Contributed Photo – Connor Barleben

Genesee Community College outfielder/pitcher Connor Barleben was recently named to the 2016 Region III Baseball All-Region Team, earning second team honors for his play during the spring season.

At the plate, the sophomore led the Cougars in batting average (.364) home runs (5), runs batted in (36) and extra-base hits (24). He was second in the region in extra-base hits and sixth in home runs.

On the mound, he compiled a 3-3 record with an earned run average of 4.87 in nine appearances. He struck out 26 batters in 40.2 innings of work and tossed one complete game.

Barleben, an Albion High graduate, was also named to the all-region second team last season as a freshman and is committed to Ashland University (OH) where he will join the Eagles’ baseball program beginning in the fall.

He leaves Genesee as the program’s all-time hits leader with 103 career hits.

Genesee advanced to the opening round of the Region III playoffs and finished the spring with a 20-36 overall record.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Erika Moeller hurls Barker into Class C finals.

Coming up huge down the stretch both in the circle and defensively, No. 10 seed Barker nipped host No. 6 Chautauqua Lake 1-0 in 8 innings this afternoon in the semifinal round of the Section VI Class C softball playoffs.

The shutout victory was the third in a row for Barker which now faces No. 4 Cleveland Hill, a 4-3 victor over Allegany-Limestone, for the Class C title at 3 p.m. Friday at Gowanda.

Erika Moeller struck out 12 and allowed only 3 hits to register her third straight postseason shutout for the Lady Raiders.

Barker scored the game’s lone run in the top of the eighth on a fielders choice play off the bat of Moeller after a hit batter, a walk and a wild pitch had put runners at second and third.

The Barker defense then came up huge in the bottom of the eighth to clinch the narrow win as Mary Rounds caught a line drive at first base and threw to Sabrina Harris at second to complete a dramatic game ending double play.

Likewise in the bottom of the seventh, with Chautauqua runners at second and third and no outs, Barker got out of the jam as Moeller registered clutch strikeouts for the first two outs and then Abby Bachman fielded a grounder at second and threw to Rounds at first for the final out.

Women’s Softball

Scoring in every inning, Banes Machine Shop/Banes Plumbing rolled to a 14-7 win over Just Us Monday to improve to 4-0 in the Medina Women’s Softball ‘A’ League.Banes erupted for 6 runs in the second inning as Alisha Foss, Danielle Erway, Sarah Surdel, Jen Masse, Robin Blaun and Kathy Allen all had singles.

Banes later put a lock on the win by scoring 4 times in the fifth frame on a triple by Blaun and singles by Erway, Donna Bane, Connie Heschke and Kathy Allen.

Allen had a total of 4 hits as Blaun, Foss and Erway each had 3 and Heschke 2. Foss’ hits included a pair of doubles.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Jess Harling and her Lady Tiger teammates will face Notre Dame Thursday for the Class D1 title at Batavia High.

A very familiar foe will provide the opposition as top seeded Lyndonville takes on Genesee Region League rival No. 3 Notre Dame for the Section V Class D1 softball championship at 5 p.m. Thursday at Batavia High School.

Lyndonville defeated Notre Dame twice during the G-R campaign by narrow scores of 9-7 and 10-8 in route to capturing the Division II title.

Both teams advanced to the finals with lopsided semifinal wins as the Lady Tigers blanked No. 5 Alfred-Almond 16-0 and the Irish shutout No. 2 Honeoye 17-0.

Lyndonville, which is 16-4 on the season, is appearing in the sectional finals for the fourth year in a row.

The Lady Tigers captured the D1 title in 2013 with a 6-5 win over Romulus but then lost in the title contest to Arkport in both 2014 and 2015 by scores of 9-2 and 5-4.

The victor in Thursday’s game will then play the D2 winner (either Arkport or Bradford) on Saturday for the Section V Class D berth in the state playoffs.

Contributed Photo
On Sunday 13 Albion football players made the trip to Fairport High School in Rochester to compete in the New York State High School Football Coaches Association Annual Combine. Each player competed against over 200 football players from Sections V and VI. The tests included the 40 Yard Dash, Bench Press, Pro Shuttle Drill, 3 Cone Shuttle, Long Jump and Vertical Jump. The Albion players who took part included, in front are Ugene Harrison and Nate Moore. In the middle row are Brandon McGuire, Jaquess Harrison, Lamar Chambers, Jared Hollinger, Tyler Nashburn, Tommy Mattison and Tony Rotoli. In the back row are Shyheim Jakes, Jessy Cruz, Meach Gardner and Kory Reynolds.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Lyndonville’s Jacob Hoffee dives back to first base as Notre Dame’s Michael Muehlig waits for the ball. The action took place during the Tigers sectional semifinal loss to the Irish this afternoon at Holley.

