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Frontier’s Cunningham OAC-bound

Courtesy photo Front row (left to right): younger brother Evan Cunningham, father Ryan Cunningham, Zach Cunningham, mother Holly Cunningham and older brother CJ Cunningham. Second row: Grandfather Charles Loughry (seated), FHS assistant coach John Hoff, FHS head coach Kurt Satterfield, FHS assistant coach Corey Powers and grandmother Dixie Loughry (seated).

NEW MATAMORAS — Frontier senior Zach Cunningham recently signed a celebratory letter of intent to continue his education and to play baseball at Capital University in Columbus.

The Cougar shortstop, who had narrowed his choices down to Capital and West Liberty, is glad to have his collegiate plans finalized so that he may focus all of his efforts on the upcoming season.

“I had a lot of options but I really wanted to make sure it was done before the season began,” said Cunningham, whose batting average was just shy of .500 last year in his junior season. “It is definitely a big moment for me and kind of like a dream come true.”

The decision to go to Capital as opposed to West Liberty was one that Cunningham made looking to his future after baseball.

“West Liberty was missing a major and Capital had what I was interested in,” said Cunningham, who plans to study health and sports science while minoring in business. “The opportunities will be better there in the capitol city of Ohio when baseball is done. It was more a decision about the bigger picture and about my education.”

Cunningham’s accolades at Frontier include being named to the All Pioneer Valley Conference team as a junior as well as All- Eastern district selections the past two seasons.

While Cunningham’s accomplishments on the field are noteworthy, so are his accomplishments off the field including being a former president of the National Honor Society, a member of the Spanish National Honor Society as well as attending Washington County Youth Leadership Summits.

Capital is coached by Ryan Grice and Cunningham has been quite impressed with Grice as well as his coaching staff.

“He (Grice) is very out-going and determined to win and that was what I liked the most,” said Cunningham. “He won’t judge you based on whether you are a senior or not but based on your work ethic. I really like that style and look forward to the challenge.”

Grice plans to use Cunningham as a middle-infielder but told him to be ready to learn multiple positions which should present him the opportunity to get on the field sooner than later.

“I would be willing to play any position it took to get on the field as a freshman,” said Cunningham, who in addition to his shortstop responsibilities will get plenty of innings on the mound this spring for Coach Kirk Satterfield and the Cougars. “I plan on working my butt off to do whatever it takes to get on the field as soon as possible.”

Cunningham would like nothing better than to finish out his high school career on a high note before he heads off to Columbus in the fall.

“I’m really excited about our team this year and I think we really raised some eyebrows last year when we won our first sectional in 17 years,’ said Cunningham. “We have some confidence heading into the season, a great coach and a really good group of guys. I think we should be able to hang with anybody.”

Joining Cunningham at the signing ceremony were his father Ryan, his mother Holly and his two brothers C.J. and Evan, his grandfather Charles Loughry, his grandmother Dixie Loughry, Satterfield as well as Cougar assistant coaches John Hoff and Corey Powers.

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