It was a busy week of league and tournament competition at Hickory Ridge Golf Resort.

For the Ladies Late League, Low Gross was held by Deb Wood with a 42.  Karen Berlew and Dona Hazen followed with 48’s.  Laura Shop and Melissa Cotter both had 38 net to lead that category.  Karen Berlew, Dona Hazen and Barb Passarel were close with 39’s each.  Wood had two birdies and Cheryl Ferguson one.

The standing so far show Hazen and Berlew in first  with 41 points,; Laurie Freeman and Linda Chrzan in second with 39.5; Jan Palmer and Wood have 38 and Brenda Powers and Judy Schuth have 33.5.

The Wednesday Night Men’s League has Ray Daniels and Tim Hendrickson in first with 52 points; Larry Palmer and Steve Powers following with 44 points; Dick Taylor and Dave Polisoto in third with 42 points.  Bill Connolly and Larry Powers are in fourth with 39 points and AJ Gifaldi and Dave Petta take fifth with 37 points.

Low Gross for the week was Tim Hendrickson with 41 and low net was Robert Wyant with 34.  Birdies were scored by Hendrickson, Petta and Bob (Socks) Butler.

The member Fourth of July Flag Tournament saw  Sibyl Pilon win the women’s division with Brenda Powers and Bonnie Dobson finishing in the top three.  Larry Palmer won the men’s division with John Gerhardt and Craig Hazen rounding out the top three.

To be featured in a weekly roundup league secretaries are reminded to submit standing sheets at the pro shop by Sunday of each week.  They can be emailed, see the pro shop for info.

The Albion Midget League baseball playoffs will get underway on Tuesday with a pair of quarterfinal round games.

The openers will have Vets visiting Sandstone and Carlton taking on Rotary at the Midget League field, both at 6 p.m.

The Vets/Sandstone winner will face No. 2 seed St. Mary’s in one semifinal on Thursday. The other semi on Thursday will have the Carlton/Rotary winner at undefeated (8-0) top seed Barre. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m.

The championship game is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Midget League field.

One regular season game remains to be played as Rotary will face St. Mary’s this evening.

In games reported from last week, St. Mary’s defeated Sandstone 18-3 and Sandstone downed Vets 12-4.

Jack Kinter had a grand slam home run, Aaron Sugar a three-run triple and Blake Preston 3 hits and 4 RBI to set the pace for St. Mary’s.

A big 8 run sixth inning, which was highlighted by two-run singles by Drew Pritchard and Brayden Ryder, keyed Sandstone to the win over Vets which got 4 hits from Hunter Lonnen.

Contributed Photo – Owen Toale

Owen Toale of Medina scored his first hole in one on Saturday at Hickory Ridge Golf Resort.

He aced the par three 11th hole of 107 yards with a nine iron.

The shot came during the member two man best ball tournament and was witnessed by his playing partner of Gary Wood and the team of Larry and Brenda Powers.

“It was surreal,” said Toale. “We could see the shot all the way. The pin was in the back, the tee shot landed dead on in the front and rolled right up the green into the hole,” he said.

“Simply amazing. You fantasize getting one but always think that it will never happen. I’m fortunate it happened for me,” he said.

BURLINGTON, VT. – There have been Batavia Muckdog games this season when you could almost feel the stare of Evan Brabrand from the bull pen as the closer wants the ball every night.

Because of two straight losses, he had to wait.

Sunday night, Brabrand’s wait was over and he rewarded manager Tom Lawless with his sixth save of the young season in a 3-0 Batavia win over the Vermont Lake Monsters on the road.

Brabrand, a 9th round draft pick this year by the Miami Marlins out of Liberty University, is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities, as he threw a scoreless seventh.

Batavia (18-11) maintains a first-place lead over West Virginia in the New York-Penn League Pinckney Division and has a chance to win the series Monday.

