Leading off today: Ever hear that old expression, "You have to walk before you run"? How about amending it to, "Remember to run after you walk."

   A premature celebration after a presumed walk-off walk nearly cost Miller Place a victory against Islip and a chance to advance in the Section XI Class A baseball playoffs. Section 11 did end up upholding Miller Place's 10-inning, 4-3 victory after a protest and appeal process via telephone right on the diamond, Newsday reported.

   The game should have ended with Michael Moch's bases-loaded walk driving in Mike Moosbrugger. But a celebration ensued before the Miller Place runners on first and second moved up a base.

   "They started running toward the base and then they started running on to pile on and celebrate," said Islip coach Pete Blumenauer, who appealed the call on the field.

   After calls to the sectional and state rules interpreter, the umpires ruled that because both Moosbrugger and Moch touched their respective bases, Moosbrugger's the game-winning run held up.

   Canandaigua tops Fairport: Midfielder Marshall Johnson scored four goals to lead Canandaigua to a 10-7 boys lacrosse victory over Fairport yesterday in a non-leaguer between state-ranked teams.

   Fairport is ranked No. 2 in Class A and Canandaigua No. 5 in Class B by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   Devin Alves added three goals and two assists for the Braves, who won their 14th straight game. Andrew Hayes scored three goals for Fairport.

   Bell's potential: It's tough to say what the future holds for Tomarris Bell, and tougher still to project how he will be remembered 15 or 20 years from now if the McQuaid senior doesn't go on to bigger accomplishments in the world of sports.

   But I will put this thought out there for debate among observers of Section 5 sports: Regardless of what he does in the final three weeks of his scholastic career or at the University of Buffalo and beyond, this kid deserves to be remembered as one of the finest athletes ever to come out of the Rochester area.

   Bell played football for McQuaid, though an injury slowed

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him down last fall, and also dabbled in basketball. But track and field is his bread and butter, and he won the high jump at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships at the New York Armory in March by clearing 6-11½ in his first meet of the season. In fact, he had barely practiced before the meet because Bell played basketball during the winter.

   On Friday, he put up a huge number in the pentathlon, scoring 3,707 points at Rochester City Athletic Conference Championships to break his year-old sectional record of 3,642. And it might be the only pentathlon of the season for 2007 NYSPHSAA and Federation champion.

   Bell may try for a bunch of individual titles at the state meet. The high jump would be a no-brainer for him to pursue, but Bell could also score in both vertical jumps and the high hurdles.

   Quite a run of success: Desi Lyman is hitting .509 for the Genesee Valley softball team this spring, but that most assuredly is not her claim to fame.

   On Thursday, she struck out 18 Canaseraga batters en route to a 5-0 victoey and her fourth no-hitter in five games. The one appearance in the span that wasn't a no-hitter turned out to be a one-hitter. She has five no-hitters for the season and seven in her career.

   A strange tale: Ex-Eastchester football player and NFL linebacker Eric Naposki and his former lover were charged Wednesday in the 1994 slaying of an Orange County multimillionaire, The Journal News reported.

   Authorities arrested Naposki, who played in the late 1980s for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, and Nanette McNeal. They are each charged with murder for the December 1994 death of William Francis McLaughlin, a businessman who was shot six times at close range, police said.

   Authorities say McNeal, McLaughlin's former girlfriend, stood to collect $1 million in life insurance, and that Naposki, who was romantically involved with her, is believed to have killed McLaughlin.