Photos by Cheryl Wertmqn – Medina’s Tim Roy, right, looks for an opening to advance the ball up field during this evening’s U16 season opener against visiting Grand Island.

Medina opened the Western New York Lacrosse League U16 Division season this evening dropping a narrow 9-6 decision to visiting Grand Island.

Grand Island led by a slender 4-3 margin at the half.

Christian Silversmith scored the first 4 goals for Medina which also got solo goals from Jacob McEwen and Daniel Mondujano.

Wesley Hughes and Robert Morehouse shared the goaltending duties for Medina combining for a total of 12 saves.

Medina next visits Frontier on June 28.

Medina’s Christian Silversmith works around a Grand Island defender.

The Dynamite 12U baseball team picked up 6 wins against league opponents while dropping one over the past week to improve their overall record to 25-5. The wins were against some new teams in the Boys of Summer league.

The Dynamite picked up the first win when the visited the Niagara Expo’s at Anjo fields in Lockport last Tuesday and got bats going early and often blanking the Expos 14-0 in 5 innings. The Dynamites then hosted the Great Lake Gators on Wednesday and captured a 12-2 win in 5 innings.

Friday the Dynamites traveled to Cheektowaga to visit the rival Titans. In a back and forth battle early in the game,  the Dynamite railed for 7 runs between the third and fifth innings taking a 9 to 7 lead going into the top of the seventh. Dynamites added 2 more runs in the top of the inning to take a commanding 4 run lead. But the Titans bats weren’t done capitalizing on some costly errors and key hits to have a 4 run inning, and to tie it up.  It took two more innings but the Titans were able to capitalize in the bottom of the ninthth with another error scoring the winning run.

The Dynamites rebound from that disappointing lose with a 16-7 win against visiting 716 Travelers in Hartland on Saturday. The Dynamites then hosted a double header against the Canadian team Fieldhouse Pirates on Fathers Day. Dads were pleased to see the bats going again as the Dynamites put up 37 runs on 39 hits against just 6 runs and 11 hits.

The Lancaster Black Knights visited the Dynamites last night and took it  on the chin 13-6 as the Dynamite bats got going early with a 5 run opening inning. Lancaster answered with 5 runs of their own in the top of the fourth to take a one run lead going in the bottom of the fourth. The Dynamites answered in the bottom of the inning with 6 runs of their own. Adding 2 more in the fifth. Good pitching and defense closed out the Black Knights.

The Dynamites travel to Orchard Park tonight for a game under the lights to take on the Thunder. This is an important game as with a win, the Dynamite will complete a perfect 7-0 record in the Clarence Sunday league before playoffs start on Sunday. This game will also count in the Boys of Summer league as the Thunder are one game back in that league standings.

The Dynamite compete in both the Boys of Summer League and the Sunday Clarence league. There are 28 different teams in both leagues coming from Canada, Rochester, Niagara, Erie and Genesee counties. Current standings put the Dynamite atop the Clarence Sunday American league division with a 6-0 record and third in the Boys of Summer League with a 7-3 record.

Tri City edged past Albion 5-3 this evening in a Lockport Midget ‘A’ League game played at the Barre Town Park as Tri-City’s home field in Lockport was not playable because of the afternoon rain.

Albion jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning on a home run by JaQuess Harrison.

However, Tri-City answered with a run in the first and 3 more in the third on a home run to take the lead for good.

Albion did cut the deficit to 4-3 by scoring twice in the fourth on a single by Thomas Furmanski, 2 walks, a fielders choice play and a pair of passed balls but could not manage another hit over the final three innings.

Tri City is now 2-0 and Albion 1-3.

The Orchard Park at Roy-Hart game was postponed as the Gasport field was also unplayable due to the rain.

Roy-Hart next hosts Barker at 6 p.m. Thursday while Albion next visits Barker on June 27.

Lyndonville posted an 8-4 win over Albion Monday in a Batavia U16 baseball league game.

Kane Flynn hit a double and a home run to lead the way for Lyndonville.

Albion took its only lead at 2-1 in the third inning on a double by Ryan Krenning and a single by Bailey Blanchard.

Lyndonville pulled even with a run in the home half of the third and then regained the lead for good at 4-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth.

Albion’s other 2 runs came in the sixth on a fielders choice play and a passed ball as a walk and a double by Mike Harling set up the threat.

Now at 2-2, Albion next faces Batavia 2 on Wednesday.

