1. DOUBLEDAYS WIN NEW YORK-PENN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
Members of the Auburn Doubledays celebrate in the Brooklyn clubhouse after winning the New York-Penn League championship series in a sweep of the Cyclones.
Members of the Auburn Doubledays celebrate in the Brooklyn clubhouse after winning the New York-Penn League championship series in a sweep of the Cyclones.
By Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford / The Citizen
Before the season started, Dennis Holmberg expressed his desire to honor Leo Pinckney.
The Auburn Doubledays manager couldn't have scripted a better way to do so than what his team accomplished this year for the first time since 1973.
Nearly a year after the King of Baseball passed away, Holmberg's Doubledays took what was a slow start to the 2007 season and propelled it into a New York-Penn League Championship. Professional baseball in Auburn hadn't had a title since 1998, when the Doubledays split the honor with Oneonta, but this year the team brought it home as their own after a 4-1 win over Brooklyn.
“The first month of play, fundamentally we weren't very sound,” Holmberg said after the season. “It took about a month to address baserunning mistakes and fix our approach to hitting. We moved some guys in and around the lineup, pitchers were on pitch counts, there were rehab assignments and so forth. This year was a team coming to excellence and performing at a high level every night.”
The Cyclones had been statistically the best team in the league all season long, but it was the team with the best home record in the NY-P that walked away with the trophy in Brooklyn on Sept. 14. Behind a couple of two-run homers, courtesy of catcher J.P. Arencibia and second baseman Darin Mastroianni, and some stellar Brett Cecil and Alan Farina pitching, the Doubledays capped off an incredible season that included a sixth straight Pinckney Division crown.
“It's awesome,” Arencibia said after the title win. “The coaching staff, the fans - everything has been great. It's a great feeling to be a champion.”
With the way they played down the stretch, beginning in early July, the Doubledays were headed in the right direction for most of the season. They had a stranglehold on the division since July 6 and clinched another division championship under Holmberg with a 7-2 win over Jamestown on Sept. 1 - two weeks before Holmberg was able to honor his late friend in the best possible way.
“This is for Auburn,” Holmberg said in the midst of the championship celebration in the visitor's clubhouse. “This is for the people that work in the (Doubledays) office in Auburn, and this is for Leo. I said from the beginning that this season was going to be dedicated to Leo and it came to pass tonight.”
2. RYAN BREAKS STATE STRIKEOUT RECORD
By Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford / The Citizen
Anticipation and speculation surrounded one of high school softball's biggest records this year, but Jordan-Elbridge pitcher Colleen Ryan shrugged it off.
Ryan broke the New York State strikeout record on May 9 when she caught Marcellus batter Amy Sniffen looking in the fourth inning.
The Eagles lost the game, but gained a record holder, as it was Ryan's 1,279th strikeout of her varsity career. She overtook a three-year old record that was set by Jamesville-Dewitt's Sarah Reed.
“I wasn't a prodigy or anything,”Ryan said on May 9. “I definitely had to work on my pitching just like anybody else. I didn't even think about (the record) this year. I've always tried to take things game by game.”
Now a freshman at Division I SUNY Stony Brook, Ryan was diagnosed with a thyroid condition after the season that prevented her from a lot of time in the pitcher's circle.
She tossed 592 innings heading into her senior campaign, but managed just 99 more in her final season.
She finished the season with 173 strikeouts, stretching her state record to 1,285.
Ryan finished the season 10-4, with five wins coming by way of shutout.
“This is really good for our school,” Ryan said after breaking the record. “I'd like to hold the record, but there are a ton of good pitchers out there. Any one of them can just do what I did and go for the record too.”
Ryan also did a lot of damage at the plate in her senior campaign. She was named first team all-league and third team all-state by batting .516 with seven home runs, two triples, nine doubles and 33 RBIs on 33 hits.
“I put everything I had towards hitting the ball and that helped,” Ryan said after the season. “Since I was having so much trouble pitching, I just worked on my hitting more and got more into that side of the ball.”
3. LAKERS BID FOR THREE-PEAT COMES UP SHORT
By The Citizen staff report
Female varsity athletes at Skaneateles had their share of surprising - and not so surprising - success this year. But the most shocking moment came in a loss.
The two-time defending Class C state champion girls lacrosse team fell to Shoreham-Wading River, 11-9 at SUNY Cortland in the NYSPHSAA Class C Championship game on June 10.
