Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity loaned their construction expertise to the Batavia Girls Fast Pitch Softball League on Saturday at Lyons Park on Edwards Street to build a new equipment shed for the Stingers.

The league supplied the building material and the Batavia Business and Professional Women's Club provided lunch for the volunteers.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press release:

Notre Dame won its eighth straight game on Thursday, downing league rival Elba 13-2.  

The Irish's record improves to 8-1 with the victory.  

Ace, Loretta Sorochty pitched a complete game no-hitter, with 0 earned runs, two walks allowed and striking out 17 batters.  

Offensively for the Lady Irish, Amelia Sorochty had 3 hits, 1 run scored and 1 RBI.  Cayleigh Havens, Katie Landers and Mia Treleaven each had 2 hits apiece.  Havens also had 2 runs scored, and an RBI, Landers scored 3 runs and added an RBI, and Treleaven had a double, 1 run scored and 2 RBIs.  Emma Sisson, Sofia Falleti and Anna Panepento each contributed a hit.  

"I'm happy with the overall performance of the team tonight, we hit pretty well, ran the bases well and got another strong performance from our ace pitcher," said Coach Otis Thomas. "It's always nice to see one of our pitchers get a no-hitter.  We are on a bit of a roll now and hope we can continue it with three league games over the next couple of days."

Music Director Ric Jones promises no clouds will obscure the beauty of Genesee Chorale's spring program -- Eclipse.

The 12-song concert takes its theme from the recent total solar eclipse that passed over the United States, including Western New York, opening with "Measure Me, Sky." 

Other titles in the show include "Canticle of the Sun," "Song to the Moon," "Light Beyond Shadow, "Day of Fire and Sun," "Capture the Sun," and "You Are the New Day."

Three songs are performed in total darkness to help the concert mimic the experience of a total eclipse.

Eclipse opened Friday evening in the auditorium at Pavilion High School. Its second performance is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday at St. James Episcopal Church, 405 East Main St., Batavia.

Photos by Howard Owens

A better spot with more room was a strong incentive to change locations, said Ray Smith, owner of Smith's Great Outdoors, which sells most things any dedicated hunter or fisherman might need.

For the past few years, Smith's has been located at Lewiston Road and Veterans Memorial Drive, near Applebees.

The Batavia Players production of “Evita,” hitting the 56 Main Theater stage this weekend, is high energy, said director Pat Burk.

There is nonstop singing and frequent dancing, and the main character, Kristen Gelia's Eva Peron, has 15 costume changes.

"Evita is very tough because she's rarely offstage," Burk said. If she's offstage, it's for 30 seconds. She literally sings over half the score, so it's a very difficult role. You need a strong voice, strong acting skills, and the ability to be very quick, manipulate, and move quickly."

Buffalo-Native Timothy Onello has been named president and CEO of Chapin International, taking over from Jim Campbell, who is retiring.

Onello is taking over a company that now has production facilities in the U.S. and overseas but was founded in Oakfield 140 years ago.

The firm is celebrating its 140th anniversary in June. 

From 2020 until February of this year, Onello was VP and general manager of ITW, a Fortune 200 company. He was based in San Luis Obispo, Calif.   Prior to joining ITW, he spent nearly 12 years with JPW Industries in Nashville, rising to the position of VP and general manager.

He has MBAs from Thunderbird School of Global Management and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a bachelor of science in marketing and psychology from Northern Michigan University.

He's also held positions at Hilti Tools, Positec Tools, and Irwin Industrial Tools.

Chapin manufactures sprayers, broadcast spreaders, handheld spreaders, ATV sprayers, backpack sprayers, and specialty sprayers.

The Elba Lancers won their match against the Attica Blue Devils with a score of 3-2.  

For the Blue Devils, Kathryn Metzger beat Jason Row 7-5, 6-4 at first singles. Joaren Anetrini beat Alexa Ocampo 6-4, followed by a tiebreaker score of 7-3 to take the match to second singles for the Blue Devils.  

The Lancers, however, took the remaining three matches. Clara Torrey won in third singles with a score of 6-0, 6-1 over Joseph Tarapacki.  

At first doubles, Abrahaam Izucar Hernandez and Alex Mendoza defeated Ruby Baratta and Ellie Gominiak 6-4, 6-1. 

In second doubles, Amy Garcia-Vasquez and Lucy Torrey won 6-0, 6-2 over Brooke Luck and Juliana Keicher.  

At only 61, Steve Hyde isn't planning a second career after his final days with the Genesee County Economic Development Center; he's planning to try out an actual retirement -- for awhile, at least.

"My kind of core values in retirement, I think are, I want to spend more time with my family, do a little traveling," Hyde said in an exclusive interview with The Batavian on Monday. "I'll try to be around to help out, but it's time to step away from the limelight and the leadership role a little bit."

Hyde has led the EDC for 21 years, overseeing the construction of eight shovel-ready industrial parks, including WNY STAMP, the Genesee Valley Agribusiness Park, Apple Tree Acres, Buffalo East Tech Park, and Gateway I & II corporate parks, among them. During that time, GCEDC has assisted more than 500 projects, from building expansions to whole new factories, worth a combined $2 billion-plus of investments leading to the creation of thousands of new jobs and increased tax revenue for municipalities and school districts.

Two men in Le Roy are accused of providing marijuana to a student after initially connecting with the teenager through Snapchat.

Asa A Wooten, 20, and John M. Reese, 34, are both charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Neither man has a permanent residence.

On April 22, the Le Roy Police Department was informed of possible drug activity in the area of the Woodward Memorial Library and Wolcott School.

The child receiving the marijuana was under 17 years of age, according to police.

Wooden and Reese allegedly first made contact with the child through Snapchat.

They were arrested on April 24, arraigned, and issued orders of protection.

The Le Roy Police Department encourages parents to talk with their children about the dangers of drug use and of interacting with strangers on social media.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Officer William Riley at 585-768-2527.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley recognizes a great wrestler when he sees one -- Hawley was himself a high school wrestler, good enough to make it to Division 1 in college before rib injury cut short his career -- so after Casper Stewart became Batavia High School's first state champion in wrestling, Hawley decided to deliver a special Assembly Proclamation to Stewart.