Thursday, June 2, 2016: Ward Melville captures another Sec. 11 lacrosse title

   Leading off today: Ward Melville earned its 24th Section 11 championship in boys lacrosse by scoring a 13-5 win over Comsewogue for the Class A crown on Wednesday.

   The Patriots won their seventh straight game as senior attackman scored two goals and an assist in the first quarter to help Ward Melville break to a 4-0 lead. His fourth goal extended the lead to 8-1 in the second quarter.

   Ward Melville had lost the 2015 championship game to Smithtown East in double overtime.

   "From the moment that game ended this was the only thing on our mind, coming back and winning another county championship," senior defenseman John Day told Newsday.

   "I tell these guys all the time, if you play four quarters of Ward Melville lacrosse like I know you can, we're going to be very hard to stop," Ward Melville coach Jay Negus said. "The trick is getting it for four quarters. They're starting to buy into that."

   Monster efforts: A couple of individual performances jumped off the stat sheet from Wednesday's boys lacrosse action:

    • Cazenovia senior attacker Jake Lewis posted four goals and seven assists in an 18-6 rout of Canton in the first round of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class C tournament. Senior co-captain Cole Willard added a hat trick and four assists for seven points.

    • Kyle Casey posted seven goals and five assists for Yorktown in a 16-9 win over Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in NYSPHSAA Class B tournament opener. Casey scored five times on six first-half shots.

   More boys lacrosse: Sophomore attackman JoJo Janavey scored his fifth goal of the game midway through the fourth quarter as Lakeland/Panas edged Shenendehowa 8-7 in the first round of the state Class A tournament.

   Dakota Rainville of Shenendehowa scored with 2:53 to go, but the Plainsmen were unable to force overtime.

   Nick Vazquez won 16 of 19 faceoffs for Lakeland/Panas.

   Baseball: Will O'Brien's bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the ninth gave Wantagh a 3-2 win over Bellmore JFK in the rubber game of the Section 8 Class A championship series.

   O'Brien's hit through the right side plated Charlie Interrante.

   "It's a feeling I'll remember for the rest of my life," said O'Brien, who went 2-for-3 with two walks. "All I wanted to do was get the ball on the bat and score the winning run."

   Junior pitcher Brendan Haas, who had started one game all season, turned in six strong innings. He allowed six hits and one run.

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

    • East Meadow used a five-run first inning to catapult itself to its first Section 8 Class AA championship since 2005 with a 5-3 win vs. Massapequa. After the first three batters reached safely, Frank Ippolito slammed a two-run double to left field.

   Girls lacrosse: Lancaster won its 11th Section 6 title in 12 years with an 8-6 victory over Frontier.

   Senior Jenna Hagen scored the final four goals of the game for the Legends, including the game-winner with 15:21 left as her team defeated Frontier for the fifth time in a row in the final.

   Softball award: W.T. Clarke senior pitcher Sarah Cornell has been selected Gatorade's state player of the year. The right-hander is 16-3 with a 0.50 earned run average and 228 strikeouts in 125 innings entering the NYSPHSAA tournament. She's also batting .500 with six home runs and 26 runs batted in.

   Cornell is headed to Hofstra University in the fall to continue her softball career.

   Extra points: The NYSPHSAA boys tennis championships get under way this morning at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing with two rounds in singles and doubles.