Sunday, May 28, 2018: Stiles perfect again as Deposit wins title

   Leading off today: It takes a heck of an accomplishment to relegate a pitcher's perfect game -- her second in a row -- to second-class status in a game report, but the Deposit softball team pulled it off Saturday.

   The Lady Jacks plated 19 runs in the fifth inning and defeated Marathon 22-0 for its fifth straight Section 4 Class D championship.

   Catcher Bryn Martin's 5-for-5 day at the plate included three hits in the huge inning. She led off with a home run, drove in two more runs with a triple and tacked on another RBI with a bad-hop single.

   Batterymate Makenzie Stiles struck out 16 batters en route to her second perfect game in a row and the 13th of her career. She had fanned 20 of 21 batters two days earlier in a 15-0 win over Gilboa.

   "I can't thank my team enough, they've really helped me through it," Stiles said. "Obviously, I didn't strike everyone out and I needed my team to back me— and the hitting, too, that was phenomenal."

   Defense matters: Not all softball championships are won on the back of gaudy pitching statistics. In fact, Carey wrapped up the Section 8 Class A championship wthout the benefit of a strikeout by Dana Romano.

   The Seahawks recorded all 21 outs in the field and did not commit an error en route to a 6-1 win against Mepham in the decisive Game 3 of the championship series. Romano finished with a seven-hitter.

   "Defense is the stuff that they take pride in," coach Anthony Turco said. "They took the pride in defense and it's what we've been working on all season. The old cliche that defense wins championships actually holds up today."

   Turco credited shortstop Gianna Castogliolo, who had a hand in nine of the 21 outs.

   "She was just phenomenal today, she was the glue of our infield," he said. "She had to be in order for us to win."

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   More softball: Westlake secured its first Section 1 championship with a 3-0 victory over top-seeded Rye Neck in the Class B final. Ali Brunetto struck out eight in a three-hitter.

    • Emily Marshall delivered the tying and winning runs with a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh as Oneida edged Camden 6-5 in the Section 3 Class B semifinals.

    • Trailing 7-1 in the fifth inning, Horseheads rallied for a 9-8 win over Corning in the Section 4 Class AA final. Tess Cites hit a grand slam and Horseheads took the lead on an Alli

Richmond sacrifice fly.

   Literally a walk-off win: Senior Chris Varone worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh to give Victor a 3-2 win over McQuaid for the Section 5 Class AA baseball title.

   The Blue Devils had loaded the bases with none out, but reliever Ryan O'Mara came in to record a popout and a strikeout before Varone walked on four pitches to bring home the winning run.

   More baseball: Royalton-Hartland won its first Section 6 trophy Thursday and advanced to the NYSPHSAA tournament Saturday with a 12-9 win over Olean in the state qualifier. The Rams scored in every inning, led by three RBIs from Noah Hardy.

    • Cornwall snapped a string of three losses in the Section 9 Class A championship game by defeating Goshen 12-2.    Track and field: Elijah Jones of Cardinal Hayes swept the sprints in :10.60 and :21.18 in the CHSAA Intersectional Championships. His performance in the 200 meters broke a 33-year-old CHSAA record set by current Nazareth coach Gary Gooden.

    • Not only did the New Rochelle girls sweep the relays en route to the overall team title in their Section 1 Class A meet, they did so by using 12 different competitors in the three races.

   That left the 12 with plenty of opportunities to score in individual events, explaining how New Ro put two scorers in the 100, 200, 400, 400 hurdles and the long jump.. And they did all that damage without Olivia Morgan, who was locked into the pentathlon.

    • Lanae-Tava Thomas of Rush-Henrietta swept the 100 and 200 meters for the fifth straight season in the Section 5 girls Class AA championships. She also anchored the Royal Comets' winning 400 relay.

   Spencerport junior Vanessa Watson broke the 25-year-old Section 5 record in the girls 400 hurdles with a time of :58.57, crushing Karen Elliot's old mark of 1:00.13 for Penfield in 1993.

   Watson also won the 100 and 200 meters, the latter in a PR of :25.06.

   At least one New York girl has now gone sub-60 in the hurdles in eight of the last nine seasons.

   On the move: Monsignor McClancy baseball coach Nick Melito is retiring after 18 seasons there. Melito has over 200 wins and last season saw two of his seniors taken high in the MLB draft -- Quentin Holmes in the second round to Cleveland and Charles Neuweiler in the fifth round to Kansas City.