Sports

Press release:

Would you like to live with the next Ryan Howard or Chase Utley? 

The Batavia Muckdogs are again seeking local families to assist in housing players during the 2016 baseball season.

Anyone can help provide lodging for this year's Muckdogs by either providing space or renting a room, apartment, or home. While many host families come back year after year, the team is always looking to add to their list of availability for the players.   

Host families play a crucial role in helping young players feel comfortable in a new environment. Many who have hosted players in the past have had incredibly wonderful experiences. However, with players coming and going throughout the season, we have constant needs as far as housing goes.

The 2016 season runs from June 17 until Sept. 5 and players typically range from 18-23 years of age. Because of the players schedule, they typically spend about 40 nights in their host family home. 

Anyone in need of more information on becoming a host family is invited to contact the Muckdogs’ office at (585) 343-5454 or tsick@muckdogs.com. You can also call our housing coordinator Shirley Fanara directly at (585) 356-3411.

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The Batavia Muckdogs are the short-season, Class A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and are the last remaining founding member of the New York-Penn League, dating back to 1939. The Batavia Muckdogs are operated by the neighboring Rochester Red Wings.

Location: Dwyer Stadium, 299 Bank St., Batavia, NY 14020

Phone: 585-343-5454; Fax: 585-343-5620

Website: www.muckdogs.com

Above from left: Nick Martin, Alex Ellison, Vinny DiRisio, Zach Howard, C.J. Gottler (seated), Bryn Wormley, Luke Rogers, Zach Marsceill (seated), Matt Fellinger, and Connor Willitt.  Coach Vern Howard and Coach Durin Rogers pictured to the rear.

Opening ceremonies.

Fellinger coming home for the winning run.

Fellinger under the tag for the win.

Rogers being congratulated for the walk-off triple.​

Submitted photos and story by Coach Durin Rogers.

Tri-Town 12U beat the Le Roy Knights 12U in what would prove to be a legendary game during the eighth Annual Michael Napoleone Tournament over Mermorial Day Weekend.

The Tournament is hosted by The Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation, Inc., which was established in 2007 and is in memory of Michael C. Napoleone, the 8-year-old son of Mark and Laurie Napoleone from Batavia who died from Burkitts Lymphoma/Leukemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer. During Michael’s illness, the community rallied around the family to assist with food, gas, medical bills and other necessities. The not-for-profit foundation was created to give back to those who cared, to give forward to those in need and to support research efforts in finding a cure for childhood cancer.

The 2016 victory was bittersweet for Tri-Town, who had lost to the Le Roy Knights in extra innings during the 2015 Tourney. Tri-Town and Le Roy had each won their three games in the tournament that began Friday and ended with the Championship on Sunday May, 29^th. Tri-Town defeated the WNY Spartans 10-0 and 13-5; Fairport Red Rage 12-2; Greece Gladiators 21-1.

Both Tri-Town and the Le Roy Knights had strong showings in all of their games and depth at pitching. Tri-Town pulled home-field advantage, having held its opponents to fewer runs than Le Roy over the tournament. Zach Howard received the call to open pitching for Tri-Town, while the lefty Collin McCauley got the nod for Le Roy.

Following strong pitching by Howard and McCauley and a scoreless first inning, Le Roy then sparked its offense scoring two runs in the top of the second inning on a well-placed double by Zach Vanderhoof and error by Tri-Town. Le Roy held Tri-Town without score in the bottom of the second and added two more runs to its cause in the top of the third inning. Tri-Town then broke out in the bottom of the third inning on the bats of Luke Rogers (1B), Connor Willitt (1B) and Vinny DiRisio (1B) scoring Zach Marsceill, Matt Fellinger and Rogers.

Nick Martin then took the mound for Tri-Town at the top of the fourth inning following a strong outing by Howard limiting the Le Roy team to four runs over the three innings. Le Roy scored another run in the top of the fourth on a McCauley double and a Brady Fix single before Martin struck out the final two batters to end Le Roy's fourth inning run.

 Le Roy’s power pitcher, Kenny Saunders, brought heat to bear on Tri-Town’s lineup. Yet, Tri-Town's Alex Ellison’s lead-off double in the bottom of the fourth along with his speed on the bases led to a Tri-Town score, keeping the game close in the 5-4 battle at the end of four.