Avenging a pair of regular season league losses, No. 3 seed Notre Dame downed top seeded Lyndonville 8-3 this afternoon in the semifinal round of the Section V Class D1 baseball playoffs at Holley.

Notre Dame moved on top to stay by scoring four times during an error aided second inning uprising. A two-run double by Luca Zambito, an error and an RBI single by Chris Suozzi plated the tallies as back-to-back inning opening errors set up the opportunity.

Lyndnville did answer with a run in the home half of the second as Cody Bentley tripled and came home on a single by Corey Hydock. However, the Tigers could not cross home plate again until the sixth frame and by then the Irish had extended the lead to 8-1.

Lyndonville’s Eddie Schildt tags out Notre Dame’s Evan Bender at third base during a run down.

Notre Dame, which lost to Lyndonville by scores of 6-4 and 6-3 during the Genesee Region League campaign, made it 6-1 in the fourth inning on RBI singles by Casey Midwick and Suozzi, who had a total of 4 hits on the day.

Bases loaded walks plated the other two Irish runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Lyndonville’s other tallies came in the sixth on a two-run double by Eddie Schildt which followed singles by Eric Neace and Michael Wells.

Tyler Prospero went the distance on the mound for the Irish scattering 6 hits and striking out 8. He registered clutch inning ending strikeouts to end Lyndonville’s only good scoring threats in the second and sixth innings.

Class B2 Semis
Mynderse 1, Holley/Kendall 0
Top seeded Mynderse pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to nip No. 4 Holley/Kendall 1-0 in the Class B2 semifinals at Canandaigua High.

A single and an error set up the threat as Mynderse plated the game winner on another single.

Holley/Kendall, which had just 2 hits on the day, left a runner stranded at third base twice.

Dylan Hillabush went the distance on the mound for the Hawks allowing 4 hits and striking out 7.

Top seeded Holley nipped visiting LeRoy 3-2 this afternoon in the opening round of the Section V Class C tennis playoffs.

Straight set wins by the singles trio of Brady Smith, Pablo Romero and Cameron Bennage provided the margin of victory for the Hawks.

Getting run production from eight different players, top seeded Lyndonville romped to a 16-0 victory over No. 5 Alfred-Almond this afternoon in the semifinals of the Section V Class D1 softball playoffs at Batavia High School.

Lyndonville jumped out to a quick 4-0 first inning lead on a two-run single by Jess Harling and RBI singles by Lisa Boyce and winning pitcher Makenzie Muck.

The Lady Tigers also had a bg five run third inning uprising highlighted by a three-run double by Aubrey Lewis.

Anna Lewis and Stacey Buckland then both banged out two-run doubles in the fourth frame.

Anna Lewis and Brianna Paniccia both had two hits on the day.

In the circle, Muck allowed only 3 hits and stuck out 3.

In advancing to the finals for the fourth year in a row, the Lady Tigers will now face Genesee Region League foe Notre Dame, a 17-0 victor over Honeoye, in the D1 title contest on Thursday.

Rebounding from an early deficit, No. 4 seed Eden went on to defeat visiting No. 5 Medina 13-5 this afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Section VI Class C lacrosse playoffs.

Medina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Greg Husung and Coby Albone.

Another goal by Jake Cotter kept the Mustangs deadlocked at 3-3 at the end of the opening period.

However, Eden broke the game open over the middle two periods outscoring the Mustangs 2-0 in the second period and 5-1 in the third to open up a 10-4 advantage.

Cotter and Tyler Valley scored the Mustangs second half goals.

Contributed Photo – Ally Page signs to play soccer at FLCC

Albion High senior Ally Page has committed to join the Finger Lakes Lakers women’s soccer team for the 2016 season.

Page, a four year varsity player at Albion, had 7 goals and 9 assists her senior year and finished with a career total of 19 goals.

In addition to a very solid scoring record, Page was named an All-League honorable mention and Scholar Athlete during her senior campaign.

“Ally is a great player that I’ve been watching grow and develop for years.  After watching her play for a while now I think Ally has the versatility to play a lot of positions, not just up front.  I’ve seen her score some great goals, but at the same time she has a stubbornness and a bite about how she plays that really make you could think she could play in the center of midfield or even in the back.  Regardless, she has gotten better and better throughout her career and I think that playing alongside other great players at the college level is only going to continue that trend.”  said FLCC Head Coach Pat King, who is also an Albion High alumni.