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Friday night, in the bottom of the fifth inning, Batavia Muckdogs infielder Alan Ahmady smashed a home run over The Batavian's right field promotional sign.  The opposite field shot from the right-handed slugger made the game an especially memorable one for Jacoby Miller of Albion.  Miller was the lucky fan that night to have his name drawn in The Batavian's Fifth Inning Home Run Contest.  He won $250, which he picked up at The Batavian's office this afternoon.  We also presented him with an autographed baseball from Ahmady.

Ahmady, from Fresno Calif. (my parents and a brother live just a couple of hours south in the same San Joaquin Valley in Bakersfield), is one of the Cardinals top prospects.  Maybe some day that autographed ball will be worth more than $250.

The home run was Ahmady's first as a professional player (just to be clear, the autographed ball is not the one he hit over the sign -- I don't know what happened to that ball -- hopefully it was retrieved and given to Ahmady for his own collection).

Miller's father, Kevin, said Friday night, "This is something he will never forget."  Today, Kevin Miller told me he and both his sons are huge baseball fans and they attend many Muckdogs games.

***NOTICE OF PUBLIC EVENT***

HAWLEY TO HOST FREE CAR SEAT SAFETY CHECK ON JULY 11

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R, I, C – Batavia) will be hosting a free car seat safety check on Saturday, July 11, from 10 am to 1 pm, at the Albion Fire Hall.  All are invited to attend this important public safety event.

“Despite parents’ best intentions, statistics show that 70 percent of car seats are installed improperly.  I would like to encourage all parents to attend this important event and would like to thank the New York State Police for coming to make sure car seats are properly installed,” said Hawley.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley’s Car Seat Safety Check

Hosted in conjunction with the New York State Police

Saturday, July 11, 2009

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Albion Fire Hall

108 North Platt Street

Albion, NY 

RSVP by calling Assemblyman Hawley’s office at 585-589-5780

###

Albion grad Derek Kinder was just selected with the 251st overall selection in the seventh round by the Chicago Bears.

Kinder was a standout running back for the Purple Eagles and was switched to wide receiver at the University of Pittsburgh. He tore his ACL during his senior year and received an injury red shirt.

He bounced back this season to catch 36 passes for 422 yards and three touchdowns.

It was reported that Kinder had worked out for Chicago and Cincinnati in the weeks prior to the NFL Draft.

A 60-year old Darien Center man has been charged with one count of committing a criminal sexual act in the third degree as well as one count of official misconduct after an investigation into an incident at Albion Correctional Facility.

Samuel E. Williams is receiving the charge after the State Police and Department of Corrections investigated an allegation made by a female inmate in the fall of last year, stating the civilian employee made inappropriate sexual contact.

Williams is scheduled to appear in Albion court on March 24.

 4:13 p.m. - The game between Attica and Albion is nearing tip-off and we are looking at a pretty even matchup here. Attica has some size advantage with forwards Bryan Thompson, Matt Sheffield and Craig Wolfley and is going to try to get the GR in the win column today. Elba won the first game of the Showdown last night, but the NIagara-Orleans League currently leads 4-1.

 4:28 p.m. - Sheffield had all six of Attica's points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the first quarter and the Blue Devils went on a dry spell after that, allowing Albion to score nine straight points to take a 12-6 lead after a period of play.

Brad Rush scored 10 of those points for the Purple Eagles.

4:42 p.m. - We go into the half with Albion leading 25-22, and two evenly matched teams on the floor. The Purple Eagles had a nine point lead 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter as Kyler Hapeman hit two of his three 3-pointers in the frame.

Attica got the ball back in the paint to Sheffield for a couple of baskets to cut the Albion lead to 22-15. Fleiss got to the charity stripe and hit one and then he added another basket as the Blue Devils had a seven point run.

Hapeman hit his third trey and T.J. Phelps scored at the buzzer for Attica. The Blue Devils should try to take advantage of their size in the second half.

5:09 p.m.  - Rush has been the best player on the floor through three quarters and his Purple Eagles are leading 36-29.

Rush scored six more points in the frame and was aided by 3-pointer by Russel Craft. Attica has not been able to take advantage of its size and leading scorer Tate Westermeier has been a non-factor for the most part so far, although he did hit a 3-pointer late in the frame.

 5:30 p.m. - This was definitely not a pretty game for either squad, but Albion will take the win nonetheless.

The lead was extended to three points when Tom Hicks scored and Craft hit a foul shot, then Attica came storming back in the last half of the last period. Craig Wolfley scored and Bryan Thompson hit a 3-pointer and the Blue Devils only trailed by six points. After two free throws by Ben Church, Thompson scored and Westermeier drained a 3-pointer to make it 41-38.

But Albion answered right back as Hapeman nailed a 3 of his own. Church missed the front end of a one-and-one and Westermeier hit a jumper with about 35 seconds left, making the score 44-40.

Church was fouled and hit the front end this time and followed it up with a second. Westermeier missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left and Hapeman was fouled. He missed the first and hit the second to put Albion up 47-40.

Attica missed a jumper, Church hit a free throw and that was the game.