The entire Batavia pitching staff has a 3.02 ERA and has struck out 260 batters in 247 innings. Josh Simpson picked up his fourth hold of the season, throwing two perfect innings in relief with two strikeouts before giving way to Brabrand. Simpson is a 2019 32nd round draft pick out of Columbia.

Starting pitcher Julio Frias improved to 2-1 as he threw six innings of 2-hit ball with five strikeouts and just one run allowed. The Marlins signed the 21-year-old lefty out of the Dominican Republic in 2015 and he has developed into a strong starter with 36 strikeouts in 30 innings.Batavia has given up just five hits the last two games.

Batavia picked up two runs in the fourth when Albert Guaimaro singled in Sean Reynolds, then Brayan Hernandez drove in Nic Ready for a 2-0 lead.

Holding on to a 2-1 lead in the ninth, Hernandez led off with a walk and was bunted to second by Ronal Reynoso.J.D. Orr was intentionally walked so with two outs, Lawless put the double steal on and it worked as they stole to second and third. The move paid off as Hernandez scored on a wild pitch before a groundout ended the inning.

The Muckdogs will return home on Wednesday and Thursday to take on the Auburn Doubledays (Washington Nationals). The team is also home on July 20, 21 and 22 against Mahoning Valley (Cleveland Indians).

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Local participants in the upcoming Kensington Lions Club WNY All Star football game will include, from left, Ugene Harrison, Albion, Izaiah Rhim, Medina, and Nate Moore, Albion.

Albion’s duo of running back Ugene Harrison and wide receiver/defensive back Nate Moore, along with Medina quarterback/tight end  Izaiah Rhim, have been selected to play for the North squad in the annual Kensington Lions Club Western New York All Star Football Game which will be held at 7 p.m. July 31 at Williamsville South.

Roy-Hart will be represented by offensive lineman Ian Whitford.

Other area players on the North squad will include Steve Frerichs (quarterback/linebacker) and Marcel Wilson (wide receiver) from Wilson, Reese Casinelli (wide receiver) and Tyre Casinelli (defensive line) from Newfane and Millard Young (defensive end) from Akron.

Contributed Photo – Milton Smith II had another hit Saturday. He has now hit in 21 of 23 games this season for Batavia.

BURLINGTON, VT. – The Batavia Muckdogs have played 19 games in 19 days, and the long road trip from Batavia to Vermont may have caught up with the hitters.

The Muckdogs (17-11) fell to the Vermont Lake Monsters, 2-0 Saturday night on a game where both teams combined for five hits, the Muckdogs picking up three of them.

Jackson Rose picked up the hard-luck loss, throwing five innings of two-hit ball, giving up a solo home run to Kevin Richards. The only other hit was an infield single.

Eli Villalobos had one of the best outings of his short professional career, throwing three perfect innings in relief, striking out four. Villalobos, a 2018 14th round Miami Marlins draft pick out of Long Beach State has started three games but has excelled for manager Tom Lawless out of the pen. He now has 25 strikeouts in 22 innings and a save.

Sean Reynolds had one of the three hits for the Muckdogs and also walked, putting his average at an even .500 as he has hit in all four games with Batavia since joining the team on July 10 (seven hits).

Milton Smith II, the 21-year-old leadoff hitter for the Muckdogs and had a 12-game hitting streak earlier this season, had another hit and is now hitting .405 this season. Smith II, a 22nd round pick of the Marlins in 2018, is ahead of Gilberto Jimenez of Lowell who is hitting .376 (Muckdog J.D. Orr was second in average but is just short on enough official at bats to qualify).

How amazing has this season been for Smith II? He now has hit in 21 of 23 games he has played.During his 12-game hit streak, his lone at bat was an extra inning walk-off single to win a game for the Muckdogs.

Dalvy Rosario also had a hit for Batavia.

The Muckdogs are at Vermont today and Monday for 7:05 p.m. starts and after a travel day return home for two games to host the Auburn Doubledays, both at 7:05 p.m.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Caleb Fox had a key hit to ignite a big rally sparking the Albion U15 baseball team to a win over the visiting Spencerport Blue today.

