Sunday, April 30, 2023

April Ends With A Big Baseball Win

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Photo: Gowanda’s Tyler Smith (#15) slides into home to tie the April 29 home game versus Roy-Hart in the 7th inning. Smith scored on a Logan Ruff sacrifice bunt. Seen in the background, heading to 3rd base, is Carter Capozzi (#21).

A cool and often damp end to April didn’t interrupt the sports schedule. With the exception softball, with no scheduled games, all off the Spring sports teams saw their last action of the month.

Saturday, April 29, saw the best Gowanda effort of late April. The Gowanda Varsity baseball team hosted Roy-Hart for a non-league game. Both teams came into the game with a 6-1 overall record that proved to be as close as might be expected.

Gowanda took an early lead in the 1st inning as both Alex Pachucinski and John Ondus scored after being put on base via walks. Pachucinski had stolen both 2nd and 3rd base before he and Ondus both scored on a Carter Capozzi two RBI double. After a scoreless 2nd inning, Roy-Hart rallied back to tie things at 2. Gowanda pulled back into a lead at 4-2 with Drew Shull and Blake Herman scoring in the 4th inning. Both teams added single 5th inning runs leaving Gowanda still up by two runs. Roy-Hart scored one in the 6th and two runs in the top of the 7th inning, taking their first lead of the game. In the bottom of the inning, Gowanda’s leadoff batter, Tyler Smith, was walked. Tyler (pictured above) scored on a Logan Ruff bunt while Ruff was being thrown out at 1st base. Going into extra innings tied at 6, the game tightened up going scoreless for two innings. The stalemate was broken in the 10th inning as Roy-Hart, with bases loaded, scored just a single run. Gowanda needed a run to tie or two to win in the bottom of the inning. They got those two runs on a ground out and an RBI double by Cole Herman. That ended the game with a 8-7 win.

Gowanda’s boys and girls Varsity lacrosse teams both had tough outings to end the month. Starting on April 28 when the boys hosted Salamanca. In took just 13 seconds for Salamanca to get an opening goal and they were up 3-1 before Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens scored with 8:28 left in the 1st quarter put Gowanda on the board. Gowanda ended the quarter down 7-1 and 12-3 at halftime. The 3rd quarter was Gowanda’s best of the game as Stevens, Cashis Montour and Evan Fort all scored in the period. The game eventually ended in a 19-8 Gowanda loss. Leading the Gowanda offense were Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens (3 goals, 3 assists) and Nate warrior (2 goals). Also scoring a single goal for the team was Jessup Stevens. Gowanda’s main goalie, Faolan Quinn, faced 21 shots making 5 saves. Also in goal, Alanson Stafford made 1 save on 4 shots.

On April 29, the Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team hosted Lewiston-Porter. Their ongoing issues continued as they fell into an 11-3 hole by halftime. In a closer final half, Lew-Port slightly increased their lead outscoring Gowanda 6-4. The Gowanda scoring was led by 8th grader, Cadence Luther, with 3 goals in the 17-7 loss. Also scoring for the team were Ke’ya Stevens (2 goals, 1 assist), Alaina Kaczmarczyk (1 goal) and Aurora Stevens (1 goal). In goal for the Gowanda girls was Nina Coulon who made 5 saves on 22 shots. While the goal total for the Gowanda girls remains low, they remain very effective on the few shots they take. In this game, Gowanda scored on 7 of their 15 shots on goal.

In other sports news, Gowanda track was represented at the Dunkirk Invitational on April 28. In tough competition, the Gowanda boys were 15th of 16 teams scoring 2 points. In 16th place was Springville with a single point. With a Top 10 finish for the Gowanda boys was Chase Bolen (7th, 1600m, 5:01.11). The Gowanda girls finished 10th Place of 16 teams with 15 points. Gowanda girls with Top 10 finishes in an event were Crissa Scanlan (7th, shot put, 28-11; 3rd, discus, 83-5), Autumn Pupo (5th, 800m, 2:40.71; 8th, 1500m, 5:45.16) and Rhianna Woods (16th, 100m dash, 14.53; 7th, 200m dash, 29.72; 14th, long jump, 12-9.50)

Finally, Week 2 results are in for the Spring trap season and Gowanda is still in their usual spot in 1st Place in 1A Conference 11. Gowanda’s Week 2 score was 880.50 for a season total of 1,790.50. That slightly increased their lead over 2nd Place Hammond Central School who scored 862.50 in Week 2 for a total of 1,718.50. Tied for 2nd Place in conference with a Week 2 score of 47.50 were Gowanda’s Daniel Stang and Zayne Laskey. Their score was just short of Mason Bush’s (Penn Yan Academy) 1st Place score of 48.00. Other Top 10 Gowanda boys were Daniel Humphrey (#6 tie, 45.00) and David Dirienzo (10th, 44.00). On the girls side, Gowanda’s Maddison Smith was #2 in conference with a score of 41.00.

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