Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Donna Bane, shown here at bat during a 2019 game, had a pair of hits in Banes 2000 debut season playoff title win over American Legion.

This past weekend Banes rallied in the late innings to edge Jr. Wilson 1 13-9 for the Medina Women’s Softball ‘A’ League playoff championship.

That win recalls that Banes also had a sparkling debut season in Women’s League competition in 2000 when they outlasted American Legion 16-13 for the ‘B’ Division playoff championship.

Banes wasted little time in moving on top to stay by scoring six quick runs in the first inning highlighted by hits by Becky Bromsted, Kathy Riggs, Shelly Harling, Kim Morrell and Donna Bane.

Keeping the momentum, Banes tacked on three runs in the second inning on RBI hits by Sue Bane, Harling and Morrell. Two more runs in both the third and fourth frames then upped the advantage to 13-2.

American Legion did come battling back with three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings and four more in the sixth. Legion then sliced the deficit to 16-13 in the bottom of the seventh but could get no closer as they left the bases loaded.

Bromsted finished with a total of four hits and Harling three for Banes as Donna Bane, Sue Bane, Riggs, Morrell and Becky Spears each had two.

Traci Preston led Legion with three hits as Lisa Pritchard, Michelle Gray and Tara Stawicki each had two.

Banes had a pair of close calls in route to the title contest as they had to rally from a 12-6 deficit to nip Legion 13-12 in the first round and then edged VFW 10-8 in the winners bracket final.

Contributed Photos – Deb Wood and Rich Wheeler took low gross honors at the Hickory Ridge Club Championship.

Hickory Ridge held its Club Championship this past weekend and winners were crowned in the men and ladies divisions for low gross and low net.

For the ladies, Deb Wood took low gross honors with a 78.

Rich Wheeler led the men’s side with an 81. Wheeler birdied the last hole to beat out Larry Powers by a stroke.

Powers won low net for men just beating Gerald Furness and Werner Stumpf.

Low net for the ladies was Marcia Zambito with a 65 who beat Paula Knaak by two strokes.

The Tuesday Ladies Night Out League report Linda Chrzan and Laurie Freeman leading the standings with 96 points. Deb Wood and Aleta Martin are making a strong push for the top with 95.5 points. Marcia Zambito and Margie Page area close in third with 93.5. points.

Low gross for the night was Wood with a 43. Kathy Schuth was close with a 45.  Zambito shared low net with Carol Lowell as both ladies posted net 36.

Schuth and Lowell both recorded birdies.

Marcia Zambito and Larry Powers took low net honors.

The Thursday Men’s Traveling League has the team of Jake Cotter and Tyler Root holding on to first place in the standings with 266 points. Dave Cotter and Randy Knaak hold second with 256 points. Adam Dresser and Barry Flansberg are in third with 236 points.

Low gross for the week was shot by Guy Eaton with a 41. Low net was Pete Mathes who carded a 29.

Birdies were shot by Dresser and Mike Hanlon.

The Hickory Hicks report Steve Galante and Mark Corwin leading the week with a 35. Jeff and Gary Stevens took second with a 39.

Joan Ayotte was closest to the pin on number 3 while Jeff Stevens had the closest second shot on hole 5.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Connie Heschke of Banes slides into third base as Jodi Zacher of Jr. Wilson 1 awaits the ball during this afternoon’s title game at Jr. Wilson. Banes rallied late to claim the win and the ‘A’ League playoff title.

A big late inning scoring burst rallied top seeded Banes to a 13-9 victory over No. 2 Jr. Wilson 1 in the Medina Women’s Softball ‘A’ League playoff championship game this afternoon at Jr. Wilson.

Trailing 9-6, Banes exploded for 7 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to claim the win and the championship.

Lindsay Chatt bangs out a hit for Banes.

Jen Masse banged out a two-run triple and Robin Blaun a two-run single during the decisive uprising which also included RBI singles by Rileigh McCabe, Grace Capstick and Sue Seefeldt along with singles by Kathy Allen and Connie Heschke.

Banes had grabbed an early 6-2 lead by scoring three runs in the first inning on a triple by Lindsay Chatt, a double by Blaun and a single by Jamie Chatt, once in the second on a single by Jen Masse and twice in the third as Lindsay Chatt had a home run and Jamie Chatt a triple.

Jr. Wilson 1 though came battling back first cutting the deficit to 6-4 with a pair of runs in the fourth inning and then to take a 9-6 lead with five tallies in the fifth. Liz Zacher had a two-run triple, Michele Crandall a two-run single and Haley Odell an RBI single in the fifth as singles by Chasity Chinn and Sara Flansburg ignited the rally.

However, Banes blanked Jr. Wilson 1 over the last two innings as Heschke started a key double play in the sixth inning.

Jen Masse, Lindsay Chatt and Sue Seefeldt each finished with three hits for Banes as Blaun and Jamie Chatt both had two,

Chinn and Flansburg both had three hits for Jr. Wilson 1 as Crandall and Kaity Miller each had two.

League play is winding down at Hickory Ridge with only a few more weeks left in their seasons.

As has become the norm, the first report in is the Ladies Night Out League that plays on Tuesday. Deb Wood shot low gross with a 34 followed closely by Emily Ferguson with a 38. 33’s were wild for the ladies as four golfers shot low net of 33. They were Diane Abel, Judy Schuth Marcia Zambito and Melissa Cotter.

Wood had two birdies and Patty Pfister had one. Melissa Cotter pulled off a rarity as she birdied holes 5, 6, and 7. These holes have become known as ‘birdie corner’ over the past years. Rarely have all three been birdied in the same round.

Linda Chrzan and Laurie Freeman lead the standings with 91 points. Wood and Aleta Martin have 87 points good for second and Marcia Zambito and Margie Page hold third with 86 points.

The Men’s Wednesday Night League has Clark Brooks and Dick Taylor leading with 81.5 points. Larry Powers and Bill Connolly are in second with 77 points just slightly ahead of Jim Zambito and Owen Toale (sub) with 76.5 points.

Low gross of a 35 was shot by Tim Hendrickson. Hendrickson and Dave Polosito share low net with 33. Hendrickson and Rusty Walls each had two birdies.

The Thursday Night Men’s Traveling League had Jake Cotter and Barry Flansberg sharing low gross with 41 each. Bud Peglow had low net with a 29. Jake Cotter also recorded two birdies.

Jake Cotter and Tyler Root are in first with 242 points followed by Dave Cotter and Randy Knaak with 232 points. Mike Hanlon and Jason Schrader are in third with 230 points.

Our final league report for the week is Hickory Hicks where John and Diane Colsanti were tied this week by Randy and Paula Knaak with a low score of 36.

Closest to the pin on #11 was Steve McIntyre, longest putt on #16 was Paula Knaak and closest second shot on number 13 was Randy Knaak.

The Club Championship kicks off on tomorrow with tee times starting at 10am. Tee times have been posted but if you do not know yours just call the pro shop.

Seeded No. 13 Medina’s Melanie Green dropped a 5 and 3 decision to No. 52 Rachel Heck this afternoon in the opening round of the match play competition at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship being played at Chambers Bay, University Place, Washington.

Green won the 7th hole to trail by only 1 but Heck took 4 of the next six holes to open up a commanding 4 up lead. Heck then closed out the victory by winning the 15th hole to go 5 up with just 3 holes remaining.

Green advanced to today’s match play round of 64 by posting a 5 under par total of 140 over the tournament’s first two days of stroke play competition on rounds of 71 and 70.

Contributed Photos – Lyndonville native Scott Bradley is shown here during the bike race portion of the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon he competed in this past weekend in Norway.

Competing in a most challenging event in Norway this past weekend highlighted Lyndonville native Scott Bradley’s return to Triathlon competition and fulfilled his “Bucket List” race.

The Covid-19 pandemic wiped out Scott’s 2020 triathlon season, but not his love of the sport and his training.

Scott continued to train throughout the year and into 2021 when competitions slowly began to resume. Competitions were limited so he targeted only two Ironman competitions for the year, his 7th and final year racing as a Male Pro, the Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Cozumel.

An Ironman is a 140.6 mile triathlon which includes a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile (marathon) run.

He returned to competing as an amateur Age Grouper in the 35-39 age group this year competing first in the Ironman 70.3 Eagleman and then in the very challenging Norseman Extreme Triathlon in Norway.

Bradley celebrates at the top of the Gaustatoppen mountain completing the grueling Norseman Xtreme Triathlon.

