Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Thailer Seibert delivers a pitch for Barre during Thursday’s semifinal win over Sandstone.

One big scoring inning was enough to earn top seeded Barre a narrow 6-4 win over No. 6 Sandstone in the semifinals of the Albion Midget League 12U Division playoffs Thursday evening at the Barre Town Park.

Barre scored 6 runs in the second inning highlighted by a three-run triple by Robbie Hickman,

Hickman, Jacob Wright and Ethan Olles all had multiple hits on the evening.

Sandstone scored 3 times in the third inning sparked by a double by Brycen Potter.

In the other semifinal, No. 4 Hamlin ‘A’ edged No. 2 Elba ‘B’ 3-1.

The championship game will be on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Midget League Field.

The 9U title game will be played at 10 a.m. between Barre and Elba.

Barre first baseman Luke Snyder looks the ball to his glove as Sandstone’s Liam Skowneski heads to first.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green in action at today’s opening round of the Amundi Evian championship in France.

Getting off to a solid start, Medina’s Melanie Green fired a 2 under par round of 69 today in the opening round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian-Les-Bains, France.

The Amundi Evian is one of the five major tournaments on the LPGA schedule.

Green had 5 birdies and 3 bogies on her round which puts her 5 shots off the lead. A trio of golfers are tied for the top spot at 7 under.

Each time Green had a bogie she answered back with at least one birdie to earn the under par round. She bogied #1 but birdies #2 and #3; bogied #6 but birdied #7 and bogied #10 but birdied both #15 and #16.

Green had the best opening round score among the 8 amateurs in the 132 player field.

Interestingly, one of the players she is tied with at 2 under is Nelly Korda who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world.

All the players will play another round on Friday before the field is cut for the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.

The Amundi Evian is the second LPGA major Green has played in as she also competed in the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green

Looking to keep  the momentum from a pair of championship wins in Ireland over the past two weeks, Medina’s Melanie Green will now compete in the Amundi Evian Championship which begins on Thursday at Evian-Les-Banks, France.

The event is one of five majors on the LPGA’s 2024 schedule. It will be the second LPGA major for Green who previously competed in the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022.

Green is coming off two big tournaments in Ireland. She first won the R&A Women’s Amateur Championship (formerly the British Women’s Open Amateur Championship). She then won 3 of 4 matches to help Team USA win the Arnold Palmer Cup, which is a Ryder Cup match play event for collegiate players.

Her victory at the R&A Championship earned her exemptions to several major tournament including the Amundi Evian.

Green is one of 8 amateurs in the 132 player field which is headed by Nelly Korda, the No. 1 ranked player in the world and includes 9 of the top 10 players.

She is scheduled to tee off for the opening round of the Amundia Evian championship at 7:24 a.m. (French local time) on Thursday.

The entire field will then play again on Friday before the field is cut for the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Michael McElwain slides into home for Elks/Rotary’s first run as Sandstone catcher Eli Johnson awaits the throw. The action took place during Tuesday’s quarterfinal round playoff game won by Sandstone.

Albion Midget League 12U Division playoff action got underway Tuesday evening with four quarterfinal games.

In those contests No. 1 seed Barre defeated No. 8 Hamlin ‘B’ 18-3, No. 2 Elba ‘B’ blanked No. 7 Elba ‘A’ 11-0, No. 6 Sandstone bested No. 3 Elks/Rotary 15-5 in 8 innings and No. 4 Hamlin ‘A’ topped No. 5 Carlton 17-4.

Robbie Hickman went 4 for 4 with 6 RBIs an Brody Furness hit a home run to highlight Barre’s win as Jacob Wright, Owen Legen and Jace Wright all had multiple hits.

Sandstone erupted for 10 runs in the eighth inning to outlast Elks/Rotary as Elliott Slocum and Eli Spada had RBI hits.

Elks/Rotary had rallied for 4 runs with two out in the sixth inning to knot the contest at 5-5 as Michael McElwain drove in two runs to cap off the rally.

Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinals will have Sandstone at Barre and Hamlin ‘A’ at Elba ‘B’.

The championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.

9U Division Playoffs
In the 9U Division quarterfinals on Monday, Sandstone blanked Hamlin 11-0, Carlton downed Rotary 10-1, Barre bested Vets 8-0 and Elba edged Holley 4-3.

The semifinals are scheduled for 6 p.m. this evening with Elba at Sandstone and Barre at Carlton. The games will be played on Thursday if they get rained out this evening.

The final will be Saturday morning.

Evan Coots, at left, started on the mound for Elks/Rotary and Brycen Potter for Sandstone.

Improving to 5-1, the Albion Purple Eagles 18U baseball team shutout host Alden 4-0 Tuesday evening.

Drew Pritchard and Elliott Trapiss combined to hurl a 2 hitter with 5 strikeouts.

Drew Boyce had 3 hits and Mason Snook 2 to lead the Albion offense. Boyce singled and scored on an error in the first inning and later tripled and came home on an error in the sixth. Kaiden Froman also singled in a run in the third inning.

Shutouts were the rule as Banes and White Birch split a doubleheader in Medina Women’s Softball ‘A’ League action Monday evening.

Banes won the opener 7-0 sparked by a big 5 run seventh inning scoring burst which included singles by Rileigh McCabe, Jen Masse, Grace Capstick, Amy Lavender, Morgan Allis and a triple by Sue Seefeldt. Lavender and Patti Page both finished with 3 hits.

White Birch rebounded with a big 19 hit attack in the second game to claim a 10-0 victory and improve to 5-4.

