Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Oakfield-Alabama’ Cooper Colantonio leaps high to take the throw as Holley-Kendall’s Kalen Brady slides into second base during this afternoons game at Holley.

A big last inning rally earned Lyndonville a narrow 8-7 victory over Notre Dame in a Genesee Region League baseball game at Dwyer Stadium this afternoon

Trailing 5-4, Lyndonville rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Anthony Moule and a three-run double by Rolland Balcerzak.

Notre Dame did rally for two runs in the bottom of the seventh but Trenton Muck came on in relief for Lyndonville and registered two clutch strikeouts to close out the win.

Earlier, Lyndonville scored twice in the fourth inning on a two-run double by Roman Heinsler and twice in the sixth on a two-run triple by Balcerzak.

The victory was also the milestone 250th career win for Tigers Coach Shane Price. “It’s a pretty nice one coming against a good team like Notre Dame. It’s one I’ll remember,” he said.

Matt Schrader registered 14 strikeouts on the mound for Notre Dame which also got a solo home run in the first inning by Colin McCulley.

Lyndonville improves to 5-1.

Oakfield-Alabama 6, Holley-Kendall 0

Kyle Porter hurled a three hit shutout with 12 strikeouts to lead Oakfield-Alabama to a 6-0 win over Holley-Kendall at Holley.

Miles Lammes had a double for Holley-Kendall as Jorden Ostrander and Jared Strathearn had singles.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Pitcher Leah Pritchard and her Albion teammates will open the league season at Barker on Wednesday.

Albion will visit Barker, Akron will host defending champion Roy-Hart and Newfane will visit rival Wilson to open the Niagara-Orleans League softball season on Wednesday afternoon with game times set for 4:45.

Medina, which draws the bye on Wednesday, will open the league season at Albion on Friday.

“We’re grateful and excited to have a season and look to make the most of the opportunity,” said new Albion Coach Sara Koppenhaver whose thoughts are no doubt being echoed by all area players and coaches after last year’s season was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Albion returns a veteran battery of junior pitcher Leah Pritchard and senior catcher Emani Poole and an experienced infield including senior first baseman Bryne Dysard, junior second baseman Kenzi Hapeman, sophomore shortstop Ryan Olles and junior third baseman Aly Knaak. Sophomore Maya Knaak also looks to help out with the pitching duties.

Barker is led by senior shortstop Sydnie Luckman, who earned first team N-O All-League honors as a sophomore in 2019, and senior pitcher Jessalynn Coen who was a second team selection.

Junior pitcher Reanna Perkins and senior catcher Shelby Wolf leads the way for Roy-Hart’s underclassmen dominated team. Wolf, in fact, is the only senior on the Lady Rams squad as several other players who were starters o the 2019 squad are not playing this season.

Junior pitcher Jenelle Kieffer, who earned second team All-League honors and senior first baseman Madison Henning, who was an Honorable Mention selection, lead the way for Akron which also returns experience in seniors Jesse Jonathan (second base), Jayni Sundown (third base) and Lydia Blueye (utility).

Junior Julia Dumais (catcher) who earned first team All-League honors heads the Newfane lineup while Wilson returns second team All-League selections Julia Faery (catcher) and Tori Pawlak (pitcher) along with Honorable Mention pick Alycia Thompson (first base), all seniors.

Medina is led by the veteran senior trio of shortstop Hannah Kenward, first baseman Brooklyn Brown and infielder Paige Adkins. Junior Faith Oberther has handled the pitching chores in the Mustangs non league contests.

Final 2019 N-O Standings: Roy-Hart 12-0, Akron 9-3, Medina 8-4, Wilson 7-5, Albion 4-8, Barker 1-11, Newfane 1-11.

Contributed Photo – Tyler Kroening in action at the plate for the Medina U13 squad.

The Medina Mustang 13U baseball team won 9-2 over the Anjo Bombers Blue on Sunday, putting together a complete offensive and defensive effort.

Tyler Kroening pitched 4 strong innings, striking out 6 and allowing only 1 run.  Lukas Grimes finished the game pitching 3 innings striking out 3 and allowing only 1 run.  Jimmy Dieter had a strong defensive game at 2nd base fielding an out in each of the 1st five innings.