It was only the second loss of the season for the Lakers, both to teams that went on to win state championships of their own.
Senior Libby Johnson led the Lakers in scoring in the game, with three goals and four assists, but for the first time in a long time, it wasn't enough to bring another state title win home.
“They have two losses this year to two state champions, that's it,” Lakers coach Bridget Marquardt said after the game.
“So I still think we are one of the top teams in the country. But we didn't play as well today. I told them they should be proud of themselves.”
Other Lakers teams were just as proud in 2007.
In the winter, not many teams expected the girls basketball team to finish among the best in the league.
Led by Caryn Crary, Skaneateles dominated its way to a 15-8 record, which ended in the Section III, Class B-2 finals with a 45-39 loss to top-seeded Clinton.
“We've got everything to be proud of, and nothing to be ashamed of,” Lakers coach Bob Braunitzer said after the loss. “We did so many great things throughout the course of the season, we just came up a little short.”
Braunitzer, who recently earned his 300th career basketball win, found more success with his softball team in the spring.
Two seasons removed from consecutive winless campaigns, the Lakers - who won five games during the regular season- rocked the Section III, Class B-1 playoff picture.
The ninth-seeded Lakers upset No. 1 Westhill 6-4 in extra innings in the first round, but fell 1-0, to No. 4 Solvay in the semifinals.
In the fall, the girls swim team earned their third-straight Section III, Class C title, sending several swimmers to the state meet.
An end of an era came just weeks earlier, when the girls cross country team lost their first dual meet in 15 years to Westhill.
Under coach Jack Reed, the Lakers went over 90 meets before falling to the Warriors.
“The girls were pretty beaten up,” Reed said afterward.
“We were just bloodied. It just wasn't pretty at all.”
4. AUBURN SWIMMERS CAPTURE SECTION CROWN
By Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford / The Citizen
The Auburn boys coasted to a 13-0 record in the pool during the regular season, enabling them to bring a secret weapon into the Section III, Class A meet.
By dominating other teams en route to a perfect season, including Liverpool, who the Maroons hadn't beaten in over a decade, Auburn kept their last event - the 400 freestyle relay - a secret from their competitors until it counted.
As it turns out, it mattered the most.
Without any divers on the roster, the Maroons were seemingly at a disadvantage heading into the last event of the championships.
Not just that, four of the Auburn's swimmers were eliminated from competition in the previous day's preliminary round.
Needing a first-place finish in the final relay to win their first sectional title in 11 years, Pat O'Donovan, Sean McNamara, Tristan White and Preston Chaffee swam a 3:16.53 to upset Jamesville-Dewitt by more than five seconds. The Maroons won the title with 325 points to J-D's 323.
“Going undefeated was the first goal, but this was always the ultimate goal,” Auburn coach Rich Hamberger said after winning the title. “It's been in their heads all year long and now it's the cherry on the sundae.”
Hamberger was the easy choice for Coach of the Year and six swimmers went on to compete in seven events in the NYSPHSAA boys swimming and diving competition.
O'Donovan, who competed in four events in states, made his mark by earning All-American consideration in the 100 backstroke (52.47) by coming in fifth, and the illustrious 400 freestyle relay team of 2007 earned an eighth place finish (3:18.42).
“Not only did we have the most kids here from Section III, but our kids finished better than other kids in the section,” Hamberger said after states. “We maintained from sectionals and I'm not unhappy. They swam well.”
5. FELDMAN ADVANCES TO U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
By The Citizen staff report
Skaneateles bowler Michelle Feldman qualified second and advanced to the 2007 U.S. Women's Open in August.
Feldman, the 2007 Professional Women's Bowling Association Player of the Year, failed to make the championship finals after being defeated by 15th-seeded Amy Stolz, 211-209, in the one-game elimination quarterfinals at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.
The Cheetah pattern, a PBA Experience condition designed to make bowling balls hook more, was effectively tamed by Feldman.
She was still able to throw the ball hard and straight, brining it back from the gutter.
Despite the loss, Feldman enjoyed the experience.
“Today was exciting. I hadn't been on a TV show in such a long time,” said Feldman, whose matches aired Sept. 30 on ESPN.
The fifth-place finish earned her $6,000.
Feldman, 31, is a 12-time winner on the PWBA Tour and had the first-ever nationally televised 300 game as a 21-year-old.
In her career, she amassed more than $550,000 and was even nominated for an ESPY Award.
During the U.S. Women's Open qualifying, Feldman was first among 65 players to pay a separate entry fee that allowed them to use their Women's U.S. Open scores in the PBA Women's Tour Trials.
She averaged a 212.38 in the opening block of qualifying and led all competitors with a 214.81 average in the second block.
“Only good things can happen from here,” Feldman said after the U.S. Women's Open. “I bowled well all week. I definitely can't complain.”
JUST MISSING THE CUT....
Ellison wins another title, named POY
One year after leading the Auburn football team to its first NYSPHAA Class AA state championship, the 2006 player of the year Quendel Ellison helped his new school bring home some hardware of its own.
Ellison rushed for 231 yards on 19 carries and found the end zone five times as Trinity-Pawling prep school blew past Phillips Academy 41-7 in the NEPSAC Class A Eton Estey Bowl in November.
During the nine-game season, Ellison racked up 190 carries for 1,394 yards and staggering averages of 7.3 yards per carry and 154 yards per game. He also found the end zone 23 times.
“(The championship game) was the last thing that was standing in our way,” Ellison said. “We went out there and took care of business.”
As for 2008, Ellison is on the wish list for many college coaches. Connecticut, Temple, Rutgers, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Hofstra are mong the schools that have expressed interest.
Delhi's Mason is NJCAA champion
Former Auburn cross country runner Chris Mason had a breakout season as a freshman at SUNY Delhi.
Mason was named a first team All-American and became an NJCAA national champion after finishing first (27:08) in the five-mile run at the Division III Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park.
He was the first Delhi freshman to win the race in 14 years.
“He's been outstanding for us,” Delhi coach Bob Backus said after the race. “He's been our No. 1 runner all season.”
In the team's 10 races, Mason was the No. 1 runner in nine.
“He knew when he came in that we had a good history here,” Backus said. “But we're really glad that he decided to come here.
Scherrer wins event, earns PGA Tour card
Tom Scherrer is back.
After four years on the Nationwide Tour, the Skaneateles native finished 20th on the money list and earned an automatic PGA Tour card for the 2008 season.
Scherrer, winner of the 2000 Kemper Open, made a run at returning to the PGA Tour in 2005 but didn't play well enough in the season's final events.
This season, Scherrer started slow but came on strong during the stretch run. On July 22, he won the Price Cutter Charity Championship by five strokes and made a hole-in-one during Friday's round.
It was his third career Nationwide Tour victory.
Before the season started, Dennis Holmberg expressed his desire to honor Leo Pinckney.
The Auburn Doubledays manager couldn't have scripted a better way to do so than what his team accomplished this year for the first time since 1973.
Nearly a year after the King of Baseball passed away, Holmberg's Doubledays took what was a slow start to the 2007 season and propelled it into a New York-Penn League Championship. Professional baseball in Auburn hadn't had a title since 1998, when the Doubledays split the honor with Oneonta, but this year the team brought it home as their own after a 4-1 win over Brooklyn.
“The first month of play, fundamentally we weren't very sound,” Holmberg said after the season. “It took about a month to address baserunning mistakes and fix our approach to hitting. We moved some guys in and around the lineup, pitchers were on pitch counts, there were rehab assignments and so forth. This year was a team coming to excellence and performing at a high level every night.”
The Cyclones had been statistically the best team in the league all season long, but it was the team with the best home record in the NY-P that walked away with the trophy in Brooklyn on Sept. 14. Behind a couple of two-run homers, courtesy of catcher J.P. Arencibia and second baseman Darin Mastroianni, and some stellar Brett Cecil and Alan Farina pitching, the Doubledays capped off an incredible season that included a sixth straight Pinckney Division crown.
“It's awesome,” Arencibia said after the title win. “The coaching staff, the fans - everything has been great. It's a great feeling to be a champion.”
With the way they played down the stretch, beginning in early July, the Doubledays were headed in the right direction for most of the season. They had a stranglehold on the division since July 6 and clinched another division championship under Holmberg with a 7-2 win over Jamestown on Sept. 1 - two weeks before Holmberg was able to honor his late friend in the best possible way.
“This is for Auburn,” Holmberg said in the midst of the championship celebration in the visitor's clubhouse. “This is for the people that work in the (Doubledays) office in Auburn, and this is for Leo. I said from the beginning that this season was going to be dedicated to Leo and it came to pass tonight.”
2. RYAN BREAKS STATE STRIKEOUT RECORD
By Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford / The Citizen
Anticipation and speculation surrounded one of high school softball's biggest records this year, but Jordan-Elbridge pitcher Colleen Ryan shrugged it off.
Ryan broke the New York State strikeout record on May 9 when she caught Marcellus batter Amy Sniffen looking in the fourth inning.
The Eagles lost the game, but gained a record holder, as it was Ryan's 1,279th strikeout of her varsity career. She overtook a three-year old record that was set by Jamesville-Dewitt's Sarah Reed.
“I wasn't a prodigy or anything,”Ryan said on May 9. “I definitely had to work on my pitching just like anybody else. I didn't even think about (the record) this year. I've always tried to take things game by game.”
Now a freshman at Division I SUNY Stony Brook, Ryan was diagnosed with a thyroid condition after the season that prevented her from a lot of time in the pitcher's circle.
She tossed 592 innings heading into her senior campaign, but managed just 99 more in her final season.
She finished the season with 173 strikeouts, stretching her state record to 1,285.
Ryan finished the season 10-4, with five wins coming by way of shutout.
“This is really good for our school,” Ryan said after breaking the record. “I'd like to hold the record, but there are a ton of good pitchers out there. Any one of them can just do what I did and go for the record too.”
Ryan also did a lot of damage at the plate in her senior campaign. She was named first team all-league and third team all-state by batting .516 with seven home runs, two triples, nine doubles and 33 RBIs on 33 hits.
“I put everything I had towards hitting the ball and that helped,” Ryan said after the season. “Since I was having so much trouble pitching, I just worked on my hitting more and got more into that side of the ball.”
3. LAKERS BID FOR THREE-PEAT COMES UP SHORT
By The Citizen staff report
Female varsity athletes at Skaneateles had their share of surprising - and not so surprising - success this year. But the most shocking moment came in a loss.
The two-time defending Class C state champion girls lacrosse team fell to Shoreham-Wading River, 11-9 at SUNY Cortland in the NYSPHSAA Class C Championship game on June 10.
It was only the second loss of the season for the Lakers, both to teams that went on to win state championships of their own.
Senior Libby Johnson led the Lakers in scoring in the game, with three goals and four assists, but for the first time in a long time, it wasn't enough to bring another state title win home.
“They have two losses this year to two state champions, that's it,” Lakers coach Bridget Marquardt said after the game.
“So I still think we are one of the top teams in the country. But we didn't play as well today. I told them they should be proud of themselves.”
Other Lakers teams were just as proud in 2007.
In the winter, not many teams expected the girls basketball team to finish among the best in the league.
Led by Caryn Crary, Skaneateles dominated its way to a 15-8 record, which ended in the Section III, Class B-2 finals with a 45-39 loss to top-seeded Clinton.
“We've got everything to be proud of, and nothing to be ashamed of,” Lakers coach Bob Braunitzer said after the loss. “We did so many great things throughout the course of the season, we just came up a little short.”
Braunitzer, who recently earned his 300th career basketball win, found more success with his softball team in the spring.
Two seasons removed from consecutive winless campaigns, the Lakers - who won five games during the regular season- rocked the Section III, Class B-1 playoff picture.
The ninth-seeded Lakers upset No. 1 Westhill 6-4 in extra innings in the first round, but fell 1-0, to No. 4 Solvay in the semifinals.
In the fall, the girls swim team earned their third-straight Section III, Class C title, sending several swimmers to the state meet.
An end of an era came just weeks earlier, when the girls cross country team lost their first dual meet in 15 years to Westhill.
Under coach Jack Reed, the Lakers went over 90 meets before falling to the Warriors.
“The girls were pretty beaten up,” Reed said afterward.
“We were just bloodied. It just wasn't pretty at all.”
4. AUBURN SWIMMERS CAPTURE SECTION CROWN
By Kristin Kowaleski-Wolford / The Citizen
The Auburn boys coasted to a 13-0 record in the pool during the regular season, enabling them to bring a secret weapon into the Section III, Class A meet.
By dominating other teams en route to a perfect season, including Liverpool, who the Maroons hadn't beaten in over a decade, Auburn kept their last event - the 400 freestyle relay - a secret from their competitors until it counted.
As it turns out, it mattered the most.
Without any divers on the roster, the Maroons were seemingly at a disadvantage heading into the last event of the championships.
Not just that, four of the Auburn's swimmers were eliminated from competition in the previous day's preliminary round.
