News & notes

As Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians and the NFL's Washington franchise, referred to at this desk as the Trumpets, are considering changing their team nicknames, despite opposition from President Donald John Archie Bunker Trump, at least one Section II school is following suit.

The Daily Gazette reports that Mechanicville is considering removing the Native American imagery that goes with their team name, the Red Raiders. Other schools in Section II with similar imagery, including Glens Falls, Schoharie, Fonda-Fultonville, and Niskayuna, just to name a few, might follow suit if Mechanicville goes through with changes. Stay tuned.
==================================
There's never a substitute for experience in team sports.

The Amsterdam Mohawks found out the hard way Thursday night as they dropped a doubleheader at home to the Albany Athletics.

In game one, the Mohawks squandered a brilliant 2 inning start by hometown hero Dale Stanavich (Amsterdam/Rutgers), as Von Baker (OESJ) couldn't find the plate in 1/3 of an inning. Albany, the defending champions of the Twilight League, built a 4-0 lead behind starter Zach Breen, who went four plus innings before tiring. Ryan Lambert (Colonie) nearly blew the lead, but ex-Tri-City Valleycat Chris Salamida (Watervliet), who has made a new career with the Athletics as a pitcher-outfielder, moved from his center field position to the mound, and picked up his 3rd save in as many chances, slamming the door shut to lift Albany past Amsterdam, 5-3.

Salamida was released by Houston more than a decade ago, and has been with the Athletics the last few years.

Game two was more of the same. Brendan Disonell (Shenendehowa) pitched a perfect first inning, but the roof caved in on him and the Mohawks in the 2nd, as Albany batted around, and plated 6 runs, erasing an early 2-0 Amsterdam lead. Disonell was done after 1 1/3 innings. Not long after, brother Devin (Shen) was ejected for arguing balls & strikes in the home 3rd. The strange part about that play was, the ejection was recorded as an out. Like, who does that? Was that a rule that no one knew about? Manager Greg Christodulu, who has a number of Shen alums on his team, didn't argue, else he too would've been shown the door. Anthony Raimo (Hudson Valley Community College) had a big game with three hits and 4 RBI's, as the Athletics completed the sweep with a 12-6 win. The game was called by mutual consent after 6 innings.

The Athletics, some might think, may have a bit of an advantage in that their roster, just like in the Twilight League, is a mix of high school & college players, plus older semi-pro players, including Broadalbin-Perth baseball coach R. J. Pingatore, who came out of the 1st game for precautionary reasons after seemingly tweaking an ankle running the bases, but was good to go to return in game 2.
=========================================
Rensselaer is considering some changes to their athletic program due to budget concerns, per the Albany Times-Union. Amsterdam is doing the same thing, and among the programs being "put aside" is varsity cheerleading. I don't think they've paid attention to what happened in Lansingburgh the last two seasons without cheerleaders. Their football team is now a laughingstock in Section II.

If that doesn't tell you that there's politics in the school boards of Section II, what would?