Monday, June 3, 2019: Lots of late drama in Sec. 3 baseball finals

   Leading off today: It's tough to beat Section 3 baseball when it comes to final-day drama in a sectional baseball tournament.

   Leading the way in Sunday drama was Skaneateles, which endured a 34-minute rain delay before pulling out a 4-3 victory over Westhill in 14 innings for the Class B championship, the Lakers' first title since 2014.

   Jack Canty reached base with a two-out bunt single in the bottom of the 14th and scored when Tommy Reed ripped a double down the right-field line.

   "I heard the crack of the bat. I took a glance at the right fielder, and I saw it was down the line and he was going up the line," Canty said. "I just picked up coach (Tom Warner), he was sending me, and I crossed home, and the crowd was going nuts, and I couldn't believe it."

   Canty came close to scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 12th on a single to right by Emil Sander, but a perfect relay by Westhill extended the game. An inning earlier, Westhill put its first two runners aboard against Canty, who picked up the victory in relief. With one away, however, Reed turned a 5-3 double play at third to keep it tied.

   The Lakers knocked out Westhill starter Nick Bistrovich with three runs in the first two innings, only to be shut down by the bullpen combination of Jack Knapp, Nate King and Zollo until the 14th. King ended threats in both the bottom of the seventh and bottom of the ninth with strikeouts.

    • Whitesboro pushed home a run in the top of the 11th inning and held on for a 3-2 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt in the Class A final Onondaga Community College.

   The teams were scoreless until trading pairs of runs in the 10th inning. Whitesboro won it with a run in the 11th when starting pitcher Avery Cook's two-out single brought home Joey Ruggiero from second.

    • Kendall Haney's RBI single in the eighth inning gave Cooperstown a 2-1 victory in a rain-delayed Class C championship game.

   Chris Ubner shut out Oriskany on one hit through six innings. Haney came on in relief and stranded the winning run on third base in the bottom of the seventh before delivering the Hawkeyes' second section title in three years.

   Oriskany, the 2018 sectional Class D champion, was playing in its sixth consecutive title contest and seeking its fifth championship in eight seasons.

    • McGraw edged Lyme 4-3 for the Class D trophy with a two-out run in the seventh inning.

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    • All that came on a day on which No. 7 seed Fayetteville-Manlius surprised defending champ Baldwinsville 4-2 for the Class AA championship.

   It was the first sectional title for the Hornets and capped off a postseason run that saw them defeat No. 2 seed West Genesee, No. 3 Cicero-North Syracuse and the top-seeded Bees.

   Green defends: Medina junior Melanie Green captured her second consecutive NYSPHSAA girls golf championship, shooting a 1-over-par 73 in the second round.

   Green's two-day total of 145 at Deerfield Golf & Country Club in Brockport was one stroke better than Unadilla Valley eighth-grader Bailey Shoemaker, who was the runner-up for the second year.

   Alice Hodge of Section I Ursuline Academy took third place at 150.

   Green followed consecutive bogeys at Nos. 3 and 4 with seven straight pars, including a sand save at No. 10 that she credited with righting the ship for the remainder of the round.

   Green, a three-time Section 6 champion who has committed to the University of South Florida, finished the round with a birdie on the par-5 16th hole and pars on 17 and 18 and sun and gusty wind moved in after a day of steady light rain.

   "I can't control it (the weather), so I'm not going to complain or give gratitude to it," she said.

   Shoemaker started with a pair of bogeys but got back into the hunt with birdies at Nos. 9 and 14.

    • Section 2 champion Nolan Crowley of Saratoga Springs shot an even-par 71 to tie with 2017 champion Nathan Han

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of Somers halfway through the NYSPHSAA boys championship at Cornell University's Robert Trent Jones Course.

   Getting it done: After losing in the winner's bracket semifinals May 24, Commack has won five road games in as many days, culminating with a 5-2 win vs. Longwood to earn the Section 11 Class AA softball championship.

   "It's actually been pretty special," outfielder Alexa Berry said. "We've been playing five straight and the adrenaline has carried from one game into the other. The bus rides home are actually where it started. Every game we look forward to the bus ride home to celebrate our win."

   Emmi Katz, who's pitched every inning of the backs-to-the-wall run, scattered five hits with one walk and one strikeout. She held Longwood scoreless over the final five innings.

   Commack took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning on Berry's two-run single.

   Police blotter: A Manhattan high school basketball coach was arrested last week for his alleged role in a opioid drug ring that distributed Oxycodone and other addictive substances.

   Nicholas Banks, a 26-year-old basketball coach and teacher's aide at Mott Hall High School, was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal sale of marijuana, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana, the New York Daily News reported.

   The New York City Department of Education immediately suspended Banks without pay until the criminal case against him is resolved.

   Police said Banks was one of five arrested in connection with the opioid ring, which bought, resold and distributed the drugs in Queens and Manhattan.

   Allegations against coach: Though not suspended, Ken Bailey wasn't in the dugout when Averill Park's softball season ended with an 8-6 loss to Troy on Wednesday, with the Times Union reporting the coach is the subject of an investigation prompted by the families of two senior players.

   Pitcher Jadyn Lee and designated hitter Kelsey Mohl quit the team prior to the start of the Section 2 Class A tournament. Kelly Mohl, the mother of Kelsey Mohl, told the paper she met with Averill Park Superintendent James Franchini and AD Mark Bubniak last week regarding allegations of verbal abuse by the coach.

   Franchini and Bubniak both said they cannot discuss personnel issues.

   The decision to keep Bailey from coaching Wednesday was made less than two hours before the game.

   "It was a difficult decision," Franchini said. "We were going to let coach Bailey coach the game, but we didn't want (the media attention) to be a distraction for the girls. I felt it was in the players' best interests not to have him there and let them play the game."

   Bailey denies making comments body-shaming one of his players.

   "I absolutely deny it,: he said. "Do you think I would say anything about anyone's weight in front of the team? That did not happen."

   Extra points: former Bishop Ludden all-state basketball player Mika Adams-Woods has committed to the University of Cincinnati. Adams-Woods, a point guard who played the past two seasons at an out-of-state prep school, had de-committed from Nebraska after a coaching change.