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The County's war dead, along with local veterans who served during past conflicts and died during the past year, were honored in a ceremony today at the War Memorial at St. Jerome's, located at Bank and Washington in Batavia. For each service member who passed away in the previous year, a flag was placed at the base of the War Memorial.
Perhaps the most bizarre ending to a game in organized baseball history occurred on Saturday at Dwyer Stadium in Batavia, and the video made ESPN and has gone viral online.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Hornell was up 5-4 and with Brady Prebalick at the plate and two runners on base, Hornell gets a called third strike, but the ball is in the dirt. The catcher appears to miss the tag attempt on the hitter as he starts to run to first but thinks he got the out. The umpire signals safe. The catcher sticks the ball in his back pocket, and the Hornell team starts celebrating an apparent championship win.
The Pal-Mac runners on first and second race around the bases. The only Hornell player, at first, who realizes the game isn't over is the second baseman, who rushes toward the plate, yelling and looking for the ball.
Both runners score. Pal-Mac wins 6-5 to take the Class B1 crown.
Hornell's coach Joe Flint told the Wellsville Sun, "I blame myself a little; maybe I could have gone out and argued it was a dead ball and kept the runner on third and said, ‘Hey, it’s tied now, put the runner on third and make them beat us.’ But we can’t blame the umpires; everyone is running on the field, and I’m not sure they knew how to handle it either. I’m not sure what else happened because I haven’t watched the video. Maybe I should have called for a conference and protested. I blame myself on that piece of it, maybe I could have done a better job.”
UPDATE: H/T Steve Ognibene for finding this explainer video.
Area veterans gathered at the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines Monument, also known as the Upton Monument, in Batavia this morning for a placing of a wreath on the monument in honor of Genesee County's war dead.
It is one of several Memorial Day services today. The Batavian will have more coverage of the various parades and ceremonies.
Saturday was quite the sports day for Notre Dame High School with both the baseball and softball teams winning championships.
When the teams returned to Batavia, they were met in the Eastown parking lot by Batavia PD patrols and a City Fire truck and given a championship escort through Downtown.
Flags hung in Downtown Batavia in honor of Memorial Day. Photo by Howard Owens.
Tomorrow, Memorial Day, is the day our nation honors the men and women who sacrificed their lives to help secure and protect our rights to individual liberty, to hold our own beliefs and define our own lives.
Here's a reminder of ceremonies and events taking place in Genesee County for Memorial Day:
7 a.m. – Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Genesee County Park, sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 193.
8 a.m. – Williams Park (Batavia) W.W.I Memorial. This memorial honors the 35 Batavians who gave their lives in WORLD WAR I.
8:30 a.m. - Batavia VA, at the main flagpole, sponsored by the VAMC.
8:45 a.m. (approx.) - NYS Veterans Home, at the main flagpole, sponsored by the NYS Veterans Home.
9:30 a.m. – Veterans Plot on Harvester Avenue. This memorial honors all war dead of all wars in Elmwood and St. Joseph’s Cemeteries.
10 a.m. - Upton Monument. This monument honors the dead of the Civil War, and all wars since.
10:30 a.m. – UMMC Jerome Center. This is the site of the Genesee County War Memorial, honoring all war dead from Genesee County.
Town ceremonies and parades:
ALEXANDER: Ceremony to take place at the Alexander Village Cemetery (a.k.a. Railroad Avenue Cemetery) at 11 a.m.
BATAVIA:Parade starts at 9:30 a.m., beginning at the East Town Plaza, traveling west along Main Street and ending at Alva Place.
BERGEN: Ceremony to take place at Hickory Park at 9:30 a.m.
BYRON: Ceremony to take place at Byron Cemetery at 11 a.m.
CORFU:Parade at 12 p.m. from Corfu Fire Hall on Route 33 to the Intermediate School on Route 77. Ceremony immediately following the parade.
ELBA: Ceremony at Maple Lawn Cemetery at 10 a.m.
LEROY:Parade at 10:30 a.m. from the American Legion to Trigon Park with a ceremony at Trigon Park at 11 a.m. immediately following the parade.
It was a sunny, windless morning when Jason Smith took his morning run through DeWitt Recreation Area, and he captured this photo of a glassy lake in the park.
Batavia already had a 4-2 lead when Giana Mruczek scored the second run on a two runs that scored on a Sophia Minuto base hit in the fifth inning. Photo by Howard Owens.
For the first time in a decade and the second time in program history, Batavia's softball players lifted a Section V trophy over their heads after beating Waterloo for the Class B1 crown, 7-2.
Giana Mruczek tossed a complete game three-hitter, fanning seven and going 1-3 at the plate and driving in a run. She was selected as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Libby Grazioplene went 4-4. Julia Clark had two stolen bases and scored two runs.
This was the third year straight that Batavia and Waterloo have clashed in sectional finals and the first time in those three contests that Batavia came out on top.
"To beat Waterloo is a big accomplishment," said Coach James Fazio. "I had a feeling that if we made it this far, it was going to be Waterloo again. And it was, thankfully, we're able to get the job done today."
A key difference this year, Fazio said, is Batavia took an early lead.
