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.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green

Putting together a strong stretch run rally, Medina’s Melanie Green scored a victory in the match play singles competition today in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Cup which was played at the Lahinch Golf Course in Ireland.

The Arnold Palmer Cup follows a Ryder Cup style format matching a USA Team of collegiate golfers against an International Team of collegiate golfers.

Trailing by three with seven holes to go, Green rallied with a sparkling stretch of three birdies over the next four holes (12, 13 and 15) to rally into a tie with her opponent Sara Byrne from Ireland.

Keeping the momentum, Green then birdied 17 to take the lead for good. Both players then pared the 18th earning Green the 1 up victory.

Green went 3-1 for her four matches over the three day run of the event as she helped Team USA score a 32 1/2 – 27 1/2 Arnold Palmer Cup victory over the International Team.

Green will next be competing in the Amundi Evian Championship in France this coming weekend.

The Albion Midget League playoffs will get underway at 6 p.m. Monday with four 9U Division quarterfinal games.

Those contests will have No.8 seed Hamlin at No. 1 Sandstone, No. 7 Rotary at No. 2 Carlton, No. 6 Vets a No. 3 Barre and No. 5 Elba at No. 4 Holley.

The semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday and the final for Saturday morning.

The 12U Division playoffs will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday with four quarterfinal contests.

Those games will have No. 8 Hamlin ‘B’ (2-8) at No. 1 Barre (12-1), No. 7 Elba ‘A’ (3-8) at No. 2 Elba ‘B’ (10-3), No. 6 Sandstone (5-7) at No. 3 Elks/Rotary (9-3) and No. 5 Carlton (6-5) at No. 4 Hamlin ‘A’ (7-3).

The semifinals are slated for Thursday and the final on Saturday afternoon at 2.

The Dynamites 16U Travel team earned a split today in competition at the Oswego Firecracker Classic Wood Bat Tournament.

The Dynamites scored an 11-1 run rule victory over Premier this morning.

The Dynamites scored three quick runs in the first inning on a home run by Evan Poeller and a two-run double by Tyler Kroening, three in the second inning on two-run single by Aiden Romesser and an error, once in the third on an error and four in the fourth on a home run by Brody Fry, a two-run single by Vinny Gray and a wild pitch.

Fry and Gray both finished with two hits.

In the afternoon contest, the Dynamites dropped a 7-2 decision to the Seneca All-Stars Blue.

The Dynamites took a 2-1 lead by scoring twice in the fourth on a two-run double by Kroening but could not cross home plate again.

Seneca rallied to score three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to claim the win. An error and a single plated the runs in the sixth. An error and a two-run double then drove in three big insurance runs in the seventh.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green and her Mixed Foursome partner Michael LaSasso at the Arnold Palmer Cup competition in Ireland.

Medina’s Melanie Green split a pair of matches today at the Arnold Palmer Cup which is being played at the Lahinch Golf Course in Ireland.

The Arnold Palmer Cup follows a Ryder Cup style format matching a USA Team of collegiate golfers against an International Team of collegiate golfers.

In the morning Foursome match, Green, who graduated from the University of South Florida in May, and her partner, Rachel Kuehn from Wake Forest University, scored a 3 and 2 victory over Carla Bernat and Paula Martin Sampedro who are both from Spain.

In the afternoon Mixed Foursome match, Green again teamed up with Michael LaSasso, who will be a junior at the University of Mississippi this fall, with whom she won a Mixed Four Ball match on Friday. In this match Green and LaSasso dropped a narrow 1 up match to the duo of Wenyl Ding from China and Louise Rydquist from Sweden.

The match was tied going into the par 5 final hole where Green and LaSasso birdied only to have Ding and Rydquist score an eagle to claim the win.

At the conclusion of today’s competition Team USA and the International Team are deadlocked at 18-18.

The Cup competition will conclude on Sunday with singles matches.

Pushing across a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Storm nipped the visiting Medina Mustangs 16U team 7-6 Friday in a Western New York Premier League baseball game.

A two-out RBI single by Cam Noonan in the eighth provided the margin of victory for the Storm which had tied the game at 6-6 with a run on an error in the seventh.

The Mustangs had built up an early 6-0 lead by scoring once in the first on a wild pitch and four times in the second on RBI hits by Jackson Prynn and Colton Smith.

Medina regained the lead for the last time at 6-5 in the top of the seventh on a triple by Prynn.

Prynn, Smith and Brady Christiaansen each finished with a pair of hits as Jimmy Dieter and Kolton Fletch both added one.

The Mustangs are now 3-6.

The Dynamites 16U Travel baseball team opened competition at the Oswego Firecracker Classic Wood Bat Tournament today with a narrow 5-4 win over the Lac St. Louis Tiger Orange team.

Brody Fry drove in the first three runs for the Dynamites with an RBI single in the first inning and a two-run home run in the fifth.

The Dynamites margin of victory came in a two-run sixth inning on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Gavin Heideman and a solo home run by Vinny Gray.

The Tiger Orange team made the finish exciting by scoring three times in the home half of the sixth on a home run to slice the deficit to 5-4.

Fry picked up the win on the mound allowing 1 hit and striking out 9 over the first 4 innings. Aiden Romesser earned the save as he allowed 1 hit and struck out 2 in the seventh inning.

The Dynamites are scheduled to play two games in the tournament on Saturday.

Contributed Photo – Melanie Green

Medina’s Melanie Green opened competition in the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup with a victory today at the Lahinch Golf Course in Ireland.

Green, who graduated from the University of South Florida in May, and her partner Michael LaSasso, who will be a junior at the University of Mississippi this fall, scored a 4 and 3 win for Team USA in their Mixed Four Ball Match over the International Team’s duo of Mirabal Ting from Malaysia and Phichaken Maichon from Thailand.

The Green/LaSasso duo combined to register a total of 8 birdies.

The Arnold Palmer Cup follows a Ryder Cup style format matching a USA Team of collegiate golfers against an International Team of collegiate golfers.

The Green/LaSasso win was one of five victories for Team USA which trails the International Team 6 1/2-5 1/2 at the conclusion of the opening round.

The Palmer Cup competition will continue on Saturday with a pair of matches – Foursomes in the morning and Mixed Foursomes in the afternoon.

The event will conclude on Sunday with singles matches.