Leading off today: Ben Beauchamp's single brought home Nick Tomei with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning as
McQuaid edged Clarence 5-4 in the NYSPHSAA Class A baseball quarterfinals Saturday in Niagara Falls.
Tomei had bunted his way on base, stole second and went to third on an error.
With McQuaid trailing 4-2 in the top of the fifth, A.J. Fina hit a full count, two-out triple to tie the game. The Knights' Hunter Walsh pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts -- including the first five batters he faced -- to pick up the win in relief.
Clarence's Nick Ciraolo went the distance, scattering seven hits.
More Class AA baseball: Massapequa's Luke O'Mahoney drilled a seventh-inning line drive to bring home the go-ahead run during an 8-4 victory over Commack.
Massapequa tacked on three more runs, including Nick Fossari's two-run single, to advance to the semifinals.
Junior lefty Nick Collins threw three innings of one-run relief for the win, striking out five.
• Liverpool, unable to advance to the semifinals in its five most recent tournament appearances, defeated Colonie 5-3 as Nick Antonello rang up a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game.
More baseball: Wantagh opened the game with four straight hits to ignite a four-run first inning and beat Shoreham-Wading River in a Class A quarterfinal.
It was the second straight Long Island Class A title for the defending state champions, who got run-scoring singles from Jimmy Joyce and Anthony Fontana.
• Quinnipiac-bound lefty Connor Mahoney fanned 12 for defending state champion North Salem in a 2-1 win over Southold in Class C.
Mahoney scattered six hits and worked out of multiple situations with runners in scoring position.
"It's definitely a lot of pressure," Mahoney told The Journal News. "I was trying to go for strikeouts and just pound the zone. I was just trying to work the corners and I was lucky to have my best stuff today."
'Wild' finish for Pine Plains: Tia Fumasoli scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch, propelling Pine Plains to a 3-2 win over East Rockaway in Class C.
Fumasoli led off with a bunt single and raced to third on a fielder's choice groundout to shortstop.
"I was like, 'I have to take my chance right now. I have to go, I can't hesitate.'" she told the Poughkeepsie Journal. "I ran right away. And when I was on third, I automatically thought, 'If this gets by, I have to go. We may not get another chance.' It went off her leg, I saw it and I went right away."
Babylon stays unbeaten: Eight of the nine starters either scored or drove in a run in Babylon's 16-0 win over Marlboro in Class B.
Danielle Donaldson's 3-for-3 performance with two runs and three RBIs led the way as Babylon improved to 24-0. Gwen Donaldson, the team's lone senior, went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs.
More softball: Maine-Endwell junior Emily Hess took a fastball off her left arm in the top of the third inning to force home the go-ahead run in the Spartans' 2-0 win over Lakeland in Class A.
Hess struck out 12 in a three-hitter for the defending state champions.
