neil signed with the Memphis Red Sox in 1937, the inaugural season of the Negro-American League. A year later he joined the Kansas City Monarchs where he teamed with legendary hurler Satchel Paige on four consecutive Negro-American League pennant-winning teams from 1939-1942.
At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, O’Neil was a big sure-handed first baseman who could also hit, posting a .353 average in the Monarchs victory over the Homestead Grays in the first World Series played between the Negro American and National leagues in 1939. The following year O’Neil compiled a .345 average, the first of four seasons in which he would hit above .300. He hit a league leading .353 in 1946 en-route to yet another World Series for the Monarchs. O’Neil hit a career best .358 in 1947, the same year Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in the major leagues and hit .330 as player/manager for the Monarchs in 1949.

Labels: Baseball Hall of Fame, Buck O'Neil, Negro Leagues, Sports

CHARLIE VASCELLARO

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HOF INDUCTION NOTEBOOK

Gooooooose, Gooooooooooose,” patrons at Cooley’s Stone House Tavern were yelling at the top of their lungs so often throughout the afternoon, that I had become almost oblivious to it while working a busy shift behind the bar on Induction Day evening.
The chant rose again at almost midnight: The Goose was in the house; making his way through the crowd he bellied up to the bar and ordered, what else, a Grey Goose and soda.
Still beaming from the weekend’s activities, which he described as being “like an out-of-body experience,” a glazed Goose looked a little out-of-body himself after a long celebratory day, but was completely congenial with his admiring throngs. He took time to pose for pictures, sign scraps of paper and engage in irreverent banter with the fortunate few (or many, depending on your perspective) who happened to be in the tavern at the time of his impromptu arrival.
Goose had become enamored of Cooley’s during last year’s Induction weekend, when he was still on the outside of the Hall looking in, using the tavern as his campaign headquarters and meeting place with former teammates like Graig Nettles. Since owner Timmy Gould bought and remodeled the old Bold Dragoon in the summer of 2004, Cooley’s has become popular with many visiting ballplayers, but none seem quite so comfortable there as the Goose, a photo of him pouring beer from the tap hangs prominently centered on the paneled wall above the booths.
“I think it’s cool that he’s so down to earth and hanging with the people,” says Gould.
•
While Gossage was the only former player elected on this year’s ballot, he shared the Induction ceremony with Veteran’s Committee selections: Managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth, respective Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn/Los Angeles owners Barney Dreyfuss and Walter O’Malley and former Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn.
Genuine great guy Buck O’Neil, legendary Negro Leagues oral historian, ambassador, co-founder as well as volunteer board chairman of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, was also honored posthumously with the creation of the John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.
A relatively sparse smattering, generously estimated at 14,000 by the Hall of Fame, sweated out a lengthy four-hour ceremony with occasional relief from the heat provided by passing cloud coverage. Of course, Induction Day crowds will always pale in comparison to last year’s record of approximately 75,000, which may never be exceeded.
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Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark presented the “Buck” O’Neil Award, with a commentary delivered by Hall of Famer and board member Joe Morgan.
“Buck’s contributions to baseball are unsurpassed and spanned seven decades. He touched every facet of the game and his influence was among the greatest baseball has ever known,” said Morgan.
The award will be presented not more frequently than once every three years, to individuals whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball’s positive impact on society, has broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity are comparable to the qualities exhibited by O’Neil.
It was created perhaps in response to O’Neil’s omission from a group of 17 former members of Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues professional baseball players and executives elected to the Hall by a special research committee two years ago.
“The Hall of fame has been looking for a way to honor individuals whose significant contributions to our national pastime could not be measured simply by wins and losses, hits and strikeouts, championships and other statistics,” said Morgan.
•
After an awkward introduction by Hall of Fame pitcher and occasional broadcaster Tom Seaver, who read rather than spoke in a flat monotone and oddly interjected his own USC alumni status into biographical information on long-time Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus, the one and only voice of the Mariners for 32 years stepped to the microphone.
A large and vocal contingent of Mariners fans made the 3,000-mile trek from Seattle to Cooperstown and made their presence known when their man took the stage.
The recipient of this year’s Ford Frick Award, presented annually to chosen radio broadcasters honoring their contributions to the game, Niehaus was perhaps the day’s most eloquent speaker.
“To quote (former Commissioner of Baseball) A. Bartlett Giamatti, ‘The real work was done with the radio, not the seeing all falsifying television, and was the playing of the game in the only place where it will last, the enclosed green field of the mind.’ Radio plays with the mind, it gives you a mental workout and delusions of grandeur, that’s what Harry Caray did to me. My dad took me to my first big league game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis... and quite frankly I was never so disappointed in my life. Caray had put these guys on such a pedestal, I just knew it was the Parthenon that I was going to, not a ballpark,” said Niehaus.
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The first African American member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to have a Hall of Fame vote, Larry Whiteside was posthumously honored with the J.G Taylor Spink Award presented annually to a sportswriter for “meritorious contributions to baseball writing.” Whiteside covered the Milwaukee Braves for the Milwaukee Journal for three seasons until the team moved to Atlanta in 1966. He later covered the expansion Milwaukee Brewers in 1970 and moved to the Boston Globe in 1973 where he remained until the time of his 2004 retirement, covering the Red Sox and basketball Celtics as well as reporting on issues of race, labor relations and baseball’s broadening international horizons.
