Saturday, June 6, 2015: Fort Ann soph drives in nine, hits for cycle

   The Fort Ann sophomore hit for the cycle, produced four extra-base hits and drove in nine runs in a 17-2 win over Lake Placid in the first round of the NYSPHSAA Class D baseball tournament. For good measure, he picked up the win on the mound striking out seven

   "It was rough last week when we played Loudonville (Christian), I struggled at the plate," Bailey told The Post-Star. "I was really seeing the ball well today and I just hit it where it was coming. Worked out good."

   Hitting cleanup, he drove in Nick Lehoisky and Chris Jackson with a first-inning double and later scored. He singled in Tyler Mattison in the top of the third and added three more in the fifth when he hit an approximately 350-foot home run over the fence in left-center for an 8-2 lead before a 24-minute rain relay.

   After play resumes, Bailey tacked on a run-scoring triple and a two-run double.

   "We're used to the big wins and everybody hitting the ball, and most of the guys hit the ball today, put the ball in play and scored runs like we're supposed to," Bailey said.

   More baseball: Senior righthander Marcos Perivolaris allowed two hits and two walks as Mattituck (24-1) shut out Oyster Bay 5-0 in the Class B first round to set a school record for wins in the season.

   Brothers Ian and James Nish had back-to-back RBI singles in the first inning to give Perivolaris all the support he would need en route to improving to 8-0 for the season.

   Softball: Molly McGuire had a double, triple and five runs batted in for Solvay in a 6-1 win over Windsor, the state's top-ranked team, in the NYSPHSAA Class B quarterfinals.

   The Bearcats (20-0) took the lead for good in the first inning when Nicole Antonacci and Chelsie Delperuto walked ahead of McGuire's triple.

McGuire is 7-for-14 in the postseason, dropping her batting average to .506.

   "Molly is really swinging a hot bat right now," coach Phil Merrill told Syracuse.com. "That was a key hit for us tonight."

   Girls lacrosse: A pair of defending state champs bowed out in the semifinals in Cortland.

   In Class A, West Islip downed West Genesee 10-5 in a rematch of the 2014 final. Lena Riportella scored four goals and Emily Piciullo added three, with Vanessa Costantino chipping in with two goals and two assists.

   Freshman goalie Lauren Distefano had eight saves. Her stop on a point-blank shot with 22 minutes left kept the score at 3-2, and West Islip took command with a four-goal run - two by Riportella -- midway through the second half.

   West Islip will play Suffern in the final.

   In Class C, Mount Sinai eliminated Skaneateles 13-7. The Mustangs raced to a 4-0 lead with 14:45 to go in the half on goals by Sydney Pirreca, Jess Demeo, Meaghan Tyrrell and Kasey Mitchell.

   "Coming out hard, putting the first few points on the board is always a huge positive energy booster for the team," Pirreca told MSG Varsity.

   Skaneateles cut the margin to 4-2, but Pirreca countered with one goal and then Mitchell posted the second of her five.

   Track and field: Binghamton junior Alexis Daniels broke a Section 4 girls shot put record that has stood since 1983 by throwing 46-2.75 in the state qualifier on Thursday. Her mark easily beat the 45-1 by Horseheads' Connie Sweet in 1983.

   In Section 2, Shenendehowa qualified all three of its girls relays and two boys quartets for next weekend's state championships.

   New battle for Fischbein: Monroe-Woodbury wrestling coach Steve Fischbein was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and received stem-cell transplants in December 2004 and another in February 2005. Now, he's battling his first major relapse of multiple myeloma, cancer of plasma cells.

   Symptoms began showing up late in the recent wrestling season, and doctors at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science performed another stem-cell transplant last week in Little Rock, The Times Herald-Record reported.

   "Right now, my energy level is at zero," Fischbein, who retired as coach in 2014 after 18 seasons but served as an assistant last winter, told the paper. "It's tough to get off the couch and go to the bathroom. This is a rough stretch. I knew it would be. I had this before."

   Fischbein, 48, a physical education teacher, has been in Little Rock for two months preparing for the procedure and recuperating.

   "Our building is not the same without Steve in it teaching,” M-W Principal David Bernsley said. "If anyone doubts that Steven isn't going to come out ahead of this, then they don't know Steven very well."