Amherst Girls Softball 'A' holds skill competition

The Amherst Girls Softball "A" division (Kindergarten through first grade) concluded their season this past Saturday with the annual skills competition.

In the longest throw, Madison Kozlowski won the gold medal and Marina Faulise and Caroline Seaner took silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Jenna Lukomski had the longest hit for gold followed by Olivia Smith and Shea Warren for silver and bronze, respectively.

Cassie Neeley was the fastest base runner, earning gold. Victoria Bogucki and Therese Ford took home silver and bronze, respectively.

The Ironbirds, coached by Jeff Johnson, were comprised of Rosina Bumbaco, Sarah Foster, Monica Hammerl, Sarah Johnson, Michailey Kasprzyk, Hallie Kingsford, Lisa Pardee, Kaytlin Pytlik, Juliana Quebral, and Julianna Stroupe.

The Jaxx, coached by Joe Crimi, were comprised of Eva Arminan, MacKenzie Cannizzo, Taresa Crimi, Sarah Donaldson, Rachel Kowalski, Cassie Krzyzanowski, Madelyn Lemay, Jessica Sarac, Remy Small, Alyssa Special, Gaby Stern, and Laura Wannemacher.

The Lugnuts, coached by Scott Zak, were comprised of Marissa Camacho, Emma Clinton, Kylie Nelson, Gianna Pecoraro, Emily Schwarz, Kristin Stockman, Abigayle Strano, Camryn Warren, Marisa Warren, Shea Warren, Grace Young, and Athena Zak.

The Metz, coached by Kimberly Bogucki, were comprised of Isabella Bogucki, Victoria Bogucki, Elizabeth Charles, Deanna DiBlasi, Allison Farber, Maddie Farber, Allison Kingsley, Jenna Lukomski, Emily Schule, and Emily Segal.

The River Dogs, coached by Paul Ford, were comprised of Tess Andrews, Sophia Conte, Kelsey Domzalski, Marina Faulise, Therese Ford, Madison Kozlowski, Madeline Kraus, Caitlyn Kutis, Shaelyn Kutis, Sydney Lewandowski, and Samantha Wheeler.

The Rockhounds, coached by Kathleen K. Flemming, were comprised of Ally Calder, Katie Flemming, Chloe Hurrell, Julia Maines, Hanna Pawlowski, Jordan Preston, Charlotte Ryan, and Abigail Ward.

The Sand Gnats, coached by Melissa Ryan, were comprised of Sofia Carlo, Jenna Cavalieri, Kasey Denny, Lily Freeman-Striesel, Lily Hayes, Samantha Morrison, Bailey Ryan, Caroline Seaner, Olivia Smith, Lauren Solazzo, and Hailey Starbuck.

The Scrappers, coached by Dave Rusin, were comprised of Jordan Barlow, Skyla Floss, Lauren Iacuzzo, Emma Jennings, Molly Lee, Cassie Neeley, Jianna Pellicci, Emily Reynolds, Kyla Rusin, Rachel Steffan, and Kailynn Weisbeck.

' AA'

Storm vs. MuckDogs

In the final game of the season, the Storm hosted the MuckDogs and it proved to be an exciting game.

The inning opened with some terrific hits by the Storm's Joelle Giambra and Kristin Sickau. The Muck- Dogs kept the Storm at bay by making some great defensive plays to keep the scoring down in the first.

The second inning had the talents of Nicole Stuber and Leah Marsack making the first and second out consecutively to quickly end the inning. The third also had some great defensive plays by the Storm's Kady Ziminski, who, playing pitcher, stopped a ground ball and quickly got it to Nicole Stuber for an out at third. The last inning had a terrific stop by Stuber playing shortstop with a quick throw to Ashleigh Lymburner for an out at third.

The talents of MuckDogs Amanda Stockman and MaKenna Walp helped to round out their team, making this close game.

' AAA'

Mudcats 20, Express 6

Behind the three innings of one-run pitching by ace Laura Matthews, the Mudcats won their fifth straight game, derailing the Express, 20-6.

The Mudcats were very solid in the field with outstanding plays made by Katy Arthur, Jessie Rohl, Michelle Miranda, Haley Ernst, Gabi Smith, Jennifer Miranda, and Angel Criden. All of these girls along with Allison Fenter, Sam Klinkman, and Anna Kistner had their bats on fire.

The Mudcats improved their record to 8-3.

The Express were led by Sam Moon, Lily Markley, Ashlynn Kaczmarek, Jessica Higgins, Sarah Small, Sara Schleicher, Sydney Millmen, Maria Blasio, Stephanie Tirone, and Lexi Walker.

Volacanoes

The Volcanoes have had a year of development with most of the team being made up of fourth graders and everyone getting used to being pitched to this season.

Rachel Whalen, Emily Bitka and Abbey Kowalski have stood out as great pitchers this year with each making numerous strikeouts and keeping runs to a minimum. Whalen also caught a fantastic pop-up for an out while pitching against the Red Wings to make all three outs that inning. Emma Reidell, who has been stellar defensively all season, also made a great line drive catch at shortstop that game to end an inning. Some other defensive highlights this season occurred during a game against the Mudcats. Gabrielle Lindauer scooped a hard grounder at shortstop and made a great throw to Jordan Weinstein at second base to hold the Mudcats to no runs that inning and Bitka dove to catch a line drive at shortstop to end an exciting game.

Offensively, MaryAnn Webb has been the team's biggest slugger, racking up numerous doubles, while Allison Streng, Dani Burden and Emily Pawlowksi have all had consistent bats for the Volcanoes, contributing many RBIs MaryClare Hagadorn, Abby Schule, and Lily Cole have all been strong defensively, contributing at various positions throughout the season. The team closes out the season this week against the Rattlers, Owlz, and Lookouts.

'Major'

White Sox 15, Brewers 10

The White Sox ended the regular season on a high note with a 15-10 win over the Brewers.

Tori Mendiola recorded four strikeouts in her three innings of pitching and helped her team offensively by scoring three runs throughout the game. Audrey Yu came in to finish the game and pitched two strong innings. Yu struck out three Brewers.

The defensive highlight of the game helped end a Brewer rally in the third inning. Abbey Staebell was playing left center field when a line drive was hit up the middle with bases loaded. Staebell was able to settle under the hit and quickly throw the ball into second baseman Clare Costello, who tagged second base to complete the double play.

The offense was spread around as 11 of the 13 White Sox scored a run during the course of the game. Claire Haumesser contributed two base hits, a single and double, and was able to cross the plate twice.

Michelle Haumesser provided a single and scored one run. Lara Macdonald and Nicole Dukarm both proved to be patient batters as each of them were walked three times. Macdonald and Dukarm were able to score a run as well.