Leading batting for the Mustangs was Lukas Grimes with a triple and 2 RBI’s, Tyler Kroening with a single, double, 1 RBI and a run scored, Brody Fry  a single, double, 1 RBI, and a run scored, Carter Woodworth a double, RBI, and scored a run, Ryleigh Culver a single, RBI, and scored a run, Ryan Pegelow a double and scored a run, Vinny Gray a single and scored a run, and Jimmy Dieter and Brady Christiaansen both scored a run.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Jen Masse bangs out a hit for Banes during Monday’s season opener.

Banes rolled to a 16-1 win over NYSCOBA Monday evening to open the Medina Women’s Softball League season.

Banes broke the contest open early erupting for seven runs in the second inning on doubles by Jen Masse and Connie Heschke along with singles by Amy Allis, Sue Seefeldt, Robin Blaun, Kathy Allen and Lindsay Chatt.

Keeping the momentum, Banes tacked on eight more runs in the third inning on singles by Morgan Allis, Seefeldt and  Allen and doubles by Blaun and Rileigh McCabe

Blaun and Allen both went 3 for 3 on the evening and Masse 2 for 2.

Banes next faces White Birch at Jr. Wilson 1 next Monday.

Albion downed Wilson 4 1/2-1 and Roy-Hart bested Medina 5 1/2-0 in Niagara-Orleans League tennis matches this afternoon.

Leo Bolton won at second singles and Josh DePoty at third singles for Albion which also got doubles wins from the teams of Clara Bolton-Charley London, Madelynn Snook-Aiden Miller and Jordan Marshall-Hady Beltron.

Wilson’s Joey Moote won at first singles.

The trio of Dominic Peracciny, Mya Quinn and Tagen Decker swept the singles matches for Roy-Hart as wins by the duos of Marissa Scott-Ceci Santos and Nik Gutierrez-Chelsea Gutierrez led the way in the doubles competition.

In the other match, defending champion Akron improved to 4-0 with a 5-0 win over Newfane.

Will Chubb, Caleb Suckow and Samantha Niescier all posted singles wins for Akron as the duos of Sean Brennan – Sean O’Shaughnessy and Kaly Lin-Sheila VanWyk won at doubles.

N-O Standings: Akron 4-0, Roy-Hart 1-0, Albion 1-1, Wilson 1-1, Medina 0-1, Newfane 0-1. Barker 0-2

Kendall 3, Holley 2

First Singles: Cavan Bennage (Holley) d. Tory Raufeison 6-3, 6-4

Second Singles: Devin Edick (Kendall) d. Cora Bennage 6-1, 6-2

Third Singles: Joshua Esposito (Kendall) d. Jalen Tette 6-1, 6-1

First Doubles: James Tette and Mason Neale (Holley) d. Eric Woodams and Tobias Passer 6-4, 6-3

Second Doubles: Steven Strapp and Daniel Williams (Kendall) d. Ava Quincey and  Elise Quincey 6-2, 7-6(7-4)

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Leading the way for the Medina varsity baseball squad is this group of returning regulars. In front are Zach Fike, Xander Payne, Joe Cecchini and Austin Mosher. In back are AJ Seefeldt and Brian Fry.

In the spring of 2019 an underclassmen dominated Medina High varsity baseball squad captured the Niagara-Orleans League championship and went on to win both Section VI and Far West Regional Class B titles to advance to the state semifinals.

However, the Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions prevented the Mustangs from defending their N-O title last year. It was a cancelled season which also saw the team lose three returning starters to graduation including pitchers/infielders Trevor Luthart and Chris Goyette along with centerfielder Nate Sherman.

With those restrictions now eased Medina is set to begin defense of that N-O title at home on Thursday against Barker at 4:45 p.m. and thanks to the very youthful nature of that 2019 squad the Mustangs return a large veteran contingent.

Barker got an early start to the N-O season dropping a 10-5 decision to Newfane this afternoon.

Newfane was led at the plate by Cade Littman and Gehrig Wilson both with 3 hits, Tyler Baes had a two-run homer and Hunter Jurek two doubles and 3 RBIs. On the mound, Tyler Oudette struck out 13.

Thursday’s other games will have Roy-Hart at Wilson and Albion at Newfane as Akron draws the bye.

Senior middle infielders shortstop Brian Fry and second baseman AJ Seefeldt, who both earned first team N-O All-League honors as sophomores during the 2019 season, head Medina’s veteran group.

