Moshier: Hamilton gets title shot

Hamilton Central’s baseball team hasn’t lost to another Class D team yet, and now, after knocking off state-ranked No. 1 South Kortright 4-2 in Tuesday’s Central Region final at Alliance Bank Stadium, the Emerald Knights are headed to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Final Four for the first time.

 

Hamilton (20-4) plays Far West Region champ Arkport (19-2) in a Class D state semifinal game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Union-Endicott High School’s Sylvester Field. The winner sticks around to play for the Class D state title at 4 p.m.

 

By the looks, the Emerald Knights have what it takes to win it all, most importantly two senior pitchers in lefty Jordan Doroshenko (8-2) and right-hander Tyler White (5-0), a very skilled catcher in junior Jack Sullivan, and a lineup capable of scoring enough runs to win two games Saturday and bring home the school’s first-ever state baseball championship.

 

Moshier: Shepardson a winner in defeat

Little Falls pitcher Pat Shepardson was tagged with a loss he didn’t deserve, and his final high school baseball season abruptly ended with Monday’s 7-6 loss to Tully in the Section III Class C-1 final.

 

In gut-wrenching defeat, though, the Mounties’ senior should be commended for meeting two members of the local media head-on.

 

Shepardson did plenty for a 22-3 baseball team that won a Center State Conference Division I title and reached the Section III finals, but how he handled himself after such a devastating loss was even more impressive.

 

If only every high school athlete would follow his lead.

Moshier: New Hartford, Hamilton have title shotsl

And then there were two, just two area high school baseball teams left with a shot at winning a Section III championship.

 

Tri Valley League East Division champ New Hartford (20-6) plays Mexico (18-7) for the Class A title at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Alliance Bank Stadium, with senior right-hander Pat Derrane (6-1) expected to start for coach Brian LaLonde’s Spartans.

 

On Wednesday, former New Hartford Spartan catcher Joe LePage takes his Hamilton Central Emerald Knights (18-4) to Alliance Bank Stadium, where they will play Copenhagen (14-4) for the Class D title at 4:30 p.m.

 

Section III champions advance to state regional play.

 

So far, this Section III tournament has featured two walk-off grand slams – by Fayetteville-Manlius against Rome Free Academy and by Christian Brothers Academy against Whitesboro – Oriskany’s 3-2, 11-inning win over New York Mills in a Class D quarterfinal, and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill’s stunning 12-0 win over TVL rival Oneida in Class A.

 

Now what? First, New Hartford will try to end its losing ways against Mexico (the Tigers have ended the Spartans’ season with playoff wins each of the last two years). New Hartford won the Class A title in 2005, and made it to the state Final Four before losing in the semifinals. Hamilton, meanwhile, will try to win its first Section III title since 1997.

 

Moshier: Shame on "King James"

Shame on you, “King James.” You weren’t even a Prince after you and your Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals to Orlando.

 

No win, so no handshakes, and no speaking to the media? C’mon, Lebron, you’re supposed to be better than that, aren’t you? You wear No. 23, don’t you? Do you think that other No. 23, would have acted that way?

 

No, Michael Jordan didn’t lose very often, but when he did, he remained a class act. When you finally decided to talk to the media, a day late, you said what you did – or didn’t do in this case – was “not being a poor sport.”

 

Oh no? Well, that was the message you sent. Face the music. Your teammates did. Why not you? When you did talk to the media, a day late, you called yourself “a winner.” Unfortunately, in defeat, you didn’t act like one.

 

You lost a game you’re getting paid millions of dollars to play, and then you lost some respect.

 

Moshier: Oriskany's baseball youth serving

Yes, the future may be now for this Oriskany baseball team. With only two seniors on the roster, coach Tom Meiss and the Redskins could still earn a share of the Center State Conference’s Division III title.

 

That’s not all. Don’t be surprised if Oriskany, led by sophomore pitcher Mike Gaglianese and freshman pitcher and shortstop Mike Bunal make some postseason noise when the Section III Class D tournament begins next week. They are two of the most talented young players around, and a regular season spent knocking heads with Class C rivals Westmoreland and West Canada Valley and Class D Hamilton can only help the Redskins come playoff time.

 

For the same reason, Hamilton’s Emerald Knights, led by pitcher Jordan Doroshenko, could also contend for a Section III Class D title.

Center State Conference Division IV leader New York Mills, armed with 6-foot-4 sophomore lefty Jeff Albright, will also command respect in the Class D playoffs.

 

Section III tournament seeds and pairing will be announced Sunday.

Moshier: Talladega's "great show" not a great race

Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner Brad Keselowski got it right when he called the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Speedway a “great show.” It was not, however, a great race.

 

Sure, 200 mph speeds, bumper-to-bumper start-to-finish action, and the anticipation of another “Big One” keep us glued to the edge of our seats for hours. But once again, as is the case with too many of these restrictor-plate races, the driver and/or car of the day didn’t win. Even worse, Sunday’s last-lap pass turned into a “Big One” that was scarier than most, for fans and drivers alike.

 

Hopefully, the last-lap crash that cost Carl Edwards the victory and injured several fans will force NASCAR to take a serious look at restrictor-plate racing and its pros and cons. The “show” doesn’t have to go on. Too many drivers believe it shouldn’t go on.

 

“Talladega is short for, ‘We’re going to crash, we just don’t know when,’” Ryan Newman told the Associated Press.

 

Edwards had his own take, and it wasn’t sour grapes (that’s not his style). “We’ll race like this until we kill somebody,” he said, “then (NASCAR) will change it.”

 

Let’s hope it never comes to that.

 

 

Moshier: CSC should consider restructure

Section III’s decision to place the Utica and Rome City Schools in the Tri Valley League beginning with the 2009-10 school year for the majority of their athletic programs was the right move. There’s a lot more work to be done, though.

 

It’s time Section III takes it a giant step further and restructures the TVL and Center State Conference. Placing Class AA schools like Thomas R. Proctor High School and Rome Free Academy in the TVL was a good move for those two, but now the TVL’s two smallest schools, Clinton and Holland Patent, would be better off taking on somebody their own size, somebody like Adirondack, Sherburne-Earlville, Ilion, Mount Markham, or Sauquoit Valley, for instance.

 

A vote by all 104 Section III schools solved one problem, but it didn’t do Clinton and Holland Patent any favors. Restructuring the Center State Conference by school size and proximity, adding Holland Patent and Clinton to the fold, and changing the CSC from four divisions to three should be our next move. That wouldn’t be easy, but for most schools, it would be a change for the better.