But perhaps Whiteside’s most significant contribution to journalism is his 1971 creation of “The Black List,” of African-American reporters and copy editors, developed to assist sports editors in helping to hire black journalists.
Accepting the award on behalf of Whiteside was his son Tony, who presenter, Secretary-Treasurer of the BBWAA Jack O’Connell incidentally noted, was a high school classmate of Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson.
“While it is tempting to view my father’s career strictly through the prism of race, he didn’t see things that way. He was a hard working journalist and a baseball man above all else, and he earned the respect of others as a talented writer, colleague and friend,” said Tony Whiteside.
•
This year’s ceremony brought the largest group of returning Hall of Famer’s (54) but most notably absent was Stan Musial, unable to attend while suffering in poor health. An Induction Day tradition for many years, Musial’s playing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game on harmonica, was sung instead this year by Johnny Bench impersonating broadcaster Harry Caray, assisted by “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks. Another tradition, which remains intact, is the booing of commissioner Bud Selig at just about every mention of his name or his appearance at the podium. The first plaque presentation made by Selig was to former Pittsburgh Pirates long deceased owner Barney Dreyfuss.
Accepting the plaque was Dreyfuss’ great-grandson Andrew, who delivered a polished speech. Obviously doing his homework, he acknowledged Goose Gossage’s great 1977 season in Pittsburgh and Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 World Series winning home run which he said exacted a measure of revenge for his great grandfather’s Pirates 1927 loss to the Yankees.
As commissioner Selig read the lengthy inscription on former commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s plaque, (is it just me or does the text on the plaques seem to be getting longer ever year? Four-and- a- half lines for Babe Ruth; 11 for Bowie Kuhn?) someone from the gallery hollered “You’ll never get one of those Bud!”
Kuhn’s commissionership was also mired in controversy and many have viewed his election to the hall by the veterans committee with cynical curiosity.
Accepting the plaque was Kuhn’s stepson Paul Degener, whose mother Kuhn married when he was just six months old. Degner’s speech was combination homage to a stepfather he obviously adored and defense for his place in Cooperstown.
“He [Kuhn] was once called racially insensitive when he wasn’t there for home run number 714 [sic 715, Hank Aaron’s record breaking blast] despite working for more than two years to open the Hall of Fame gates to the many stars from the Negro Leagues,” said Degener, getting it wrong on the first account and stating a partial truth in the second, as Kuhn’s proposal was actually for a separate space for Negro Leaguers in the Hall.
Former Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley’s election, while well earned, was also viewed with skepticism if only for the fact that many Brooklynites have yet to forgive him for moving their beloved “Bums” to California. His son Peter O’Malley delivered a soft-spoken speech succinctly touching all the bases, stating what he thought his father would have said.
The Hall of Fame’s own board member Bill Dewitt delivered a quick biographical acceptance speech for former St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Braves manager Billy Southworth.
Dick Williams, who captained six clubs including four pennant and two World Series winners during his 21-year managerial career rambled on in a grandfatherly fashion making reference to but far exceeding his nine-minute limit. Williams fondly recalled his “Impossible Dream” American League champion 1967 Red Sox in his rookie season as a manager and his back-to-back (1972-73) World Series champion Oakland A’s teams. He joked about owner Charlie Finley’s ongoing feud with commissioner Kuhn. He said, “managers don’t make players, players make managers.”
Sharing the stage with Gossage who pitched for him in San Diego where Williams said “it was a pleasure to manage and we were fortunate to have guys like Goose and Graig Nettles and Gary Templeton. These were three veteran ball players that would stay after the game, maybe have a beer and they’d talk baseball to all our young players.” Williams also was the first to bring up the Hall of Fame candidacy of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. “I’d like to be on that voting committee because I would vote right away for George,” he said, which met with a round of applause from the crowd as well as Jeff Idelson and Jane Clark.
Finally, Gossage stepped to the microphone, first holding his plaque aloft above his head. “This is really an out-of-body experience. I’d just like to first of thank the Yankee contingent for coming to Cooperstown and sharing in this great moment to with me today,” said Gossage.
In a booming voice he delivered a well-organized chronological reminiscence.
“Starting back when I was playing little league, my parents, Sue and Jake Gossage, were my biggest supporters. They never missed a game. At times the whole team would pile into my dad’s old International Harvester, it was a beat up old truck but we loved it. Some of my greatest memories of Little League rival any of those I experienced as a big leaguer, believe it or not,” said Gossage, crediting his older brother’s heckling with helping to create his wild hard-throwing delivery.
He grew emotional and choked up when recalling deceased pitching coach Larry Sherry who worked with him during his spectacular 1977 season in Pittsburgh as well as other since passed teammates: Jim “Catfish” Hunter, Thurman Munson, Jim Spencer, Aurelio Rodriguez and Bobby Murcer.
He continued to campaign for George Steinbrenner calling him the “Greatest owner of all-time,” and closed by thanking his family and the fans. “I would like to extend my appreciation to all the wonderful baseball fans who are present today or are watching this ceremony on TV. You are the reason baseball is the great game it is today. Thank you very much.” Little did we know we’d be catching up with him again around midnight.

