Sports

The New York-Penn League and the Batavia Muckdogs are proud to announce a new scholarship program sponsored by the NY-Penn League Charitable Foundation. It will award a $2,500 scholarship to three deserving individuals (one from each of the league’s three divisions). 
 
The scholarship is based on financial need, academic performance and other criteria. Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and also be engaged in extracurricular activities. The applicant should be involved in community service and be able to provide references. The student must include a copy of his or her transcript and a letter of acceptance from the institution they plan to attend.

Applications must be completed and returned to their hometown/local NY-Penn League Club by July 15. Their hometown/local club will choose one application to submit to the NY-Penn League Charitable Foundation selection committee.

Students eligible for this award must be graduating seniors from a public or private high school. Scholarship awards must be applied towards any 2- to 4-year college or university, vocational or technical education institution or program.   
 
Anyone interested in applying for the scholarship can download the application online at www.muckdogs.com or pick up/fill out an application in person at Dwyer Stadium, 299 Bank Street, Batavia, NY 14020. Phone is 343-5454.

Batavia Kiwanis is rolling together a bowling fundraising event to benefit Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). The first annual event, called the No-Tap Fun Tournament, will begin at 12 p.m. Saturday, May 23 at Mancuso’s Bowling Center at 214 East Main St. in Batavia. The tournament has a no-tap rule, which means if a bowler gets nine pins down, it counts as a strike.

“Many people in Batavia don’t realize how much of an impact Golisano has on local families here,” said Patrick Weissend, the chair of the first annual No-Tap Fun Tournament and member of the Batavia Kiwanis Club. "In 2008, the hospital served more than 1,600 children from Genesee County," continued Weissend.

Patients at Golisano Children’s Hospital at URMC come from as many as 63 New York counties seeking specialty care in a range of areas. All seriously ill or injured children from the 17-county Finger Lakes region are referred to Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Last year’s Miracle Kid Anders Swanson was from Batavia. Anders had a rare, aggressive brain tumor near the center of his brain. Doctors at Golisano Children’s Hospital at URMC tended to and treated Anders and in mid-September 2007, Anders was declared cancer-free. He is still being monitored closely, but Anders is undoubtedly a miracle, and his care is a testament to how valuable Golisano Children’s Hospital is to kids in the Batavia community, explained Weissend, a close friend to the Swansons.

The tournament is $20 per bowler or $90 per team. Those not interested in bowling are welcome to sponsor a lane for $25. To reserve a spot as an individual or for a team, request a form by e-mailing lgpat@BataviaKiwanis.com or calling (585) 993-1634 or (585) 343-4727.

What a great start to the racing season at Genesse Valley Kart Club! 
 

     April 26 was Race 1, complete with spectators in the stands. The Animal Stock Red & Gold plate classes were large and fun to watch. There was some close racing in both of those classes and it will definitely be exciting as the points add up this season.
      We had a short a burst of rain that once gone, had Mom’s and Dad’s driving around the track in trucks and SUV’s to dry it off. The sun came out and we were all racing again within 30 - 45 minutes.
      Classes are still organizing with the promise of new members in the WKA Animal Black plate as well as the Yamaha classes. Some excitement has been growing about the interest in the Yamaha Masters Class. We expect this group to start growing once the junior classes are underway.

  Local area racer Christian Peck competeing in his jr. animal red plate class pulled out a 4th place finish for the day !!  This is a very competetive class of 8 - 11 yr olds.  Some first time drivers others are seasoned veterans

 As a youth, there were no Bufalo Bills.  Virtually every local Football Fan belonged to the Giants or the Browns.  That is why alot of local football fans to this date are labelled as "Bills Bashers".  I am not one of those however. If it were not for the Bill I could never see the Giants in person.  They play the Bills every six or seven years, and tickets to the Meadowlands are handed down in Wills.  So here is my criticism of the BILLS!!  Their CHEAP OWNER!!  Who else would move games to Toronto after all these years, and expect the fans to buy into the explanation that he is trying to expand the base...It's the same base it was 30 years ago.

Lets face it, he's trying to sell more of the overpriced luxury boxes, and club seats. That all goes into his pocket.  The player salaries are more than covered by the TV revenue.  ALL clubs to my knowledge share gate revenues equally. That more than pays the staff.  So that leaves the $25.00 parking charge,club seats, Luxury Boxes, and a good hunk of Hot Dog and Beer Money for poor old Mr. Wilson. I feel sorry for him.  He must really be suffering there in Detroit. It's no wonder that  there hasn't been a big time Coach or General Manager in years. And ,Oh bye the way ,they haven't made the playoffs since one year after John Butler left.  Need I list all the losers that have coached here for years.  Think about Kaye Stevens, Hank Bullock, Mallarcki (or whatever his name was), Wade Phillips who inherited a John Butler Team his first year, Tom Donohoe, Marv Levy as GM(??) What did he do? I suspect this guy Jauron is there because he's cheap. No wonder they extended his contract.  It's not because he's been successful. Where would the Bills have been had they had a Big Time coach and GM these past ten years or so.  I'll bet they would have made they playoffs, or better.

