Gowanda Small Town Times

Photo: Gowanda’s Lily Bobseine, #33, is seen heading for home base in the 4th inning vs. Falconer. The resulting collision would see both Bobseine and the Falconer catcher down on the ground for several minutes while being attended to. Bobseine would be called out on the play and both players did eventually return to the game.

April 24 was a cold day that never made it out of the 40s. Both the Gowanda Varsity baseball and softball teams had home games just across from the high school building while the Varsity girls lacrosse team traveled to Clarence. It was a rough afternoon for all except for the baseball team.

At the baseball game, Gowanda played host to a Jamestown team that had a terrible 1st inning. Several times during the inning Jamestown’s throws to 1st base were off target allowing Gowanda runners to have a field day on the bases. The Jamestown pitcher faced 16 batters, giving up 4 walks, before escaping the inning. Just one example of the comedy of errors came when two Gowanda runs scored on a Brayden Smith bunt for a single as the catcher overthrew 1st base. At the end of the inning, Gowanda was up 10-0.

The game would be called in the 5th inning under the 10-run rule with Gowanda picking up an additional 6 runs to 4 for Jamestown. Leading the Gowanda offense was Cole Herman (2 for 3 with four RBIs), John Ondus (3 for 4 with two RBIs), Tyler Smith (3 for 3 with two RBIs). Blake Herman and Brayden Smith were both 2 for 2 with two RBIs. Cole Herman and Drew Shull combined on a five-hitter with eight strikeouts and nine walks for Gowanda.

Falconer was at Gowanda on the 24th for a non-league Varsity softball game. The leadoff batter for Falconer singled and scored as the next batter doubled. A strikeout followed by a double play from 1st to 2nd base brought Gowanda up to bat. After the first two Gowanda batters registered outs, Addison Kota was at bat driving the ball over the fence in center field. That made her total for the year now 3 That tied things at one after one inning. The second inning went scoreless. After 3 walks and a pair of singles in the 3rd inning, Gowanda swapped out their pitcher putting Lily Bobseine on the mound. She would give up an RBI single before locking down three straight strikeouts ending a 3-run Falconer inning. Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens singled in the bottom of the inning and would eventually score on a Kailyn Farner single. That was all Gowanda managed as Falconer used three straight strikeouts to end the inning with 3 Gowanda runners on base. Things tightened up at that point and two scoreless inning followed. In the 4th and 6th innings, Gowanda again left 3 runners stranded on base. With Falconer adding four runs onto their total in the 6th inning Falconer held a 8-2 lead going into the final inning. Gowanda went with a third pitcher in the 5th inning putting in Hailey Christopher. After striking out the first batter she faced, she would give up three singles before escaping the inning with just a single Falconer run scored. In the bottom of the inning it was Addison Kota hitting a double to deep left field to start things off. The next two Gowanda batters would fly out. Kots came home on a Holland Browning double to just left of center field. That was all Gowanda could manage as the game ended in a 9-3 loss. Addison Kota led the Gowanda attack with a home run and a double. Also featured in the Gowanda offense were Emily Pound (a double), Jada Geiger (3 hits, including a double). Holland Browning (a double) and Lily Bob seine (a double).

The Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team had their hands full at Clarence. They were down 15-1 by halftime. Gowanda added another goal in the 2nd half while Clarence padded their score with five for a 20-2 final. Gowanda goals were scored by Aurora Stevens (1 goal, 1 assist) and Ke’ya Stevens (1 goal). Once again, Gowanda’s Freshman goal keeper, Nina Coulon, faced a barrage in the game. In a valiant effort, she did come up with 15 saves on 35 shots on goal.

The Gowanda Trap team has started the Spring season an just released to following report for Week 1:

We are pleased to announce that we are in first place for score week 1!!!

It was a very close score to the number 2 team, Hammond Central 910 to 856. The rest of the scores are below.

We have 2 athletes in the top 100 in NYS out of 2,883 kids shooting this season, 6 male athletes in the top 25 in our conference and 1 female. We currently have the number 1 athlete in male and female within our conference!!!