Charlie Vascellaro, a Baltimore-based freelance baseball and travel writer, is spending the summer in Cooperstown, and is an occasional contributor to
The Freeman’s Journal.

Labels: Baseball Hall of Fame, Goose Gossage, Induction Weekend, Sports

COOPERSTOWN

The Medical Coaches’ team was low-net at the 11th annual Key- Bank/Bassett Invitational, but the big winner again was the Friends of Bassett, which netted nearly $100,000. After a barbecue lunch, 144 golfers teed up May 27 to play 18 holes. Later, golfers and guests gathered in The Otesaga’s ballroom for a cocktail reception and buffet, and presentation of awards.

LOW-NET WINNERS: First, Medical Coaches, Len Marsh, Shane Marsh, Matt Sohns, Bill VanDewark; second, Plumbers & Pipefi tters Local 112, Doug McMaster, John Pichura, Jim Rounds, Sylvy Yovchinecz; third, Middleburgh Telephone, James Becker, Jason Becker, Steve Cole and Glen McCarthy; fourth, Buffalo Hospital Supply, Matt Ferlito, Bill Steiner, Tom Terry, Jeff Van Buren.
LOW-GROSS WINNERS: First, Rueckert Advertising Public Relations LLC, Paolo Grandjacquette, Chris Rueckert, Dean Rueckert, Jim Ryan; second, the Daily Star, Jeff Leach, Bob Marino, Bill Reeves, Mike Waffl e. Also, Dwight Packard, straightest drive; John Pennisi, closest-to-pin; Connie Jastremski, longest drive (women), and Craig Jasenki, longest drive (men). The organizing committee this year was Jim Empie, Roger MacMillan, Don Pollock, Bob Schlather and Dan Spooner.


