Leading off today: Regan Quinn scored a pair of goals 15 seconds apart in the second quarter to restore a four-goal lead and propel Chaminade to a 12-6 win over boys lacrosse rival St. Anthony's on Wednesday.
The Friars had just cut a four-goal deficit in half when Quinn struck twice, followed by teammate Matt Chmil's 1:20 later. The Flyers led 7-3 at halftime, then broke the game open with four straight goals in the second half.
"I took it on myself to make something happen," Quinn told Newsday after finishing with three goals.
St. Anthony's had opened its season with a total of 38 goals in three victories.
•St. Anthony's and Chaminade, the CHSAA's only Class AAA teams, will meet again May 18 at St. Anthony's. Unlike recent seasons, there will be no postseason meeting for a playoff championship. There will either be an outright winner or co-champions based on the regular-season results.
Guilty plea: Former West Seneca East player Brandon Day, whose attack on a hockey referee in the National Junior College Athletic Association championship game in late February drew national notoriety as the video went viral, pleaded guilty Thursday and will serve three years of probation.
Day, 19, an Erie Community College freshman, admitted in Dickinson Town Court to a misdemeanor count of third-degree assault in the incident that brought a premature end to the Feb. 26 game at Broome Community College.
After serving most of a penalty in the contest, Day charged out of the box and pushed a 62-year-old referee to the ice.
"The video was despicable, but the person (Day) is not the person you see in that video, so sometimes you see people at their worst," District Attorney Steve Cornwell said after Thursday's court appearance. "The defendant had some issues and took responsibility immediately and take steps to address what was going on."
The annual problem: And then there's the other half of the story when it comes to the new pitch-count rule in NYSPHSAA baseball.
As has been known to happen in parts of New York each spring, weather is knocking the sport for a loop. The reason the snow has mostly disappeared is that it was washed away by days and days of rain, forecast to continue in many areas through Friday. That's made many fields completely unusable -- probably for a week or more in some places.
The Times Union chronicled some of the problems Section 2 is seeing, beginning with baseball coordinator Michael DeMagistris noting that just one baseball game has been contested so far in the Foothills Council.
"Our biggest concerns right now is we have to get our league games in first," DeMagistris said. "Spring season is a six-week season. Right now, we're down to a five-week season."
The Adirondack League has opted to reduce its league schedule from 14 games to 10, and other leagues may follow suit.
"I hate to say it, but New York has it all wrong with the scheduling of our season," Lake George baseball coach Erik Hoover said. "We have fall athletes practicing in the middle of August giving up part of their summer and yet in the spring, we don't play games in June when the weather is finally decent."
With regular-season schedules compressed into a shorter calendar, pitch-count restrictions will make it even more challenging for coaches to get consistent performances on the mound.
