Wednesday, May 2, 2018

High school this 'n' that

Troy High's softball team snapped its losing streak in grand fashion on Tuesday (pun intended) with a 12-0 win over Shaker. Serafina French twirled a complete game 3-hitter, while Maddie Rifenberick provided all the offense French needed with a grand slam homer. It's just the 2nd win in Suburban Council play for Troy this season in what has been a rebuilding year for coach Sean Geisel.

Meanwhile, the lacrosse team fell, 10-4, to Christian Brothers Academy, also on Tuesday. The two schools' baseball teams will meet today, as the Flying Horses will try to pick up their 2nd win for 1st year coach Chris Strack.

It turns out that former coach William Whitty quietly left after last season to become an assistant principal at Mohonasen. It's not just because of the embargo against El Cheapo Press by the school, but I didn't know about this until last week when I did some digging of my own on an unrelated matter.
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Part 2 of the annual Colonial Council Battle of the Cadets takes place today at Albany Academy as coach Dave Rider's club welcomes LaSalle. Both teams were victorious on Tuesday. LaSalle beat Voorheesville, 7-4, and will look to avenge a 19-0 beatdown at home last week.

As for Academy, there were some tense moments Tuesday at Knickerbocker Park. Playing their 2nd game in North Troy in as many days (Monday's rematch vs. Lansingburgh was moved to the 'Burgh because Academy's home field wasn't ready due to recent rains), the Cadets blew a 5 run 5th inning lead, then came back to beat Catholic Central, 16-10. The contest took exactly three hours to play, not just because of all the scoring, but because there were some issues between the plate umpire and certain of the Cadets, particularly star third baseman Brett Young. The Virginia Commonwealth-bound senior went 1-5 with 3 strikeouts and a hit by pitch, avoiding the dreaded golden sombrero (4 K's in a game) on a disputed play in the 5th.

Here's what happened. It looked as though Young had either been hit for the 2nd time (CCHS pitchers plunked about a half dozen Cadet batters in the game), or the ball trickled into fair territory off his bat. The plate ump, reportedly, had been giving Young grief the entire game, basically baiting him in major league terms. CCHS made a play, catcher to first, but it took about 5 minutes to sort the whole thing out.

In Young's last at bat in the 7th, he was called out on strikes for the 3rd time, but observers say the pitch was well outside. We've seen this happen in the college & pro games a lot in recent years. The feeling I have is that if the ball crosses the strike zone, no matter how far outside it is, the ump's judgment often goes in favor of the pitcher. Sure, several Academy parents were upset, but in the end, the Cadets remained undefeated in league play.

After hosting LaSalle today, the Cadets will have Thursday off before playing Ichabod Crane on Friday and Cohoes on Saturday (weather permitting). A rematch with CCHS will be sometime next week.
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For whatever reason, Spectrum News has pulled the plug, at least for now, on the next-day replays of Toyota Sports Night, their 15 minute sports capsule, which doesn't cover everything. Sounds to me like Spectrum might consider expanding the show to a full half hour or better to accomodate their Weather on The 1's reports. They'd be better served in the long term by doing so.
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Add the lack of tarpaulin to the list of missing amenities for high school baseball/softball in Section 2. As noted above, Albany Academy's home field was unplayable Monday, forcing their game vs. Lansingburgh to be moved to North Troy. Again, it's a school budget issue that needs to be addressed yesterday. Have to imagine the tarp was on the field at Bruno Stadium Friday & Monday, as the 2nd week of Coaches vs. Cancer finally was played on Tuesday. Unfortunately, rain is in the forecast again for this Friday. Stay tuned.

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