Final score Albion 48, Attica 40.

The Batavia girls basketball team played a near-perfect game Thursday night, downing visiting Albion 65-38 on senior night.

The night started with seniors Brittany Mazurkiewicz and Jaycee Shirk being honored, and then the Blue Devils got down to business on the court and took care of the Purple Eagles.

It could have been a sign that Batavia was going to win easily as Brittany Wormley drained a wide open 3-pointer to start the game. The Blue Devils never trailed.

Albion briefly tied things up at 5, but Wornley hit another trifecta to start a Batavia run. The Blue Devils had an 8-0 run late in the first quarter, with Michelle Jordan, Shirk, Mazurkiewicz and Tori Doward each scoring points.

The lead was 18-11 after the opening eight minutes.

With Kristen Klein hitting a free throw and Jordan hitting a 3-pointer, the score was doubled up at 22-11.

The Purple Eagles had a chance to get back in the game in the second quarter but missed five straight foul shots. Batavia led 31-17 at halftime.

Wormley, Mazurkiewicz, Klein and Shun-Della Williams had four points each in the third quarter to give the Blue Devils a 50-28 lead after three quarters of play.

Shirk and Klein had four points each in the fourth quarter.

Shirk had a tremendous game with 14 points, nine rebounds, eight blocks and two assists and Mazurkiewcz added six points and five dimes.

Jordan and Wormley had 10 points each, with Wormley grabbing four rebounds and making two steals. Klein had nine points and four boards and Williams finished with six points and eight rebounds.

Rebecca Deegan had 12 points to lead Albion (14-4).

Batavia (14-4) will be playing at Pittsford Sutherland in the opening round of the Monroe County League tournament on Tuesday.

From Genesee Community College:

Genesee Community College's Albion campus center is pleased to introduce its first exhibit as a GO ART! satellite gallery, "Abundance" by Patricia Greene, from January 16 - February 26. Artist Patricia Greene is currently displaying oil paintings of local farms, markets and produce of Orleans County. A free "Meet the Artist" reception is scheduled for February 12 at 5:00 pm at the Albion campus center.

"Abundance" displays agricultural images Greene created during her year-long grant funded project through the Ripple Grant program administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council. Artists residing in Genesee or Orleans Counties are eligible to apply for a grant for community-based artistic projects. The goal of the grant is to support the creative work of artists in all disciplines, while encouraging interaction between artists and community members to highlight the role of the artist as a community resource.

The oil painting exhibit features area farms' structures, as well as crops with special attention to scenes such as maple farms in the winter, historic farms and regional fruits and vegetables that are grown by these local growers. From cattle grazing to a farmer's market to picking berries, the exhibit accurately depicts the abundance and variety of foods produced in Orleans county.

A Medina native, Greene traveled to farms, roadside produce stands, and farmer's markets to translate the abundance of the local landscape onto canvas. "I was able to interview local farmers about themselves and their customers," Greene said. "The project acknowledges the abundance of our region and presents it in a way that the entire community can share."

The "Meet the Artist" event is free and open to the public. The "Abundance" exhibit is also available for viewing Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm and Friday from 9:00am to 4:00pm, until February 26. The Albion campus center is located at 456 West Avenue, Albion. For more information about the exhibit, please contact the Albion Campus Center 585-589-4936 or Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council at 1-800-774-7372, or visit www.goart.org.

Back in 1982, the Batavia Lions Club and Pete Arras decided putting together a basketball tournament would be a good idea to give some good basketball teams a chance to play on the court at Genesee Community College and make it possible for Batavia and Notre Dame to play each other.

Little could anybody have known, here we are in 2008 and the tournament is stronger than ever. It is also probably regarded as one of, if not, the best boys basketball holiday tournament in Section 5. There are typically around 2,000 people that attend the tournament at GCC every year.

That original tournament featured Batavia, Notre Dame, a very good Byron-Bergen squad and Albion. (The photo above is the original photo of the coaches).

With the Fighting Irish and Bees hooking up late in the previous season, so that was a great way to start the tourney. The two squads played in February with B-B winning 51-48. 

The opening round rematch was a stunner, with Byron-Bergen knocking off Notre Dame 54-43. Albion knocked off Batavia 62-45 

The Bees went on to claim the first Batavia Lions Club championship with 35-30 win over Albion, with Bill Ferris claiming the MVP trophy.

Ferris was also the MVP in the second year as the Bees routed ND 47-30 and then Batavia 80-43.

Notre Dame was the favorite when they matched up with B-B in the finals in the tournament's third year, but it was again the Bees claiming the title with a 52-48 victory. Notre Dame's Jim Pursel was actually the MVP of that tournament, mostly because of his 29 point effort in the opening round win over Albion.

History was made in 1985 when Batavia and Notre Dame finally had a chance to play each other in the finals. With ND playing in the Genesee Region League and Batavia in the Monroe County League, these teams never get a shot to go against each other.

Tournament MVP Ron Nenni dropped in 20 points and the Fighting Irish toppled Batavia 65-52.

