Leading off today: It's hard to feel fortunate while sitting in bed with a broken left ankle, right hand, right shoulder blade and collarbone, but at least Jerome Russell is still alive.

   The 18-year-old East Hampton senior, selected seventh-team all-state in Class A basketball last week, faces intensive rehabilitation and home schooling in the aftermath of a single-car accident April 19 on Long Island.

   "I just have to put my heart into getting better," Russell told Newsday late last week from the intensive care unit at Stony Brook Medical Center.

   Russell may end up facing charges resulting from the early-morning crash, but that's not the only risk ahead of him. His options for playing college basketball after three years as a starter at East Hampton will be limited by his injuries.

   "I'm kind of nervous. If they know about my injuries and my leg problems and that I may not capable of playing 100 percent like I did before," schools may back off, Russell said.

   Short takes on softball: Who's brave enough to pitch to Attica's Jordan Gasbarrini these days? The junior catcher went 6-for-6 with three home runs (including a sixth-inning grand slam), three doubles and 13 runs batted in during a 24-19 softball victory against Batavia. In four games this spring, Gasbarrini is 15-for-16 with seven homers.

   Clarence freshman Tori Nappo proved to be a quick learner, throwing a no-hitter in her first varsity softball start, a 10-0 victory over East Aurora. Nappo struck out the last five hitters she faced, and her sister Valerie Nappo slugged a pair of home runs.

   Baseball tidbits: Cattaraugus/Little Valley sophomore Chris Draudt went 8-for-8 with two home runs, two triples and 12 RBIs in a pair of baseball wins on Saturday — 22-5 over Franklinville and 12-1 against Maple Grove.

   Andrew Carmer of Barker stole home to beat Royalton-Hartland in Niagara-Orleans baseball, 6-5.

   Girls lacrosse: Jenna Davis of Levittown Division scored eight goals and seven assists during a 19-10 victory over Port Washington on Thursday. The huge day gave the Princeton-bound senior 305 goals for her career. The state record is 443 by Shari Masun, who graduated from Clarkstown North in 2002.

   Junior Addie Reilly of Portledge rolled up a staggering up 28 goals last week. The highlight was an eight-goal, six-assist showing against Manhattan Sacred Heart.

   Cheerleading clinic: The New York State Public High School Athletic Association hosts its first cheering clinic for coaches on May 15 in Syracuse.

   Newsday did a story on cheerleading injuries over the weekend and reported there's a new push to make cheerleading an official scholastic sport, which supporters say could increase the funding available for better training.

   "Some of my most severe injuries have been cheerleaders," East Meadow AD Kerry Gant told the paper. "Either they were thrown up in the air and caught incorrectly, or someone is thrown up and they came down incorrectly."

   Extra points: Three Section V reps in the 2009 state basketball tournament will change classes next season, pending approval of the section's executive committee. Batavia will drop from Class A to B, state champion Bishop Kearney will move up from B to A and C.G. Finney is opting to jump from D to B. . . . Brian Archie of Niagara Falls popped a 24-4 leap at the Ken-Ton Invitational on Saturday to break the Section 6 long jump record. . . . Former CBA quarterback Greg Paulus was on the Syracuse University campus over the weekend as he studies options for a return to football after four seasons as the point guard at Duke.