Low-Net Team (61) at the LWGA Member- Guest Tournament Tuesday, July 15, were Kay Frank, right, and LWGA President Carol Steigelman. Next to them are the low-gross team
(82) , Judy Mowery, left, and Liz Darling. Next to them are the organizing committee, from left, Lee Stockwell, Dottie Gebbia and Donna Thompson. The tourney raised $1,000 for Catskill Area Hospice & Palliative Care. In July 8 play, Liz Darling and Barbara Lasher were low gross (89); Martha Vaules and Pat Grillo, low net (62).

Labels: Friends of Bassett, Golf, LWGA, Sports

By BRIAN C. HOREY

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COOPERSTOWN

Jim “Chip” Northrup thinks Glimmerglass would be perfect for a few good young men and ladies to start rowing their boats or, more properly, their sculls. Competitive rowing is often only showcased during the Olympics, but actually has a strong tradition and history especially in the Northeast. Many of the Ivy League schools have had a long tradition of “crew” – from Harvard on the Charles River to Dartmouth, Yale and Cornell. Syracuse University has been an eastern power for years and annually hosts the IRA Regatta on Onondaga Lake in June. But the colleges and universities have no athletes except from the high schools, prep schools and club programs that nurture the youngsters and provide the talent for their teams. Whether in a single seat scull, a two- or four-person scull up to the mighty varsity eight shells with or without coxswain, crew, like running and swimming, requires full conditioning of the entire body and is often used by athletes as training for other sports. Northrup has started several crew clubs in the Dallas, but feels the smooth surface of Otsego Lake would make an ideal setting for such an activity in upstate New York. Anyone interested should get in touch with Northrup at (214) 502-6464, e-mail him at Northrup49@gmail.com or simply stop by 17 River St. and say hi, pick up a paddle – that is an oar – and get stroking. According to NCAA statistics, of the 2,400 girls participating in crew at the scholastic level, fully 2,300 or nearly 97 percent received financial aid in college averaging nearly $10,000 a year. While the financial rewards are not so great for males, it can sometimes make the difference between admission or not, Northrup said.


COOPERSTOWN – The Cooperstown Soccer Club Fall Recreational League is accepting
sign-ups through Friday, July 25, for K-through-6 players from Cherry Valley, Cooperstown and Edmeston. The seasons runs from the week of Sept. 1 through Oct. 25.
Sign up online at www.coopsoccerclub.com, or call Sheri Holohan, 547-5656, or Rebecca
Stone, 547-7163, for registration forms.

Labels: Sports

Sarah Groff, the top-ranked triathlete from Cooperstown, saw “my chance to make the Olympic team slipping away from me within the first mile” of the Hy-Vee Triathlon Trials in West Des Moines, Iowa, over the weekend of June 21-22. “My race mentally ended at that point.”
“What I didn’t realize until after the race, however,” she wrote on her blog, “is that I gave away my position as alternate in addition, a position that should have easily been mine ... Although I finished in ninth, a very respectable placing at a World Cup, I raced so far below my potential that I can’t help but be devastated by the result.
Sarah, a graduate of CCS and Middlebury College, was nudged aside by Sarah Haskins of St. Louis, Mo., who finished sixth overall to Groff’s ninth.
“As I look forward to 2012,” she wrote, “I have to remind myself of how far I have come and be excited by the improvements that I have yet to make. While I may not have been ready for Beijing, the lessons that I’ve learned through the 2008 Trials process will certainly pay off in the long-term.”

