Archive: Sports

The Lansing 16U baseball team defeated Trumansburg 4-3 at Lansing on July 28th to  win the Babe Ruth Summer baseball league.   Lansing defeated Groton with a 9-4 game the previous Tuesday to advance to the championship game.   Lansing completed the season with a 13-1 record.

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Good teams play their best baseball when it counts. Lansing's 14U Bobcats bounced back from a rough final week of the regular season to sweep two playoff games in the Quad County Babe Ruth 14U playoffs and capture the championship.

Lansing entered the playoffs as the number one seed. With former Ithaca College baseball player Tony Prudence at the helm as head coach, the Bobcats cruised to a 9-3-1 regular season record. But in the season's last week, the Bobcats dropped their final games to Dryden and Ithaca 14U squads—the very two teams Lansing would face in the playoffs.

ESPN Ithaca -- WPIE, owned and operated by Vizella Media, LLC, has been recognized with a pair of awards from the New York State Broadcasters Association for Outstanding Local Sportscast and Outstanding Coverage of a Local Sporting Event.

"We're fortunate to have such talent and passion on our team," said Vizella Media and ESPN Ithaca President Todd Mallinson. "It's rewarding to see their efforts recognized, as not many people realize the long hours and preparation that goes into the broadcasts."

The Tompkins County Lakers started the road trip visiting the veteran team of Maine Endwell where Jared Strait ended up on the wrong side of the pitching decision.  He pitched well but, not well enough to beat the dominant team of heavy hitters.  The Lakers also struggled to get the bats going and that delivered them to an 8 – 0 loss.

On Tuesday the Lakers regrouped and headed up to TC3 to face the Cayuga Storm, a travel team coached by the TC3 head coach, Ryan Stevens.  The Lakers were a little more aggressive at the plate this game as they took a one nothing lead in the first.  Zack Walker was in control on the mound, allowing just one hit and no earned runs in his four innings of pitching.  Both teams' defenses played with big gloves and accurate arms, only committing one error each.  In the fifth inning Zach Sherwood, Lansing Miller, Jack English, and Strait all singled.

Union Springs, N.Y. - The Bassmaster Elite Series season begins its "Northern Swing" next week with the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake, in Union Springs, N.Y., June 23-26.

As the nation's most prestigious bass fishing circuit heads to Northern waters, big smallmouth bass and Northern strain largemouth are primary targets for the touring pros. Cayuga Lake — the second largest of 11 Finger Lakes in east-central New York — is chock-full of both black bass species.

The long, narrow lake stretches nearly 40 miles north to south, averages about 1 1/2 miles in width and covers nearly 43,000 acres. Even with so much fishable water, the anglers will likely be sharing fishing spots as they focus on certain areas with abundant submerged vegetation.

The Tompkins County Lakers may have gotten a late start on the season but they jumped off to an early lead in their first game and never looked back.  It was Walker versus Walker on the bump.  Each lefty pitcher throwing hard strikes.  The difference was three big Moravia errors and aggressive Lakers base running that placed the momentum in the Lakers dugout.  Zack Walker (Lakers) relied on strikeouts and a solid, error free defense having his back.

The speedy Jared Strait made it to first base on a dropped third strike that he never gave up on.  He then stole second which set him up to score on a well hit double by Conner Siracusa.  A disciplined at bat by Patrick Judd earned him a walk.  A couple of errors allowed Siracusa and Judd to score off of hard hits by Jesse Richardson and Corbin Atkins.  Zach Sherwood put the bat on the ball and scored Richardson from third on a fielder's choice.  This put the Lakers up by four at the end of the first inning.

Lansing Babe Ruth Hang On Against Ithaca, 9-7

Ithaca wasn't able to overcome the big hole it dug itself into against Lansing Babe Ruth, and Ithaca lost 9-7 to Lansing Babe Ruth after falling behind by four runs in the fifth inning.

Ithaca scored two runs in the seventh on a two-run double by Angel. Despite its efforts, Ithaca couldn't get over the hump.

The Lakers enter this game coming off of a 1-0 loss, last week to the Cayuga Storm.  Jared Strait pitch almost four innings of perfect ball, walked one batter and struck out eight over five innings of work.  The Storm threw seven different pitchers allowing the Lakers to knock at the door several times but they never let them in.  Finally in the bottom of the seventh inning the Storm had a runner on second with one out.  Smith drove the ball to left center scoring Wojo and winning the game in walk off fashion 1-0.

This game would be different. Strait started the ball rolling with a line drive single that was mishandled by the center fielder and allowed him to scoot to third.  Ben Kutler followed with a hard hit ball which the Tioga Short Stop couldn't handle.  Strait scored and Kutler arrived safe at first.  Tioga's Pitcher threw over to first a dozen times to keep Kutler close, afraid that he would steal.  It wasn't enough, Kutler stole second, then third.  After a base on balls by Pat Judd, a sacrifice bunt by Lansing Miller and a few more, hard hit balls by Jesse Richardson and Zack Kemp the Lakers took a 3-0 lead.  Kemp took the mound for the Lakers and was off to a great start, getting a ground out and a K with the first two batters.  The Dirtbags settled in, fought back and tied the game by scoring three runs off of an error, three singles and a solid triple.

Vizella Media, owners of ESPN Ithaca – WPIE, in partnership with Ehrhart Energy and Guthrie, recognized 58 outstanding scholar-athletes and coaches for their performances during the 2015-16 school year. The recipients, many accompanied by family, colleagues and friends, celebrated at the Night of Champions Awards Dinner at the Country Club of Ithaca on June 12th.

The annual event is designed to showcase the top talent of all varsity sports from 15 local high schools including most of the IAC and one in the STAC West.   

ESPN Ithaca President and General Manager, Todd Mallinson stated, “It’s a remarkable night, to have that kind of talent in one room is electric.  Night of Champions recognizes athletes and coaches of all sports on equal stage and the athletes seem to really appreciate the recognition.”

The NYSPHSAA State Championships were held at Cicero North Syracuse High School on June 10-11.  Lansing High School sent two representatives, juniors Emily Gallagher and Emma Dhimitri, both of whom competed at the championship last year and looked to end their very successful seasons with one more stand atop the podium.

Championships Emily Gallagher and Emma Dhimitri will be representing Lansing on Friday, June 10 at Cicero North Syracuse high school in the 2016 NYSPHSAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  Both juniors competed in last year's championships and are returning to compete against the top high school runners and jumpers in the state.

Gallagher earned her spot at this year's state championships with a winning vault of 12' at the state qualifier meet held in Vestal last Thursday, soaring a foot and a half higher than the runner-up, Amelia Legg of Delhi.  With this performance, Gallagher is a repeat champion in the event at the outdoor state qualifier, having won it last year as well.  Gallagher also broke her own outdoor school record (previously set at 11'9").  She is ranked fourth overall and first among division two female pole vaulters as she enters this weekend's competition.

Out of seventeen teams, Newark Valley girls seized the day and claimed victory at the Section IV Class C Track & Field Championships held at Sidney High school last Thursday evening.  Three other teams were on their heels; Elmira Notre Dame was runner-up followed by Sidney and then Lansing, with just ten points separating second from fourth place.  

Lansing girls continued their strong season with several impressive performances on a hot and competitive day.  Junior Emma Dhimitri started her day with a big personal best and a third place finishe in the 100M hurdle in a race that saw first, second, and third place each separated by a hundredth of a second.  Her freshman teammate, Liz Barre, also made finals and scored for Lansing with a fifth place finish.