By Rob Potter
SWAN LAKE — August 17, 2007 — Cooper Paints won its second straight Sullivan County Women’s Softball League (SCWSL) “A” Division playoff championship on Tuesday night at the Swan Lake Firefighters’ Max Eronimous Field.
Clinging to an 8-7 lead over Klein & Sons Logging, Inc. after three innings of play, Cooper Paints scored three runs in the fourth, seven in the fifth and four in the sixth to register a 22-12 victory.
The win, coupled with a 15-9 victory over Klein & Sons on Monday night at Gary A. Bradley Memorial Field at the White Sulphur Springs Firemen’s Park, allowed Cooper Paints to win the best-of-three finals series two games to none.
Cooper Paints, which also won the SCWSL “A” Division regular season title, finished the 2007 campaign with a 21-2 record. Klein & Sons ended its season with a 16-9 record.
In the top of the fourth of Tuesday night’s game, Nat Cillis, Charish Priest and Jackie Litwak hit consecutive singles to load the bases for Cooper Paints. Amanda Cox then hit a ground ball right to Klein & Sons pitcher Susan Waddell, who quickly threw the ball to catcher Krys Stant to force out Cillis at home plate.
But the next batter, Amanda Irwin, hit a bloop single to right field to bring home Priest and Litwak.
Ally McCarthy then ripped a single to center field. Cox and Irwin both scored on McCarthy’s hit to give Cooper Paints an 11-7 advantage.
Klein & Sons got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth. Waddell began the inning by beating out a ground ball to third base and Jill Hubert-Simon followed with a single to center field.
After Cooper Paints pitcher Cillis retired the next two batters on fly balls, Nikomi Thompson hit a bloop single to center field. Waddell scored and Hubert-Simon moved to third base on Thompson’s hit.
Cheryl Sheerer then singled to center field, allowing Hubert-Simon to cross home plate and bring Klein & Sons to within two runs at 11-9.
Cooper Paints added to its lead in the top of the fifth.
Priest hit a bases-loaded single to score Rachelle Irwin.
The next batter, Litwak, smacked a triple to deep left field to bring Pat Shuart and Cillis in to score and give Cooper Paints a 14-9 advantage
Cox then hit an RBI single and Amanda Irwin slammed a double to deep center field.
Two batters later, Lori Brown ripped a double to deep center field. Cox and Amanda Irwin both crossed home plate on Brown’s blast to extend the Cooper Paints’ lead to 18-9.
Klein & Sons responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and two runners on base, Waddell reached base on an error. The two aforementioned runners, Chris Lopez and Kayla Scannell, both scored on the play to make it an 18-11 game.
Unfortunately for Klein & Sons, that was as close as they would get on this particular evening.
Cooper Paints added four insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Key hits in the frame included Litwak’s RBI double to center field and Cox’s RBI triple to right field.
“We lost to a very good team,” Klein & Sons Coach Paul Hubert said.
Hubert noted that Klein & Sons had a great overall season. The team reached the “A” Division finals for the first time ever and won its first playoff game. In fact, Klein & Sons won two playoff games as the team topped Charlie’s Angels two games to one in last week’s “A” Division semifinals.
“We came a long way this season,” Hubert said. “I’m very proud of all of these players.”
Naturally, the Cooper Paints players were happy with their season and how it ended.
“It’s been a great year,” Cooper Paints Co-Coach Pat Shuart said. “We had a lot of fun this season.”
However, Shuart, who guides the team with fellow Co-Coach Val Fersch, was happy that the team’s offense performed well in Tuesday night’s contest.
“We really hit the ball well tonight,” she said. “We needed to do that, because if you leave the door open against Klein & Sons, they will come crashing through it. That is a very good team over there.”