Leading off today: Senior right-hander Michael Zaino worked his way out of early control problems and
threw a no-hitter Tuesday as West Canada Valley routed McGraw 14-1 in the first round of the Section 3 Class D baseball tournament.
Zaino allowed a first-inning run on a walk, two stolen bases, and a sacrifice fly to put West Canada in a 1-0 hole.
"He was 46 pitches into it after two innings. We had a quick conversation in the dugout," Coach Greg Jones told Syracuse.com. "I said, 'If you don't clean it up, you're going to have to come out.'"
Zaino then sailed through the next three innings while the West Canada Valley offense broke the game open. Zaino finished with six strikeouts and six walks allowed.
"Once there were runs on the board, Mike just had to get ahead of batters, which he was doing the last five innings," Jones said. "He started to locate the ball really well. I think the nerves got to him early, but he settled in."
Matt Tobin was 4-for-5 with a double and a triple to pace the offense. Josh Chapin went 3-for-5 with a home run a four runs batted in.
Speaking of no-hitters: Kenny Gray pitched a no-hitter and doubled in the only run as Valley Central defeated Hyde Park FDR 1-0 in the Section 9 Class AA quarterfinals.
Gray's first-inning hit down the left-field line was the only run he needed to outduel Brandon Greenspan, who threw a four-hitter.
Sec. 5 surprise: Tanner Cooper went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and Bennett Hanford was 3-for-3 with three RBI as No. 5 seed Canandaigua upset top-seeded Greece Arcadia 10-3 in a Class A-1 semifinal.
Greece Arcadia is ranked second in the state in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association.
Cooper also pitched a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts for the Braves.
Potential milestone ahead: The last time Rick DeKay's name was mentioned here, it was a year ago when his Panama baseball team ended up on the wrong end of a 47-0 score against Maple Grove.
DeKay, formerly a longtime (and successful) coach at West Valley until retiring, changed schools over the summer and now has Springville one win from a Section 6 Class B-1 championship. And if Springville defeats Alden Thursday, it would be DeKay's 400th career win.
Springville advanced to the final with a 1-0 upset of East Aurora on Monday as right-hander Matt Sobota and lefty Kyle Warner combined to pitch a one-hitter.
Softball highlights: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, which went 5-11 in its league schedule, defeated defending NYSPHSAA state champ Averill Park 4-1 in the Section 2 Class A semifinals. Junior Karly James contributed two run-scoring singles.
Burnt Hills will play Troy in the sectional final Thursday. The Flying Horses will be playing in the title game for the fifth straight season.