Staying unbeaten at 7-0, Albion’s U15 team  defeated  Spencerport Blue 14-6 today in a Brockport Pony League baseball game.

A big 6 run fourth inning rally, highlighted  by a triple by Caleb Fox, keyed the win.

Spencerport did put together a one out rally in the 7th scoring 4 runs but Albion turned back the challenge with a game was ending 6-4-3 double play from Austin Narburgh at shortstop, Jason Conn at second and Zach Colacecchi at first base.

Contributed Photo – Two Miami Marlins draft picks who are making an impact with the Batavia Muckdogs high-five after a diving catch by Milton Smith II, left, in centerfield head-first toward the fence to end the inning, and Troy Johnston, who belted a home run and doubled Friday before 1,301 fans in Batavia.

BATAVIA – After taking the first two games of the series against the Boston Red Sox from club Lowell Spinners, the Batavia Muckdogs were in position to take over the best overall record int he New York-Penn League.

However, the Spinners showed why they are in the top spot by scoring two big runs in the ninth inning to hold off the Muckdogs, 5-2 Friday night before 1,301 fans at Dwyer Stadium

Batavia (17-10) is still in first place in the NYPL Pinckney Division and goes on the road for three games against the Vermont Lake Monster, the Oakland A’s farm club.

Troy Johnston, a 17th round draft pick of the parent club Miami Marlins in 2019 out of Gonzaga went 2-for-3 with a 394-foot solo home run to right field that went 102 MPH off the bat. Johnston also hit a RBI double down the left field line in the first and is now hitting .357 on the season.

Sean Reynolds continued his three-game tear in his return to Batavia by going 2-for-4 with a double to increase his average to .545, as he hit two home runs then followed it up with four hits including the double.

Milton Smith II made one of the best catches of the season in centerfield, going on a dead sprint to center and diving head-first toward the fence making a catch to end the fourth inning. Smith II then led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and scored.

Albert Guairamo, Nic Ready and Dalvy Rosario had hits for Batavia.

The pitching staff game up 13 hits but only five runs, as Andrew Miller took the loss, throwing 3.2 innings with three strikeouts. Edison Suriel (two strikeouts) threw 1.1 scoreless innings and Bryan Hoeing in his first appearance in Batavia threw a scoreless inning.

The Muckdogs return home on Wednesday, July 17 and Thursday, July 18 against the Auburn Doubledays then back home July 20, 21 and 22 against Mahoning Valley.

Contributed Photo – Sandstone players and coaches celebrate after capturing the Albion Midget League U10 Division playoff champion. The players include Omer Fugate, AJ Sullivan, Brayden Lamartina, Jordan Simmons, Rocco Sidari, Jonah Elsenheimer, Elliott Trapiss, Drew Pritchard, Garritt Smith, Nick Luft, Big G, Tyler Siebert, Brayden Lindke and Brayden Ryder. In back are coaches Omer Fugate, Josh Trapiss and Dan Bartlett.

Completing a perfect 10-0 season, Sandstone defeated Barre 15-5 this week in the Albion Midget League U10 Division playoff championship game.

Sandstone took the lead for good by scoring 5 quick runs in the first inning as Elliott Trapiss had a leadoff triple, Brayden Lamartina a double and Drew Pritchard a single.

Keeping the momentum, Sandstone added 6 runs in the second inning as Trapiss had a double, Lamartina a two-run single and Jonah Elsenheimer a single.

Sandstone capped off the win with 4 runs in the fifth as Brayden Ryder had a triple and Trapiss, Pritchard and Elsenheimer singles.

Trapiss, Pritchard ad Elsenheimer each finished with 3 hits and Lamartina 2.

Owen Rush had 2 hits for Barre which scored 4 times in the fifth inning highlighted by a two-run single by Mason Snook.