By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

We’re again copping out.

We’re naming Carl Junction’s Zak Porath and Webb City’s Chance Sossamon as co-winners of The Globe’s All-Area MVP.

Remember, Carl Junction’s Joseph Fauvergue and Webb City’s Landon Zerkel shared similar honors in boys basketball for the 2007-08 season.

“It’s OK,” Porath said Saturday of sharing. “We played on the same team for a long time growing up.

“Hopefully, we’re about even in baseball.”

For sure, though, Porath, a pitcher-outfielder, would like trading places with pitcher-shortstop Sossamon in one segment of the 2008 campaign.

Sossamon’s Cardinals, reaching the left-handed Porath for five runs in the first inning, defeated the Bulldogs 6-4 to win the Class 3 District 12 Tournament at Carthage. That was a reversal of the 2007 season.

“It came down to a rough first inning,” Porath said. “I wasn’t that sharp in the beginning.

“Obviously, it was disappointing,” Porath said. “Still, it was a good season (19-6 under Flave Darnell).”

Sossamon’s journey, meanwhile, didn’t end until St. Dominic prevailed 8-0 in the Class 3 final at Springfield.

“We fell short but overall it was a good season,” Sossamon said. “It was fun. We went out with a bang. I had a good finish.”

The Cardinals, 24-6 overall for Shawn Mayes, also won the Southwest Conference.

Mayes singled out Sossamon, relentless at the plate and on the bases in the closing games, for improved leadership.