4:04 p.m. - Here we go. No big surprise as the Detroit Lions select quarterback Tim Couch, err, Matthew Stafford. The team reached a contract with him last night. Updates will be coming through the day.

4:16 p.m. - Jason Smith just went to the Rams. My prediction is Kansas City trades down and probably the Jets come up and get Mark Sanchez.  (OK, I'm wrong and confused by the selection).

4:39 p.m. - Jets moved up for Sanchez. Great move. He's the best QB prospect in the draft.

4:59 p.m. - The Oakland Raiders are the worst franchise in the AFC and that was an absolutely stupid draft pick at No. 7. Darrius Heyward-Bey out of Maryland is the fourth ranked receiver in the pre-draft rankings. Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin are easily more likely to be stars. Mel Kiper gave this pick an F. I also do.

5:13 p.m. - San Francisco is the only team other than Buffalo and Michael Oher is still on the board. If San Fran takes him, expect possibly USC linebacker Brian Cushing or Texas defensive end Brian Arakpo to be the pick. If the 49ers take somebody else though, Oher is the pick.

5:27 p.m. - Aaron Maybin of Penn State is the pick. The defensive end is a pretty good pass rusher, but not a choice I think a lot of fans would have made. The Bills need to replace Jason Peters, who was traded to Philly, and Oher would have been perfect. I preferred Arakpo as well.

5:50 p.m. - Buffalo isn't up again for a bit, so I'll be taking a break unless something big happens. What do you all think about Maybin getting picked at 11?

6:06 p.m. - Oher is still out there. He is considered one of four offensive tackles coming into the draft. Why is he dropping?

6:20 p.m. - Detroit just took Brandon Pettigrew, the best tight end in the draft. I was hoping he'd fall to Buffalo at 28.

6:39 p.m. - Good for the Baltimore Ravens. Michael Oher is a great story and a great player. They definitely get an A+ for this pick, at 23 when he should have been top 10.

6:55 p.m. - Two big picks coming up. My Colts are on the board and I'm hoping for North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks to replace Marvin Harrison. Then the Bills will look at either tackle or linebacker. Rey Maualuga is still out there.

7 p.m. - Indy takes Donald Brown, running back from Connecticut. He's a good player, but I wanted a receiver. I guess replacing Dominic was important.

7:04 p.m. - Buffalo takes Eric Wood, a center from Louisville. He's a four-year starter and can play every position on the line. It will be interested to see what the Bills do with him.

7:33 p.m. - 3 1/2 hour first round ... not bad. Lots of fun and surprises. I'll keep giving the occasional update as the second round goes on. Buffalo has the 10th pick.

8:17 p.m. - The Bills take Jairus Byrd, CB out of Oregon, with the 10th pick in the second round. It looks like a bit of a reach and there has still only been one tight end selected. Also, does the team really need a cornerback?

9 p.m. - Dallas and Buffalo just made a trade. 

9:01 p.m. - Buffalo again helps the offensive line by getting the top guard, Andrew Levitre from Oregon St. A surprising move to see the trade and a solid pick by the Bills. Dallas got the 75th and 110th picks owned by Buffalo. Excellent move.

Notre Dame guard Kevin Francis had a tremendous senior season and because of that has earned first-team, all-state honors by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

Francis scored 20.9 points with 5.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 5.1 steals per game while leading the Fighting Irish to the top seed in the Section 5 Class D1 playoffs.

The Batavia basketball team that made the state semifinals had a pair of selections on state squads. Andrew Hoy was selected to the sixth team and Marcus Hoy was picked to the seventh team.

Here's the home-game schedule for the Genesee Community College Cougars at their Web site.

http://www.genesee.edu/athletics/teams/baseball/display.cfm?pg=schedule

We received this in e-mail from Terry Hills:

Restaurant Opening!
The Terry Hills Restaurant will be opening Thursday, April 9th.
 We will be offering an exciting new menu that includes several new lunch items as
well as fantastic new appetizers and seafood dinners.

League Openings
Terry Hills has league openings for our Mens, Ladies and Friday Morning Seniors'.
We have also started a Friday Evening Couples League that will run 8 weeks this summer. 
All of our Leagues are shot gun start.  You start and end the same as everyone, no waiting around!  Call the Pro Shop for more information. 343-0860

Apparently, golf is just like riding a bike. 

