4 – Roy-Hart claims baseball and swim titles

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Thomas Russo, left, and Andrew Ossont helped lead Roy-Hart to baseball and swim titles.

Appearing in the finals for the sixth year in a row, the Roy-Hart varsity baseball team captured the Section VI Class B2 championship with a 5-1 victory over Fredonia at Grand Island as Thomas Russo hurled a two hitter with 10 strikeouts.

Russo, who earned first team All-Western New York honors, was also named All-WNY small schools Pitcher of the Year as well as Niagara-Orleans League Player of the Year.

The Rams advanced to the B2 final by downing Akron 9-1 in the quarterfinals and Salamanca 6-2 in the semis.

However, Roy-Hart’s bid for a spot in the state playoffs was dashed as B1 champion Depew blanked the Rams 10-0 in the state qualifier contest. Depew went on to win the state Class B title.

Five of the Rams have signed to continue baseball careers in college including Russo and Brayden Hy at Canisius, Dawson Draper and Jacob Gould at NCCC an Ethan Kuzma at Finger Lakes CC.

Roy-Hart/Barker also scored a sweep of the Niagara-Orleans League swim championships. The Channel Cats captured the girls’ title with an 8-0 record and the boys’ with a 7-1 mark.

The title was the fourth in the last six years for the Channel Cats girls’ team and the fourth straight for the boys’ squad which has now claimed the crown 15 of the last 17 years.

The Channel Cats had a pair of individual event double winners at the All-League meets as Andrew Ossont took both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Breaststroke and Julia Miles the 50 Free and 100 Free.