Anna Lewis had 3 hits including a double, triple and 3 RBI’s to lead the way for White Birch. Ella Lewis, Aubrey Lewis, Maddy Boyle, Grace Johnson, Kenzi Muck, Rebekah Hoffee and Stacy Buckland each had 2 hits and Brynn Howell and Dana Siffringer 1 each. Boyle and Hoffee both had triples and Muck and Buckland doubles.

In the other game, Poler’s Pub downed Jr. Wilson 17-6 as Alishia Foss and Cathy Schmitt both had 3 hits including a home run and Lindsay Ward a triple.

Poler’s moved on top to stay with a 5 run second inning on hits by Randi Scholes, Brianna Smith, Kelly Jo Pritchard and Jean Swiernszki.

Jr. Wilson stayed close at 6-4 by scoring twice in the fifth inning but Poler’s answered with another big 5 run inning on hits by Foss, Schmitt, Ward, Lorelei Sanders and Scholes to pull away.

Stormi Kruger, Sara Flansburg and Hannah Chaddock each finished with a pair of hits for Jr. Wilson.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Louie Conte waits for the ball at third base during Monday’s doubleheader sweep over Aquinas Maroon and White.

Jimmie Swift races around third base on his way home to score a run for Kendall.

Kendall 17U swept to a key doubleheader victory over previously unbeaten Aquinas Maroon and White by scores of 4-1 and 7-4 in Monroe County Baseball Region action Monday evening.

Three quick runs in the first inning on singles by Louie Conte and Jimmie Swift and a double by Nic Cole proved to be more than enough for Kendall in the opener of the two five inning contests. A single by Vinnie D’Agostino ignited the uprising.

Cole and D’Agostino combined on the mound for a 3 hitter with 12 strikeouts.

The second game took an extra inning as Kendall needed three runs in the sixth to claim the win after Aquinas had tallied four times in the bottom of the fifth to knot the contest at 4-4.

A single by CJ D’Agostino, a wild pitch and an error plated the decisive three runs as singles by Conte and Swift set up the opportunity.

Swift then preserved the win as he came on to register 3 strikeouts on the mound in the home half of the sixth.

Earlier, Kendall had scored twice in the first on a double by Conte and a ground out by Cole, once in the second on an error and once in the third on single by Cole.

Kendall improves to 6-2 with the sweep while Aquinas slips to 7-2.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Nate Dillenbeck drives to the goal for the division leading Medina Mustangs FC during Monday’s win over Ukraine at Vets Park.

Keeping a hold on first place, the Medina Mustangs FC edged Ukraine 2-1 in a Buffalo District Soccer League 2nd Division game at Vets Park Monday evening.

Medina grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first half as Nate Dillenbeck scored his team leading 13th goal of the season off a direct kick by Aaron Feltz.

Mustangs goalie Tyler Ribbeck then made a couple of big saves to keep Ukraine off the scoreboard in the opening half.

Casey Winiecki later netted what proved to be the game winning goal for the Mustangs off an assist from Dillenbeck.

The victory was the sixth in a row for the Mustangs which improve to 7-2 in 2nd Division action with two games remaining in the regular season, both on the road.

Casey Winiecki, who scored the game winning goal for Medina is tripped up going for the ball.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Ryleigh Culver, left, and Brody Fry have earned first team All-WNY honors.

Niagara-Orleans League and Section VI Class B champion Medina has placed three players on the All Western New York small school baseball squad as selected by the coaches.

Medina is represented on the first team by the junior battery of pitcher Brody Fry and catcher Ryleigh Culver and on the second team by freshman shortstop Aidan Papaj.

In addition, Mustangs Coach Chris Goyette was named Coach of the Year.

Fry registered 62 strikeouts and had a 1.509 earned run average in 55 innings of work on the mound for the Mustangs. At the plate he hit .281 with 17 RBIs.

Culver hit .281 with 17 RBIs and Papaj .355 with 19 RBI.

Wilson junior pitcher Tyler Johnston was named the small schools Pitcher of the Year. He had 155 strikeouts and a 0.413 era.in 84 2/3 innings.

Medina’s Aidan Papaj, right, earned second team All-WNY honors. Wilson pitcher Tyler Johnston, left, was named Pitcher of the Year.

Contributed Photo – Dynamites players and coaches celebrate capturing the Oswego Firecracker Classic Wood Bat Tournament championship Sunday.

The Dynamites 16U Travel Team captured top honors at Oswego’s Firecracker Classic Wood Bat Tournament by downing the Seneca All-Stars Blue 9-5 in the championship game Sunday afternoon.

Breaking away from a 5-5 deadlock the Dynamites regained the lead for good by scoring once in the sixth inning on a double by Brennan Bowes and an error.

The Dynamites then scored three big insurance runs in the seventh inning on a two-run home run by Isaac Smith and a solo homer by Ryleigh Culver.

Earlier, Vinny Gray and Gavin Heideman both banged out two-run doubles to key a four run third inning for the Dynamites.

Brody Fry went the distance on the mound scattering 4 hits and striking out 11 as the Dynamites improve to 8-3.

The Dynamites advanced to the title contest by scoring an 11-0 run rule victory over Lac St. Louis Tigers Bleu in the semifinal earlier Sunday.

Culver had a huge game at the plate belting a solo home run in the first inning , a two-run single in the second and a three-run homer in the fourth.

Smith also had a two-run homer in the fourth while Gray had an RBI double and Aiden Romesser an RBI single in the second.

Romesser picked up the win on the mound allowing 2 hits and striking out 6 in the five inning contest.

The Dynamites went 4-1 over the three days of the tournament.