Varsity golf team remains undefeated

The varsity golf team had two matches this past week with wins over Oriskany and Adirondack to keep them in first place in the North Division of the CSC League.

Tuesday, May 1, the team played Oriskany at their home course, the Shamrock, a par 35 course. The Town of Webb team had little trouble defeating their hosts, 185-198, to stay undefeated for the season. Colin Criss led all scorers with a 42 followed by Lexie Haehl with a 47, Corey Down had a 48 as did Adam Winslow.

Thursday, May 3, the team had their first home match of the season on Thendara’s fine par 36 golf course. It was a very nice day and the team was primed for a good showing on their own course against a key opponent, Adirondack. Earlier in the season, on April 18, Old Forge defeated Adirondack 185-186 to inflict their only defeat on them so far in a match held at Woodgate Pines.

As primed as the team was, by their own admission, they did not have as good an outing as they had hoped for. However, it was good enough to defeat Adirondack by, you guessed it, one shot. Old Forge tallied 187 points to Adirondack’s 188. Criss led all scorers with a 41 to give his team a four shot lead. The rest of the team only dropped three shots to their opponents and that kept the Town of Webb School alone in first place. Haehl shot a 46, Down had a 48 and Winslow and Evan Nahor each shot a 52 to tie for the fourth and final team score.

The team now looks good for league honors, but they still have to play two matches against a good Remsen Ram team. However, the Rams have already lost a match and it would seem that all our team has to do is win one of those two matches to win the title. They do have other matches that they should win but they cannot get too careless and think past their opponents.

New Hartford Invitational

Six members of the Town of Webb School track team took part in the 59th Annual New Hartford Invitational held last Friday, May 4, at the New Hartford Stadium. The idea is to bring these kids up against the best that the Central New York schools can offer and see how they stack up. Many times the kids surprise themselves and come up with some outstanding results.

Only two members of the team were able to score points as their efforts were not up to the class of this very competitive meet. They performed about as well as they have, with a few exceptions, but that does not measure up to the Class A and AA schools.

Ethan Kress was one of the two boys to score as he triple jumped 42’ to place sixth. The jump was his best of this season. Connor Rockhill came through the competition with some very strong marks. Rockhill started slowly as he did not place in the high hurdles—as expected. However, in the 400 hurdles, arguably the hardest running event in track and field, Rockhill placed third and broke the school record in doing so with an outstanding 57.69 time, a full second below the previous school record.

The co-holders of that record were Hans Schmid set in 1986 and Steve Berkstresser set in 1998. After running that hard race, Rockhill had to pole vault and he had enough left in him to clear 13’ 6” which tied him with a vaulter from Cicero-North Syracuse. Based on misses, Rockhill placed second.

The final outcome of the meet was a bit disappointing for our team and we hope that they learn much from the meet and work harder to improve themselves. Sometimes the best coaches we can have are the ones that beat us.

Boys varsity baseball

The boys’ varsity baseball team played two more league games this week with still another game being postponed due to no umpires available.

First, I will go back to a league game that I already reported on at Rome Catholic. Individual stats were not available at the time of their 12-8 loss. The game itself was not well played by either team. Old Forge pitching gave up 12 walks and Rome Catholic gave up nine walks. In the fifth inning alone, Old Forge was guilty of errors and some mental errors that gave Rome five runs without them getting one hit.

Offensively, the team was led by Griffin Kleps with two singles and a double driving in two runs and he scored two runs. John Gaffney had a hit, two RBI’s and also scored two runs. Tyler McGough had a single, one RBI and scored three runs. Austin Down and Garrett Pavlus each had a single and Pavlus had an RBI.

The next game was at home against Poland on Wednesday, May 2. Poland took control of the game early, had a bad fourth inning but then won the game going away, 12-3.

Poland had a four run lead going into the fourth and then, uncharacteristically, proceeded to play a bit sloppy in the field to help Old Forge to three runs and make a game of it. Parker Clemans had a key single in the middle of the rally. Poland made up for that inning by scoring five runs in the fifth to break the game wide open. They were helped by some errors by Old Forge who had a total of five errors for the game.

The offense was very quiet in this game with only four hits, one of which was a double by Gaffney.

Their last game of the week was at Remsen on Friday, May 4. Old Forge seemed to outplay the Rams throughout the game and had an 8-6 lead going into the last inning. They certainly had incentive to win as they lost a close one that they should have won earlier in the season at Old Forge. However, when a team losses as much as the Eskimos have, sometimes they do not feel that they can win. It seemed like that again as Remsen scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh with the winning run coming on a wild pitch.

Offensively, Old Forge out hit Remsen 12-7, but, they committed six errors and most of the runs that the Rams scored were unearned. When I get the stats on who got the hits, I will put that in the next column. The team now is 0-6 in the league and 1-7 overall.

