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JOHNSTOWN - With heads-up baserunning and a little bit of smallball, Cobleskill edged the Gloversville Women's Alumni Club/Palmer's Pharmacy, 2-0, in Saturday's Adirondack Girls' Softball League championship game.

The Cobleskill Wildcats scored a run in the first inning, but it was the second run, which took advantage of Gloversville's short roster, that put the team at a little more ease in the tight game.

"The whole team, we were like, if we can just get one more run, it takes so much pressure off the pitcher, trying to keep their runners off base," Cobleskill coach Pat Pietrowski said. "If they get a runner on, a few passed balls can score them in this game. Then it would have been tied and we would have been struggling to get that run. Once we got that run on the board, we settled down and finished it."

It was the sixth inning before Cobleskill really took advantage of the fact Gloversville had just eight players. The outfield was split with Mollee Putnam in left field and Shannon Holly in right, both leaning a little toward center.

Cobleskill's Hilary Hext led off with a soft liner over the head of Gloversville shortstop Emily Baldwin, who was on the run toward left field, reached up for the ball but was able only to knock it down. Hext stole second base and took third on a wild pitch. Then Adrianna Diamond hit a floater to short center field for a single and an RBI.

The next two Cobleskill girls were sat down and Diamond was caught trying a delayed steal of third to end the inning.

Diamond was 2-for-3 with a double, a steal and an RBI, Hext was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly, a stolen base, a run and an RBI. Leadoff hitter Ashlyn Siers was 1-for-2, walked twice and stole four bases.

In the first inning, Siers led the game off with a bunt single. She stole second and took third when the throw to catcher her found its way into the outfield. She later scored on Hext's sacrifice fly to right.

These two teams were locked in a nine-inning battle during the regular season, which ended up 3-2 in Cobleskill's favor. Pietrowski said she and her players knew Saturday's game would be another tough one, especially since they were facing a new pitcher.

Putnam pitched in the first game between the teams, but Ashley Frazier patrolled the circle for Gloversville Saturday, striking out 12, walking two and hitting two batters.

"She came in strong," Gloversville coach Gary Holland said. "She's got a strong arm on her and she's going to be a good pitcher in the future."

Pietrowski, too, said she was impressed by Frazier's composure in the close game.

Diamond struck out eight for Cobleskill and hit one batter. She finished the game by striking out the side against the middle of Gloversville's order.

A couple innings earlier, the Wildcats started to figure who might be coming to the plate in the seventh.

"You start looking around the fifth inning to see who's going to be up and you know," Pietrowski said. "That's another reason that [second] run was important, because we knew we probably had the heart of their order coming up in the seventh. Everybody hates to lose a game in the bottom of the seventh."

Gloversville managed two hits against Diamond, one from Frazier and one from Baldwin. Ashleigh Kulzer was the only other baserunner after she was hit by a pitch in the sixth.

Gloversville's best scoring opportunity came in the fourth, down a run, when Frazier led off with a single and was moved over to second by Holly's sacrifice bunt. That was as far as she made it, however, as Diamond retired the next two batters.

Gloversville ended the season 8-3 in the AGSL with two one-run losses in the regular season and Saturday's two-run loss.

"I was proud of them," Holland said. "They played an awesome game all season. They got beat by a couple runs and they've got nothing to be ashamed about."

Cobleskill finished 11-1. Pietrowski said aside from the obvious enjoyment of a win and a championship, she just enjoys playing against this group of Gloversville girls.

"They're a good team. The girls are real good," she said. "We always enjoy playing Gloversville. We always have a fun game, the kids are friendly to each other and we always enjoy it."

Cobleskill 2, GWAC/Palmer's Pharmacy 0

Cobleskill100 001 0 - 2 4 0

GWAC/Palmer's000 000 0 - 0 2 2

Diamond and Hext; Frazier and Brown.