Local Sports

Nationals earn second win at Georgia tourney

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 16 July 2018 at 9:32 pm

Regaining the .500 mark at 2-2-1 in pool competition, the Niagara Nationals downed Scorpians North from Orlando, Florida 6-2 today at the PG WWBA National Championships being held at over 50 sites in Georgia.

A three-run fourth inning highlighted by a triple by Casey Saucke and a single by Sam Murphy keyed the victory.

Saucke had 2 hits on the day as Chris Goyette and Mitchell Holtz also had hits for the Nationals which have two more games remaining in the pool round of competition.

Murphy picked up the win on the mound allowing 2 hits and striking out 1.

Tri County playoffs will begin Tuesday

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 16 July 2018 at 9:11 pm

Playoff action for the Tri County Babe Ruth League will get underway at 6 p.m. Tuesday with four quarterfinal round games.

Those matchups will have Albion at Alden Gold, Alden Curve at Lyndonville, Oakfield at Akron Black and Alexander at Akron Orange.

Top seeded Albion, which went 8-1 during the regular season, but will play at Alden because Albion’s home field is unavailable Tuesday.

Akron Black is the No. 2 seed and Lyndonville No. 3.

The semifinals are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

Albion U18 soccer team avenges lone loss

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 16 July 2018 at 9:39 am

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Lexi Wolck

Avenging their only loss, Albion posted a 5-2 victory over host Gananda Sunday evening in a Rochester District Youth Soccer League girls U18 Division game.

Albion, which had dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to Gananda early in the season, improves to 7-1-1 and now only needs a win in Tuesday’s regular season ending home game against Fairport to claim at least a share of the division championship.

Brylie Hapeman and Lexi Wolck both had 2 goals and Paige Derisley 1 for Albion which finished with no subs on the hot evening.

“I’m really proud of the way they battled through it. It was really a mental thing in that heat and they really came up big,” said Coach Paul Zeppatella. “It was a complete team effort. Everyone really stepped up.”

Trailing 2-1 in the second half Albion rallied with four unanswered goals to claim the win.

A goal on a header by Wolck off a corner kick by Abi Scanlan pulled Albion even.

Wolck then netted the go-ahead and what proved to be the game winning goal off an assist from Chantel VanDeGenachte.

Albion opened up a little breathing room on a penalty kick tally by Brylie Hapeman and then closed out the win on a goal by Paige Derisley off an assist from Kenzi Hapeman.

Brylie Hapeman also netted Albion’s lone first half goal off an assist from Kendall Derisley.

Deadlocked at 1-1 at the half, Gananda took the brief 2-1 lead early in the second half on a penalty kick but Albion answered back with the decisive four goal scoring burst to claim the win and close in on the division title.

Medina booters romp in tuneup contest

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 16 July 2018 at 8:25 am

Medina romped to a 9-1 victory over the host Bangarang FC Sunday in a tuneup up for next weekend’s key Buffalo District Soccer League Division 3 regular season ending showdown with front-running Tesla.

Medina improved to 8-1-1 with the victory while Tesla is 9-1. Medina will host Tesla at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Vets Park.

Barry Rogenmoser and Brian Anderson each had three goal hat tricks for Medina against Bangarang. Kristian Snyder had 2 goals, and Nick Schroeder put in 1.

Brodie Fenton, Greg Husung and Snyder each had 2 assists.

Hickory Ridge hosts Flag Tournament

Contributed Story Posted 16 July 2018 at 8:23 am

Contributed Photo – Craig Hazen and Jan Palmer won the Hickory Ridge Flag Tournament.

The Hickory Ridge Golf Association recently held its annual Flag Tournament on the most appropriate date of July 4.

The format for the handicapped tournament is each player is given a flag to start the tournament.  Players then add their handicap to course par to get their number.  When you have reached that number on your score, you plant your flag.

The winner is determined by whose flag the furthest number of holes out on the course.   This year’s winners were Craig Hazen and Jan Palmer.  It took them both 20 holes to plant their flags.

In Ladies Late Tuesday League play this past week, Deb Wood again scoring low gross with a 38.  Laurie Freeman had low net with a 29.  Mary Guzik had the only birdie of the week.

Wood and Jan Palmer continue to lead the league.  Aleta Martin and Diane Hennekey are in second, Judy Schuth and Brenda Powers occupy third..  Cheryl Ferguson and Vicki Brawn and Deb Birkins and Patti Pfister round out the top five.