Also returning to the Mustangs starting lineup are senior catcher Austin Mosher, junior third baseman Joe Cecchini and junior pitcher/first baseman Zach Fike who were all All-League Honorable Mention selections.

The Mustangs also return varsity experience in junior pitcher/centerfielder Xander Payne, senior outfielder/infielder Corey Saj and sophomore pitcher/first baseman Aiden Paul. Senior outfielders Alex Doval, Hayden Woodroe and Jack Rutkowski round out the squad.

“We’ve got pretty good experience,” said Coach Jon Sherman. “We’ve got a pretty good defense but our pitching is still kind of young. We just have to make sure we do all the little things right.”

Roy-Hart

Roy-Hart, which finished second to Medina in the 2019 N-O title race, also returns a good nucleus including seniors Noah Stern (catcher) and Hunter Babel (outfield); juniors Gavyn Boyle (outfield/pitcher) and Ryan Mettler (second base/shortstop/pitcher) and sophomore Thomas Russo III (infield/pitcher).

Boyle earned first team N-O All-League honors and Stern was a second team selection.

The Rams lineup also includes senior Zach Duewiger, juniors John Conley and Jay Heideman along with freshmen Dawson Draper, Jake Gould and Brayden Hy.

“We’ve got some good kids back but it’s a young group as we have three freshmen who will be playing,” said Coach Jim Heideman.

Albion

Hit hard by graduation, Albion returns only one regular from the 2019 squad, senior outfielder/infielder Alex Gibson.

The Purple Eagles also return seniors Bailey Blanchard (first base/pitcher/outfielder) and Kyle Woolston (pitcher/third base) and junior Tyler Gibson (pitcher/shortstop/second base) with limited varsity experience.

Rounding out the squad are seniors Damion Lattimer (first base/pitcher), Austin Aman (outfield) and Shawn Pellegrino (outfielder) along with juniors Adrian Kingdollar (outfield/pitcher), Mason Bennett (outfield) and Simon Ellison (outfield) along with sophomores Amari Jones (shortstop/pitcher) and Javon Jones (catcher).

“We have very little experience but the key is we are just happy we’re playing, especially for our seniors,” said Coach Bruce Blanchard.

Barker

The 2019 season also saw Barker field a very youthful squad which looks to pay dividends this spring as the Raiders return a good contingent of players from that team including seniors Shane Gerhardt (first base/pitcher), Logan Harris (shortstop) and Nathan Heideman (catcher/pitcher) along with junior Jaret Black (first base/outfield) and sophomore Aidan Voss (shortstop/second base).

In addition, the Raiders return five other players who were on the varsity team last year which never got the season in due to the Pandemic including seniors Cole Cain (third base/pitcher), Cole Ecker (outfield) and juniors Andrew Hill (pitcher), Zachary Hill (catcher) and Drew Sandolfni (third base/pitcher).

Akron

Senior shortstop/pitcher Mitchell Holtz, who earned first team N-O All-League honors during the 2019 season, and senior first baseman/pitcher Jacob Mazza, a second team All-League selection, head Akron’s veteran group which also includes senior outfielder/pitcher Adam Mietz and junior infielder/pitcher Jack Klodzinski.

Newfane

The senior trio of  Oudette (infielder/pitcher), Trevor Heschke (pitcher/catcher) and Littman (infielder/pitcher) head the lineup for Newfane.

Wilson

Wilson’s underclassmen dominated roster is led by three seniors – Michael Miller (outfield/pitcher), Anthony Dispenza (pitcher/outfield) and Dylan Herb (infield/pitcher).

Final 2019 Standings: Medina 10-2, Roy-Hart 9-3, Akron 7-5, Albion 7-5, Wilson 5-7, Newfane 4-8, Barker 0-12.

Contributed Photo – Murphy Lang

Roy-Hart graduate and Niagara County Community College sophomore  Murphy Lang was earned medalist honors at the Region III golf championships held over the weekend at Turning Stone.

Murphy carded rounds of 77 and 82 for a 159 total to capture top individual honors by six strokes.

Lang’s effort helped NCCC capture a secod straight Region III championship. The Thunderwolves won the title by 16 strokes over runner-up Jefferson Community College.

NCCC will next compete in the NJCAA national championship tournament in June.

