IS GETTING ITS DRAFT BOARD READY
Pitcher Kristin Cooper and her Delaware South teammates tested their mettle yesterday on the final day of the Carpenter Cup softball tournament at FDR Park.
The results came back positive for iron.
Iron will and iron constitution were what Delaware South exhibited in winning three games in succession to capture the tournament championship.
Cooper earned all three victories.
"In the beginning, I never thought that we would come this far," said Cooper, a junior next season at Sussex Central High School. "But we are a great team, and we played our best today."
Delaware South beat Berks County, 3-2, in eight innings to win the title of the double-elimination tournament. Delaware South had defeated Berks County in the previous game, 3-2, in nine innings to force another game.
In the first game of the day, a semifinal, Delaware South blanked Suburban One League American/Continental, 5-0.
In the deciding game, sophomore Kelsey Doherty of Sussex Tech scored the winning run in the top of the eighth inning after Cooper hit a liner at Berks County's second baseman, who mishandled the ball.
"It's just like a miracle to win because we didn't even have one practice together," Doherty said.
Berks County's Jess Epler, a junior next season from Governor Mifflin High, was tagged with both losses.
"It was a tough loss, but it was worth it playing them," Epler said.
Berks County, which had been 4-0, would have won the championship with one victory over Delaware South, which it beat, 1-0, on Monday.
But South (5-1), which also won the cup in 2005, forced another game when Cooper's ground ball scored Asia Brittingham with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Delaware South 001 000 4 - 5 7 2
SOL Amer/Cont. 000 000 0 - 0 4 1
WP: Kristin Cooper. LP: Kellianna Bradstreet.
2B: DS- Asia Brittingham, Logan Pavlik. SOL- Christie Mallozzi. 3B: DS- Brittingham, Kelsey Doherty.
Berks County 200 000 000 - 2 6 2
Delaware South 000 110 001 - 3 14 1
WP: Cooper. LP: Jess Epler.
2B: DS- Kimberly Smith, Doherty. BC- Jenn Dalikis, Epler.
Delaware South 001 100 01 - 3 7 1
Berks County 011 000 00 - 2 5 1
WP: Cooper. LP: Epler
2B: DS- Doherty. BC- Allie Hartman. 3B: BC- Kalia Balatgek.
Contact staff writer Bill Iezzi
at 856-779-3826 or biezzi@phillynews.com.
