Published: April 10, 2008 09:26 am         

Fort no-hitter a product of hard work

By ERIC AHLQVIST
Editor

For Jim Fort, practice made perfect. Fort, a senior, threw a no-hitter Tuesday aginst Ilion, striking out 13 and walking two while winning for the second time this season. ``I knew I had a no-hitter going, but I didn’t want to dwell on it or talk about it,’’ Fort said. ``I just knocked on wood a couple of times.’’

In two starts this season, Fort has 24 strikeouts and just two walks while yielding just one hit. He attributed some of his success to an offseason workout program with volunteer assistant coach Glen Noto and senior catcher Philip Pohl, with whom he met all winter before school to work on his pitching mechanics and strategies. ``I made sure I thanked Mr. Noto this morning,’’ Fort said Wednesday. ``We worked on my motion and talked about pitching and I appreciate his help very much.’’

Fort, a three-year player and tri-captain, said his ``best stuff’’ is his curveball and change-up, which he mixes in with his fastball. ``He had good control, and he went right at the batters,’’ said Cooperstown baseball coach Frank Miosek.

Cooperstown second baseman Josh Pearlman made the best defensive play in the fifth inning to save the no-hitter, ranging far to his right and making a strong throw to get the runner at first, Miosek added.

``My defense was great behind me, and Josh made a couple of nice plays,’’ Fort said. ``It was a team effort.’’ ``Our pitching and defense have been strong, but the hitting hasn’t been there yet,’’ Miosek said. ``We’ll need to start putting the ball in play and finding some gaps if we want to keep winning.’’ Cooperstown scored a first inning run without benefit of a hit, and added two more runs in the fifth.

Senior tri-captain Tyler Combs singled and stole second, and moved to third on a groundout. Phil Pohl then drew one of his three walks, and stole second, putting runners on second and third.

Clean-up batter Kyle Liner followed with a double to center, plating two runs and providing the winning margin.

Miosek said Liner’s double was big as teams have been pitching around Pohl, the reigning Class C player of the year headed to Clemson University next year on a baseball scholarship.

``We may move him up in the order a little if teams keep pitching around him, but Kyle can make them pay too,’’ Miosek said. Cooperstown opened the season last Thursday at Little Falls, winning 4-1 as Fort threw a one-hitter. Cooperstown played at Little Falls Wednesday, and then are off for a week for spring break.

Softball loses another tough one

After opening their season with a 15-1 win over Laurens last Wednesday, the Cooperstown softball team lost a pair of pitching duels last week to fall to 1-2.

Last Thursday, CCS lost a 2-0 home decision to Little Falls, despite a nine strikeout, one walk two hit performance from freshman pitcher Anna Sams.

Both of Little Falls’ runs were unearned.

``It was kind of a cold, windy day, and our bats never got going,’’ said CCS softball coach Dave Bliss. ``We had the bases loaded in one inning, and had other chances, but didn’t get the big hit.

Senior Samantha Fox had both of Cooperstown’s hits. On Tuesday, the Lady Redskins lost a 3-1 decision to Ilion, also at home.

Cooperstown took a 1-0 lead when Stephanie Hascup singled, stole second and scored on Sawyer Graham’s single, but did not get a hit the rest of the way.

Ilion scored two unearned runs off Cooperstown starter Cailin Huggins in the second innings. Huggins pitched four innings, and Sams pitched the final three, striking out the final seven batters she faced.

``We’re hitting the ball hard, but just right at people,’’ Bliss said. ``Hopefully, that will start to turn around. We only have four players with varsity experience, so I expect that we’ll hit better as the season progresses.’’