That's how the Cooperstown Major League All-Stars completed their tournament schedule this season with a dramatic, extra-inning victory at Sidney last weekend.

Four tournaments. Four championships. "What a great accomplishment these boys have achieved in a relatively short All Star season" said Coach Bruce Pohl.

Cooperstown drew inspiration from a team meeting with former Los Angeles Dodger skipper Tommy Lasorda earlier in the week. The Hall of Famer told the boys: "You gotta believe." Down 4-0 to a powerful Sidney team, Cooperstown had to dig deep inside to tie the game in the sixth inning and then win it in the bottom of the seventh when a base hit by Chris Gentile scored Philip Pohl from third.

After losing to Cooperstown a week earlier in the championship of the local tournament, Sidney was hungry for revenge. And what better place than their own Bill Ray Field in the championship game of the annual Moose tournament.

It started as a pitching duel. Wes Carroll threw three scoreless innings and used six strikeouts to work his way out of jams. His counterpart from Sidney, left-hander Tyler Vandermarll, went into the sixth inning before yielding the mound. For most of the game Vandermarll kept his team out of trouble.

Sidney came alive offensively in the fourth with three runs and added another in the fifth to build what looked like an insurmountable lead. However, Cooperstown played like a team that never felt the game was out of reach.

Zack Sittler reached first on a sharp single to right field and was moved around the bases on singles by Luke Banner and Timmy Smith for Cooperstown's first run. But the fifth-inning rally died there.

Pohl's single to open the sixth was followed by a Brian Segit single, a walk for Gentile and another single by Sittler. The three-run outburst evened the score at 4-4.

Pohl, who pitched the final three innings, started things again for Cooperstown with a leadoff single in the seventh. Pohl, who finished at 3-for-4 at the plate, moved to third on a clutch single by Derik Rich. Gentile came to the plate with one out and hit a grounder sharply to Sidney shortstop Pat Simonds whose throw to the plate was a fraction of a second too late to get the hard sliding Pohl.

Cooperstown had a relatively easy time getting to Sunday's championship with two routs on Saturday. The tournament opened with a slow-starting but impressive thumping of Oneonta B in a game that ended in the fourth as Rich's double was followed by Segit's double. Rich's run made the score 10-0 as the game ended on the mercy rule.

Despite the lop-sided final score, Cooperstown didn't come to life until the third inning when 13 players went to the plate. When the dust settled there were nine runs on the board. Frank Petroskey had a triple and a double in the inning, and Banner had a double and single.

Rich had two doubles in the game and scored two runs, a satisfying afternoon under any circumstances but especially gratifying for Rich. Only two days earlier Rich had a surgical pin in his finger and a cast on his arm. The injury had sidelined him for the entire All-Star season. He still supported his team by attending almost every practice and game. And he made the most of it when he got a chance to be in the line-up.

In Cooperstown's second game Saturday, an anticipated rematch with Unadilla failed to be much of a contest. The two teams met two weeks earlier in New Berlin in a nine-inning classic that Cooperstown won, 3-2.

A single by Carroll and a double by Pohl drove Petroskey and Tim Smith home in the first inning. In the second two more runs came across on singles by Sittler, Petroskey, Banner and Smith.

Cooperstown again sent 13 batters to the plate in the fifth, scoring eight runs to end the game early. Carroll pitched the first four innings and had four strikeouts. Philip Pohl came on for the fifth and had two strikeouts to nail down the victory.

Cooperstown won the championship in all four tournaments in which it played this year: Morris, New Berlin, Cooperstown and Sidney.

This week the team will see some intensive two-a-day practice sessions before beginning play at the Dreams Park. Aug. 12.