At the top of the fifth inning, Le Roy poured it on scoring three additional runs on a double by McCauley and another single by Fix. Tri-Town would add to its cause scoring two runs on hits by Howard (1B) , Martin (1B), and Rogers (1B), to make the game an 8-6 affair in favor of Le Roy. Le Roy was then stymied by Tri-Town's defense and Martin's pitching in the top of the sixth inning, leaving the score at 8-6 LeRoy and providing Tri-Town one last opportunity at bat.

Tri-Town's Ellison led off with a solid double. Le Roy pitcher Saunders and Le Roy's stellar defense resulted in the next two outs in the field with a runner on second. Tri-Town's Bryn Wormley's quick reaction and legs beat out a throw to first base following a dropped third strike, putting runners on first and second.  Tri-Town's Fellinger had an epic at bat when he proceeded to foul off the next 11 pitches to a startled crowd before earning the walk to load the bases.

This year, Tri-Town would not be denied. With two puts and two strikes, Tri-Town's lead-off batter Luke Rogers, and birthday boy, hit a towering shot to the right field fence, clearing the bases and winning the game with a walk-off triple.

The Tri-Town team stats were nothing short of impressive during the tournament, accumulating 59 hits over five games representing 24 innings. One grand slam (Connor Willitt), 10-HR (Zach Howard 2 HR; Vinny DiRisio 2 HR; Nick Martin; CJ Gottler; Connor Willitt; Matt Fellinger), 2-3B (Luke Rogers 2-3B), 11-2B (Luke Rogers 5-2B; Alex Ellison 2-2B; Bryn Wormley 2-2B);and 39-1B contributed by the entire team for a tournament high, team-batting average of .538.

Submitted photo and press release:

Eugene Jankowski Jr. has advanced from 3-Gun Nation Semi-Pro to the 3-Gun Nation Pro Series Event 8 to be held at Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va., the end of this month.

A total of eight Pro events are held and each event comprises one, half-hour episode of 3-Gun Nation television airing sometime in July. This will be Jankowski’s first event as a 3-Gun Nation Professional Competition shooter.

The 3-Gun Nation Pro Series is the first of its kind, featuring the top shooters in the sport of 3-Gun. Each shooter competes in the same division, Practical, in a heads-up race to qualify for the season-ending finale. The final match features the top qualified shooters from the Pro Series, who compete in a seeded bracket to determine the final winner of the $50,000 grand prize. 

To compete on the Pro Series, each year a qualifier is held – and the top 16 competitors earn a slot. To earn an invitation to the qualifier match, competitors must be signed up as a Semi-Pro in the previous year, compete in at least one 3GN Regional event and place within the top 25 in the Semi-Pro standings for the season.

Jankowski finished 18^th in the 2015 semi-pro season and earned this year’s Pro Series slot at the October national qualifier. Jankowski is currently ranked 14^th midway through the 2016 semi-pro season.

Press release:

Bataiva High School Coach Buddy Brasky will hold a basketball camp at Batavia City schools this summer. This basketball camp will be held from July 5 through Aug. 12. (Location(s) to be announced later.)

This six-week program will emphasize offensive skill development. The program is open to anyone, male or female, from grades seven to college.

Cost is $375. For an application, call Coach Brasky at 356-4050 or e-mail him at:   mbrasky@bataviacsd.org

Brasky will be joined by: 

• Tim Sullivan
• Tom Redband -- Girls Varsity Coach at Elba High School
• Matt Shay -- Boys Varsity coach at Pembroke High School
• Bill Pitcher -- Longtime area basketball player and coach
• Billy Truitt -- Former Division I and professional basketball player

There will be two sessions:

1)  Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon for boys in grades nine to college;

2)  Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon for boys in grades seven and eight, and girls in grades seven to college.

The United Way is proud to announce the 2016 United Way Race Series and Genesee County Runner of the Year Award. This year's series will include eight races and for the first time will include 5K races (3.1 miles each) outside of the City of Batavia. 

The series begins this Saturday with the All Babies Cherished “Run Baby Run” 5K. Start time is 9 a.m. at the Northgate Free Methodist Church, 350 Bank St., Batavia. Cost to register is $25 and registration ends at 11:59 p.m. June 1. To sign up online go to: https://runsignup.com 

Other races in the series include:

July 4^th                                       Kiwanis Independence Day 5K (Centennial Park, Batavia)                     

July 16^th                                    The OATKA 5K (Le Roy)                                                      

Aug. 13^th                                   Jenny Kuzma Memorial 5K (Bergen)                             

Aug. 20th                                   Don Carroll Toys for Kids 5K (Kibbe Park, Batavia)        

Sept. 5th                                    Jaycees Labor Day 5K (MacArthur Park, Batavia)                      

Sept. 17th                                  ARC Friends and Family 5K (Elba)                                               

Oct. 2                                         Run for the ACORNS 5K (GC Park & Forest, East Bethany)                            

United Way Director Erik Fix says “The United Way believes that one of the keys to a successful community is the health of its people. To this end, the UW has created this series with the goal of increasing the overall health and wellness of our community. The UW Race and Runner of the Year Award are designed to recognize the top runners in the Genesee County region, while promoting local races, and the sport of road racing in our community."

