Gowanda Small Town Times

Jamestown Community College students, including one from Gowanda, were inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society during ceremonies recently on the Cattaraugus County and Jamestown campuses.

A student must achieve at least a 3.50-grade point average to be considered for the national two-year college honor fraternity.

Thirty-one students were inducted into the Jamestown Campus Alpha Kappa Beta chapter, and seven into the Cattaraugus County Campus Alpha Psi Omega chapter.

Joana Leamon, a 2020 JCC graduate and promotions post-production editor and producer for Buffalo Toronto Public Media, was the guest speaker. The ceremonies were attended by friends and family members of the inductees.

The inductees from Gowanda is:

Gowanda: Preston Niemeyer

Photo: The Gowanda softball team greets Addison Kota (#2) at home plate after her 4th homerun of the season. Kota additionally pitched a one hitter in the game as Gowanda rolled over Brocton 14-1. Also scoring on the play was Emily Pound (#20).

May 3 continued to cold and damp weather that has marked the early days of the month. Again several sports had game called off on the day. For the Gowanda Varsity teams only Softball and boys lacrosse got in their scheduled games.

What had originally been scheduled as an away game at Brocton was moved to the artificial surface of Gowanda’s Lady Panther Park due to field conditions at Brocton. As the designated away team, Gowanda batted first and started out hot. Addison Kota led off with a single just off the glove of the Brocton left fielder. Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens followed with an RBI double scoring Kota. Next up was Jada Geiger with a single courtesy of a errant throw to first base that also allowed Stevens to score. Geiger later scored on a Holland Browning single. Brocton went down in order in the bottom of the inning including two strikeouts.

Gowanda had a huge 2nd inning. Kota, Stevens and Geiger all scored again in the inning along with teammates Kailyn Farner, Corrina John, Emily Pound, Ella Luther, Holland Browning and Lily Bobseine, all on a single out. Stevens tripled in the inning as did Farner. Farner’s triple came on her second at bat in the inning going over the Brocton right fielder scoring for 2 RBIs. Again, Brocton was retired in order in the bottom of the inning including another pair of strikeouts.

With Gowanda leading 11-0 to start the 3rd inning, Emily Pound was walked to start things out. That brought up Addison Kota for the third time at bat. For the fourth time this season, Kota pounded the ball over the fence. As she completed her romp around the bases all of her teammates poured on to the field (pictured above) to greet her at home plate. Brocton finally got on base in the bottom of the inning. Their lead batter hit a ball that went just barely off the Gowanda center fielder’s glove. The Gowanda defense closed out the inning not allowing Brocton to score.

Both teams scored single runs in the 4th inning. That took the score from 13-0 to 14-1. There would be no more runs scored and the 10-run rule ended the game after the 5th inning as the sky was darkening as rain approached.

Gowanda pitcher, Addison Kota stuck out nine and walked one in a one hitter. Powering the Gowanda attack were Addison Kota (2 runs, 3 RBIs), Holland Browning (2 runs, 2 RBIs), Emily Pound (2 runs, 2 RBIs) and Gao:Wisa:S Stevens (2 runs, 1 RBI). With a run and 2 RBIs each were Kailyn Farner and Lily Bobseine. Corrina John and Hailey Christopher each contributed single runs.

Over at Gowanda’s Hillis Field the Gowanda boys lacrosse team had their hands full with East Aurora. The game went scoreless for nearly three minute before East Aurora surged into a 5-0 lead by the middle of the first period. Gowanda finally got on the board with 4:40 left in the quarter as Ethan Steeprock scored. By the end of the opening period the score was 7-1. It grew to 12-1 before Winter Rivera scored with 4:45 left in the half. The halftime Gowanda deficit was 14-2. Gowanda never scored in the second half as East Aurora added 3 goals and 2 goals, respectively, in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Also figuring in the 19-2 Gowanda loss was the East Aurora goal tender. He stopped of 12 of the 14 Gowanda shots that he faced.

May 2 2023 was a drizzly day in the 40’s as the month continued its damp start. With the exception of the girls Varsity lacrosse team, all sports were either cancelled or postponed due to the weather.

The girls lacrosse team had a non-league game at Niagara-Wheatfield. As has been the case on several occasions, the 1st half was one-sided. By halftime the score was 12-1 with Niagara-Wheatfield in control. The game ended in An 18-2 score. No individual Gowanda stats were available from the game.

On the first day in May 2023, the only Varsity team playing was the Gowanda Varsity boys lacrosse team. They had to travel all the way to Fairfield, Pennsylvania for their game. It proved to be quite a battle.

Gowanda played Fairfield even through the first two quarters of the game to an 8-8 tie at the intermission. Things tightened up and became more defense-oriented in the second half with few goals being scored. In the end, Gowanda came up one goal short taking a 15-14 loss.

Powering the Gowanda offense were Winter Rivera (5 goals, 5 assists) and Ha’tsihgahdo:d Stevens (5 goals, 1 assist). Nakotah Jackson added 2 goals and an assist to the effort. Contributing 1 goal each for Gowanda were Nate Warrior and Winter Mentley-Peters. In goal, Faolan Quinn made 8 saves. Freshman, Alanson Stafford spent just a limited time in goal, but managed to make a save on the only shot he faced. Gowanda coach, Justin Gill, commented “Evan Fort was huge at the faceoff once again”. Fort won 17 of the 27 draws in the game.