Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Drew Boyce, left, and Finn McCue combined to hurl Carlton to a 1-0 shutout victory over Sandstone in the Albion Midget League playoff championship game this evening.

Making a lone first inning run stand up, Carlton nipped Sandstone 1-0 in the Albion Midget League playoff championship game this evening at the Midget League Field.

Drew Boyce opened the game with a double and came in to score on a one out double by Caidyn Wilson for the game’s only run earning Carlton its first playoff title in some 24 years.

The Carlton pitching duo of Boyce and Finn McCue did the rest allowing only one hit and striking out a total of 11. Boyce hurled the first thee innings striking out 4 and Finn the final three frames fanning 7.

Sandstone third baseman Drew Pritchard makes a nifty snowcone catch.

Sandstone’s lone hit came on an infield single by Elliott Trapiss to lead off the sixth inning.

Sandstone’s best scoring opportunity came in the first inning as a hit batter, an error and a walk loaded the bases with one out. However, Carlton quickly got out of the jam as Boyce got the next two batters out on a strikeout and a groundout to McCue at shortstop.

Carlton got the bases loaded in both the third and fifth innings but both times Sandstone pitcher Seth Krenning got a clutch out to end the threat.

A double by McCue, a fielders choice play and a walk loaded the bases for Carlton in the third but a pop out to Krenning ended the inning.

Krenning went the distance on the mound scattering 7 hits and striking out out 9.

Then in the fifth hits by Boyce, McCue and Colin McMullin again loaded the bases for Carlton but a pop out to Drew Pritchard at third got Sandstone out of the jam.

Both teams advanced to the title contest with semifinal round wins over higher seeded teams, Carlton 12-6 over top seeded Barre and Sandstone 13-2 over No. 2 St. Mary’s.

Sandstone’s Nolan Sullivan tags out Carlton’s Drew Boyce at second base.

Carlton’s Finn McCue gets safely back to second base avoiding getting caught in a run down play by Sandstone’s duo of Elliott Trapiss (1) and Nolan Sullivan (31).

The Lady Rams scored victories in both the U14 and U17 Divisions of the Buffalo and Western New York Soccer League Monday evening.

The Lady Rams U14 squad rallied from first half deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to defeat visiting Grand Island 5-3.

Taylor Bull scored 3 goals for the Lady Rams as Grace Trombley and Madison DiNieri each netted 1.

Two goals by Bull and 1 by DiNieri in the second half provided the margin of victory as the Lady Rams improve to 3-3-2.

In the U17 contest, the Lady Rams got second half goals from Hannah Willard and Mallory Steiner to nip host Niagara-Wheatfield 2-1 and improve to 3-2-2.

The contest was deadlocked 0-0 at the half.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Nikki Creasey had a goal for Albion in the Raptors win over visiting Bloomfield Monday evening.

Capping off the season on a high note, the Albion Raptors rolled to a 7-3 victory over visiting Bloomfield Monday evening in a Rochester District Youth Soccer League girls U17 Division game.

Abby Scanlan scored 3 goals, Kendall Derisley 2 and Mariah Plain and Nikki Creasey 1 each for Albion which finishes the division season at 7-4-1.

Albion grabbed a 3-2 lead at the half on two goals by Scanlan and one by Derisley. Brittany Spies-Hunt and Derisley both picked up assists during that stretch.

The Raptors then locked up the win by outscoring Bloomfield 4-1 in the second half.

Derisley ignited that surge with a goal off an assist from Scanlan.

Scanlan and Plain then took turns scoring goals, both off assists from Derisley.

A goal by Creasey rounded out the Albion scoring parade.

BATAVIA – As a senior at the Air Force Academy in 2018, Nic Ready won the NCAA Home Run Derby at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. Nebraska when he hit a record 55 home runs in three rounds for the title.

During his senior season, he hit .341 with 20 home runs.

A 23rd-round draft pick of the Miami Marlins this year, Ready hit his first professional home run as the Batavia Muckdogs defeated the Mahoning Valley Scrapper, 4-1 on Monday.

Batavia (23-14) is in first place in the New York-Penn League Pinckney Division.

Ready, who is now hitting .293, had a 3-for-4 day with two runs and his home run gave Batavia a 1-0 lead in the seventh.

With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth with two outs, Troy Johnston a 17th-round pick of the Marlins this year, ripped a 2-RBI double off the right center wall to give Batavia the lead for good.

A crowd of 1,139 saw the Muckdogs win on Kids Day.

Batavia has the two top hitters in the NYPL and they both contributed, as J.D. Orr (.368) had a hit and Smith (.352) had a hit and a run. Orr was a 10th round draft pick this year and Smith went in the 22nd round last year to Miami.

Andrew Turner, a 39th round pick in 2018, continued his recent hot streak as he is hitting .329 in his last 10 games and .299 on the season. He had two hits including a RBI double.

On the mound, Evan Brabrand continued his dominating season.

Brabrand, a 9th round pick this year out of Liberty is now 2-0 with 7 saves in nine mound appearances. He has stuck out 14 in 9.2 innings and given up one run for a 0.93 ERA. on Monday, he had one strikeout in 1.1 innings, one hit allowed and no runs.

Starter Easton Lucas had a shut out for the three innings he pitched, struck out four and did not walk a bater. Lucas, a lefty, is a 14th round Marlins draft pick this year out of Pepperdine and he has a 1.69 ERA.

Lefty Dakota Bennett went 4.2 innings, struck out two, gave up two hits and no earned runs.

Right after the game, the Muckdogs left for West Virginia for three games with the Black Bears. The Muckdogs are home Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with Williamsport and Sunday at 5:05 p.m.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Devin Rounds scores a goal on a rebound shot during Medina-Lyndonville United’s title clinching U17 victory over visiting Niagara-Wheatifeld this evening at Lyndonville.

Putting a lock on the title, Medina-Lyndonville United bested Niagara-Wheatfield 3-1 in a key Buffalo and Western New York Soccer League U17 Division clash of front-runners this evening at Lyndonville.

Medina-Lyndonville United finishes the regular season with a championship record of 6-0-2 (20 points) while runner-up N-W slips to 5-1-1 (16 points) with one game remaining at Wilson on Wednesday.

M-L United jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Casey Winiecki scored just 8 minutes in off an assist from David Mandujano.

Devin Rounds quickly doubled the M-L United advantage when he scored on a rebound shot just 7 minutes later off an initial shot by Nathan Dillenbeck.

The M-L United advantage increased to 3-0 when Mandujano scored with 10 minutes to go in the first half off an assist from Cole Seefeldt.

That proved to be more than enough offense as the M-L United defense allowed only one N-W goal which came just two minutes into the second half.

Next up for M-L United will be the division’s playoffs which are scheduled for August 5 and 8.

Casey Winiecki, who scored the first Medina-Lyndonville United goal, goes up for a header in traffic.

The local contingent of players competing for the Puck Hogs  in the Summer All Stars Hockey League ended the regular season in second place with a record of 8-2-2.

On July 12th, the Puck Hogs defeated the Lamplighters 11-1  led by the Kuchey brothers.  Jason Kuchey scored two goals and added three assists, while brother Michael had two goals.  Colin Dodge added an assist.

This past Friday evening was a critical matchup with league leading Orchard Park.  The first period ended with the teams tied 2-2.  One of the Puck Hogs goals was scored by Dominic Peracciny.

Orchard Park outscored the Hogs 3-1 in the middle period.  Michael Kuchey scored in the third period to bring the team to within one goal.  The locals had two scores disallowed in the final period and came away 5-4 losers.

The Puck Hogs final game was Sunday against KAW.  In that contest, the Puck Hogs came away 15-4 winners.

Jason Kuchey had five goals and five assists, Michael Kuchey had three goals and four assists, Colin Dodge two goals and  an assist and Dominic Peracciny a goal and an assist.

A four team playoff begins Friday with the Puck Hogs playing Starpoint (7-4-1) and Orchard Park (10-1-1) playing the winner of the play-in game.  The two winners play for the title on Sunday.

Contributed Photo – Edison Suriel delivers a two-seam fastball to the plate Sunday afternoon. Surreal lowered his ERA to 1.69 throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and allowed one hit.

BATAVIA – Even when the Batavia Muckdogs lose, they find a way to keep the crowd excited to the last out.

The Muckdogs ended a 3-game win streak with a 5-4 loss to Mahoning Valley on Sunday.

The Muckdogs play at home at 11:05 this morning as part of Kids Day and a special for fans age 55 and over.

On Sunday, Mahoning Valley jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the sixth and held off a Batavia rally to win.

Batavia remains in first place in the New York-Penn Pinckney Division with a 22-14 record and Mahoning Valley is 18-18.

J.D. Orr had another strong game going 2-for4 with two runs and is now hitting .369 on the season, jumping just ahead of teammate Milton Smith III (.356) for the top average in the NYPL.

Dalvy Rosario (two runs), Nic Ready and Ronal Reynoso all had hits while Jack Strunc and Andrew Turner had RBI’s.

Starting pitcher Edgar Martinez went four innings and struck out three, Jonaiker Villalobos, who took the loss, struck out one in .2 innings.

Jeremy Galindez went 2.1 innings giving up two hits and struck out one.

Edison Suriel lowered his ERA to 1.69 throwing two scoreless innings one one-hit ball with four strikeouts to keep the Muckdogs in the game.

A busy week at Hickory Ridge kicked off with a member two man best ball tournament.

Low net was the returning champion team of Werner Stumpf and Dick Quivey.  While they just missed repeating their last year’s score of 54 they still posted a very good net of 56.

They were followed by Steve Powers and his partner Ray Cali with a 58 and a tie for third with Deb Wood and Billy Connolly and the team of Bob (Socks) Butler and Jerry Seaman knotting up with 59’s.

