Gowanda Small Town Times

On April 17, the Gowanda Varsity baseball team traveled to St. Bonaventure University to face Olean. The game was only close through one inning. Gowanda scored in each of the first five inning with a 9-run 2nd inning and a 6-run 6th inning proving to be decisive. They held Olean to only a single 2nd inning run and four runs in the 4th inning while running up a 22-5 total score. Cole Herman gathered 8 strikeouts in 4-1/3 innings pitching for Gowanda.

The Gowanda girls lacrosse team hosted Amherst on April 18. Improving with each game, this would be the team’s closest contest yet. As in previous games, Gowanda fell behind in the opening half, but, this time, only by a 3-6 margin. Gowanda played Amherst nearly even in the 2nd half scoring four times while giving up another six. That made the final 12-7 in a losing effort.

Nina Coulon was in goal for Gowanda. She made 7 saves on 19 shots. Gowanda’s offense only got 10 shots on goal in the game, but scored on 7 of them. Leading the Gowanda scoring were Aurora Stevens (2 goals, 1 assist) and Ke’ya Stevens (2 goals). Three other Gowanda players scored single goals for Gowanda including Cadence Luther (1 goal, 1 assist), Alaina Kaczmarczyk (1 goal) and Cora Luther (1 goal). As the Luther girls are in 8th grade and 7th grade, respectively, the future for girls lacrosse in Gowanda looks bright.

Photo: Gowanda’s Ke’ya Stevens scores on a free shot midway through the 2nd half of the April 14 home game against Grand Island. This was her second goal in the game.

The Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse team saw their first home action of the season on April 14 hosting Grand Island. The game was dedicated to Morgan’s Message (https://www.morgansmessage.org/), an organization dedicated to helping athletes who have battles with mental issues. Morgan’s Message was founded in memory of Morgan Roger’s. Morgan played on the Duke University Women’s Lacrosse Team. Just prior to her Sophomore season, she suffered a major knee injury in January 2017. After battling with the injury for over a year, Morgan fell into a battle with depression. On July 11, 2019, that resulted in her taking her own life at the age of 22.

Before the Gowanda game, there was a moment of silence in Morgan’s memory. That was followed with the recognition of Alaina Kaczmarczyk and Layla Gamble, the Gowanda girls lacrosse team’s Morgan’s Message Ambassadors.

The Gowanda girls had a lot of trouble with ball control and would play 80% of the game in their own end of the field. That resulted in minimal opportunities for shots on goal. By the middle of the 1st half, they were down 6-0. With 9:57 left in the half. Gowanda finally got a shot on goal as 8th grader, Cadence Luther, scored the first goal of her Varsity career. Grand Island went on to build a 9-1 lead. With 1:10 showing on the clock, Gowanda’s Ke’ya Stevens charged in on goal. She took a stick to the head as she released a shot that found the back of the net. Unfortunately, the goal was disallowed as the play was called prior to the shot due to the penalty. Stevens was replaced for the Gowanda penalty shot, which proved to be unsuccessful.

Stevens was back in the game for the 2nd half. Grand Island padded their advantage to 12-1 before Gowanda scored again. After a missed Gowanda shot, it was Ke’ya Stevens who got a ground ball in front of the net and tossed it into the net with 16:41 left to play. A minute and a half Stevens scored again, this time on a free shot, making the score 3-12. Gowanda would not score again and the game ended in a 15-3 Grand Island win.

The Gowanda Varsity boys lacrosse team was at Depew on the 14th. They had an easy win piling up a 12-3 advantage by halftime. Gowanda cruised on to a 20-8 victory. In goal for Gowanda, Faolan Quinn had 3 saves and Alanson Stafford stopped 5 shots on goal. Leading the scoring for Gowanda were Ha’tsihgahdo:d “Bubbie” Stevens (7 goals) and Winter Rivera (6 goals and 8 assists). Also with multiple goals for Gowanda were Ethan Steep rock (3 goals and 3 assists) and Nakotah Jackson (2 goals). Three other Gowanda players scored single goals in the game. They were Cashis Montour, Nate Warrior and Seneca Mohawk.

The Gowanda Varsity baseball team was at Fredonia completing that home and away series. Gowanda came away with a 9-5 win to split the series. Pitching for Gowanda were Alex Pachucinski (3 Innings, 3 strikeouts and 6 walks) and Carter Capozzi (4 Innings, 5 strikeouts). Leading the Gowanda offense were Blake Herman (3 runs, a double, a triple and 2 RBIs), John Ondus ( 2 runs, a double and an RBI), Cole Herman (2 RBIs) and Tyler Smith (1 RBI).

Saturday, April 15, saw the Gowanda Varsity softball team host Westfield for a pair of 5-inning non-league evening games. Gowanda pulled out to an early 1-0 1st inning lead in the first game. With the exception of a 2-2 3rd inning, the rest of the game was scoreless. Gowanda pitcher threw all five innings giving up 4 hits while striking out 4. She also went 2-for-2 at bat with a home run, her second at this early point of the season. Jada Geiger and Emily Pound each had a single and an RBI for Gowanda and Aubrie Heron singled and scored a run.

Following the 3-2 win, game two followed a similar pattern, but with a different result. This time it was Westfield taking a 1st inning least, this time by a 2-0 margin. All the rest of the scoring came in a 4th inning where both teams accumulated four runs. That resulted in a 6-4 Westfield win. Lily Bobseine was on the mound for Gowanda in game 2. She gave up 7 hits while striking out 3. With singles for Gowanda were Kailyn Farner, Addison Kota, Jada Geiger, Aubrie Heron and Alhanna Gabel.

Baseball 1-1

Wednesday, April 12

Fredonia at Gowanda
Gowanda 3, Fredonia 5

Friday, April 14

Gowanda at Fredonia
Gowanda 9, Fredonia 5

Softball 5-2, 1-0

Wednesday, April 12

Forestville at Gowanda
Gowanda 6, Forestville 1

Thursday, April 13

Eden at Gowanda
Gowanda 10, Eden 9

Friday, April 14

Gowanda at Wellsville
- cancelled -

Saturday, April 15

Westfield at Gowanda x2 (6&8)
Gowanda 3, Westfield 2
Gowanda 4, Westfield 6

Boys Lacrosse 3-1, 3-0

Wednesday, April 12

Wilson at Gowanda
Gowanda 16, Wilson 3

Friday, April 14

Gowanda at Depew
Gowanda 19, Depew 8

Girls Lacrosse 0-2

Wednesday, April 12

Gowanda at Orchard Park
Gowanda 2, Orchard Park 19

Friday, April 14

Gowanda at Grand Island
-Morgan’s Message -
Gowanda 3, Grand Island 15

Gowanda picked up a non-league win over Eden on April 13. After that night game victory, they took a moment at home base for a photo wit their 2022 Championship banner. Photo courtesy of the Gowanda Athletics Department

On April 13 the Gowanda Varsity softball team hosted Eden for a game that was as exciting as anyone could hope for. Although Gowanda secured two quick outs against Eden to start our the game it quickly became obvious that things wouldn’t be that easy going forward. The next batter was on 1st base when Eden’s 4th batter launched the ball over the fence in left center field. Gowanda was down 2-0 as they came up to bat. Gowanda’s leadoff batter was Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens. She started out on 1st base after being hit by the very first pitch thrown by the Eden pitcher. Gowanda’s next batter, Addison Kota, answered Eden’s home run by smashing the ball over the fence just to the right of the spot of the Eden homer. Two outs followed and the game was tied at 2 after one inning.

The second inning went scoreless. Gowanda got in trouble early in the 3rd inning. After the first batter was walked the next was hit in the helmet with a pitch. Those two runner made their way to 2nd and 3rd base before a first out was secured. Eden then scored from 3rd on a passed ball. From there, Gowanda pulled done two outs to escape the inning. In the bottom of the inning, after one out, Stevens was up again. She singled down the 3rd base line. She was tagged out at 2nd as Holland Browning singled. Kota was back at bat scoring Browning with a triple to deep left field. That was followed by a Jada Geiger triple to deep right field. Gowanda picked up a third run in the inning as Ella Luther singled.

