STEVE HARRISON photos and reports
The Hornell tennis team is 5-4 with two matches left before team sectionals.
The Red Raiders have played a tough schedule and as a result, there have been improvements as individuals and as a team. A few players have qualified for individual sectionals as well.
“We have been playing well, facing some talented teams, we have had multiple line ups based on player availability,” said Hornell tennis coach Sean Gaffney. “The players are learning and growing everyday. We are young and have many newcomers to the varsity level.”
Gaffney said the team had adjusted to practicing different places.
“The kids have been great, we work out practice schedules at James Street with the modified team,” Gaffney said. “Having four courts available at James Street has been helpful, we split into two groups because we have 22 players. This allows the kids to get more time hitting.
“We are glad to have courts we can use in Hornell. Hopefully we will see new courts soon. I do want to thank Alfred University for allowing us to use their courts for matches,” Gaffney added.
The boys team does have girls and all players have made improvements.
“My singles players, Colin McCumiskey, Dane Thompson and Joris Thiel have been playing well,” Gaffney said. “Joris has a solid record at third singles, Colin and Dane have battled every match. AJ Hoyt and Maddie Moore have played mostly first doubles — they have been a tough team to beat and work well together.”
“We have various players at second doubles, many for the first time: Juliette Marino, Natalie Dodge, Sophie Wilkins, Ally Buckley, Stella Carretto, John Mikolajczyk and Caidan Crist,” Gaffney continued. “We want to wish good luck to Dylan Harwood and Colin McCumiskey playing Doubles and Dane Thompson playing singles this weekend at individual sectionals.”
Track & Field
Hornell and Dansville track completed on Tuesday.
In the girls’ events, Elaina Flaitz (400 hurdles, pole vault, high jump, 400 relay) and Selena Maldonado (triple jump, 100, 200, 400 relay) were quadruple winners.
Dansville’s Maggie Bacon was a double winner (3000, 1500).
For boys, Dansville’s DeShawn Owens was a triple winner (100, 200, long jump) and Dawson Wadsworth (400, 800) and Ethan Canfield (shot, discus) were double winners.
Baseball
Avoca-Prattsburgh 13, Hammondsport 0
Jamel Crowder threw a complete game one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to lead A-P. Crowder struck out the last six batter he faced and went 2-for-3 hitting.
Lead-off hitter, sophomore Macoy Putnam finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored and is 6-for-7 in his last two games for A-P (11-4). Sawyer Devoe went 2-for-4 with three RBI’s and a run scored, Ashton McMahon had a hit and drove in three runs. Chris Abbott, Evan Campbell, Haden Abbott, Tucker Gerych and Sam Patterson also had hits.
A-P is at Campbell-Savona on Thursday, hosts Canisteo-Greenwood/JT Saturday and takes on Hornell next week.
Photos by Cyndi Abbott:
