Saturday Roundup: Rain holds, records smashed in 91st Elks Spring Day as C-G claims top honors, Wellsville places 3rd overall, Hornell 4th; Fri/Scio staves off challenge from Avo-Pra, sweep twinbill
WELLSVILLE — It’s the oldest high school track and field invitational in all of New York State. Around here, it’s an event like no other.
Bright and early Saturday morning, the Wellsville Elks Spring Day had arrived in full force for its 91st annual installment. Nearly 20 schools, ranging from as far north as Barker and to as far east as Odessa Montour, all converged at one place and at one time to battle it out on the track and from the field for top honors in the event of the Spring.
With the rain holding off entirely, several meet records being smashed and many personal bests being achieved every step of the way, one team would emerge from the fog as this year’s grand champion. In the end, there was a changing of the guard between the top two teams from last season’s running — defending champion Pioneer and runner-up Canisteo-Greenwood.
Now, it was the Chargers who took command in the dead heat of battle across the board between the top five schools vying for the top spot, as they used an electric performance from their boys team, along with a strong fifth place finish from their girls team to assemble a 173.583-point first place conclusion to claim this year’s Elks Spring Day team championship.
Behind a plethora of secondary finishes, the Chargers recorded six first place finishes to propel their ascension to the top of the standings, with the boys team garnering four of them to lead the way. Amongst the winners were Carson Chaffee (100 dash), Dylan Depew-Cappadonia (3000 steeplechase), and a tie for the tallest height in the pole vault between Mathias Sharp and Will Hosmer, each reaching 12 feet. The team would also collect a victorious 400 relay finish from the team of Chaffee, Jonah Burns, Ashton Davis and Gavin Bob.
The Lady Chargers chipped in with two more wins of their own to aid their fifth place finish, as Kassidy Gardner (1500 run) and Kora Dininny (pole vault) each collected a win.
Following a second place overall finish from defending champion-turned-runner-up Pioneer, the Lions of Wellsville were in a neck-and-neck battle with the Chargers for most of the afternoon before a late surge by the Panthers allowed them to hurdle their way into the passenger’s seat. After it all, the team would settle on a third place finish with 160 points behind outstanding performances in both spectrums of competition.
Captaining the Lions boys team, JJ Howard would follow up his MVP performance from the field in the Hornell Invitational with another display of MVP greatness, as he picked up three first place finishes in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. The prior of the three events Howard would share top honors with Genesee Valley/Belfast’s Callahan Tallman, each recording a victorious height of 6-1.
Following up Howard was Xavier Scott on the track with the team’s final top individual finish, as he raced to glory with a 110 hurdles first place conclusion. Wellsville would also collect two relay victories along the way, with the team of Noah Joslyn, Kamron Dodge, Jack Davis and Collin Perkins all converging to score a 3200 relay win.
The 4x55 shuttle hurdle relay team of Scott, Howard, Davis and Evan Billings recorded the last win to finish off the Lions victories for the boys team.
As for the Lady Lions, they grab three more humongous victories led by perennial thrower Kaylee Oswald, who proceeded to sweep both events with her winning distances in the shot put and discus — the latter of the two events she would rewrite the history books with a brand new meet record of 121-5.
Oswald nearly garnered a second meet record, falling nearly five feet shy of smashing another of Sue Ann Livergood’s records, this one first being established in 1988 in the shot put event.
Brooklyn Dahlgren had the team’s last top finish, soaring to the winning height in the high jump for the Lady Lions, who finished just a single point shy of third place behind Pioneer, with 68 points.
In fourth place overall between their two teams, the Hornell Red Raiders witnessed five top individual finishes along with a pair of relay victories to help put the pieces of the puzzle together for another strong showing, including the Lady Red Raiders and their 86-point top finish. Helping lead the path forward were Ella White and Selena Maldonado, as the two used their speed to run fast and furiously to the finish line, where each of them crossed first to capture victories in the 100 and 200 dashes, respectively.
Hornell would also scavenge a win in the 400 relay from the team of White, Riley Harwood, Marianne Colson and Delainey Thompson.
The boys collected a pair of wins from Kellen Crowe to lead the field, as he claimed gold with his winning times in the 200 and 400 dashes on the track. Following up was a strong performance from Jake Phillips, who galloped his way to a 400 hurdles triumph.
Like the ladies, they too would collect a relay victory, as the team of Crowe, Phillips, Xzavier Patrick and Demayne Dixon came away triumphant in the 1600 relay.
Spring Day would also see some more incredible top finishes from even more local talent unravel across the morning and afternoon, with Avoca-Prattsburgh seeing two individual winners come back home victorious, as Madison Fitzwater and Olivia Kilmer won in the steeplechase and long jump, respectively.
Fillmore would join the party with a dynamic run from Henry Sardina, as he sped his way to the finish line with a winning time in the 800 run.
In the heat of competition, Springville-Griffith Institute’s Linnea Neureuther made some history herself in the team’s second place finish behind Hornell, as she smashed three meet records, which is a new meet record in itself, becoming the newest all-time leader in both the 100 and 400 hurdles, as well as the triple jump.
Before all of the action came to fruition at around 9:30 in the morning, Wellsville hosted their annual Senior Day celebration, as the boys and girls teams honored all 14 of their seniors for their endless and magnificent contributions to the program since the very beginning of their track and field journeys.
The boys team honored Joslyn, Thomas Cooke, Sean Driscoll, Nathaniel Flansburg, Aidan Jadwin, Ben Jordan and Landon Cinque, while the Lady Lions paid homage to their seniors Allie Bidzerkowny, Emily Budinger, Harmony Brantley, Kaylie Fuller, Grace Kinnicutt, Edahlia Sebastian and Lauren Viglietta.
Spring Day Combined Team Standings (Top 10)
Canisteo-Greenwood 173.583
Pioneer 166
Wellsville 160
Hornell 137
Springville-Griffith Institute 129
Letchworth 106.25
Fillmore 56
Cuba-Rushford 53
Avoca-Prattsburgh 51.583
Genesee Valley/Belfast 47
Spring Day Boys Team Standings (Top 5)
Canisteo-Greenwood 114.25
Pioneer 97
Wellsville 92
Letchworth 65.25
Hornell 51
Spring Day Girls Team Standings (Top 5)
Hornell 86
Springville-Griffith Institute 85
Pioneer 69
Wellsville 68
Canisteo-Greenwood 59.333
BASEBALL
Portville 7, Cuba-Rushford 3 (report will be available in Sunday’s roundup)
Lima Christian 20, Friendship/Scio 4 (F-5)
LIMA — The first inning of play was used to Lima Christian’s advantage right from the get-go on Saturday. Although visiting Friendship/Scio was able to work their way onto the board first, the massive response that the host Saints would provide would prove to be insurmountable, as they set the tone the rest of the afternoon to capture what was a 20-4 victory at RHAA Fields.
Lima Christian took advantage of everything they were granted across the afternoon, especially during their opening at-bats of the game, where they cemented a lead they never looked back from with 13 massive runs to evade an early 1-0 lead taken by Friendship/Scio. The Saints would collect six hits at the plate to aid their offensive presence.
For Friendship/Scio (0-15), the team collected four runs off six hits at the plate, with Cooper Greenman and his solid 2-for-2 outing leading the charge, as he posted two RBI and scored two runs. On the mound, Nick Sortore handed out a superb outing of relief, fanning five and walking three across three innings.
Up next, Friendship/Scio is back in action with a 5 p.m. visit from Alfred-Almond in Scio on Tuesday.
Friendship/Scio 1 02 01 – 4 6 6
Lima Christian (13)23 2X – 20 6 1
F/S – Matt Donohue (LP) (2K, 8BB), Nick Sortore (2) (5K, 3BB) and Cooper Greenman, Charlie Taylor (2).
LC – Ethan Briggs (WP) (5K, 2BB), George Kimball (5) (3K, 2BB) and Lemuel Fiegl.
SOFTBALL
Ross no-hits in Game 1, breaks strikeout record again in Game 2 vs. A-P
PRATTSBURGH — Is there anything that Nevaeh Ross can’t do?
On Saturday, Friendship/Scio’s flamethrower from the epicenter of the field had a road trip to remember. With a pair of games against Avoca-Prattsburgh on the docket, the senior phenom took care of business with a no-hit performance in game one and then another smashing of her strikeout record in game two to sweep the host Lady Titans.
“Both were really close games,” said Friendship/Scio coach Deb Warner. “We made contact with the ball, but we could not find the holes. They have a really sound defense, Avoca-Prattsburgh does. Nevaeh struggled at the plate but she really made up for it on the mound today. Morghyn hit it really well and she helped show some poise and leadership on the field. Overall, the girls hung tough going into extra innings in game two and at times, had to come from behind. They stayed focused to get both wins.”
To open the doubleheader up in what was a 3-0 shutout, Ross and the Friendship/Scio (14-3) defense helped set the tone immediately, as they held Avoca-Prattsburgh absolutely frozen at the plate behind six consecutive 1-2-3 frames of play — five of those all under the engineering of Ross, who struck out the Lady Titans side each time.
After the hosts shelled out five straight innings of their own to counter, the visitors in black and gold managed to force their way onto the scoreboard for the first time in the top of the sixth, scratching across a pair of runs, led by a sacrifice fly into the outfield from Morghyn Ross. To cement the win for good, Jadyn Wonderling scored the team’s final RBI in the top of the seventh inning.
Nevaeh Ross would go on to hold Avoca-Prattsburgh hitless at the plate, handing out 19 strikeouts to finish off a sublime first game of action. At the plate, Morghyn Ross led the bats with two of the team’s five hits.
The Lady Titans saw Meyah Putnam fan seven and walk one in her five-hit complete game.
