News & notes

 Any die-hard baseball fan will tell you there's nothing worse than rallying in the 9th inning, winning run on base, and falling short.

It happened to the Mets on Tuesday in the 2nd game of their doubleheader against St. Louis. It happened to the Tri-City Valleycats Wednesday in a 5-3 loss to Lake Erie. Tri-City (3-2) had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th, but couldn't bring the winning run across. The two teams will play an Education Day special this morning, provided the rain doesn't get any heavier before then, at 10 am. Wednesday's game clocked in, as Yankee announcer Michael Kay would say, at an unmanageable 4 hours and 2 minutes. Pace of play, anyone?

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Devon Dillard led five Albany Patroons in double figures with 30 points, as the Pats avenged Sunday's loss to Syracuse by blowing the Stallions out of the Washington Avenue Armory, 134-102. Unfortunately, attendance fell below 1,000 fans for the game, due largely to the Valleycats playing across the river. The Pats and 'Cats will vie for fan attendance again on Saturday night, when the Tri-State Admirals return to the Armory after getting routed themselves last Saturday.

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Could Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High have been looking too far ahead in the Class A baseball sectionals?

Last year's runner-up was knocked out in the opening round Wednesday, as South Glens Falls defeated the Spartans, 1-0, on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 7th off Spartan ace Kyle DeCresece. South High now moves on to play Foothills Council rival Scotia, the top seed, on Friday.

Meanwhile, last year's champions, Troy High, opened defense of their title by routing Gloversville, 9-2. Davin Keddell-Tuckey slammed a 3 run homer to ice the game for Troy (11-6), which now hits the road, and will play 3rd seeded Albany Academy on Friday. Expect Troy's senior ace, Mike Kennedy, to be on the mound for the Flying Horses against Academy, which went 13-2 in the Colonial Council.

The rest of Wednesday's action:

Baseball:

Class AA 1st round:

Saratoga 2, Niskayuna 1.

Columbia 3, Bethlehem 2.

Class A 1st round:

LaSalle 1, Queensbury 0. Eddie Girtler spun a no-hitter for the Cadets, who will play #2 Mohonasen on Friday.

Class B:

Schalmont 4, Broadalbin-Perth 1.

Schuylerville 3, Cobleskill-Richmondville 0.

Cohoes 5, Tamarac 1.

Ichabod Crane 12, Ravena 2.

Fonda-Fultonville 3, Hudson 1.

Coxsackie-Athens def. Greenville. No score was reported.

Friday's games:

Schalmont @ Catskill.

Cohoes @ Schuylerville.

Fonda-Fultonville @ Mechanicville.

Coxsackie-Athens @ Ichabod Crane.

Class CC:

Hoosick Falls 21, Rensselaer 0 (5 innings). Connor Jones pitched a perfect game, and went 4-4 with 3 RBI's for the Panthers.

Hoosic Valley 7, Salem-Cambridge 0.

Granville def. Stillwater. No score was reported.

Friday's games:

Hoosic Valley @ Chatham.

Hoosick Falls @ Canajoharie.

Granville @ Maple Hill.

Greenwich @ Lake George.

Class C:

Waterford 7, Schoharie 4.

Space considerations in the papers are preventing some scores from being published, but the brackets have been updated, just the same.

Class C quarterfinal pairings for Friday:

Fort Plain @ Galway.

Hartford-Fort Edward @ Whitehall.

Waterford @ Duanesburg.

Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons @ Hadley-Luzerne.

Softball:

Class C 1st round:

Warrensburg 6, Galway 0.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo 15, Duanesburg 3 (6 innings).

Chatham def. Berlin-New Lebanon.

Hoosick Falls def. Rensselaer.

Lake George def. Granville.

Stillwater def. Maple Hill.

Whitehall def. Canajoharie.

Greenwich def. Mayfield.

Today's quarterfinal pairings:

Hoosick Falls @ Chatham.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo @ Lake George.

Warrensburg @ Greenwich.

Stillwater @ Whitehall.

Check with your schools before going in case games are postponed.

Tennis championships:

Class AA: Bethlehem 7, Shaker 2.

Class A: Queensbury 6, Burnt Hills 1.

Class B: Glens Falls 4, Ichabod Crane 3.

Class C/D: Maple Hill 6, Lake George 1.

Women's lacrosse:

Capital District Women's Lacrosse League:

Cohoes 12, Emma Willard 4.

Suburban Council:

Bethlehem 10, Burnt Hills 9.

Shaker 14, Columbia 6.

Shenendehowa 12, Saratoga 7.

Men's lacrosse:

CBA @ Troy was not reported.

Men's track:

Queensbury won the Foothills Council title.

Women's track:

Queensbury won the Foothills Council title.

Guilderland captured the Suburban Council title.