Contributed Photo – Barker High senior Jack Hopkins here signs a letter of intent to attend SUNY Delhi where he will run cross-country and track and field. Seated with him are his parents, Shannon and Doug Hopkins. Standing, from left, are Barker coaches Sharon Lamb, Paul DerSarkissian and James Jurewicz.

Barker Central School is pleased to announce that Jack Hopkins will continue his running career at SUNY Delhi this fall to major in Mechatronics Design.  He will run cross-country and track & field.

At Barker, Hopkins was a three-time Niagara-Orleans All-League runner and he qualified for the New York State championships during the cross-country season his senior year. He was a key member of three league championship teams and one sectional championship cross-country team.

In track & field, Hopkins is the school record holder and 2017 league champion for the 3000M steeplechase race.  This past season, he finished in second place at sectionals in the steeplechase with a time of 10:13.78.

SUNY Delhi coach, Robb Munro of Hopkins, “We are very excited to have Jack joining our program.  Our program has a great tradition and Jack’s experience with racing at the state meet on a team and as an individual will have him well prepared for the level of racing that he will see at the collegiate level.  I look for him to make an impact on our program quickly and hope that our program will also make an impact on him.”

Photo by Mike Wertman – Brendan Luthart, left, and Jake Cotter have earned top regional lacrosse honors.

Two Medina High lacrosse players, senior Jake Cotter and junior Brendan Luthart, have both earned top spots on two regional All-Star teams.

Luthart has been named to the first team and Cotter to the second team of the Section VI All-Star squad.

The two players reversed positions on the All-Western New York squad as Cotter has been named to the first team and Luthart to the second team.

It marks the first time a Medina player has earned first team honors on either All-Star squad.

Cotter, who will be playing Division 1 lacrosse at Canisius College next year, scored a team high 69 goals and added 12 assists this season which also saw him become the Mustangs career goal scoring leader. He finished with a career total of 199 goals and 43 assists.

Luthart scored 55 goals and had a team high 34 assists raising his career totals to 108 goals and 65 assists.

Banes Machine Shop/Banes Plumbing trimmed Tonawanda 11-8 Monday to improve to 3-2 in Medina Women’s Softball League action.

A three run sixth inning scoring burst on singles by Jami Chatt, Connie Heschke, Sue Seefeldt, Jen Masse, Robin Blaun, Kathy Allen and Patti Page provided the margin of victory.

Earlier, Banes scored 4 times in both the first and fifth frames. A double by Blaun along with singles by Heschke, Seefeldt, Masse, Sarah Surdel, Alisha Foss and Jessica Carpenter keyed the fifth inning uprising which put Banes on top for good at 8-5.

Heschke had a total of 5 hits as Blaun, Chatt and Page each had 3.

The week before Banes downed Albion Vets 23-6.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Bryce Pritchard slides into second base for Albion during this evening’s Midget ‘A’ League loss to Orchard Park at the Barre Town Park.

Scoring in each of the first six  innings, Orchard Park posted a 14-6 victory over host Albion in a Lockport Midget ‘A’ League game this evening at Barre Town Park.

Mike DiCureia delivers a pitch for Albion.

The teams traded solo runs in the first inning as Thomas Furmanski banged out an RBI double for Albion.

Orchard Park tallied twice in the top of the second but Albion got one of those right back in the home half of the frame on a single by Nate Fearby.

The visitors added one run in the third before erupting for 4 runs in the top of the fourth highlighted by a two-run triple to go up 8-2.

Albion answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the frame on a double steal and a wild pitch but could get no closer than 8-4. A walk and an error set up the threat.

Orchard Park put a lock on the win by scoring 3 times in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Albion’s other 2 runs came in the fifth highlighted by a double by Furmanski.

JaQuess Harrison also had a double and Bryce Pritchard a single on the night for Albion.

Albion, which is now 1-2, next faces Tri City at Lockport on Tuesday while Orchard Park, which is 1-1, visits Roy-Hart.

Albion shortstop Thomas Furmanski goes high to try and snag the ball as second baseman Nate Fearby backs up the play.

The Albion 14-U baseball team dropped a 7-3 decision to Spencerport this past week in Brockport League action.

Albion took an early 1-0 lead on the bats  of Kyle Woolston, Damion Lattimer and Nathan Olmstead.

However, Spencerport came back and scored a total of 6 runs in the second and third innings.

Woolston took over on the mound in the fourth inning and held Spencerport in check with 7 strikeouts, but Albion was only able to score two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Albion’s next game is Thursday at Caledonia Mumford.