For Chad Cooperman, the 2022 baseball season was to be a special one.

His dad Scott - who had been a longtime high school coach and athletic director - was named the new coach for Northwestern Lehigh and asked his son to be one of his assistants.

It seemed like a great setup for the younger Cooperman to spend some time with his dad after being away at Bloomsburg University - where he finished his academic and baseball days just last year.

Then, the elder Cooperman received a job offer in South Carolina, and Northwestern athletic director Jason Zimmerman asked Chad to step in.

“I was looking forward to coaching with my dad and gaining that experience, but I feel I am ready for this opportunity,” noted Cooperman.

“I have had to brush up on the high school rules a little, and Jason (Zimmerman) has helped me with the administrative stuff but when you come down to it, it’s still just baseball.”

Cooperman has two friends and recent teammates next to him in the dugout as assistants. Justin Kratz and Justin Welch both played with Cooperman in the Blue Mountain League last season and helped their team to a league championship.

Kratz played at Allen High School, and then for Lehigh Carbon Community College and Welch - who lived in the Northwestern school district - was a member of the 2018 Central Catholic team that lost to the Tigers in the district finals. Welch went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and two RBIs in the championship game.

While some may see an inexperienced coaching staff that is at a disadvantage, Cooperman sees a staff that is a perfect fit.

“Relatability is so important to the kids, and that’s the advantage that we have of being a young staff in that we understand what they go through. We’ve been there recently, and it really allows us to connect with them at a level that I think others would struggle with. It’s a great opportunity,” said the new coach, who is a 2016 Salisbury graduate.

Northwestern has had a lot of success with its program in recent seasons, and even with five starting players from last season graduating, the goal of league and district championships continues.

Last season the Tigers took home a Colonial League championship and went to the District 11 finals, finishing with a 19-5 overall record and a 15-2 Colonial League mark. Ben Boyer and Dylan Witkowski are leading another talented group of seniors and setting the tone for the younger players on the team.

“The younger guys are committed, and I think they’re talented, so we just have to help them maturity-wise, and to know what it takes to win,” said Witkowski of the underclassmen on the roster. “Most of them play on tournament teams and they like to compete, so they’ll do fine.”

A quick run through the numbers from last year’s championship team suggests the challenge the Tigers faced entering the season. Boyer and Witkowski were key for the team last season, but aside from their offensive numbers, the returning players had just 92 plate appearances and hit a combined .219 for the Tigers in 2021.

Cooperman kept an open mind about who was going to be in the lineup, and where in the order they would hit. The plan was to mix and match players at different spots through the first couple weeks to find the right spot for players to succeed.

“I tell them that every practice is like an interview,” said Cooperman. “We are always looking to put the best nine out there that are going to help us compete and win games, so every day they need to come to practice and act like they want to roll and win games.

“Everything is written in pencil, and we have created a lot of competition at practice.”

Lost from last season’s pitching staff were a combined 88 innings from four pitchers who pitched to a combined 3.27 ERA. Boyer and Witkowski have anchored the pitching staff with fellow seniors Tanner Romig, Nick Scott, and Morgan LaBuda also getting some time on the mound.

Junior Wesley George, sophomores Shaun O’Donnell, Josh Lichman and Chase Moyer have also been potential mound options.

Northwestern currently owns an overall record of 5-6, and sports a mark of 5-4 in the Colonial League. The Tigers host Saucon Valley this afternoon.

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GOING DEEP ... Nearly a month into the high school baseball and softball seasons, one thing is for certain when it comes to home runs - no area squad has been more impressive when it comes to the long ball than the Northwestern softball team.

The Tigers top all area teams in every category associated with home runs.

Through games of April 19, Northwestern is the leader in all of the following:

• Most home runs for the season - (11)

• Most home runs in a game (six vs. Bangor on 3/29)

• Most players with at least one home run - (8 ... Sage Toman, Rylee McGinley, Isabella Teprovich, Isabelle Akelaitis, Brynn Balliet, Morgan Farthing, Olivia Stofflet, Quinn Conrey)

• Most homers by a single player (Sage Toman, 3)

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GOING DEEPER ... Here are a few more notes on home runs through games of April 19.

• In addition to the three homers by Toman, two other softball players have hit multiple home runs this season. Northwestern’s Farthing and Jim Thorpe’s Kristin Pompa both have hit a pair.