"They're such a strong hitting team from top to bottom that no lead to safe against them," Fazio said. "For once, we were able to get the lead on them, and that's been our struggle the last couple of years -- we always play from behind. But this time, we put them on their heels, and we were just able to hold on. They're a tough team, and we were fortunate enough to beat him."
Mruczek said the win felt really special because she and her teammates have worked hard and grown close.
"I think it's very heartfelt," Mruczek said. "This team has worked so hard for these past two years, and this team (Waterloo), they've always come for us. This was the third year playing them, and I think that we really wanted it so bad. This one is just what everyone deserved. I think it's great."
Clark said there was something special about beating Waterloo, given the history between the two teams.
"This means everything," Clark said. "We've fallen so many times to this team, and we don't see him in the regular season. So it's really this game or nothing. So we always have to put our all in."
The win was also special, Clark said, because of the decade between championship trophies for the softball team.
"We haven't won it all in a very long time," Clark said. "We're always division champs and stuff like that. But to finally win a sectional title for our school means a lot."
Other performance highlights:
Sophia Minuto, 1-3, two RBIs
Drew Stevens, 1-3, one RBI
Arianna Almekinder, 1-3, one RBI
Lyndsey Grazioplene, 1-3
Next up for Batavia: The Class B consolidation game against either Wellsville or Haverling on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Honeoye Falls-Lima HS.
Photos by Howard Owens. To view more photos, click here.
Arianna Almekinder popped up a bunt in the 7th inning that landed fair just out of reach of ....
... Waterloo catcher Logan Amidon.
Giana Mruczek tossed a complete game three-hitter, fanning seven.
Giana Mruczek
Sofia Branche scores.
Third baseman Hannah Carney charges toward the plate on a chop swing by Waterloo's Emily Plate.
Giana Mruczek takes a pitch.
Sophia Minuto fouls one off.
Hannah Carney throwing to first.
Kennedy Beniamino is out at first. Batavia's first baseman is Sophia Minuto
To help a friend with a project, I needed to head out to Oakfield to take some landscape photos, and Friday evening seemed like perfect weather for such an excursion.
To help a friend with a project, I needed to head out to Morganville in Stafford to take some landscape photos, and Friday evening seemed like perfect weather for such an excursion. I also stopped by the Stafford Country Club.
The Oakfield-Alabama Boys Tennis team was invincible until it wasn't.
The Hornets finish the season at 15-1 after droppingthe Class B3 Section V final to Cal-Mum 3-2.
Thursday's Games:
Preston Tobolski over Lorenzo Martelle 6-2, 6-1
Mason Cadieux lost to Nate Doll 3-6, 4-6
Randy McIntire lost to Oliver Johnson 5-7 (7-3) 6-0, 6-0
Carson Warner/Trevor Enes lost to Garrett Thompson/Jeremiah Anderson 6-2, 6-3
Tyler Jirovec/Colton Yasses over Michael Gere/Max Poray 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
This was a great final," said Coach David Carpino. "I'm extremely proud of our team. They are a great bunch of kids, and they had a great season. I will miss them!"
Batavia, the #2 seed in the Section V Class B Girls Softball tournament, beat Midlakes on Thursday to advance to the finals, where they will face #1 seed Waterloo on Saturday.
The final score was 5-4.
Libby Grazioplene was 2-4 with three RBIs, including driving in the winning run with a two-run single.
Julia Clark was 2-3.
Lila Fortes had an RBi while going 1-4.
Giana Mruzcek tossed a complete game for the win, striking out nine.
Saturday's game is at 11 a.m. at Webster Thomas High School.
Notre Dame, the #4 seed in Class D, jumped on top-seeded Keshequa early, scoring two runs in the first and two runs in the third inning and then held on for the 7-4 victory in the Girls Softball Section V semifinals.
Keshequa threatened with three runs in the 6th inning, aided by two Irish errors, but back-to-back strong plays by shortstop Katie Landers (6-3 each time) ended the Keshequa rally.
Loretta Sorochty pitched the complete game for the Lady Irish, going seven innings, giving up six hits, four runs (1 earned) and striking out six batters. Sorochty helped her own cause with 4 fielding putouts during the game.
Keshequa pitcher Aurora Sabins pitched a complete game, 7 innings, giving up 10 hits, 7 runs (4 earned) and struck out 11 batters.
Offensively for Notre Dame, four different batter had two hits each: Sorochty, Landers, Mia Treleaven and Emma Sisson.
Sorochty helped her pitching effort with a sixth-inning solo shot over the left field fence, along with a single, two runs scored, and one RBI. Landers had a double, single, one run scored and one RBI, Treleaven had a double, single and two runs scored, while Sisson had two singles. Kaydence Stehlar had a single, one run scored, and one RBI and Sonji Warner had a double and RBI
"The ladies are really playing as a team right now, and it is great to watch," said Coath Otis Thomas. "I told them the job wasn't finished tonight, we have one more game to get. We will enjoy this tonight but be back to work tomorrow to prepare for the finals on Saturday."
The Irish will play for the Class C Section V block at Filmore High School on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lyndonville.
