Cohoes two wins from state title
Tigers’ limited roster hasn’t stopped team from winning
COHOES, N.Y. » Cohoes has never won a New York State championship in softball. They’re two wins away from completing their first with barely enough players to field a team.
As it stands now, there are only 10 players on the team. One of them was called up from JV on Monday and has yet to play in a game. At the start of Thursday’s practice, there were only seven warming up along with one young boy who seemed to serve as a placeholder.
“It’s been really crazy,” senior pitcher Isabelle Dechiaro said. “We’re trying to get through it. We’re doing a really good job with it.”
Four players have been kicked off the team for disciplinary issues. Another, the starting right fielder, left on Monday to return home to North Carolina. Amaya Sousis was the JV player brought up, and is brand new to the team. On Saturday at 1 p.m., Cohoes and it’s small but spirited roster will take on Solvay in the state semifinals at Moreau Rec in South Glens Falls. The winner of that contest will play the winner of Depew vs. Babylon for the New York State Public High School Class B state championship at 5:30 p.m.
After winning the Section II title, Cohoes has reached the semis with a 12-1 win over Saranac in Plattsburgh, and a 9-4 win over Ogdensburg Free Academy in Potsdam.
“It’s been a great year for the kids,” Frank Ryan said. “What they’ve done here, going up and winning two regional games on the road — Potsdam is four hours. I was proud of them with that too.”
Ryan got a chance to do in-person scouting for the first two rounds of games. But now he’s relying on scouting reports to look at Solvay, a program that’s always in the title mix.
He preaches it to his team all the time, and they talk about it too. If they make no errors in the game, they’ll probably come out on top. In a season full of uncertainty and a lack of control, that’s one thing they can and have been able to control.
On Friday night the squad will gather for a team dinner. The table won’t be that big or that noisy. But it will be surrounded by a team of players in which everyone is important, relevant and needed for success. Even if they’re brand new to the roster.
“It’s amazing to see us come together as a whole,” senior Lily Sencer said. “And even though we’ve had players kicked off, we come even stronger and play harder for each other to go as far as we can.”