Girls varsity softball

A lack of hitting and hitting in the clutch was the main reason that the girls’ varsity softball team lost both league games this past week against Poland and Remsen.

Wednesday, May 2, the team dropped an 8-2 game to Poland before their home crowd. An excellent pitching game and fine fielding plays developed during the first four innings of the game as the two teams entered the fifth inning all tied at one each. Up to that point, Old Forge had the better chances of scoring more runs but, they could not get that one timely hit. The first inning was an example of that. Andrea Frey led off the inning with a bunt single, Samantha Notley walked and Katie Connell singled in Frey. With no outs and two on, a big inning seemed possible. However, the next two girls struck out followed by a walk to Shelby Egnaczyk to load the bases. Haley Josephson hit the first pitch delivered to her to straight away centerfield for the final out. Had that well struck ball been in the gap either way, it would have been a bases clearing extra base hit. That was the last big opportunity that they had and Poland finally capitalized on their opportunities in the fifth inning to score four runs and capture the victory. Old Forge was limited to just one harmless single after the first inning.

Hitting woes continued on Friday, May 4, as they traveled to Remsen in hopes of redeeming themselves for a poor earlier game against the Rams. They played better but could not get anything going offensively as they dropped another league game, 3-1.

Again, they had a rally going in the first inning, but, could only get one run across the plate and that was it for them offensively. Again, a hitter left the bases loaded as she grounded out. Jessica Menges pitched well enough to get a win, but without run support, it becomes very difficult. The offense was led by Menges and Connell who had two hits each.

Boys modified baseball

The boys’ modified baseball team played two home games this past week against Remsen and Oriskany.

Friday, May 4, the team battled against Remsen and pulled out a thrilling 14-11 victory over the Rams. Earlier in the game, Old Forge had good chances to score, but could not put it all together for a big rally. Finally, in the sixth inning, Old Forge finally did just that and when the inning was over, they took over the lead with a 7-run rally.

Offensively, the team was led by Cy Barkauskas and Connor Glasser with a single and a double each. Carter Lawrence had a single and scored three runs.

Saturday, May 5, the team hosted a fine Oriskany team and lost that game 13-1. At the end of the fourth inning, the score was 1-0, Oriskany. However, Carter Lawrence, the pitcher of record, who had been pitching so well, seemed to tire in the fifth as Oriskany broke the game wide open with an eight-run inning.

The team had trouble hitting against Oriskany as they were limited to singles by Barkauskas and Zach McGough.  

Girls modified softball

The girls’ modified softball team opened their season of play by playing three games last week.

Wednesday, May 2, they played their opening game at Remsen and the team showed their nerves as they fell behind the Rams 9-1 after two innings of play. Old Forge then proceeded to score 20 runs in the next five innings to win their opener, 21-13.

It should be noted here, that a new rule has entered into modified softball play. For the first six innings of play, a team will hit until three outs are recorded or until they score five runs, whichever comes first. In the seventh, and last inning of play, it reverts back to normal softball rules.

After the second inning, the girls also played better in the field as they only allowed Remsen four runs in the last five innings of play. Madison Rice and Melissa Rockhill shared the pitching duties. On offense, Rockhill scored five runs and hit two doubles; Emily Hoffman scored four runs, had a double and knocked in three runs; Rice, Ally Cooper and Mara Gaffney all scored two runs each and each had an RBI. In addition, Melanie Levi and Kalyn Olney each scored two runs and Briana Brownsell and Chloe Brosemer both scored a run.

Remsen had their chance to get even with Old Forge on Friday, May 4, but it ended up with the young Eskimos winning their second straight game, 23-16. In this game, Coach Kristin Armendola, felt her team played an even better game and saw some nice team work and a true sense of how to play the game.

Rice and Gaffney divided the pitching with Rockhill leading the offense with a double, three RBI’s and scored three runs. Hoffman and Rice also scored three runs with Cooper, Gaffney, Brownsell, Ashley Haynes-Eisenhart, Mickayla Abrial and Levi all scoring two runs and Sandie Delmarsh and Alex DiOrio each scoring one run.

The third and last game of the week was played at home against Oriskany on Saturday, May 5. In a very exciting game and finish, Brownsell singled in Levi with the winning run in the last inning of play. The final score in this high scoring game was 22-21.

The offense was led by Rockhill with two doubles, two RBI’s and four runs scored and Hoffman who had a long triple, four RBI’s and she scored three runs. Rice, Brownsell and Levi all scored two runs and each had an RBI with Gaffney scoring two runs. Scoring one run each were: Cooper, Olney, Chelby Simpson, Rubyor, Abrial, Montana Burrell and Haynes-Eisenhart.

The team now enters this week of play with a very nice 3-0 record and high hopes of improving on that.

Boys varsity track

The boys’ varsity track team took part in a meet at Remsen Monday, April 30 with Poland also taking part. Old Forge had no trouble fighting against the inclement weather and their two foes as they rolled to victory over both schools.