Contributed Photo – Tom “Dobber” Dobson’s widow Bonnie and their children, from left, Todd, Shelley and Jeff stand at the bench which was dedicated in his memory on Sunday at Hickory Ridge.

Tom ‘Dobber’ Dobson was a fixture for almost 20 years  in the pro shop at Hickory Ridge.  For most of that time he was the manager of the shop making sure that everyone knew their jobs and the shop was stocked for the incoming golfers.

Dobber passed away last year after a courageous medical fight that saw extended hospitalizations. On Sunday, friends and family came together at the course to dedicate a bench in his honor and to remember the good man that everyone loved.

Bonnie Dobson, Tom’s widow reflected on how she misses Dobber.  “We did everything together”, she said.

 Standing with her children at the bench she thanked all the friends who have reached out to her in the short time after his death.  She thanked members of the group for the many calls, letters and cards that she received.  She recognized her family, sons Jeff and Todd and daughter Shelley, for their support as they were standing with her at the bench.

“Jeff was my go-to guy around the house, Todd was my ‘pool guy’ and Shelley kept me going on handing all the other chores.”  “I would have been lost without them,” she said.

Shortly after Dobson’s death pro shop employee Bob Engle, another long time employee of the pro shop,  suggested that  a bench on the course for golfers would be  a way to honor the man.  He approached the Diehl family, owners of Hickory Ridge, and asked for their permission to place the bench.  Management agreed for the bench to be placed in Dobson’s honor and also agreed to pay for it.

 Engle handled the arrangements.  “Dobber was my friend, he was everyone’s friend.”   “This is an appropriate way to remember him and I’m thankful to the Diehl family for recognizing his importance to those of us who knew and loved him.”

Cindy Diehl, a representative of the Diehl family, spoke of the honor it was for her to speak of her good friend Dobber.  “Dobber was the backbone of the pro shop” she said.  She talked about him being her right hand man making sure the customers were well taken care of and that the shop was stocked for the golfers.

 “Dobber was always in charge of the tournaments,” she said.  It was his responsibly to make sure that the organizations who booked the course were well taken care of and had the best experience.  “He was the best, a true friend and a man of integrity”.

At the conclusion of the ceremony  final words were said and the crowd was asked to have a seat at the bench at the next time they were golfing.  “Have a seat and talk things over with Dobber,” an organizer said.  “Remember the good man that he was.”

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Veteran scoring leaders Mitchell Silversmith, left, and Zach Blount will help lead Medina into Wednesday’s lacrosse season home opener against Newfane.

Having lost out on playing last year due to the Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions, high school lacrosse competition will resume Wednesday as Medina hosts Newfane at 7 p.m. at Vets Park in a Section VI Class D Division contest.

Leading Medina’s small veteran contingent are senior attackmen Mitchell Silversmith, who had 23 goals and 9 assists during the last season of competition in 2019, and Zach Blount who had 11 goals and a team leading 37 assists.

The Mustangs also return seniors Mark Reigle, Lennon Meacham, Tasker Taylor and Connor McNeil along with sophomores Cayden Lilleby and Noah Skinner. Lilleby had 11 goals and 11 assists and Reigle 4 goals and 5 assists during the 2019 season.

“It’s a tough year as we are a small group but we’re very glad to be back playing,” said Mustangs Coach Todd Eick.

The Mustangs will also host Eden at 5 p.m. Friday.

In addition to Medina, Newfane and Eden, the D Division this season also includes Depew, Tonawanda, Akron, Wilson, Salamanca and Gowanda.

Contributed Photos – Maddie Fry and Chase Pecoraro

Roy-Hart graduate and Mercyhurst College sophomore Maddie Fry has been named to the first team of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference softball team. She has also earned second team All Atlantic Region honors.

Fry, who is majoring in Early Childhood and Special Education, led Mercyhurst this season with a .426 batting average and 27 runs scored. An outfielder and catcher she drove in 6 runs and was 13 of 15 in stolen base attempts.

Medina High grad and Utica College graduate  student Chase Pecoraro has been named to the Empire 8 All-Conference Track and Field team.

Pecoraro has earned All-Conference honors in both the Javelin and Pole Vault. He took first place honors in both events at the recent Empire 8 championship meet winning the Javelin with a throw of 48.79 meters and the Pole Vault with a leap of 4.0 meters.

A Health Sciences major, he is ranked 25th in the nation in the Javelin.