The highlight of the tournament was a hole in one posted by Owen Toale.  He aced the par 3 eleventh hole.

The Tuesday Night Ladies League had Wood posting a 38 for low gross.  She was followed by Cheryl Ferguson with a 41 and Dona Hazen with 42.  Low net for her first time this season was Paula Knaak with a 25.  Laurie Freeman and Linda Chrzan tied with 32.  Wood, Chrzan and Karen Berlew each posted a birdie.

Hazen and Berlew continue to lead the standings with 47.5 points.  Chrzan and Freeman are second with 45 and Wood and Jan Palmer are third with 44.5.

Wednesday Night Men’s league finds Ray Daniels and Tim Hendrickson still sitting atop the standing with 57.5 points.  They are followed by Larry Palmer and Steve Powers with 51 points. third place is occupied with a tie between Dick Taylor and his partner Dave Polosito and the team of Bill Connolly and Larry Powers all knotted up at 46.5 points.  Fifth place is nailed down by AJ Gifaldi and Dave Petta with 42.5 points.

Low gross for the day was Larry Powers with 41 and low net was Loyd Denniston with 33.  Birdies were posted by Don Snyder and Denniston.

The Thursday Night league returned last week after being off a week because of the weather.  Wes Bedford and Zack Burgess lead the league with 164 points.  Dean Dibley and Ben Flansburg are in second place with 152 points.  Loyd Denniston and Don Draper had a strong week to move into third with 142 points.  Mike Dillon and Jim Peglow and the team of Chris Barry and Jake Froman round out the top five with 138 and 120 points respectfully.

Low Gross was a tie between Ray Daniels and Bedford with 42 each.  Gary Marciszewski and Donnell Holloway tied for low net with 30.  Holloway, Josh Bennett, Scott Budde, Chuck Prentice and Cedrik Soria all posted birdies.

Contributed Photo –  Catcher Keegan Smith and pitcher Julio Frias were on the same page as Frias had a no-hitter through five innings on Saturday night in a 7-2 win over Mahoning Valley for the first-place Batavia Muckdogs.

BATAVIA – Julio Frias looked like he might take the hard-luck loss of the season for the Batavia Muckdogs. The 21-year-old Miami Marlins signing was tossing a no-hitter through five innings, but the Muckdogs trailed, 2-0.

With the team trailing, 2-1 and two outs and two strikes, Andrew Turner belted a 3-RBI double to give Batavia the lead. The hits kept coming with two outs, and after a seven-run inning, that was all the pitching staff needed.

The Muckdogs improved to 22-12 with a 7-2 win over the Mahoning Valley Scrapper Saturday. Batavia is in first place of the New York-Penn League Pinckney Division.

Turner, a 39th round draft pick of the parent-club Miami Marlins in 2018 out of Long Island University, finished 3-for-4 with a run, but his big hit was the bases-clearing hit to the right-center fence.

“I was just trying to get something to hit, something I could put in play and get it up the middle,” said Turner. “We didn’t need three runs, we needed one or two but I was fortunate to get it up the middle and bring the runs in.”

Frias improved to 3-1 throwing 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts and gave up just one hit and walked three. He now has a 2.02 ERA.

“With a guy like Frias on the mound, he is going to hold us there for a long time, he is going to keep throwing up zeros,” said Turner. “We know it’s going to take one inning, we have so many good guys the lineup, if he could just hold us there and we knew he would.”

With a righty coming up, manager Tom Lawless went to the pen with two outs and pitcher Joey Steele came in and got the Muckdogs out of a jam and kept his 0.00 ERA intact.

From there, M.D. Johnson struck out three batters in the seventh and gave up one hit. Brock Love, a 34th round Marlins pick out of the University of Alabama, threw the final two innings and was perfect, striking out three and still has a 0.00 ERA in four innings and three appearances.

At the plate, J.D. Orr stole his 17th base of the season and went 2-for-4 with a RBI and unto up his average to .363 while Ronal Reynoso was 2-for-4 with a RBI double and run. Milton Smith II singled in a run, stole his ninth base of the season and scored.

It was Wilmot Cancer Institute of Batavia’s Cancer Survivors Night and the crowd impressed Turner.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s the whole reason you play. When you are playing for a team like this, it makes coming to the ball park fun every day,” said Turner. “We’re 40 games in, we’ve been here since spring training in February and March, we have a winning ball club, and the fans coming out. The fans are excited every day and it makes you want to be here and play that much harder for not only all these fans coming out, but also the guys around you. It’s been great.”

The Muckdogs have two more home games in this series.

Today is a 5:05 p.m. start with autograph alley (players signing autographs around 4 p.m. or 4:20 p.m.), kids run the bases and it’s a kids day for the Muckpups. Monday is a special 11:05 a.m. start with food and ticket specials. It is also summer camp and splash day.