Seamon's pitching, Crippen's home run send Cooperstown to Section III Championship
May 31—Early offense and the pitching of Dani Seamon led the Cooperstown softball team to a 4-2 win over Port Byron in the Section III Class C Championship Game Wednesday at Carrier Park Field in East Syracuse.
Seamon struck out six batters over seven innings for the Hawkeyes while going 2-for-3 with a run scored at the plate. Katie Crippen went 1-for-3 with a home run in the win.
Cooperstown wasted no time getting on the board in the first inning.
Seamon singled before Savannah Kirkby and Sophia Hotaling each drew two out walks.
Brenna Seamon then walked to bring in a run before Jeana Geertgens singled up the middle to open up a 3-0 first-inning lead.
Cooperstown coach Bud Lippitt emphasized the importance of getting out to an early lead to set the tone.
"When you get those three runs, it's almost like you can feel everyone [breathe]," he said. "It was a great relief because it happened right in the beginning of the game and you just feel so much more confident. It opens you up for things you might not do otherwise offensively as well."
Neither team scored a run until the fifth inning when Port Byron cut the lead to 3-2. Sadie White hit an RBI triple and then scored on a passed ball.
With the lead cut to one, the Hawkeyes needed to respond and Crippen did just that in the bottom of the fifth, roping a solo shot down the leftfield line to extend the lead to 4-2 and provide a much-needed insurance run.
Lippitt pointed out Crippen's home run as a huge lift for the whole team.
"We kept telling the girls we're going to have a big inning," he said. "Today we didn't really have a big inning other than the first, but when Katie hit that you could feel the energy bouncing off of everyone, so that was huge. It was a great momentum builder."
Cooperstown needed six more outs to become Class C champions and Dani Seamon was up for the task. Seamon stranded a leadoff double in the sixth inning and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to clinch the sectional title.
Lippitt said that while winning a sectional title was certainly a goal, he was just as focused on building as a team throughout the year to prepare for this moment.
"I want our team to keep building, growing, coming together as the year goes on so when we get to this time of the year, everyone knows what to expect from everyone else," he said. "We are playing our best softball. When you get to this point you take one game at a time and we try to capitalize on all of our strongpoints and minimize the errors. I feel like we're doing just that as we move from game to game."
The Lady Hawkeyes advance to the state regionals and will face Section IV Champion Thomas A. Edison Friday at Union-Endicott at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state final four.
Lippitt noted that they don't know much about Edison yet as they go one game at a time but he expects them to be a very competitive opponent.
Cooperstown 4, Port Byron 2
Port Byron 000 020 0 — 2 2 0
Cooperstown 300 010 X — 4 4 1
PB: Nicole Namisniak (L), Jenna Jump (2)
Coop: Dani Seamon (W), and Katie Crippen
HR: Katie Crippen (Coop)
3B: Sadie White (PB)
2B: Colleen Jump (PB)
