Leading off today: In an explosive story in
The Buffalo News, Williamsville East baseball coach Chris Gruarin's team stands accused of throwing a late-season game in order to manipulate its place in the upcoming Section 6 tournament.
The newspaper reported the allegation came from Hamburg coach Derek Hill in the form of a letter to the sectional baseball coordinator.
Section 6 Executive Director Mark DiFilippo confirmed to the paper that the section is "aware of the allegations involving Williamsville and understand the concerns of the situation."
In short, Hill alleges his team's rally from a 7-0 deficit to a 14-7 victory on Tuesday was the result of manipulation by Williamsville East. As a consequence of that result and the outcome of another game, Williamsville East slipped to the No. 8 seed in the playoffs beginning Saturday, setting up a pre-quarterfinal against No. 9 Olmsted/Culinary/Emerson.
A win there would pit Williamsville East (12-6) against top-seeded Hutch Tech three days later. Both of those opponents are from the Buffalo Public Schools, whose members traditionally do not fare well against suburban opponents. Two less-difficult games early in the tournament presumably would give Williamsville East the ability to save its best pitchers for more demanding competition later in the tournament.
The loss on Tuesday handed Orchard Park the No. 7 seed and a matchup with No. 10 Frontier, which posted an 8-1 win over Williamsville East last week as part of a run of seven victories in its last eight games.
Here are some of the details cited by the paper that make Hamburg's "rally" on Tuesday look like a tank job by Williamsville East:
• Up 7-3 in the seventh inning, Williamsville East's pitcher walked two batters, after which the coach called his players on the field to a meeting on the mound. That's when the farce started.
• A routine ground ball to the right side of the infield ended with the first baseman not stepping on the bag for a routine out. The next five batters walked, giving Hamburg an 8-7 lead.
• Hill's letter said the Williamsville East third baseman left the field at one point.
• With Hamburg now leading by seven runs in the bottom of the seventh, Williamsville East went down quietly -- including the second batter of the inning reaching third base safely only to be tagged after stepping off the bag.
Williamsville East's Gruarin directed the paper to Nicholas Filipowski, the district's executive director of communications, who said in an email: "We take any accusations of impropriety seriously. Sportsmanship and integrity are at the core of high school athletics. We are looking into the accusations."
Milestones
A pair of softball pitchers reached 1,000 career strikeouts on the same day this week.
Andy Hegarty of Hackley reached the figure during Hackley's 15-0 win over Fieldston in the NYSAIS semifinals, during which she also posted her 150th hit and pitched a no-hitter.
Meanwhile, Bath's Kalili Witherell reached 1,000 during a 6-0 win over Geneseo.
Girls lacrosse update
Apologies for the lack of girls state lacrosse rankings this past week. Our lacrosse editor was sidelined by an unexpected matter.
The rankings will return on Tuesday.