The tournament has seen many changes in participants over the years, with teams like Oakfield-Alabama, Attica, John Marshall, Nichols, Bishop Timon, Perry, Williamsville North, Akron, Pembroke, Le Roy, Caledonia-Mumford, Iroquois and Alexander all having experienced playing in the classic tournament.

Despite not winning until 1989, Batavia leads the tournament with wins with 13. The Blue Devils have won the last four titles, and seven of eight. Timon knocked Batavia off in overtime in the opening round of the 2003 tournament and then toppled Notre Dame 48-44 in the finals.

Byron-Bergen - which hasn't played in the tournament since 1994 is tied with Notre Dame for  second in tournament titles with five. 

Perry has won two championships and Timon has the other.

There have been some special performances over the years. The most recent was by Batavia's Michael Chmielowiec - a senior at the University of Rochester - who set the single game scoring record with 40 points against Bishop Timon in 2004. He also owns the tournament scoring mark with 64 points.

There have been four other 30-plus point performances: Tom McCulley of Notre Dame dropped in 38 in 1991, Batavia's Phil Santiago scored 35 points in 2002, PJ Leavy of Batavia had 33 in 1995 and Notre Dame's Tim Wascott had 32 in 2002.

Leavy had 57 points in that 95 tournament, Albion's Ernie McDonald had 49 total points in 1983 and Batavia's Rick Lundy had 48 in 1997.

This year's tournament features the same four teams that have been in the last three tournaments. Batavia opens up against Albion at 7 p.m. Monday night, with Notre Dame and Perry following at 8:45 p.m.

The consolation game is at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the finals at 8:45 p.m.

Admission is only $2, includes a program with rosters and money raised helps the Lions Club to provide scholarships to local students.

If you are interested in checking out basically the entire history of the tournament, check out this link on Flickr for over 80 photos and stories from tournaments in the past.

Here is a link to the entire history of the tournament, with the scores for every opening round, consolation and championship game as well as MVP of that year's tournament.

Also, feel free to share past memories if you've played or watched memorable tournaments.

Also, here is the video from this year's team at the Lions Club dinner introducing the teams.

(most clips in the post and flickr gallery are used with permission from The Daily News)

Joanne Beck covered last night's meeting of the Batavia City Council in a pair of articles in today's Daily News. Both stories—a parking ban on Oak Street and a discussion on changing the city's system for payment of trash collection—were featured on WBTA this morning. The Batavian referenced both articles in our morning news roundup.

Genesee County sheriff's deputies are looking into a string of complaints about a contractor not providing services that were paid for in advance. Lakeside Home Beautification, operated by Martin A. Miller, is based in Stafford. One homeowner, Jennifer Taberski, told Scott DeSmit that she paid Miller $3,800 to fix their roof in June. Nothing has yet been done, and her money was never returned, she claims. "He basically kidnapped my money," she said. Another homeowner was recently refunded their $1,750 after Miller allegedly failed to repair a roof.

DeSmit reports:

Miller, 48, served two one-year jail terms from a criminal case in Wyoming County.

He pleaded guilty in 2002 to four counts of petit larceny for scheming people out of more than $12,000.

Sheriff's deputies are encouraging anyone with information about Miller, or anyone looking to make a complaint, to contact them at (585) 343-5000.

In other news, Virginia Kropf put together a folksy piece on five Albion families who got together Monday for a reunion of their golden retrivers, all of which—unbeknownst to the owners—came from the same Valentine's Day litter. Interesting.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

The annual Lions Club dinner for senior players and coaches that are participating in the Lions Club Basketball Tournament was Monday night.

It is always one of the my favorite nights of the year, and is in fact the ninth one I've attended. It is always fun to sit down with area players and enjoy a a nice meal and talk hoops. 

You also can't put a price on the look on the kid's faces when the Lions members sing the Lions song.

Batavia won the championship last year with a 63-34 win over Notre Dame in the finals, giving the Blue Devils four straight, and seven of the last eight championships.

Two players from the all-tournament team return to play in this year's tournament as Batavia's Andrew Hoy and Notre Dame's Kevin Francis will be leading their respective squads.

The 27th annual tournament will be held Dec. 29-30 at Genesee Community College. Batavia will play Albion on the 29th at 7 p.m. with Notre Dame and Perry playing at 8:45 p.m.

The consolation game is on the 30th at 7 p.m., followed by the championships at 8:45 p.m.

The jayvee tournament will be held at Notre Dame with Batavia and Albion playing at 1 p.m. on the 29th and Notre Dame playing Perry right after. The consolation game is on the 30th at 1 p.m. with the finals to follow at 2:45 p.m.

The Batavian will have the biggest preview in the history of the tournament the week of the games.

Here are some video highlights and interviews from Monday's dinner.

A dozen prison farms across the state will be closed down over the next six months, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. That includes the farm in Attica. The State Department of Corrections has said that the cost of maintaining the farms exceeds the revenue brought in by the produce. Don't know about anyone else, but I was surprised to hear that these farms still existed.

A JP Morgan Call Center based in Albion will remain open, and its 850 employees will remain at work. Fischer reports that there had been concern over whether the center would remain open after Chase acquired Washington Mutual two months ago.