Wednesday, June 1, 2016: Victor rallies for Sec. 5 lacrosse championship

   Leading off today: Victor's top-ranked boys lacrosse team rallied from four goals down early in the third quarter and defeated Pittsford 14-12 for the Section 5 boys Class A lacrosse championship.

   Eighth-ranked Pittsford went up 8-4 on a pair of goals by Jonathan Perrotto before the Blue Devils rallied for their 41st consecutive victory.

   "Our teenage brains got the best of us for a while," coach Jim Andre told The Daily Messenger. "But it's a testament to our kids and being able to stay focused. Our kids did a good job of staying in the now."

   Ryan Maloney and T.D. Ierlan scored eight seconds apart to cut Pittsford's lead to 9-8. Perrotto countered with his fifth goal of the game, but Max Lambert scored twice in the final 1:57 of the third quarter to tie the game at 10.

   Lambert's third straight goal opened the fourth quarter and Victor never trailed again. The Panthers got to within 12-11, but Dan Barrow and Mike DeMarco closed the Blue Devils' scoring to render Jared Conners' late goal harmless.

   Baseball: Junior right-hander Luke Dziados recorded the final six outs on strikeouts as Cicero-North Syracuse downed Liverpool 5-3 for the Section 3 Class AA championship.

   Dziados went all seven innings, striking out eight and surrendering two walks. He recorded 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth, then worked around a two-out walk in the sixth to strike out the side. He struck down the side in order in the bottom of the seventh.

   C-NS advances to the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals vs. Shenendehowa on Saturday.

    • Pitching on three days rest, Max Swartz threw a two-hitter as Aquinas defeated Canandaigua 6-0 in Section 5's state Class A qualifier game.

   Softball: Maria Noto pitched a three-hitter, Meaghan Perrino produced a run-scoring infield single in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Cooperstown beat Sandy Creek 1-0 for the Section 3 Class C crown.

   Cooperstown entered the game No. 1 and Sandy Creek No. 2 in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class C rankings.

   Noto struck out seven and walked none.

   "I was thinking the game was going to go to the 10th inning because nothing was really happening," Noto told The Daily Star. "But anything can happen."

   Girls lacrosse: Bailey Herr and Catie Woodruff each scored three times as Skaneateles edged Marcellus 9-7 in the Section 3 Class C title game for its fourth straight championship.

   The Lakers led 6-1 at the half before a rally by Marcellus, paced by Grace Coon's four goals.

   Despite only a 12-7 overall record, Marcellus is 10-1 vs. Class C opposition this spring. The loss was 9-8 setback in overtime vs. Marcellus at midseason.

   "As a coach you always look at the success of a team not as the wins and losses but where you were and where you went," Lakers coach Bridget Marquardt told Syracuse.com.

   School closing announced: Webster Christian School officials have informed parents that it will close its doors at the end of the month.

NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball NYSPHSAA softball Past years' brackets

   Enrollment has fallen roughly 40 percent in recent years, according to the school's website.

   "The problem is that we simply do not have the number of students we need to sustain the school financially and thus to provide a standard of excellence in Christian education," according to a statement on the website. "We do not see a viable path for achieving a financially sustainable enrollment level, nor for continued growth."

   Webster Christian is at least the fifth private school in Section 5 to close since the early 1980s, following in the footsteps of St. Agnes, Cardinal Mooney, Nazareth Academy and most recently Geneva DeSales.

   The Board of Elders of Webster Bible Church, which operates the school, announced a fundraising campaign to assist those displaced by the closing, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

   Coaching news: Bob Weismore, who won 328 baseball games, eight Section 3 crowns and two NYSPHSAA championships in 16 seasons at Westhill, has announced his retirement.

   Weismore, 64, coached the Warriors to a 19-3 record this spring.

   "It's a good time to go out," he told Syracuse.com. "There's a lot of outside influences that have changed coaching. There's too much involvement from the outside."

   Extra points: I'm running behind on a few things -- email in particular -- following a hard-drive failure Monday that threw me for a loop. Alas, I've started to rally and should be back to regular operations by Wednesday night.