Sunday, May 12, 2019: Burke junior Paltridge hits four home runs in game

   Leading off today: Burke Catholic junior Richie Paltridge hit four homes runs Saturday during a 10-3 baseball victory over Washingtonville.

   Paltridge was 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in six runs, matching his RBI total in an 11-0 win over Fallsburg earlier in the week.

   Gabe Thomas and Brendan Tierney also homered for Burke.

   The state record for homers in a game is five by Maple Grove's Brent Williams in a 2000 contest.    At least four other players have hit four home runs in a NYSPHSAA game. The National Federation of State High School Associations lists eight U.S. scholastic layers (put not Williams) as having hit five homers in a game.

   More baseball: Charlie Bruning went all nine innings with 12 strikeouts and belted a walkoff home run with two outs as Royalton-Hartland beat Medina 1-0 in Niagara-Orleans League action.

   Bruning allowed only four hits.

   Trevor Luthart pitched 8 2/3 innings for Medina before he reached his pitch-count limit and was not involved in the decision. He struck out 13 and allowed only two hits.

   Big day for Will East: Williamsville East, ranked No. 1 in the state among Class A teams, improved to 15-0 with a pair of wins in the Officer Joseph Corr Memorial Softball Tournament in Herkimer.

   The Flames scored an 8-1 win over Elmira Heights Edison, ranked No. 3 in the state in Class C and then down Class AA No. 1 Victor 4-0. Sophomore Summer Clark, who had two hits vs. Edison and pitched a two-hitter against Victor, was the tournament MVP.

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   Other games in the tournament included a Class B faceoff in which No. 3 Ichabod Crane defeated Windsor 8-0.

   Loucks Games: Bronxville won the boys 3,200-meter relay out of the slow heat in one of the highlights of the final day of the Loucks Games.

   Matt Rizzo came from behind to win the boys Loucks Mile in 4:15.38, then anchored the Bronxville relay to victory in 7:54.73, the fastest time in New York this season. Timmy McGrath slashed his PR from 2:09 to 2:02 on his leg to highlight the win.

   "Basically, the guy did it for us," said Rizzo, who helped Bronxville to a distance medley relay victory to open the meet Thursday.

   Junior Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland won the girls mile in 4:46.24, well off her personal best but in the midst of a gusty wind in her first significant action of the spring.

   "I kind of consider today the start of the season," she said.

   North Rockland junior Nadia Saunders set the Loucks girls triple jump record at 41-4 in the prelims for a personal best. Less than half an hour later, state indoor champ Alissa Braxton of Commack won the meet with an even better 42-0.25, the state's best mark ever by a junior.

   More reading: My column this weekend for The Press & Sun-Bulletin is on Battlefields to Ballfields, the organization run by Fox football rules analyst Mike Pereira. Battlefields to Ballfields recruits military veterans across the country to get into high school sports as referees and umpires.

   Following up: I blogged last week about reports that New York could drop the 99-pound weight class in wrestling.

   NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas has tweeted an indication of a possible compromise:

Had oppt. to meet w/ @NYSPHSAA Wrestling Committee last night. Committee revised proposal pertaining to weight classes. NEW proposal- utilize NFHS weight classes for Dual Meets & Dual Meet Tournaments starting in 2020-21 AND keep 99 lb for all individual tournaments. #Progress pic.twitter.com/Q6mnxKmFbt

— Dr. Robert Zayas (@RobertZayasNY) May 10, 2019