To be eligible for season ending awards participants must finish at least four events with results from a runners top five events scoring points. Overall and Age Group awards will be given. There is no need to register for the series. Participation in one of the events automatically qualifies you for the series. Results will be posted on the United Way website www.uwgeneseecounty.org. Additionally, a booth will be set up at each event with current standings.

Cash prizes will be presented to the top three overall finishers in Men’s and Women’s divisions. Prizes are as follows:

Overall Male:                        $300

Overall Female:                   $300

Runner-up Male:                  $150

Runner-up Female:             $150

Third-place Male:                 $50

Third-place Female:             $50

Men and Women Age Groups –  First- through Third- places will receive non-cash awards.

If you are intersted in being a sponsor for the race series, please contact UW Regional Director Erik Fix at erik.fix@uwrochester.org or call 585-356-2814.

Members of the local law enforcement community completed a competition at Batavia Cross Training on Swan Street called the Memorial Day Murph.

The competition is held at cross-training facilities across the nation in honor of Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, who died in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005.

The event is a competition and a fundraiser. This year, participants raised $1,625 for the family of Deputy Frank Bordonaro, who died in 2014.

Officers invited to participate by training for two months for the HERO workout. This year, nine teams of four athletes each competed, working together to help motivate each other and push through their limits in a grueling workout.

The workout consists of a one-mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats, and finishes with another one-mile run.

Batavia Cross Training is owned by Jessica Pratt.

The boys and girls track teams from Batavia High School competed in the Class B Sectional Championships on Friday night, both earning hard fought victories.

The girls had an impressive 101 points, with Livonia coming in second place with 62. Kiaya Franklin had an unbelievable meet by winning the 100m in 12.51, the 400m in 57.69, and the 200m in 25.97. The girls 4x800 relay of Sophia Dinehart, Briana Bromley, Claire Zickl and Maddi Murray won with a time of 10:02.31. Rachel Denise won the pole vault with a jump of 9-0.

The boys had a much closer meet, scoring 124 points over defending indoor and outdoor champion Greece Olympia, which finished with 120. Anthony Ray continued his dominance in the throwing events by winning the shot with a throw of 49-3.25 and the discus with a throw of 146-8. Adonis Davis helped to seal the win two late victories in the high jump with a height of 6-4 and in the triple jump with a leap of 44-7.75. The boys meet was very competitive with the title still up for grabs with only a few events remaining.

Full results from the meet can be viewed at:

http://live.yentiming.com/#/results/meet/270

These sectional championships are the 25th team championships for Batavia track and field, both indoors and outdoors, since 2003. Both the boys and girls teams represented their school and community with a great deal of determination and poise throughout the competition. Congrats to the 2016 Track and Field Sectional Champions, the Batavia Blue Devils!

Story submitted by: Batavia Boys Head Coach Nicholas Burk, who is also pictured below receiving the boys Section V trophy from a track official.

Photos by: Steve Ognibene Photography

The Swanson family was honored today by the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation at the foundation's annual Memorial Day Weekend tournament at MacArthur Park in Batavia.

In 2007, Anders Swanson -- in the blue shirt above with mother Amy, father Garth and brothers Beckett and Cooper -- was diagnosed with cancer deep in his brain when he was 18 months old.

"(The doctors were) brutally honest," Amy said. "This kind of cancer is rare, it’s aggressive and it doesn’t have a good outcome. Kids with this kind of cancer don’t survive."

He immediately underwent surgery, and then a long ordeal of treatment that included four rounds of chemo, 31 days of radiation, two high-dosage chemo treatments, two stem-cell transplants, and countless blood transfusions, spinal taps and CAT scans. He underwent a second major brain surgery in which 90 percent of the cancer was removed. Now considered cancer free, Amy said he still undergoes numerous regular tests and the fight isn't over, yet Anders remains positive and a team player.

"He has to work much harder, but he greets everything with a can-do attitude," Amy said.

