By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
Era Sports Writer
SHINGLEHOUSE — You can forgive Coudersport for getting off to a slow start on Tuesday.
After all, it had been 15 days since the Falcons last took the field, and they were going up against the defending District 9 champions.
But, with the temperatures hovering around 35 degrees for most of the game, Coudersport’s offense eventually got hot, and the team turned a 4-0 first inning deficit into an 11-5 victory over Oswayo Valley on Tuesday afternoon.
The Green Wave put reigning Big 30 Player of the Year Garren Black on the bump for their season opener, but Black just wasn’t able to turn in his usual dominant performance. Both coaches gave credit to Coudy’s aggressive approach at the plate for disrupting Black’s outing.
“Our hitters really came out with the attitude that they could get to him and they weren’t going to lay down,” Coudersport coach Doug McClintic said. “They were going to try and go out there and challenge him, and we did.
“We know we are going to see him again. He’s going to raise his game and we are going to have to raise ours.”
Black, who went 10-0 with a 0.83 ERA and 79 strikeouts last season, was pulled after one batter in the fourth inning. Unfortunately for OV, their two relievers couldn’t stop the Falcons offense, as Coudy put up eight runs over the final four innings.
“I think all of our pitchers struggled with location,” Oswayo Valley coach Brad Buchholz said. “It’s early, it’s really cold, but give them credit. They really hit the ball today.”
Gavin Babcock, Ryan Graves and Theo Henry got the scoring started for OV. All three players had RBI hits in the bottom half of the first to build that 4-0 lead. For a Green Wave team that’s only lost five games over the last two seasons, it looked their first test of the 2018 campaign was going to be another vintage Green Wave performance.
Coudersport’s starter, Kolby VanWhy, had other ideas. The sophomore settled down after the first inning and got some solid defensive help along the way. VanWhy finished with five strong innings and allowed just five baserunners after the first frame.
“I’m proud of him,” McClintic said. “He didn’t hang his head, get upset or get flustered. He kept making quality pitches and came right back and got us out of the inning. We started to grind a bit, getting a run here and there and it was a good team effort all-around.”
Coudersport, who scored 12 runs in a season-opening win against Mansfield, got plenty of offensive contributions to back up VanWhy’s sudden gem.
Junior Josh Steven gave Coudy its first lead of the ballgame when he laced a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth to put the Falcons ahead 6-5. Owen Chambers followed that up with a two-run base knock of his own as part of a four-run fifth inning to give Coudersport a 9-5 lead.
McClintic admits that the 15-day layoff and four postponements took a toll on his team, and that he really wasn’t sure kind of performance he would see on the diamond Tuesday.
“It’s hard,” he said. “It’s like our first game again. Everything that you learned and gained from that first game is pretty much lost being back inside the gym all those days. It really felt like starting over again, so I’m very proud of the guys.”
After VanWhy exited following the fifth inning, McClintic turned to senior Elliott Hite to close out the game. Hite delivered with two shutout innings, and also gave his team some insurance runs at the plate. Hite had RBI hits in the sixth and seventh innings to expand Coudersport’s lead. As a team, the Falcons scored in each frame following its scoreless first inning.
As good as Coudersport hit the ball on Tuesday, they were also aided by some spotty OV defense. The Green Wave committed four errors, including a couple of drops in the outfield to hand Coudy plenty of extra at-bats.
“Our defense certainly didn’t show up tonight,” Buchholz said. “Truthfully, even if we played really good defense, the way they hit the ball I’m not sure we had an answer for their offense. Even the outs they had, they hit the ball hard. Their sticks were on fire tonight.”
Oswayo Valley (0-1) will have to rebound quickly, as the Green Wave get right back to action at home today against Archbishop Walsh before traveling to Galeton on Thursday.
The Falcons (2-0), meanwhile, return home to face Port Allegany on Thursday.
After an 11-7 record last year that saw Coudersport get bounced in the first round of the D-9 playoffs, McClintic is expecting his group of boys to do something special this season. Tuesday’s results against OV only solidify those thoughts.
“OV’s aspirations every year are to go out there and win a league championship,but so are ours,” McClintic said. “They are the measuring stick right now, but I think we are pretty evenly matched. The next game may be different, but today is a good day.”
AT SHINGLEHOUSE
R H E
Coudersport 012 241 1 11 13 1
Oswayo Valley 401 000 0 5 10 4
Kolby VanWhy (1 SO, 1 BB), Elliott Hite (6) (1 SO), and Hunter Redmond
Garren Black (3 SO 2 BB), Ryan Graves (4) (1 SO, 2 BB), Gage Babcock (6) (2 SO) and Jacob Karr