Both teams saw their batters retired in order in the 4th inning. Things heated up again in the 5th. Eden scored three times in the inning after registering two outs. A strikeout ended their inning with two runners stranded on base. When Gowanda got their turn the first batter would be struck out. That brought up Stevens again and another single straight up the middle along the ground. A pair of passed balls allowed her to move all the way to 3rd base. Browning singled again scoring Stevens and Eden stopped to change pitchers. Browning was, then, cut off at 2nd on a Kota single. Kota scored on a Geiger single. Geiger, in turn, scored on a Luther double before Eden secured a 3rd out.

Gowanda was now up 8-6. Both teams would score twice in the 6th inning. For Gowanda it was leadoff batter Hailey Christopher followed by Aubrie Heron. Heron had initially tried to head for home base getting caught in a rundown just short of the base. After Eden tried to pick her off going back to 3rd, she reversed direction and beat the Eden catcher to home.

To close out the game, down 10-8, Eden had two runners on base with one out on a single and a walk. They moved their score to 9 as the next runner was thrown out at 1st base. With a potential tying run still on 2nd base, Gowanda closed out the game with a strikeout.

Back from the Easter/Spring break, Gowanda Varsity sports teams saw a full schedule of activity on April 12. It was a beautiful Spring day that saw the softball and boys lacrosse teams pick up wins while baseball and girls lacrosse fell short. The track season is still a week away.

After having a pair of games scrubbed previously due to weather issues, the Gowanda Varsity baseball team got their first action of the season at home hosting Fredonia. In what figured to be a good test of the Gowanda team, the game remained in a scoreless tie for three innings. After four innings, Fredonia held a 1-0 lead. Gowanda managed to tie things at one in the fifth. Fredonia broke things open with a 4-run sixth inning. Gowanda came up to bat in the final inning trailing 5-1. While able to pick up a pair of runs in the inning, it was not enough to avoid a 5-3 loss to open their season. John Ondus scored twice for Gowanda with Alex Pachucinski scoring the third run. Credited with RBIs were Tyler Smith, Cole Herman and Carter Capozzi.

The Gowanda Varsity softball team hosted Forestville while the baseball team was playing their game. Gowanda picked up their second win in their first strong defensive game of the season.

For three innings, Forestville batters were unable to reach first base. During that time Gowanda pitcher, Addison Kota, recorded five strikeouts including three in a row in the 3rd inning. Gowanda managed to score single runs in each of those innings building a 3-0 lead. Two scoreless innings followed before Gowanda came up big in the sixth. Leadoff batter, Jada Geiger singled, just barely beating the throw at 1st base. She would be brought home on a Lily Bobseine RBI single. On two outs Aubrie Heron, Kailyn Farner and Corrina John all singled in order with Farner and John both picking up RBIs. That put Gowanda’s total to six runs. In the final inning, Forestville had a runner on base with two outs. A bad throw to first base allowed Forestville to spoil the shutout with a single run.

Addison Kota threw a full game for Gowanda registering 10 strikeouts with 3 walks. She also only gave up a single hit on a play where the lead runner was thrown out at 2nd base. Hot bat for Gowanda was Kailyn Farner with 3 hits in three at bats. Jada Geiger, Ella Luther, and Corrina John each had 2 hits in the Gowanda effort. As a final softball note, it seems that Gowanda in back where they left off last year with many talented base runners. This game saw Gowanda players steal a total of eight bases in the game (Jada Geiger 4, Holland Browning 2, Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy“ Stevens and Kailyn Farner 1 each).

That brings up to the lacrosse teams. While baseball and softball were busy at the school, the Gowanda Varsity boys lacrosse team was playing host to Wilson at Hillis Field. It was another dominating performance for Gowanda at home. They piled up 8 goals in both the 1st and 2nd halves. At the same time, they held Wilson to three goals in the game. This ups their record to 2-1. Leading the Gowanda scoring was Landen Jimerson (4 goals, 1 assist). With three goals each were Winter Rivera (3 goals, 5 assists) and Nakotah Jackson (3 goals, 1 assist). Cashis Montour contributed a pair of goals. Gowanda goal tender, Faolan Quinn, was credited with 3 saves. Four other players scored single goals for Gowanda.

The Gowanda Varsity girls lacrosse was at Orchard Park on the 12th to open their season. a completely one-sided 1st half found the team in a 15-1 hole by halftime. Orchard Park was able to coast through the 2nd half from that point to a 19-2 final. No individual stats were available from the game.