Leading off today: Tournament MVP Quincey Lewis pitched two shutouts Sunday to lead Corning to the championship of the
James 'Ace' Morabito softball tournament in Herkimer.
The Hawks (14-4) defeated Oneida 2-0 in the final as Lewis tossed a four-hitter. Earlier, Corning defeated R.C. Ketchum 4-0 on Lewis' two-hitter. Lewis surrendered one run in four games over two days of the 16-school tournament.
In the final, Corning scored in the first inning when Chaylen Andolino singled and scored on two passed balls. The other run came on consecutive sixth-inning doubles by Lewis and Andolino.
On Saturday, Corning scored seven first-inning runs and beat Clarkstown South 8-0, then rallied past St. Joe by the Sea 2-1 to reach the semifinals.
Oneida rallied for two final-inning victories on Saturday then beat 2011 NYSPHSAA Class B champion Windsor 11-3 in the semifinals on Sunday.
Pure thievery: Niagara-Wheatfield senior Caitlin Attfield became the NYSPHSAA record holder for career stolen bases in softball at 122 on Sunday, breaking the previous record of 121 by Jordan Rutkowski of Alden set in 2007.
Attfield, a University of Alabama-Birmingham recruit, stole six bases as N-W split four games over the weekend at the Ace Morabito Tournament. She has 34 steals this spring.
Attfield's stay at the top could be short-lived: Elizabethtown-Lewis junior Kylee Cassavaugh is at 119 and counting. "She's very gifted athletically," Elizabethtown-Lewis coach Jim Monty said. "I might be prejudiced, but if she really concentrates, softball may be the best of her three sports.
Cassavaugh stole 29 bases as an eighth-grader, 31 as a freshman and 41 last spring -- including six in one game. She has only 18 this spring, partly a function of hitting in the No. 3 slot in the lineup.
Loucks Games recap: Reports out of White Plains say that this year's Loucks Games will go down as one of the best regular-season meets in state history, probably owing to some of the best early-season weather much of the state has seen in years.
Peru senior Dan Lennon crushed his own Section 7 record in the 3,200 meters by winning in 9:00.52. That shaved a full seven seconds off his own mark set at the same meet a year ago, and he would have almost certainly have gone sub-nine had New Jersey junior sensation Edward Cheserek not scratched. Cheserek had won the 1,600 earlier in the three-day meet in a time of 4:09.90.
Bronxville's Mary Cain moved a step closer to the unthinkable -- possibly erasing Mary Decker's national sophomore record in the girls 800 -- when she won in 2:03.34. Decker's mark of 2:02.29 seems reachable with a month left in the high school campaign and then a number of summer competitions available.