The team was in complete command of the meet from start to finish and won every event but one in keeping their undefeated season going. They also posted some fine times, distances and heights to go along with that. Lance Frymire won the 100 in 11.8 and took second in the 400 in 57.6. Kevin Kress was first in the 200 in the fine time of 23.2 and won the high hurdles in 15.8, 3/10 of a second off the school record. Trevor Godemann won the 400 in 53.0 and took second in the 200 in 23.9. In the distance running, Henry Uzdavinis won the 800, Trevor Rice won the 1600 and Tayler Schmid won the 3200. Connor Rockhill won the 400 hurdles in 60.6 and placed second in the high hurdles in 16.4.

In the field events, Cody Earl placed second in the shot put, Ethan Kress won the discus at 112’1” and tied for first with his brother, Kevin, in the high jump. It was the first time this year that Ethan had high jumped and the two Kress boys both cleared 6’. Dane Daiker cleared 5’6” to place third. Godemann won the long jump with a 19’ 7 1/2” jump and the triple jump with a 42’ 1” jump. Ethan Kress jumped 40’ 1 1/2” to place second in the triple. Rockhill won the pole vault at 12’ 6” with Kevin Kress placing second and Daiker was third.

On Wednesday, May 2, they traveled to Canastota to participate in a meet involving seven schools. Canastota, being the host school, scored it all on dual meets. Information on the meet is still coming in and it involves what I believe to be a total of 35 different combinations of dual meets. The Town of Webb Schools is involved in six of them and Coach Tim Leach was able to get most of the results for me to figure out the scores for only our school. The results left little doubt that Old Forge won all six meets.

Old Forge’s closest competition came from New York Mills with their strong running team and much better depth of running athletes. The Mills took charge of the sprints and distance running and used the depth of their fine team to sweep all of the relays. However, Old Forge, as they did in an earlier encounter with the Mills, came back with a very strong showing in the field events to win the meet 80-59. Old Forge was behind in the running events by a count of 56-30. Old Forge defeated Canastota, the fourth school they have defeated out of Division II which is made up of Class B and C schools. That score was 99-31 and they also defeated Oriskany 93-40. The other three schools—Remsen, Poland and ODY—were far back.

The highlight of the meet was another record breaking performance by Rockhill in the pole vault. Rockhill upped his own record to 13’ 9”. Rockhill also won the 400 hurdles and placed second in the high hurdles and the high jump. The top places that I am giving is against all of the schools, not just one. Kevin Kress won the high hurdles and the high jump and placed second in the pole vault. Godemann won the 400 dash and the triple jump and took second in the long jump. Ethan Kress placed second in the shot put and the triple jump and won the discus throw and the long jump. Other top three finishers were Daiker who placed third in the 400 hurdles and the high jump, Earl was third in the shot put, Frymire was third in the pole vault and Schmid lowered his time in the 3200 run by over 32 seconds as he turned in a fine time of 11:35.1 to place second—not bad for an eighth grader.

In all, the team showed a general improvement in their performances this past week and must continue to work hard if they hope to achieve the goals that they have set their sights on.  

Girls varsity track

The girls’ varsity track team, following the same schedule as the boys, also had a meet at Remsen and at Canastota this past week.

In the Remsen meet, Remsen won the meet with Old Forge coming in second over Poland. Top three performers on the team were turned in by Caitlin Bailey who won the high hurdles in 17.3 and second in the 400 hurdles in 75.6. Jessica Hannah placed second in the high hurdles in 18.3 and second in the high jump at 4’ 2”. Daria Orekhov placed second in the 100 meter dash in 14.3 with Sarah Branch also running the 100 in 14.3 and placing third. ranch also placed third in the 200 meter dash. Maddie Phaneuf won the 1500 run in 5:10.3, Danielle Gibbs placed third in the 400 in 69.6; Megan Greene placed second in the 3000 meter run in 13:28 and Lauren Holt won the high jump at 4’ 8”, placed second in the long jump and second in the triple jump.

They are still tabulating the results of the girls meet at Canastota and no team scores can be given. I have the results of all events but only the top three finishers which would not be enough to figure the team scores against anyone. They definitely lost to one of the teams—Remsen—and they definitely defeated Poland and ODY. The other three will be close between Canastota, New York Mills and Oriskany. If they forward the final results from Canastota, I will certainly pass that information on in the next edition of the Express.

Town of Webb athletes who finished in the top three overall are Bailey who won the high hurdles and 400 hurdles in 17.9 and 71.7 respectively. Phaneuf was another double winner as she won the 1500 in 5:14.8 and ran for the first time in the 3000 meter run and took first place with a 12:15.1 time. Hannah placed second in the high hurdles, Branch was third in the 200 and Holt placed second in the long jump with an improved 13’ 6 l/2”, third in the triple jump with 30’ 1 1/2” and third in the high jump at 4’ 6”.