Leading off today: An extra day of rest courtesy of a Friday rainout provided a boost to Matt Petro and the Kingston baseball team.

   Petro, coming off a one-hitter on Tuesday, registered a 9-3 victory against Warwick in the Section 9 Class AA final yesterday.

   "I got so excited," Petro told The Times Herald-Record of his reaction to the rainout. "This was it. We're going to bring it home and win this championship. I couldn't even sleep (Friday) night. I think I got two hours of sleep."

   Kingston first baseman Teddy Bickert drove in runs in the second and third innings as Kingston built a 9-1 lead through five, and Petro gutted out a 120-pitch effort.

   "When you put up nine runs, you don't really have to worry about him giving up nine runs," Bickert said.

   More baseball: Fort Plain was one strike away from the state tournament before Shane McInerney stroked a run-scoring single and Nick Papas' grounder was misplayed into two more runs, completing Maple Hill's 10-8 victory in the Section 2 Class C qualifier at Saratoga Springs.

   Maple Hill (16-8) was 9-2 midway through the regular season but lost six of its final nine games before sectionals. Jaime Schultz collected his third straight playoff win to run his record as a senior to 8-3 by striking out eight in three innings of work. He's fanned 37 in 15 1/3 postseaon innings.

   Niskayuna blanks Saugerties: Brothers Dan and Justin McKinney each scored a hat trick in the first quarter as Niskayuna, ranked No. 1 in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association, raced to 10-0 lead en route to a a 20-0 win over Saugerties in the first round of the NYSPHSAA boys Class B lacrosse tournament.

   It was the first state tournament shutout since Penn Yan downed East Aurora in the 2007 Class C quarterfinals, 14-0. Niskayuna, which has outscored its four postseason opponents by 77-3, outshot the Sawyers by 33-0 in the first half. Colin Foster led Niskayuna with four goals and two assists.

   A little history: Section 10 has advanced two teams to the boys lacrosse quarterfinals for the first time. Class C Salmon River pulled away late to beat Binghamton Seton Catholic, 18-10, and St. Lawrence scored an 8-7 win in Class B over Chenango Forks.

   Brady Helmer scored the winner for St. Lawrence with 53.5 seconds remaining. Goalie Connor McCuin was credited with 27 saves.

   Salmon River set up a state quarterfinal against second-ranked LaFayette, which features former Shamrocks Miles and Lyle Thompson. The brothers transferred earlier this school year.

   Seth Oakes led the attack with seven goals (five in the first half) and four assists. Salmon River opened up a 13-10 game with five straight goals in the fourth quarter.

   Farmingdale girls advance again: Janine Hillier's goal with 3:13 to play built a two-goal lead, and Farmingdale held on for a 13-12 victory against Northport in the NYSPHSAA girls Class A lacrosse quarterfinals. It was the Dalers' fourth straight Long Island championship.

   Melanie Raso scored three of her five goals in the second half for the winners, who went ahead 7-6 and then built a two-goal cushion three times. Northport's Shannon Gilroy, who scored eight goals in the Suffolk County final, was limited to just two.

   Also on the Island, Garden City won its fifth straight Long Island Class B title with a 16-3 victory vs. Sayville. The Trojans ran off 14 straight goals for a 15-1 lead. Mikaela Rix and Caroline McTiernan each scored four times.

   Sweet revenge: Yorktown dominated Niskayuna in the Class B quarterfinals, 16-9, a year after the Silver Warriors ended the 'Huskers' season in the NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse playoffs.

   Jaimie Morrison (six), Lindsay Scott (four) and Brittney Mabus (three) accounted for 13 goals. Yorktown extended its 4-3 lead to 9-4 on a Mabus goal shortly after halftime.

   "It's the playoffs, so we're psyched for every game," Morrison told The Journal News. "It's not so much about getting revenge. But if you can win a game like this and get some revenge, more power to it."

   More girls lacrosse: Class C No. 1 Carthage overpowered host Potsdam, 21-2, in a state quarterfinal to set up a semifinal against Shoreham-Wading River on Friday at Cortland.

   Junior midfielder Katherine DeRonda piled up two goals and four assists, and junior attacker Katie Ferris scored

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four goals in the first half to help build a 14-1 lead and assure Carthage's sixth victory in 11 days.

   Track and field highlights: Iona Prep senior Sean Halpin put up a big number on his home track in the Eastern States Championships, going 1:51.55 in the 800 meters to qualify for the USA Track Junior Nationals.

   It was the state's second-fastest time this season.

   Marcellus star Chris Stogsdill won twice at the Section 3 state qualifier and will be looking to break the Central New York 3,200-meter mark by Tommy Gruenewald of Fayetteville-Manlius (8:59.32 in 2006) at next weekend's state meet. The Iona-bound senior won the Division 2 race at that distance in 9:27.43 and also ran a 1:52.8 anchor for the 3,200-meter relay team 8:00.23.

   By the way, Liverpool used a freshman and three juniors in the boys; Division 1 3,200 meters and came away with a win in 8:04.73. They've gone as low as 7:45.91, which bodes well for Zavon Watkins and juniors Chris Clemons, Alex Wilke and Colin Savage in 2010.

   In the Section 6 state qualifier, Evan Tsembelis of Grand Island edged Joe Whelan of Hamburg at the tape to capture the 1,600 meters in 4:19.08. In other action, Hamburg senior Will Cole broke his sectional mark in the 400 hurdles by clocking :53.09.

   North Rockland breaks dry spell: North Rockland edged Ursuline, 2-0, for the Section 1 Class AA softball championship — the school's first in the sport since 1984. North Rockland will play Horseheads of Section 4 tomorrow in the regional playoffs.

   Red Raiders senior Samantha Welsh allowed two hits, walked one and struck out nine.

   Ursuline made it to the softball finals for the first time in school history.

   More softball: Fairport scored eight runs on six two-out hits in the fourth inning, and senior Stacy Kuwik pitched a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts as the Red Raiders rolled to a 9-0 win over Webster Thomas in the Section 5 Class AA softball qualifier.

   Kuwik singled and hit a two-run home run in the big inning.

   Kalyn Howard doubled home the go-ahead run and scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the 10th inning of Liverpool's 6-5 victory against Cicero-North Syracuse in the Section 3 Class AA championship.

   "I’m speechless,” Howard told The Post-Standard. "I’m really excited. All our hard work paid off basically."

   Liverpool, which has been to the sectional finals nine times in the last 10 years, lost last year’s crown to C-NS, 9-1.

   State golf tournament: Ithaca junior Rebecca Studin took command with a first-round 69 in the NYSPHSAA girls gold championships at Foxfire Golf Course in Baldwinsville.

   The score left her six strokes ahead of Junior Suzie Lee of Commack, with senior Anna Ausanio of Wappingers in third at 78. Juliana Staab of Ursuline and Alex Seabury of Fayetteville-Manlius rounded out the top five with matching 79s.

   The tournment concludes with 18 holes today on the Hal Purdy-designed course.

   Nieman back on Canandaigua staff: Dave Nieman resigned as head coach following the 2008 season but is returning to the Canandaigua football staff as the offensive coordinator, The Daily Messenger reported.

   Nieman planned to remain as a physical education teacher while working on an administrative degree. He's since put aside the plans for the certification and will use some of that freed-up time to assist best friend Peter Haugh, who was appointed head coach last month.

   Nieman was 29-8 in four seasons as head coach at Canandaigua.

   "This will allow me to keep my hand in the high school game but not spend as much time with it as I did before," Nieman said. "For the first time I can really concentrate on football and not the fringe jobs that come with it."