HUGHESTOWN – Cole Cherkas played a major role in getting Pocono-1’s Keystone State Games baseball tournament turned around with his pitching.
Cherkas used his bat to complete the team’s turnaround in a bronze-medal effort in the Scholastic Division.
The team’s most productive hitter during the tournament, Cherkas shook off a rough outing in the tournament opener by returning to the mound on just one day of rest Aug. 3 at Hilldale Baseball Park.
Pocono-1 had already lost its first two games, was struggling offensively, already starting to run short of pitching arms and would have been eliminated from medal contention with one more loss.
Cherkas did not let that happen, throwing seven scoreless innings in what finished as a nine-inning scoreless tie with Lehigh Valley, the team Pocono-1 ultimately beat out of a spot in the bronze-medal game.
“It was a big game for our placement,” said Cherkas, who struck out seven while walking just one and limiting Lehigh Valley to five singles. “I didn’t really have a lot on the fastball.
“I was just trying to hit my spots, get some calls and get out of there with a quick one.”
Pocono-1 followed up the tie with a win later in the day, doing just enough to reach the bronze-medal game against Blue Mountain-2, the team it had lost to in the Aug. 1 opener.
Cherkas made sure that chance did not get away. He went 4-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored on his home high school field as a Pittston Area Patriot to lead a 15-hit attack.
A Pocono-1 offense that had managed just two runs total in the first three games broke loose for 18 over the final two.
Cherkas said it all started coming together in the tournament’s two-game day with Pocono-1 on the brink of elimination.
“We saw everyone in the dugout starting to bond, meshing together,” he said. “We were building that confidence up. We were acting like a team.
“ … There was no hate; no separate groups in the dugout. We brought that out on the field and we just played like we should be playing.”
Cherkas was effective throughout the tournament.
As the team’s starting pitcher in the opener, he did his best to keep Pocono-1 close despite struggling. Cherkas gave up nine hits and a walk in three innings, but only allowed Blue Mountain-2 to turn that into two runs in its 4-1 victory.
Pocono-1 scored its only run when Cherkas led off the seventh and final inning with a double, then scored.
Following a 9-1 loss to Blue Mountain-1 on Aug. 2, Cherkas led the team back.
Cherkas had a double for the only hit the team managed off Jeremy Laureano in nine innings in the scoreless tie that by tournament rules ended after two extra innings. He had a hit and a run scored in an 8-1 win over Pocono-2.
“Obviously, the first two days did not come out like we wanted to,” Cherkas said. “We came out a little flat.
“(The two Aug. 3 games) started sparking things on offense; our defense was playing great; our pitching was up.”
