Leading off today: Ryan Pennell, a Rye Neck junior with a 7-0 record and 0.29 ERA, did not allow a hit during a 14-0 win over Blind Brook yesterday. But it wasn't the no-hitter that attracted attention, it was strikeouts.

   Pennell struck out four batters in each of the first two innings and finished the seven-inning contest with 21 K's.

   "I guess to strike out 21 guys, that's pretty cool," Pennell told The Journal News. "This was definitely one of the best games I have ever thrown."

   The 6-foot-3 left-hander walked two batters and recorded the two non-strikeout outs with third-inning groundballs. The four-strikeout innings were the result of third strikes that escaped the catcher and allowed the batters to reach first base.

   Pennell threw a five-inning no-hitter in 2007 and two more to start this season to erase memories of an injury-disrupted '08 season. He fired seven no-hit innings (with 17 strikeouts) last month against Valhalla in a 3-3 tie that went nine innings and tacked on a conventional no-hitter (with another 17 K's) May 1 against Bronxville.

   He has fanned 112 batters in 49 innings this spring.

   The National Federation ways Brett Jennings of Lingleville, Texas, owns the record for strikeouts in a seven-inning game with 24 in a 1986 loss.

   Canandaigua names coach: Rochester Franklin football coach Peter Haugh has been tabbed to replace Dave Nieman as the coach at Canandaigua, The Daily Messenger reported today.

   Haugh's name was to be submitted to the school board tonight with approval expected quickly.

   Haugh, who was 10-39 in six seasons at badly undermanned Franklin, is the brother of Victor coach Jim Haugh. He will take a phys ed teaching job in the Canandaigua district, the paper said.

   Nieman resigned after the 2008 season to begin preparation on his degree in education administration.

   Proverbial changing of the guard? Brighton remains a team to be feared, but the Barons' days of unquestioned rule in the Monroe County League may have ended yesterday when Honeoye Falls-Lima earned a 9-8 home victory to mark the Barons' first league loss since 2003 and first inside Section 5 since 2006.

   Mandy Willison and Jill Maier scored hat tricks against the six-time defending sectional champions, who lost for the second day in a row. Brighton, top-ranked in Class B by the New York State Sportswriters Association, also fell to Class A No. 3 Guilderland on Tuesday, 6-5.

   HF-L, ranked second in Class C, had taken Brighton to overtime in a 7-6 loss on April 15. This time out, Maier, Willison and Maggie Stankaitis broke open a 6-6 game with goals during a two-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.

   More Wednesday events: Clarence cruised past Lancaster in an anticipated showdown, 7-0, as sisters Valerie and Tori Nappo hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning and Jennifer Sansano pitched her third softball no-hitter of the season. Sansano fanned 13, allowed just two baserunners and hit a two-run triple.

   Liverpool snapped Cicero-North Syracuse's 44-meet winning streak in girls track, 82-59. The Northstars' run of success dated to 2001. Liverpool swept the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters, led by Wanetta Rodney's :13.0/:27.6 sprint double.

   TVL wins latest round: The Tri Valley League has won an appeal to the NYSPHSAA in the ongoing battle by Utica Proctor and Rome Free Academy to obtain membership in the organization.

   The TVL initially rejected the schools' application on the grounds that they were significantly larger than several league members, creating potential competitive imbalances. But Proctor and RFA successfully appealed to Section 3 and were granted membership in most sports in the eight-school TVL to help reduce the number of lengthy trips to the Syracuse area to play fellow Central New York Counties League members.

   Yesterday, a three-person appeal panel for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association reversed the decision on procedural grounds and sent the matter back to Section 3 for further consideration.

   NYSPHSAA Executive Director Nina Van Erk told the Observer-Dispatch the panel took note of a procedural error in which letters written by the superintendents of the Utica, Rome and Syracuse school districts to voting ADs were distributed by the Section 3 office four days after the ballots were mailed.

   Executive Director John Rathbun said the Section 3 athletic council met today and will develop criteria for schools to follow if they desire to change or join athletic leagues. The list has not yet been established.

   "If we address this again, criteria will be in place," he said.

   A TVL spokesman said no additional action by the league is anticipated for the time being.

   Appeal rejected: The family of Amherst student Jordan Maliken has lost its bid to gain eligibility for the 20-year-old senior to compete in Section 6 track meets this spring.

   State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills said he was not authorized to grant an exception, The Buffalo News reported.

   "In this, as too often happens in Albany, bureaucracy will prevail and prevent Jordan from running,” Assemblyman James P. Hayes, R-Amherst told the paper. "It’s outrageous, and it should not be allowed to stand."

   Maliken is diagnosed with mental retardation and is in his fifth year of high school, the paper reported. While state law allows people with disabilities to go to school until age 21, athletic rules say athletes generally cannot compete in a fifth year or after age 19.

   The Malikens previously unsuccessfully appealed to Section 6, which determined that it did not have a basis for overriding a State Education Department law. Mills in essence said only the New York State Legislature has the ability to change the statute.

   "We’ve gone through how many different levels? Nobody says they have the authority,” said Greg Maliken, Jordan’s father. "I mean who do we have to go to?"