The tournament, she said, was a great way to honor Micheal's memory, because his love of baseball is evident by every smile on the field.

"We know how important baseball is," Amy said. "It’s about accountability, character, courage, confidence, commitment, determination, ethics, honor, humility and humor, integrity, loyalty, leadership, obedience, self-discipline, sportsmanship and teamwork. These truly are the key components of baseball. Baseball is unique in that it can often mirror life itself. The great length of a baseball season, and the fact that failure is an innate part of the game, offers players, coaches and parents the opportunities to teach many more of life’s truths and skills."

The foundation regularly provides financial support to families with children battling cancer, and Laurie Napoleone presented the Swanson's with a $1,000 check, but the Swanson's asked that the money be donated to other charities.

Since Micheal's death, the foundation has provided more than $230,000 to 300 families in the region, donated more than $56,000 to pediatric cancer research, and assisted youth sports with $38,000 in donations, and provided another $50,000 to the Golisano Children's Hospital in Rochester.

The Spirit of Michael Napoleone Award went to Ryan Carroll and Jacob Smith.

Members of the Genesee Kickball League came together today to help raise funds to defray medical costs for Zachary Kaus.

Kaus was diagnosed with acute aplastic leukemia in September. Both of his sisters were perfect matches for a bone marrow donation, and on Dec. 22, he received a bone marrow transplant from his oldest sister.

"It took perfectly, everything is good and I’m leukemia free now," said Kaus, pictured above.

Kaus was a member of the kickball league, but he's still amazed that so many people turned out to Batavia Sports Park today.

"It’s crazy," he said. "I didn’t think there would be this many people, this big a turnout. But they love playing for a cause, obviously. It means a lot for sure. I want to thank everybody for coming out. It’s a little overwhelming, but it’s awesome to watch."

In a competitive sport, there can be only one winner, and in Brockport today, only one team would get to make history.

That team turned out to be Aquinas, which became only the third school (that we know of) in modern Section V history to win the boys' team-sport Triple Crown -- championships in football, basketball and baseball -- in a single school year.

It's the second time Aquinas has achieved the feat, first doing it in 2011-12.

Batavia has never done it, and with a 2-1 loss will have to wait for another opportunity somewhere down the road.

The records are incomplete, but John Moriello of the New York Sportswriters Association researched the question today, and as near as he can tell, the Triple Crown has only been achieved three times in Section V, though it's possible some smaller schools archived it.

"I suspect it's happened a few times over the years in the section, but there's not a database that would allow for pinning down specifics," Moriello said. "It's more likely in the smaller classifications with schools like Notre Dame, Clyde-Savannah, Hornell and Cal-Mum."

While Batavia notched Section V titles in football and basketball this year, Aquinas could go on to win the trifecta at the state level this year.

There were no Section V football championships before 1977.

Pittsford Mendon was the first Section V school to secure the Triple Crown with titles in 1982-83.

This year, 31 teams in the state had a chance at the Triple Crown when baseball season started, according to Moriello, and only Aquinas got that third critical win.

Batavia won its first baseball title in 1953, but hasn't taken a Section V crown since 1998 (it also had titles in 1980, 81 and 94).

The football program had great teams prior to 1977, but didn't get a Section V title until 1991 and then waited until the Brennan Briggs era to win again, getting titles in 2014 and this year.

Batavia became a powerhouse in basketball under Buddy Brasky, winning its first Section V title in 1998, and then in 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2016.

To purchase prints, click here (the slideshow includes BHS softball).

Batavia High School's softball team lost 14-4 today to Geneseo in a Class A2 title game played at Brockport HS.

These pictures are from the final inning and a half.

With a 7-6 win over Lyndonville in the Section V Class D2 championship softball game yesterday, the Fighting Irish became Notre Dame's 80th girls team across all sports to win a sectional title.

Notre Dame took a 6-1 lead into the sixth, but Lyndonville put together a rally to tie the game. The Irish won on a walk to Jessica Bukowski with the bases loaded, bringing Callie McCulley in to score.

Photo submitted by Kathy Antinore.

In the Class C2 softball final played at GCC, Oakfield-Alabama lost 9-1 yesterday to Caledonia-Mumford.

The No.1 seed Red Raiders were led by tournament MVP Emily MacDonald, who pitched a four-hitter and K'd 10 Hornets.

Le Roy beat Wellsville yesterday, 3-1, to become the Section V Class B2 champion in softball.

Ally Uberty gave up just three hits and fanned 16 and was named tournament MVP.