NYS Stats (out of 2,883)
Daniel Stang Ranked 17th in NYS
Zayne Laskey Ranked 37th in NYS
Madison Smith Ranked 19th in NYS for female athletes

Conference Stats M/F/Overall (out of 138)
Daniel Stang Ranked 1st
Zayne Laskey Ranked 3rd
Braydon Boler Ranked 8th
Daniel Humphrey Ranked 8th
DJ Dirienzo Ranked 12th
Sam Latimore Ranked 16th
Drezden Spire Ranked 34th (overall)
Max Hansen-Ivett Ranked 41st (overall)
Sully Griffith Ranked 49th (overall)
Maddison Smith Ranked 1st for F and 16th overall

While all of the other sports teams have been in action for several weeks now, the Gowanda track teams finally saw some action.

On April 20, the Gowanda Varsity Softball team hosted Silver Creek. It was a game where Gowanda found it a lot easier to get on base than to turn that into runs. Silver Creek’s pitcher, Kaylee Hutchison, was the difference that allowed them to beat Gowanda 6-3 in a heavily defensive battle.

Silver Creek got on the board right away in the 1st inning with a pair of runs. While able to load the bases in the bottom of the inning, Gowanda came away empty. In the 2nd inning Gowanda pitcher, Addison Kota came up big retiring the first three Silver Creek batters in order. Once again Gowanda was denied any runs. After Silver Creek had upped their total to 3 in the 3rd inning, Gowanda finally caught a hot streak.

The Silver Creek run was scored by Hutchison on a wild pitch. Kota answered for Gowanda with an RBI triple that brought home Gowanda’s first run. In turn, Kota scored on an Ella Luther single. The Gowanda scoring was closed out with a Lily Bobseine RBI double that scored Luther knotting the score at 3. For the rest of the Gowanda runners would be stranded on base as they were unable to score again. Silver Creek was able to add a pair of runs in the 5th inning and one on the 7th for a 6-3 final total.

April 20 also saw the Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team at home. Facing West Seneca West, it was their closest game of the season, 11-15, in a losing effort. Gowanda had been down 9-7 at halftime. The brightest news for the team is that Gowanda has been getting goals from multiple players in the past few games. Against West Seneca West a total of four girls contributed to the scoring. They were Aurora Stevens (4 goals), Ke’ya Stevens (3 goals, 1 assist), Karice John (2 goals) and Cadence Luther (2 goals). Credited with single assists in the game were Cora Luther and Emma Schindler. In goal for Gowanda, Nina Coulon came up with 15 saves in the effort. That mark was a season high for Coulon.

The Gowanda track teams were at Allegany/Limestone on the 20th for their first meet of the season. The Gowanda boys took a 22-144 loss while the girls fell 28 to 112.

While gold eluded the Gowanda boys, two of them did grab double silver. They were Mason Wlson (110m hurdles & 400m hurdles) and Chase Bolen (400m & 800m). Two others came away with single 2nd Place finishes. They were Mathias Arbtier (1,600m) and Owen Farner (3,200m & Pole Vault). The Gowanda girls did slightly better. Crissa Scanlan picked up where she left off, last year with strong performances in the field events. She placed 1st in both the shot put (12-7) and discus (84-5) for the team. The Gowanda girls also had a 2nd & 3rd Place combo in the 100m with Alexa Harvey and Avery Wilson, respectively. Three other Gowanda girls with 2nd Place finishes were Elizabeth Malek (100m hurdles), Rhianna Woods (200m) and Lea Mohawk (pole vault).

The Gowanda sports week closed out on April 21 as the Gowanda Varsity baseball team hosted Eden. Gowanda continued their strong season with a 14-8 win. No other information was available at this writing.

