Leading off today: It's the day after Memorial Day, which makes it time for baseball coaches to ask that annual question: How dumb will I look if we lose our sectional opener because I saved my ace for the quarterfinals?

   It's no small matter. Larger schools might have three reliable starting pitchers, but some good Class C or D schools don't have the luxury of a reliable third starter. So saving the ace for a projected showdown can be about as useful as stockpiling food for Y2K.

   "The cardinal sin is keeping your ace out of the first round," Rye Neck coach Tyler Slater told The Journal News "You can't expect to advance. We won't do that, even if on paper it looks like a good option."

   Slater will send ace junior lefty Ryan Pennell (7-0, 0.14 ERA, 113 strikeouts in just 49 innings) to the mound in Saturday's Section 1 Class B first round, then hopefully pitch Mike McCarty in the quarterfinals two days later.

   Said Carmel coach Bob Shilling, "The worst feeling in the world is losing a game with your No. 1 sitting there."

   By the way, the decision gets tougher at the end of the chase. State semifinals and finals are played on the same day — June 13. Some coaches will already be facing the issue of short rest if rain pushes the quarterfinal round back to to Tuesday or Wednesday. On top of that they'll have decide whether to risk saving their best arm for the final or use him earlier in the day in the semifinals.

   State meets ahead: A pair of New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships are directly ahead on the calendar.

   The state tennis tournament takes place Thursday through Saturday at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. Action kicks off at 1 p.m. on Thursday and then 8 a.m. the remaining days.

   Matt Kandath of Albany Academy breezed to his third Section 2 championship last week and will be going for a NYSPHSAA hat trick in singles. Ranked No. 15 nationally in boys' 18s, the Stanford recruit never dropped so much as a set in three years of Section 2 action.

   He could be headed for a rematch with 2008 finalist and Wake Forest recruit Daniel Kreyman from Long Beach, who has dropped just one set in 18 matches this spring after going 23-1 last spring. The right-hander made the varsity as a seventh-grader, missed his freshman season with an injury and played left-handed as a sophomore while rehabbing his right rotator cuff.

   Gavin Hall will attract attention in the 36-hole boys golf tournament at the Cornell University-Robert Trent Jones

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball

Golf Club in Ithaca. The Pittsford Mendon eighth-grader tied for 12th at states with a 73-78—151 a year ago but still was only the third-best Section 5 performer because Dominic Bozzelli of McQuaid beat Yarik Merkulov of Penfield in a playoff after they tied with two-round scores of 142.

   However, Hall beat Merkulov, now a junior, by one stroke and Bozzelli, a senior, by three recently to win sectionals despite playing with a broken finger.

   Also keep an eye on Rondout Valley junior Andrew DeForest, coming off a Section 9 record-setting 4-under-par score for 36 holes last week. DeForest faded to ninth at states last spring with a second-day 80 after a solid opening round of 70.

   Mike Miller of Brewster was third at states a year ago but had to scramble this season at the Section 1 tournament to narrowly make it back to Ithaca.

   The field tees off from the first and 10th tees on Sunday at 9 a.m. and Monday at 7:30 a.m.

   R-H AD found guilty: The former director of driver education for Rush-Henrietta was found guilty today on charges of driving while intoxicated, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

   Thomas Stewart, who is still Rush-Henrietta’s athletic director, was assessed a $500 fine in Brighton Town Court and had his license revoked for six months. Stewart, 49, was arrested Sept. 20 after being stopped by police, who said his blood alcohol content tested at 0.14 percent.

   Extra points: Troy’s boys lacrosse team had never won a sectional game since fielding its first varsity squad in 1990. That ended Friday with an 8-4 victory against Amsterdam in a Class B play-in game. Nic Capano posted three goals and two assists for the Flying Horses, . . . Senior Nick Ferri played all nine positions for the Duanesburg baseball team this season. He completed the feat by catching in the first-inning of Friday’s 7-6 win against Sharon Springs. . . . Schenectady senior catcher Alex Jurczynski has thrown out 21 of 24 base stealers this season.

   Don't take too seriously the speculation that Lance Stephenson will be targeted by the University of Florida. Though the Gators learned last week sophomore point guard Nick Calathes will bypass his final two years to play professionally in Greece, Stephenson is better suited to shooting guard in college. As the process drags on, Maryland continues to be the place that makes the most sense for Stephenson, though Memphis apparently still has a shot. . . . Former Clarence coach Jack Yanno has written a 145-page book, “A Journey Across the Diamonds: The History of Clarence Baseball,” covering the sport in the town.