• There have also been two baseball players who have hit more than one home run. Panther Valley’s Matt Engler and Jim Thorpe’s James Lordi have both hit two homers.

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COMEBACK KIDS ... Marian owns the biggest comebacks this season in both baseball and softball.

The Colts rallied from six runs down to defeat Tamaqua, 10-9, on March 30, while the Fillies overcame a 10-run deficit to defeat Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech on March 26.

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WALK-OFF WINS ... There have been four walk-off victories during the first part of the season by area baseball/softball teams.

• The Palmerton baseball team scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge Jim Thorpe, 5-4, on April 1.

• Pleasant Valley also has a baseball walk-off win, scoring two runs in its final at-bat to beat Whitehall, 6-5, on April 11.

• The Northern Lehigh softball team scored three times in the seventh inning to defeat Palmerton, 8-7, on April 8

• The Northwestern softball team scored a pair of final-inning runs to edge Tamaqua, 7-6, on April 12.

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SWEET 16 ... There have been a number of double-digit strikeout performances by area pitchers this season, but it’s hard to top the numbers put up by a trio of softball pitchers. Jim Thorpe’s Amanda Goodchild, Marian’s Morgan Kelly and Weatherly’s Madisyn vonFrisch all recorded 16-strikeout games this season.

Goodchild fanned 16 Shenandoah batters on April 2; Kelly struck out 16 against Freeland MMI on April 4; and vonFrisch retired 16 Mahanoy Area batters on strikes on April 14.

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BIG INNINGS ... Scoring double-digit runs in an inning is rare, but four area teams took the term ‘big inning’ to a different level - putting up football scores in a single inning on the diamond.

No one did that better than the Lehighton baseball team when it exploded for 20 runs during the second inning of its game against Lincoln Leadership Academy on April 1.

Other teams that produced two touchdown (and extra point) innings were:

Jim Thorpe baseball with a 16-run third inning against Weatherly on March 25; Northern Lehigh softball with a 15-run fourth inning against Jim Thorpe on April 14; and Marian baseball with a 14-run second inning against Weatherly on April 18.

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TRACK STARS ... Jim Thorpe sophomore sensation Kaila O’Connor is the only area athlete to record four individual firsts in a track meet this season. O’Connor placed first in the 100, 200, 300 hurdles and triple jump in a meet on March 30 against Lehighton. O’Connor also has a pair of meets with three firsts and she added a different event in those, picking up wins in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes against both Tamaqua (April 4) and Pine Grove (April 12).

Other area track stars who had three individual wins in a meet are:

• Marian’s Fatikha Tiktova (triple jump, long jump, high jump). Tiktova has accomplished the feat four times, doing it in meets on March 30 vs. Panther Valley; April 4 vs. Shenandoah, April 6 vs. Schuylkill Haven, and April 13 vs. Weatherly and Nativity.

• Pleasant Valley’s Reese Ruggiero (long jump, triple jump, pole vault). Ruggiero did it three times, pulling off triple victories on April 4 vs. Allen, April 8 vs. East Stroudsburg South, and April 19 vs. Northampton.

• Palmerton’s Nataly Walters (200, long jump, triple jump). Walters accomplished it twice, doing it March 29 against Palisades and Salisbury, and April 6 vs. Notre Dame.

• Northwestern’s Faith Yost (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, high jump). Yost also did it twice, doing it March 29 vs. Notre Dame and Northern Lehigh, and April 19 vs. Saucon Valley and Southern Lehigh.

• Northern Lehigh’s Katelyn Barthold (800, 1600, long jump) vs. Salisbury on April 5.

• Northern Lehigh’s Jared Thomason (800, 1600, 3200) vs. Salisbury on April 5.

• Jim Thorpe’s David Richards (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, high jump) vs. Pine Grove on April 12.

• Palmerton’s Emma Martinez (800, 1600, 3200) vs. Northern Lehigh and Wilson on April 19.

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MILLER TIME ... While no area baseball, softball, lacrosse or tennis team is still unbeaten on the season, one individual is still perfect.

Lehighton tennis player Aaron Miller is 12-0 playing No. 1 singles for the Indians.

Miller is not only unbeaten, but he’s been dominant, winning 11 of his 12 matches in straight sets.

For the season, Miller has won 24 of the 25 sets he has played, including nine sets by 6-0 scores and five others by 6-1 scores.

Miller is the reigning Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Tennis Player of the Year.