Baseball 4-1, 3-1

Monday, April 17

Gowanda at Olean
- at St. Bonaventure -
Gowanda 22, Olean 5

Wednesday, April 19

Olean at Gowanda
Gowanda 14, Olean 4

Friday, April 21

Eden at Gowanda
Gowanda 14, Eden 8

Softball 5-3, 2-1

Wednesday, April 19

Brocton at Gowanda
Gowanda 14, Brockton 0

Thursday, April 20

Silver Creek at Gowanda
Gowanda 3, Silver Creek 6

Friday, April 21

Eden at Gowanda
- cancelled -

Boys Lacrosse 3-2, 3-1

Wednesday, April 19

Gowanda at Akron
Gowanda 5, Akron 17

Saturday, April 22

Gowanda at Palmyra
- at GCC -
- no result reported -

Girls Lacrosse 0-5, 0-2

Tuesday, April 18

Amherst at Gowanda
Gowanda 7, Amherst 12

Thursday, April 20

West Seneca West at Gowanda
Gowanda 11, West Seneca 15

Saturday, April 22

Gowanda at Williamsville North
Gowanda 7, Williamsville 19

Track

Thursday, April 20

Gowanda at Allegany/Limestone
Boys 0-1
Gowanda 22, Allegany-Limestone 144
Girls 0-1
Gowanda 28, Alegany-Limestone 112

Photo: Ella Luther (#3) beats the throw to 1st base in the 1st inning against Brocton. The Brocton player at 1st base mishandled the ball allowing Luther to go on to 2nd base.

On Wednesday, April 19, the Gowanda Varsity Softball team hosted Brocton. The team was in top form stealing 12 bases four innings. Gowanda pitcher, Lily Bobseine, threw 10 strikeouts in a shutout.

After an initial Brocton base hit to start out the 1st inning, Gowanda took out the next three batters in order. In the bottom of the inning, Gowanda’s Gao:Wisa:s “Wassy” Stevens and Addison Kota both scored putting the early score to 2-0. Bobseine recorded three straight strikeouts in the 2nd inning to put Gowanda back on offense. After the first two batters had recorded outs, Gowanda went on a major run. Lilly Bobseine was walked to start thingsout. Then, Emily Pound smashed a triple to score Bobseine. Stevens followed with a single to bring Pound home. After managing to steal both 2nd and 3rd base, Stevens scored on a Holland Browning single. The rally continued as Addison Kota, Jada Geiger and Ella Luther (pictured above) all singled. An Aubrie Heron double scored Luther taking the Gowanda lead to 9-0. After a scoreless 3rd inning, Gowanda was back at it again, adding another five runs to their total. Brocton came to bat in the 5th inning needing five runs to avoid having the game called by the 10-run rule. Only one Brocton batter of four managed to get as far as 1st base on a Gowanda err. The final tally was 14-0 without Gowanda needing to bat in the 5th inning.

Leading the Gowanda offense were Addison Kota (3 hits [including a double and a triple], 3 runs and 2 stolen bases), “Wassy” Stevens (2 hits, 2 runs, 4 RBIs and 4 stolen bases) and Holland Browning (3 hits, 2 runs, 1 RBI ans 2 stolen bases). Six other players scored single runs for Gowanda. They were Jada Geiger, Aubrie Heron, Ella Luther, Kailyn Farner, Hailey Christopher, Lily Bobseine and Emily Pound.
Christopher and Pound both had triples in the game.

The Gowanda Varsity baseball team hosted Olean to complete the home/away series. They had just drubbed Olean 22-5 two days earlier and were looking to keep that going. Just as the softball team had done just across the way, it was an easy win, 14-4. Gowanda pitcher, Alex Pachucinski, put in four innings tossing 8 strikeouts. He also had two hits and two RBIs. Also noteworthy in the Gowanda attack were John Ondus (3 hits, including a double, and 2 RBIs), Tyler Smith (2 two hits, 4 RBIs), Blake Herman (2 hits) and Cole Herman (2 RBIs).

Out of town on April 19, the Gowanda Varsity boys lacrosse team was at Akron. With a 1st half blitz, Akron built up a 14-2 lead by halftime. From there Akron coasted to a 17-5 win. No individual stats were available from the game.