In game two, history.
It was a bit of a different story to close out the afternoon in Prattsburgh, as Friendship/Scio and the Lady Titans traded blow for blow until the hosts managed to provide the game-tying run to force extra innings. In it, Ross was able to maintain her dominance to set a brand new strikeout record, all while scoring the team’s walk-off hit in the 10th inning to complete the sweep with a 3-2 win.
Each team across the first three innings of play would exchange a run, beginning with Avoca-Prattsburgh right in the opening frame, as they used a Friendship/Scio error in the field to bring their run across. The team in black and gold would follow a short time later with a game-tying RBI single off the bat of Jadyn Wonderling in the bottom of the second.
The momentum would remain with Friendship/Scio going into the fourth inning where they would take their first lead off some key special teams play before the shifting of power tilted back into the direction of the Lady Titans again in the sixth, tying the game up at two on another error by the Friendship/Scio defense to ultimately force extra innings.
After three straight shutout exchanges, Friendship/Scio got their first game-winning look with a pair of baserunners standing behind the Lady Titans defense. With the top of the order navigating their way to the front of the line, Nevaeh Ross would strike gold on a walk-off single to cement the complete sweep.
To go with the game-ending strike, Ross would collect her second win in absolutely dominant fashion, holding Avoca-Prattsburgh to one hit while striking out a season-high 26 — a record that will now stand as the second most in a game in New York State history, surpassing her previous mark from just over a week ago against Genesee Valley/Belfast, when she struck out 25.
To go with a 2-for-2 outing in game one, Morghyn Ross would go on to finish her day with perfection, recording a 3-for-3 stand at the plate. In all, Friendship/Scio’s offense collected seven hits against the Lady Titans.
As for the hosts, Meyah Putnam provided another solid start in the circle, handing out seven more chairs and walking three in her complete game across all 10 innings.
Friendship/Scio will close out their regular season back home with a 5 p.m. visit from Alfred-Almond on Tuesday in Scio.
Game 1
Friendship/Scio 000 002 1 – 3 5 1
Avoca-Prattsburgh 000 000 0 – 0 0 0
F/S – Nevaeh Ross (WP) (CG, 19K) and Morghyn Ross.
A-P – Meyah Putnam (LP) (CG, 7K, BB) and Brooke VanSkiver.
Game 2
Avoca-Prattsburgh 100 001 000 0 – 2 1 2
Friendship/Scio 010 100 000 1 – 3 7 5
A-P – Meyah Putnam (LP) (CG, 7K, 3BB) and Ellie Harrell.
F/S – Nevaeh Ross (WP) (CG, 26K) and Morghyn Ross.
Fillmore 7, Franklinville 2
FILLMORE — Just one day removed from their Prom celebration, the Lady Eagles of Fillmore shifted their focus back to the softball field with a visit from Franklinville in store for Saturday afternoon.
The two teams would deal back-and-forth jabs in the opening stages of battle, garnering multiple lead changes along the way. But after the Lady Panthers managed to tie the game back up, the Lady Eagles would find their momentum with the last five runs of the game in the middle frames, pulling away and out of reach to eclipse back above the .500 mark with a 7-2 home win.
“Saturday afternoon, the day after the prom, and our minds and movement on the field was a little lacking. But to have that and still pull out the victory, it shows that we are continuing to make progress,” said Lady Eagles coach Jon Beardsley. “We would have lost that game a month ago. Franklinville has been scoring some runs as of late, and today, I thought we played good defense behind Mylee’s (Miller) consistent pitching.”
Both teams were neck and neck across the opening sequences, trading a run in the first inning to deadlock the score right away. Following a quick 1-2-3 on defense, the Lady Eagles (9-8) went on to take the lead in the second with a two-out solo home run from Mattie McCumiskey.
But the lead would not last much longer, as Franklinville responded with a two-out hit of their own, courtesy of Olivia Frank, who blasted a base hit in the top of the third inning to make it a 2-2 game.
But the momentum would not hold for the Lady Panthers, as Fillmore went on to take over the game completely with the last five runs — two of them off errors in the fourth inning to regain traction of the advantage for good.
The Lady Eagles offense supplied five total hits at the plate, with Preslee Miller chipping in a big RBI double in the sixth inning to help cement the lead. Kylee Ellsworth added a hit and drove in a run, while McCumiskey coupled her home run with three more runs of her own.
On the mound, Mylee Miller was outstanding, holding Franklinville to just four hits across four strikeouts and four walks.
Fillmore is back on their home field Tuesday night in a 5 p.m. first pitch against Bolivar-Richburg.
Franklinville 101 000 0 – 2 4 4
Fillmore 110 212 X – 7 5 1
FRA – Kaelyann Graves-Decker (LP) (9BB), Aubrey McElroy-Ensell (4) (4K, BB) and Lilah Cudney.
FIL – Mylee Miller (WP) (CG, 4K, 4BB) and Oakley Frazier.