At the Ironman Lake Placid he swam a 57:32, biked a 4:54:05 (22.85 mph) and ran a 3:27:31. His final time of 9:26:54 placed him 15th out of the 31 Male Pros competing and 19th overall out of the 1768 participants in the race.

Ironman Cozumel had been Scott’s first race as a professional back in November of 2014. Having accepted racing at this level for 7 years, Scott decided that this Ironman Cozumel was going to be his final race as a professional before returning to race as an amateur Age Grouper starting in 2022.

Scott swam a current-aided time of 47:45 (a personal best swim time), biked a 4:27:20 (his average speed of 25.10 mph smashed his personal best even though he had to stop and walk his bike several times over the last 12 miles due to cramping) and ran 3:31:13. His final time of 8:51:17 (a personal best by over 5 minutes) placed him 26th out of 38 Male Pros and 73rd overall out of the 2330 participants in the race. Of note, the winner of the race, Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway who was competing in his first full triathlon, broke the world record time in a 140.6 with a time of 7:21:12!!

When the U.S. Triathlon Association (USAT) posted its final 2021 rankings, using Complete Rankings, Scott was ranked ranked 22nd in the 35-39 age group out of 3,764 competitors from around the U.S. who raced at least one race of any distance in the U.S. in 2021. In the 35-39 age group, Scott was ranked 1st in New York State (2nd among all triathletes residing in NY) and 1st in all of the Northeast (5th among all triathletes in the Northeast).

Scott returned to racing as an Age Grouper in the 35-39 Age Group at Ironman 70.3 Eagleman in Maryland in June.

An Ironman 70.3 includes a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile (half marathon) run.

Scott swam a personal best of 27:43. He then rode the fastest bike time of the day among all participants, including the Male Pros, with a time of 2:02:17. Running a 1:24:18 for the half marathon, Scott finished 1st in his Age Group (198 participants) by over 16 minutes with a finish time of 3:59:19. Overall he finished 13th out of the 2246 participants.

Having been selected as one of 12 Elite Male Athletes to compete in the 2020 Norseman Xtreme Triathlon, Scott had to wait two years to fulfill this “Bucket List” race.

“The Norseman Xtreme Triathlon is a non-Ironman branded triathlon, point to point, race held in Norway annually. The distances are equivalent to those of an Ironman race with the swim starting from the loading bay of a car ferry, through the water of the Hardanger fjord to the local town, Eidfjord. At Eidfjord the competitors transition onto their bikes and then cycle [112 miles] through the mountains, the first [24.85 mi] of which is uphill (reaching [3,937 feet] above sea level). After transition two (at Austbygdi, [623 feet] above sea level), the competitors then run [26.2 mi] of which the first [15.5 mi] (to Rjukan) are flat and following this they end up climbing the local mountain, Gaustatoppen, [6,168 ft] above sea level.” Wikipedia

Scott can now check the box next to this “Bucket List” entry.

The logistics of a race such as this greatly limits the field. This year 239 participants started the race. The 2.4 mile swim took place in 55F water!! Scott came out of the water in 21st place in a time of 1:03:06.

On the bike everyone was met with a temperature of 37F, rain and a strong wind when they reached the top of the first 24.85 mile climb to a plateau. The remainder of the bike was filled with descents and climbs that totaled 7,680 ft. Scott’s time of 5:50:06 on the bike was the 20th fastest time of the day.

Following the first 15 miles of “normal” topography on the 26.2 mile run, it was time to take a left turn and start the 11 mile, 5,850 foot climb to the top of Gaustatoppen. The final 4 miles were actually climbing a rocky trail to the summit. Scott’s time of 5:06:54 was the 41st best time of the day. At the top of the mountain he was greeted with a 36F temperature and significant winds.

Completing the day with a time of 12:09:07, Scott finished 23rd which placed him in the top 10% overall and was the top American finisher out of the 14 competing. Finishing in the top 160 earned Scott a coveted “Black T-shirt”!!! The day was brutal, but the feeling of crossing the finish line at the top of Gaustatoppen washed the pain away, though not instantly!!

Continuing to race a limited number of races each year in order to have better training blocks for each competition, Scott has only one race left on his schedule for 2022. He will be racing Ironman Arizona in November.

Scott is the High School Principal at North Rose-Wolcott High School.