I haven't been on a golf course in two years because of carpal tunnel in both wrists, so I've been missing the game that I've been playing since the age of 17. I had surgery over last summer and Dr. Hoy did a great job of getting my wrists in decent shape.

So I'm playing again this season and went out for my first time in a couple of years this afternoon, on a perfect day for golf.

I normally play at Terry Hills but didn't feel comfortable going out and getting my butt kicked on that course, so I headed out to Meadow Brook, and executive course on Woodland Drive in Batavia. It isn't very challenging and the greens definitely are not in good shape, but it was a good starting place for me.

I had about the most discouraging start imaginable as I blasted my 7-iron well right of the green on the 156-yard par-3 first hole. I hit a little runner up to the green and it came up just short. Luckily I two-putted for the bogey.

The third hole is the second longest on the course and the first chance I had to hit driver. I was expecting the worst and shocked myself, hitting a 240-250 yard drive right down the middle of the fairway. But, a three-putt gave me my third consecutive bogey.

I continued to hit my driver well and got my first par of the season on the 241-yard fifth hole. I was getting confidence and knew that a good drive would give me a shot at a par or even a birdie. 

A big swing led to a perfect drive, just over the bunker to the left of the green. The chip was a little long because the pin was right up on the left side of the green. A couple of putts later and I had a par.

I followed that up with another big drive and par on the sixth hole. Then things went to hell.

My drive on seven was pushed to the right, directly under a small tree. I couldn't get the next shot on the green and took a bogey.

At this point my left wrist was starting to get tender and starting to swell up a bit, but it was a mental mistake on the eighth hole. I was lined up wrong and pulled my 9-iron on the 122-yard par-3. I chipped onto the green and then three-putted for a double bogey.

A pitching wedge on the 103-yard ninth hole went long and I finished up with a bogey.

So after two years without a swing, I'm pretty pleased with an 8-over par 41 for nine holes. And best of all, it was a great day for golf.

The Cardinals Nation blog runs down the history, going back to 1981 when the Cardinals added the New York-Penn League to its farm system, of Cardinals-affiliated teams.

Only seven times in nearly 30 years in the league have Cardinals farm teams reached the playoffs.  The capper, of course, is the 2008 championship season of The Batavia Muckdogs.

 There is a rumor that has been circulating on the net and word of mouth that Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson died last night.

It is not true.

The 90-year old Hall of Famer is still alive and the Bills confirmed this with a Twitter post saying "There is absolutely no truth to the internet rumor referencing Ralph Wilson’s health."

If Wilson were to have passed away last night, it would leave the future of football in Buffalo in question. If Wilson cares about keeping football in Buffalo, it is time that he sells the team or sets something up where nobody can purchase the team from his family if they plan on moving the team out of Western New York.

The SC Genesee Lancers u19 Team took first place at both the 5th Annual Red Creek Indoor Tournament March 21 and the 2nd Annual Amanda Mabon Memorial Tournament in Elba on Sunday, March 22.

At Red Creek, the ladies went 4-0-1 on the day, finishing with a 9-1 crushing of host Red Creek in the final.

On Sunday, at the 2nd Annual Amanda Madon Memorial Tournament, the ladies were dominating all day, going 5-0-1 and defeating the Souther Tier Flash FC in the final 6-1.

Team members for the weekend were Jenna Ferrando, Alesha Amend, Audrey Rath, Jenn Lonnen, Kelsey Fenton, Jessie Jaszko, Brittany Hein, Stacy Hein, Leslie George, Julia Medwid, Emily Starowitz, Lindsay Wellspeak, and Brittany Luckey. The team is coached by Chris Chilano.

Goal Scores were Britt any Luckey with 12. Alesha Amend and Julia Medwid with 5 each. Jessie Jaszko and Lin Wellspeak each tallied 3. Stacy Hein, Kelsey Fenton, and Emily Starowitz with 2 each, and Jenn Lonnen and Jenna Ferrando each with 1. Hein also posted a shutout in her only game in goal, and Leslie George had 4 shutouts in goal going 8-0-2 over the weekend in net.

Alexander's Anni Lehtola was recently named Genesee Region League Player of the Year by Birdseye Foods.

The 5-foot-9 senior averaged 16 points with five rebounds and two assists per game. The foreign exchange student from Finland led her team to a top seed in Class C and the sectional finals.

Notre Dame senior guard Kevin Francis received the honor for boys basketball, helping his team to a top seed in Class D1.

Francis scored 20.9 points with 5.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 5.1 steals per game. He set school records with 130 assists and 112 steals.

Both players are selected to play in the Ronald McDonald all-star game.

Here is a video feature on Lehtola from the season.