Erin Cappotelli and Taylor Sherman each had two hits and an RBI for the Oatkan Knights.

Le Roy hadn't won a softball title since 1988.

Photos submitted by Tim McArdle.

Submitted photo and press release:

On May 15, the Genesee Valley Pride eighth-grade Girls Basketball Team won the championship game at the North Country Rumble at the Boarder Shootout Tournament in Canton. The win qualified them to participate in the Girls National Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla., in July.

This is a significant accomplishment and honor to achieve such success at a young age. The team is looking to the community to help support their fundraising goal to head to this National Championship. 

By Tim Bojarski, for Batavia Downs

Peter Arrigenna, a longtime horseman who also serves as a trustee of the Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund and as a director of the Horse Harness Breeders of New York State, has been named the new track superintendent at Batavia Downs.

Arrigenna will replace Ralph Horton, who has retired after working at the Downs for 14 years.

Besides running a successful stable that produced 2012 Yonkers Trot champion, Archangel (Credit Winner-Michelle’s Angel 1:50 $1,140,972), Arrigenna also runs his own construction company. And it’s the combined experience from both fields that has provided him the insight and knowledge to design, construct and maintain very fast race tracks.

Arrigenna has built many farm tracks from scratch, but he also resurfaced Buffalo Raceway in 2014 to the rave reviews of the horsemen and was hired this year as a consultant at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Although the meet doesn’t begin for another two months, Arrigenna’s duties will start immediately as his first order of business will be to rebuild the track.  

“We will be leveling and filling the existing track to the grade indicated from a survey done in 2009. It will entail filling the ditches where it washed out, banking the turns better and putting it back to the original grade,” Arrigenna said. “Once that is complete, we will be putting a new surface on top of that which should make it much better for the horses competing there.”  

This will be the first time the track at Batavia has been resurfaced since 2010 and the $125,000 project will see the turns banked up to 8 percent and over 5,000 tons of new material (a mixture of washed screenings and washed crushed stone) added to the surface.

The project is scheduled to begin on Monday (June 6) and be completed by Friday (July 1), well in advance of opening night of live racing, which is Monday (July 25).

“I look forward to starting at Batavia because it’s close to home and it’s a project I like to do,” said Arrigenna.

Todd Haight is the director/general manager of live racing at the Downs and he has high praise for Arrigenna’s abilities.

“We’re thrilled to have Peter as our track superintendent,” Haight said. “He knows what it takes to make a race track fair, but also safe, because he is a horseman as well as a contractor. His knowledge and experience will serve him well in his new position.”

“I would also like to thank Ralph Horton for his many years of service to the track and wish him the best in his retirement,” added Haight.

Jake Wozniaka struck out four over six innings, but errors proved costly for Alexander on Tuesday at Dwyer Stadium in the Section V Class C1 semi-final.

Avon scored two unearned runs to beat the Trojans, 2-1.

In other baseball action yesterday:

• Batavia beat Wayne, 11-5. The Blue Devils play for the Section V championship Thursday at a location to be announced against Aquinas. 
• Oakfield beat Geneseo, 11-3, and will play Bolivar Rickburg at a location to be announced Friday.
• Notre Dame beat Lyndonville, 8-3, and will play Genesee Valley on Friday at a location to be announced.

Oakfield-Alabama will advance to the Section V, Class C2 championship game after beating Geneseo on Monday at GCC, 4-2. 

Hannah LaGrou tripled home her sister Madi for the go-ahead run. Hannah later scored on a wild pitch.

O-A faces Cal-Mum at 5 p.m., Wednesday, at GCC in the final.

Notre Dame beat Honeoye 3-2 yesterday at Dwyer Stadium to advance to the semifinals of the Class D1 Section V playoff.

The Fighting Irish will play Lyndonville on Tuesday at GCC at 4:30 p.m.

Also, Friday, Oakfield beat Keshegua, 6-2, and will play Geneseo at 7 p.m., Tuesday, at Dwyer Stadium in a Class C2 playoff.

Alexander beat Williamson 7-5 will play Avon at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, at Dwyer in the Class C1 semifinal.

Batavia beat Geneva, 3-2.

Le Roy lost to Holley, 4-3 and Pembroke lost to Avon, 11-5.

In girls softball, Batavia plays Aquinas at 5 p.m., Tuesday, in Brockport. Le Roy plays Wayland-Cohocton at 4 p.m., Monday, in Canandaigua. Oakfield-Alabama plays Geneseo at 5 p.m., Monday, at GCC.