Leading off today: Freshman Gregory Dorfman pitched five scoreless innings to help Midwood to its first
PSAL championship with a 3-0 win over Tottenville at Yankee Stadium on Monday.
Midwood finished the regular season 9-7. In the playoffs, however, Midwood beat the top two seeds in James Monroe and Tottenville, which lost its third straight city final.
"I would not call this team a Cinderella team," coach Saverio Nardone told The Daily News. "Everyone on this team believed in one another to come together and achieve this goal and I could not be more proud."
Dorfman worked out of a fourth-inning tight spot by inducing three fly-ball outs after the Pirates loaded the bases.
"I knew I had to get out of this jam," Dorfman said. "I got myself in this jam and I had to myself out it, and that's what I did."
The big play on offense for Midwood came when Michael Gonzalez came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning and hit a two-run single to put Midwood up 3-0.
Future plans: Junior Ethan Wiederkehr, a two-way lineman from Shoreham-Wading River, has committed to continue his football career at Northwestern in 2017.
"This makes all the training and the sacrifice worth it," Wiederkehr told Newsday. "We had late-night workouts all year round to increase my speed and strength. There was never a time where I thought, 'Just take a day off.' I'm glad my dad inspired and motivated me throughout the recruiting process. Making the call to the coach tonight was the greatest feeling ever."
The 6-foot-6 Wiederkehr, a first-team all-state selection in Class A as a defensive lineman last season, had narrowed his decision to the Wildcats, Boston College, Maryland and Navy before contacting Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald Monday night with the news.
"It's an amazing day for Shoreham-Wading River football," coach Matt Millheiser said. "We've had great players come through here and he's the complete package -- a great person and a wonderful student-athlete. He'll represent us well at the next level."
• Pine Bush junior Kate Cain will play basketball for the University of Delaware beginning in 2017. The 6-foot-5 center, a seventh-team all-state selection last season, averaged 24.3 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocks as a junior.
"I received my offer from Delaware the middle of my sophomore year and they've been following me ever since," Cain told the Times Herald-Record. "Almost every AAU game they could have gone to, they were at. They made sure to keep in touch and call. Just being on the campus and meeting the team and the coaches, it felt like a really good place for me to be."
Cain had plenty of resources to draw from at home during the process. Her parents both played college basketball -- Tim at Manhattan and Alison at Fairfield. Her brother John pitches for Lafayette's baseball team.
"My parents had a lot of questions for coaches, stuff I wouldn't have thought of, based on their experiences in