Needing a first-place finish in the final relay to win their first sectional title in 11 years, Pat O'Donovan, Sean McNamara, Tristan White and Preston Chaffee swam a 3:16.53 to upset Jamesville-Dewitt by more than five seconds. The Maroons won the title with 325 points to J-D's 323.
“Going undefeated was the first goal, but this was always the ultimate goal,” Auburn coach Rich Hamberger said after winning the title. “It's been in their heads all year long and now it's the cherry on the sundae.”
Hamberger was the easy choice for Coach of the Year and six swimmers went on to compete in seven events in the NYSPHSAA boys swimming and diving competition.
O'Donovan, who competed in four events in states, made his mark by earning All-American consideration in the 100 backstroke (52.47) by coming in fifth, and the illustrious 400 freestyle relay team of 2007 earned an eighth place finish (3:18.42).
“Not only did we have the most kids here from Section III, but our kids finished better than other kids in the section,” Hamberger said after states. “We maintained from sectionals and I'm not unhappy. They swam well.”
5. FELDMAN ADVANCES TO U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN
By The Citizen staff report
Skaneateles bowler Michelle Feldman qualified second and advanced to the 2007 U.S. Women's Open in August.
Feldman, the 2007 Professional Women's Bowling Association Player of the Year, failed to make the championship finals after being defeated by 15th-seeded Amy Stolz, 211-209, in the one-game elimination quarterfinals at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev.
The Cheetah pattern, a PBA Experience condition designed to make bowling balls hook more, was effectively tamed by Feldman.
She was still able to throw the ball hard and straight, brining it back from the gutter.
Despite the loss, Feldman enjoyed the experience.
“Today was exciting. I hadn't been on a TV show in such a long time,” said Feldman, whose matches aired Sept. 30 on ESPN.
The fifth-place finish earned her $6,000.
Feldman, 31, is a 12-time winner on the PWBA Tour and had the first-ever nationally televised 300 game as a 21-year-old.
In her career, she amassed more than $550,000 and was even nominated for an ESPY Award.
During the U.S. Women's Open qualifying, Feldman was first among 65 players to pay a separate entry fee that allowed them to use their Women's U.S. Open scores in the PBA Women's Tour Trials.
She averaged a 212.38 in the opening block of qualifying and led all competitors with a 214.81 average in the second block.
“Only good things can happen from here,” Feldman said after the U.S. Women's Open. “I bowled well all week. I definitely can't complain.”
JUST MISSING THE CUT....
Ellison wins another title, named POY
One year after leading the Auburn football team to its first NYSPHAA Class AA state championship, the 2006 player of the year Quendel Ellison helped his new school bring home some hardware of its own.
Ellison rushed for 231 yards on 19 carries and found the end zone five times as Trinity-Pawling prep school blew past Phillips Academy 41-7 in the NEPSAC Class A Eton Estey Bowl in November.
During the nine-game season, Ellison racked up 190 carries for 1,394 yards and staggering averages of 7.3 yards per carry and 154 yards per game. He also found the end zone 23 times.
“(The championship game) was the last thing that was standing in our way,” Ellison said. “We went out there and took care of business.”
As for 2008, Ellison is on the wish list for many college coaches. Connecticut, Temple, Rutgers, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Hofstra are mong the schools that have expressed interest.
Delhi's Mason is NJCAA champion
Former Auburn cross country runner Chris Mason had a breakout season as a freshman at SUNY Delhi.
Mason was named a first team All-American and became an NJCAA national champion after finishing first (27:08) in the five-mile run at the Division III Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park.
He was the first Delhi freshman to win the race in 14 years.
“He's been outstanding for us,” Delhi coach Bob Backus said after the race. “He's been our No. 1 runner all season.”
In the team's 10 races, Mason was the No. 1 runner in nine.
“He knew when he came in that we had a good history here,” Backus said. “But we're really glad that he decided to come here.
Scherrer wins event, earns PGA Tour card
Tom Scherrer is back.
After four years on the Nationwide Tour, the Skaneateles native finished 20th on the money list and earned an automatic PGA Tour card for the 2008 season.
Scherrer, winner of the 2000 Kemper Open, made a run at returning to the PGA Tour in 2005 but didn't play well enough in the season's final events.
This season, Scherrer started slow but came on strong during the stretch run. On July 22, he won the Price Cutter Charity Championship by five strokes and made a hole-in-one during Friday's round.
It was his third career Nationwide Tour victory.
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are No comments posted.