Labels: 062708, Front Page, Sports

New Jackie Robinson Plaque Reflects His Role In Breaching The Color Line
COOPERSTOWN


A new Jackie Robinson plaque was unveiled at The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum Wednesday, June 25, for the first time reflecting his role in breaking down baseball’s color line when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948.
Robinson’s widow Rachel and their daughter Sharon were at 25 Main St. for the unveiling.
HoF chairman Jane Forbes Clark said Robinson, when he was inducted in 1962, wanted the plaque to reflect his outstanding statistics alone, just like everyone else’s.
“He told baseball writers that when considering his candidacy, they should only consider his playing ability – what his impact was on the playing field. At his induction in 1962, his plaque reflected his wishes – it only recounted his magnificent playing career,” said Miss Clark.
“But as we all know, there’s no person more central and more important to the history of baseball, for his pioneering ways, than Jackie Robinson. Today, his impact is not fully defined without mention of his extreme courage in crossing baseball’s color line. We are proud of the changes we have made.”
The new plaque reads:
JACK ROOSEVELT ROBINSON
“JACKIE”
BROOKLYN, N.L., 1947-1956
“A player of extraordinary ability renowned for his electrifying style of play. Over 10 seasons hit .311, scored more than 100 runs six times, named to six All-Star teams and led Brooklyn to six pennants and its only World Series title, in 1955. The 1947 Rookie of the Year, and the 1949 N.L. MVP when he hit a league-best .342 with 37 steals. Led second basemen in double plays four times and stole home 19 times. Displayed tremendous courage and poise in 1947 when he integrated the modern major leagues in the face of intense adversity.”
The new plaque is on the same spot in the Hall of Plaques. The old plaque will be kept by the Hall of Fame.


Brian C. Horey/The Freeman’s Journal

Cooperstown’s American Legion Post 579 catcher Val Paige tags the Chain Gang’s Brendan Johns out at home during Monday evening action in the first game of a double header in Co-Ed Slow Pitch League at the Clark Complex. Paige fielded a nice throw from third baseman Bianca Bello on the play. Johns had tripled and attempted to score on an infield hit. The Legionnaires won the game 15-6.

Labels: 062708, Sports

COOPERSTOWN

Due to widespread flooding in Iowa, the June 21-22 Hy-Vee Triathlon, where Cooperstown's Sarah Gross is competing for a sport on the U.S. Olympic team, will be moved from Des Moines to the Valley Southwoods Freshmen High School in West Des Moines.
Sarah, daughter of Gerald and Jeannine Groff, Cooperstown, is one of the top four contenders competing for three slots on the U.S. Triathlon team that will compete in Beijing later this summer.

Labels: Sports

By BRIAN C. HOREY

ROME

Cooperstown’s run for a second consecutive Section III Class C title was ended by one swing of Pulaski’s Ted Atkinson’s bat in the top of the third inning on Monday, June 2, at DeLutis Field. Atkinson sent a 1-2 offering from Jim Fort 340 feet over the leftfield fence and that was all the
#2 seed Devils needed for a 1-0 victory. Cooperstown played a very solid game but simply could
not get enough bat on the ball as Pulaski’s winning pitcher Ed Gray looked as strong in the
bottom of the seventh inning as he did in the first. The tall lefty, headed to St. Bonaventure on a scholarship in the fall, mixed his pitches well and continually confounded the Redskin batters. He finished with15 K’s on his way to a 2 hitter. Cooperstown had its chances, leaving two runners stranded in both the fi rst and third innings, but simply could not provide Fort (7-2) the support he needed. Fort had both the Redskins hits in the game. After losing seven starters from last year’s squad including his entire infield, Coach Frank Miosek said after clinching the league championship with a perfect 10-0 record at Canastota two weeks ago, that he was very proud of the way the team pulled together. Finishing the season at 18-5 was an outstanding accomplishment and a tribute to the dedication of the entire team. Without the efforts by the entire 15 man squad they would not gotten anywhere near this far. He especially noted the efforts of seniors Chris Gulotta, Drew Lierheimer and Quinn Snyder who joined returning seniors Josh Pearlman, Doug Kline, Tyler Combs, Jim Fort and Phil Pohl. Pulaski will take on #1 seed
and State ranked #3 Fabius-Pompey for the overall Class Championship. Cooperstown was ranked #14 in the latest State Sports Writers poll.

Labels: Sports