Leading off today: Katie Braggins smacked a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the eighth inning to drive home the go-ahead run and lead Rhinebeck to a 3-1 victory over Hoosick Falls yesterday in the NYSPHSAA softball Class C championship game in Waterloo.

   Braggins' sister, Emily, came through with the winning hit in the state semifinals against Hoosick Falls in the 2009 tournament and Rhinebeck went on to win that tournament as well.

   "It's always running through my mind to live up to my sister," Katie Braggins told The Poughkeepsie Journal. "She left big shoes to fill and I hope I filled them."

   Rhinebeck added an insurance run when Braggins scored from third on Rachel Quackenbush's third wild pitch of the inning. Rhinebeck hurler Megan Michie struck out 16 batters, and Quackenbush fanned 17; each surrendered five hits.

   More softball: Liz Weber pitched a two-hitter and induced 13 first-pitch outs to lead Bay Shore to a 4-0 victory over Cicero-North Syracuse in the Class AA title game at Waterloo.

   C-NS stormed into the final by stringing together five two-out singles in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past North Rockland 2-1.

   “I think we were just getting a little too anxious,” C-NS outfielder Chelsea Szabo told The Post-Standard. “We were still a little revved up from that first game. We thought we had her.”

   Weber got all the support she needed in the fourth inning as Taylor McGowan singled in the game’s first run and Nicole Marzillo added a run-scoring infield single. Weber doubled home a run in the fifth.

   In Class A, Pearl River became Rockland County's first softball champion with a 7-0 romp over Pittsford Sutherland in the final as Katie O'Flynn threw a four-hitter with four strikeouts in her second shutout of the day.

   "I feel like we've been building up to this for the last three years," shortstop Gemma Mahoney told The Journal News. "In '08, we lost in the (state semifinal). Last year, we lost in the (state final). And this year we finally came out and won it."

   O'Flynn drove home Mahoney with a single in the bottom of the first, and the Pirates tacked on five runs in the second with the help of Jamie Degennaro's two-run single to center field.

   Chenango Valley rallied to a 7-5 win in the Class B semifinals, then rolled to its first championship since 2001 with a 4-0 win over Olean.

   CV junior pitcher Taylor Hendrickson was pulled four batters into the semifinal against defending champion Mechanicville, returned in the third inning and threw 12 shutout innings over the remainder of the day.

   "Absolutely amazing," she told The Press & Sun-Bulletin after a three-hit, 10-strikeout showing in the final. "It feels incredible."

   In Class D, Livingston Manor junior Victoria Taggart slugged a bases-loaded single with no one out in the seventh inning to defeat Bolivar-Richburg 2-1.

   Marissa Diescher tossed a three-hitter with 14 strikeouts to earn the win. She finished the season with 339 strikeouts in 142 innings. Earlier in the day, Diescher rang up her ninth no-hitter of the season with 12 strikeouts to beat Germantown 4-1.

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball NYSPHSAA softball

   "Diescher was better than advertised," Germantown coach Mike Del Pozzo told The Timer Herald-Record. "We've faced some hard throwers, but we've never faced a Division I hard thrower. Two or three at-bats just isn't enough to get your timing down with a pitcher like that. She just decided to go with overpowering heat."

   Baseball finals: Lindenhurst erupted for nine runs in the second inning to build its lead to 13-0 and went on to beat Guilderland 15-2 for the NYSPHSAA baseball Class AA championship at Binghamton University.

   Ryan Manning's two-run single highlighted the four-run first, and Lindenhurst pounded out five doubles while blowing the game open in the second against a worn-down pitching staff. Lindenhurst won its final 21 games of the season.

   In the semifinals, Guilderland senior Matt Zanotta cracked out his 17th and 18th homers of the season and also tripled to account for six RBIs in an 8-3 win vs. McQuaid.

   Pittsford Sutherland captured Class A honors with a 6-5 win over Wantagh as Brad Kaczka drove in two runs in the third inning and Grant Heyman put up a two-run homer and a pair of doubles.

   Knights sophomore right-hander John Meuchner threw six innings in relief in a 5-1 win over Whitesboro in the semis and then came on to get the final four outs against Wantagh. Zach Silvia hit a three-run home run in the third inning of the opener to wipe out a 1-0 Whitesboro lead.

   In Class B, Westhill endured more than five hours of weather delays and rode winning pitcher Mike McMullen’s two-run double in the fourth inning to beat Somers JFK 7-2 in a game that ended at about 11:30 p.m.

   McMullen took over on the mound with two out and the bases loaded in the top of the third after a lightning delay. The start of the final was delayed four hours and 48 minutes and shifted from NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton to Union-Endicott High School.

   “McMullen just showed guts,” Westhill coach Bob Weismore told The Post-Standard after the Warriors won their second straight state crown. “They all showed guts.”

   Valhalla earned honors in Class C with a 2-0 win over Watertown Immaculate Heart in the final as Jordan Holpz pitched a shutout.

   Valhalla scored its runs in the fifth as Rob Lerace led off with a single and scored on a double by Mark DeMilio, who would come home on a throwing error.

   Fort Ann drubbed Chapel Field 15-0 in the semifinals and then won Class D by edging Bolivar-Richburg 6-5.

   Freshman Joe Foran hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit in the final. Sophomore right-hander Robert Sprague threw four innings in the semifinal, then surrendered 14 hits to Bolivar-Richburg and allowed the potential tying run to reach third base in the seventh inning before chalking up the game-ending strikeout.

   "He was running out of fumes at the end," Fort Ann coach Dane Clark told The Times Union, "but he's our guy. He was going to be there at the end for us. He didn't have much left, but he had enough to get it done."