Leading off today: The
Watertown Daily Times got out in front of the curve and reported a story that will be all too common next month and in early September, reporting on how a number of area school districts are dealing with
tight athletic budgets.
The combination of the state's financial crisis and the inability of the legislature to adopt a budget with school aid numbers has caused districts across the state to reduce budgets and act conservatively with respect to extracurricular activities.
For starters, many Frontier League members have either dropped non-league games or scheduled opponents closer to home.
One of the hardest-hit schools in the North Country is Carthage, where AD Bob Alexander is dealing with his portion of an overall budget about $1.8 million lower than what might have been expected a year or so ago. Carthage has cut varsity golf, varsity and modified cross country, cheerleading, and one modified team for soccer, basketball, volleyball and baseball.
And every other sport is feeling the effects, too. "Special emphasis will be given to reduce the cost of tournaments and long non-league trips in all sports," Alexander told the paper.
At General Brown, the entire modified program has been dropped, replaced by intramural competitions at a net savings of about $32,000.
Soto selected: Switch-hitting Xaverian catcher Elvin Soto, who committed this spring to enroll at Arizona in September 2011, has been selected to the U.S. Under-18 National Baseball Team.
The U-18s will compete in the 2010 IBAF AAA World Junior Championships in Thunder Bay, Canada, from July 23-Aug. 1 after a string of 14 exhibitions in New York City and Minnesota.
7-on-7 action: The United States Marines High School 7 vs. 7 Passing Tournament, which began a four-city tour last month in Elmira, continues Saturday at Lancaster.
Sponsored in part by MaxPreps, the event guarantees teams three games, with pool winners advancing.