The Men’s Traveling Thursday League still have Ray Daniels and Ken Hinkson leading.  Second is Pete Kaiser and Steve Tipton.  Dave Fisher and Tom Hennecky occupy third place.  Adam Dresser and Ben Flansburg are in fourth and Wes Bedford and Zach Burgess hold down fifth.  Luke Wrobleski had an eagle and Chris Barry scored two birdies.  Low gross was Ray Daniels with a 40 and Wrobleski had low net with a 30.

Albion Midget League playoffs begin Tuesday

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 15 July 2018 at 7:57 pm

Photo by Tom Rivers: Blake Preston started on the mound for St. Mary’s on Thursday in a 14-12 win over the Rotary-Lions. Both teams ended the regular season at 5-9 and play each other Tuesday in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Albion Midget League playoffs will begin Tuesday with a pair of quarterfinal round games.

Those contests will have No. 5 seed Rotary-Lions at No. 4 St. Mary’s at 5:30 p.m. and No. 6 Vets at No. 3 Barre at 6 p.m.

Playoff action will continue on Thursday with the semifinal round. The Rotary/St. Mary’s winner will visit No. 1 Sandstone and the Vets/Barre winner will travel to No. 2 Carlton, both at 6 p.m.

The playoff championship game will then be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Midget League Field.

Sandstone, despite a pair of losses this past week, finished the regular season in the top spot at 10-4 followed by Carlton 10-5, Barre 9-5, St. Mary’s 5-9, Rotary 5-9 and Vets 4-11.

To close out the regular season, Sandstone lost 15-12 to Barre and 12-11 to Vets and Barre lost 9-8 Carlton.

Barre trimmed Sandstone on a catch by Oliver Beach with the tying run at the plate.

A grand slam by Josh Bovenzi and home run by Owen Bentley sparked the offense for Barre.

Nathan Gibson was 4 for 4 on the night with two doubles.  Nick Harling added two hits including a double along with doubles from Cami London and Jason Conn.

For Sandstone, Elliot Trapiss and Seth Krenning led the way, each going 3 for 3.  Krenning’s hits included a triple and a double.  Nolan Sullivan added 2 more hits including a triple as did Josh Schoeberlein.

Carlton then edged Barre with the tying and winning runs on base, with a great defensive putout by Caidyn Wilson. Noah Kowaski made three other run saving catches on the night as well.

Finn McCue lead the way at the plate for Carlton hitting a home run and triple.  Wilson and Kowalski also added hits along with Andrew Boyce and a triple from Dylan Narburgh.

For Barre, Bovenzi had a homerun and  two doubles. Conn added two more hits, including a homerun. Lucas Martin had a double and two singles and Harling added two more singles as well.

In the Vets win over Sandstone Bryer Dysard had 5 hits, Hunter Lonnen 3, including a home run, and John Bianchi 2.

Nick Martino had 3 hits and Trapiss 2 for Sandstone which also got a three-run triple from Emma Shay in the sixth inning which cut the deficit to 1.

Nationals bow in Georgia Tourney
Capitalizing on errors, Team Elite from Georgia edged the Niagara Nationals 6-4 Sunday at the PG WWBA National Championships in Georgia.

Trevor Luthart had 2 hits for the Nationals which are now 1-2-1 in the tournament.

Team Elite scored twice in the sixth inning to claim the win.

Bombers score win at Ocean City tourney

Contributed Story Posted 15 July 2018 at 9:35 am

The AnJo Bombers 16U downed the Chester County Crawdads 11-5 Saturday in a tournament at Ocean City, Maryland

An eight-run third inning keyed the Bombers to the win as AJ Seefeldt, Cade Littman, Joe Watson, Rylend Callicutt, and Karl Darling each drove in runs during the uprising.

The Bombers got on the board in the first inning when Seefeldt doubled on a 3-1 count, scoring one run.

The Crawdads knotted the game up at three in the bottom of the second inning, when an error scored one run for Chester County Crawdads.

However, the Bombers pulled away for good with the big third inning highlighted by a three-run double by Darling and an RBI double by Littman.

Watson led things off on the mound for  the Bombers allowing five runs on five hits over three and two-thirds innings, striking out two.

Seefeldt led the Bombers with three hits in three at bats.

Colossal Adidas 13, Bombers 6

The AnJo Bombers 16U watched the game slip away early and couldn’t recover in a 13-6 loss to Colossal Adidas 2020 also on Saturday. 

The Bombers tallied three runs in the sixth inning on a home run by Thomas Furmanski.

Colossal Adidas 2020 scored seven runs in the third inning. 

Furmanski and Colin Fragale each collected two hits to lead  the Bombers

Nationals split on the day at Georgia tourney

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 14 July 2018 at 9:46 pm

Rebounding from a shutout loss earlier in the day, the Niagara Nationals downed the Home Plate Chilidogs from Georgia 7-2 this evening to go to 1-1-1 in the PG WWBA National championships being held in Georgia.

Despite having only 4 hits, the Nationals scored in 4 different innings, including 3 in the third and 2 in the sixth.

Sam Murphy had 2 hits, including a solo home run in the sixth, to lead the Nationals at the plate.

Carson Harper picked up the win allowing 2 hits with 1 strikeout in six and two-thirds innings of work on the mound.

Earlier in the day, the Natonals were blanked 3-0 on just 1 hit by the Missouri Gators.

A first inning single by Liam Ward was the only hit for the Nationals which had only 2 other base runners, both coming on walks.

Tourney competition continues on Sunday as the Nationals still have 4 games in pool competition to play.

Rotary-Lions win Albion U10 baseball championship

Photos by Tom Rivers: Kaiden Froman slides home for a critical run for the Rotary-Lions team in today’s 14-13 win over the Vets in the U10 championship game for the Albion Midget League.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 July 2018 at 1:51 pm

ALBION – The Rotary-Lions capped an undefeated season with a thrilling 14-13 victory today over the Vets in the U10 championship game at the Midget League Field.

The Vets had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the sixth when Bryar Dysard hit a deep fly to the right-center gap.

Kaiden Froman ran under the ball and made the big catch to end the game and give the Rotary-Lions the title.

“It was an excellent game with an All-Star catch to end it,” said Dave Nashburn, coach of the runner-up Vets, which finish the season at 7 wins, 2 ties and 3 losses.

Bryar Dysard whacks a ball into the outfield that would have cleared the bases if it hadn’t been caught. Dysard had 4 hits in the game.

Leah Pawlak pitched the final two innings for Rotary-Lions to get the win in the title game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dysard had 4 hits for the Vets and also was strong on the mound for the first three innings, striking out 5. Ryan Dunn pitched 2 innings for the Vets, and also had 4 hits.

Froman had 3 hits for Rotary-Lions, including a big 3-run double in the 5th inning. Will Plummer also hit a 3-run double in the fourth for Rotary-Lions, which went 12-0 on the season.

Lucas Powley started the game for Rotary-Lions and struck out 6 in 3 innings. Noah Harrison pitched the fourth, and Leah Pawlak came on in the fifth and sixth innings to get the victory on the mound.

Lucas Powley pitched the first three innings for Rotary-Lions.

Ryan Dunn pitched two innings for the Vets and had 4 hits at bat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Froman had been the team’s catcher most of the season until being put in centerfield to help chase down the big hits from the other team.

“He’s our cleanup guy out there,” said coach Tom Irwin. “He has good speed and a strong arm.”

Irwin is Powley’s grandfather. He has coached the team the past three seasons.

“As a team we played really well together,” Irwin said. “I am very proud of them. They’ve grown and learned the game better. They were making plays at the end of the season that they weren’t making in the beginning of the season.”

When Dysard launched the ball into the outfield, Irwin thought it was likely a home run. Then Froman put up his glove and caught it.

“It could have gone either way,” Irwin said. “If that ball had dropped, it’s a whole nother ball game.”

The Rotary-Lions are pictured after winning the championship today.

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Holley, Kendall and Medina districts earn state School of Distinction Award

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 14 July 2018 at 9:27 am

Capping off a strong athletic and academic year, three Orleans County Schools – Holley, Kendall and Medina – have earned New York State Public High School Athletic Association School of Distinction Awards for the 2017-18 school year.

A school district can earn School of Distinction status by having 100% of its varsity teams qualify for and receive the Scholar-Athlete team award during their respective sports seasons. A team must have a composite average of at least 90 in over to earn a Scholar-Athlete Award.

Medina, which was one of only five Section VI teams to receive the award, had all 21 of its varsity teams earn the Scholar-Athlete Awards.

Holley had all 16 of its varsity teams and Kendall all 13 of its teams. They are two of only three Section V schools to receive the honor.

The purpose of the School of Distinction and School of Excellence Awards are to unite varsity coaches in challenging their teams to achieve a statewide honor.

This year, 30 schools earned the School of Distinction Award and 111 schools earned the School of Excellence Award.  An additional 11 schools received the School of Distinction Award and 51 more received the School of Excellence Award compared to 2016-17 school year. This year’s figures represent the highest number of NYSPHSAA member schools being recognized for their academic achievements.

“The increase in the number of schools receiving both awards shows what fantastic student-athletes we have here in New York State,” said Robert Zayas NYSPHSAA Executive Director. “This is evidence that schools, administration, coaches and student-athletes focus on excellence in the classroom as well as the playing fields.”