OSWEGO, NY — On July 16th, The New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced changes to how high school athletics will work in the 2020-21 season. This statement comes as schools across New York State prepare for public schooling to reopen for the new school year. After the cancellation of the Spring 2020 season last year, there has been many questions revolving around high school athletics heading into this coming season.
The decision made by the Officers of the NYSPHSAA included a few changes along with guidelines on how schools/teams should prepare moving forward. The first being the start of the Fall sports season being moved to September 21st, which was supposed to begin on August 24th. The NYSPHSAA President, Paul Harrica, stated that this date would be unrealistic due to the current threats of COVID-19. Another major change is the cancellation of all Fall Regional and State Championship events. This is change was obviously made to decrease traveling between sports teams as teams from different sections around the state would travel to one central location to play the final games of the season. Minor adjustments and recommendations were also stated. For instance, the group has waived the seven-day practice rule, encouraged geographic scheduling for games, and schools have the option to offer off-season conditioning workouts.
These changes of course affect the Oswego Buccaneers teams, as many student-athletes were looking forward to the season beginning in the month of August. WTOP 10 will continue to bring coverage on this matter, as students will hopefully be returning to school by the beginning of September.
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Oswego Baseball: SUNYAC playoff review and national tournament preview
OSWEGO N.Y. — The SUNYAC playoffs have come and gone. A disappointing weekend for the Lakers saw them knocked out before the championship game. The tournament started Thursday with a game against Plattsburgh, followed by two games Friday for the Lakers against Cortland followed by Brockport.
Thursdays game against the Cardinals was always going to be the easiest for Oswego. Plattsburgh found the scoreboard first, a bases loaded sac fly scored Alex Kornbla from third. The Lakers quickly answered. The Lakers loaded the bases with none out. A Kyle Lauria single scored Paul Tammaro to tie the game. Ryan Weiss hit a sac fly in the ensuing at bat scoring Ryan Enos for the Lakers second run. Oswego struck again in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs and extending the lead to 7-1. Plattsburgh had one runner cross the plate in the bottom of the fifth for their final run of the game. Oswego scored five more runs in the sixth inning to get the lead to ten runs. Two more runners scored in the seventh, and got their 15th and final runner to cross in the eighth inning for a 15-2 win. Paul Tammaro and Kyle Lauria combined for the lead in hits for Oswego, each having three. Ryan Weiss drove in four runners, the most on the team. Thomas Pecchia got the start for Oswego. He pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out two.
The second game of the tournament was a rematch with the Cortland Red Dragons. The Lakers took two of three games in the series with them only a few weeks prior, and the Red Dragons wanted revenge. Oswego crossed the plate first, a solo home run in the bottom of the second off the bat of Ryan Weiss gave the Lakers the early lead. Cortland answered in the top of the fourth. They would load the bases with none out. A double play would take out two runners, but one scored tying the game. A double scored one more to give Cortland the lead. Oswego wouldn’t let hold the lead long, another Ryan Weiss homer, this one a two run shot, gave the Lakers the lead back in the bottom of the fourth. Cortland took the lead straight back though, scoring four in the top of the fifth for a 6-3 advantage. In the bottom of the fifth, Ryan Weiss drove in his fourth run on a sac fly to cut down the lead. Cortland extended their lead with two more runs in the sixth. Oswego wasn’t letting the Red Dragons get any further away in the bottom of the sixth. They loaded the bases without an out, but Cortland buckled down to get two outs. Lukas Olsson stepped into the batter box and sent the ball out of the park to tie the game at eight. Cortland took the lead back in the top of the eighth, scoring three times to get a 11-8 lead. A ninth inning single by Julian Drew brought home one for the Lakers, but they took their first loss of the double elimination tournament. Julian Drew led the team with three hits. Lukas Olsson and Ryan Weiss combined to drive in eight of the Lakers nine runs. Kieran Finnegan got the start for Oswego. he pitched four and two thirds innings, allowing nine hits, six runs, only two earned, walking two and striking out two.
With the loss to Cortland, the Lakers played another game on Friday, this one against the Brockport Golden Eagles. Oswego struck first, Ryan Weiss and Julian Drew each driving in a run on singles for an early 2-0 lead. Brockport tied the game in the third inning, a two run single off the bat of Tom Kretzler. Frank Levanti scored on a balk in the bottom of third to take the lead back for the Lakers, but Brockport tied it with a double in the top of the fifth. In the top of the seventh, back to back solo home runs gave the Golden Eagles the lead, and a one run single later in the inning extended the lead to 6-3. Ryan Weiss drove in one in the bottom of the seventh for the Lakers final run of the game. Brockport had four runners cross the plate in the top of the eighth and two more in the top of the ninth for the 12-4 win, and knocked Oswego out of the tournament. Ryan Enos’ three hits led the Lakers. Ryan Weiss had a team leading two RBIs. Anthony Van Fossen got the start for Oswego. He pitched six and two thirds innings, allowing five runs on ten hits, not walking any and striking out two. Cortland would beat Brockport in the Championship game.
After Monday’s selection show, the Lakers will head down to Glenside, Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia. They will take on Elizabethtown College from Elizabethtown, PA. The Elizabethtown Blue Jays won the Landmark Conference Championship after finishing the regular season in third with a 22-20 (11-7 Landmark) record. The Blue Jays are led by third basemen Robbie Bertucio. He had 59 hits in 42 games played this season, a .376 batting average with eight doubles and three home runs, driving in 32. Their second best hitter was outfielder Andrew Fisher. He hit .329 with six doubles. They also have pitcher/outfielder Ben Watson. At the plat hit hit .408 with eight doubles and eight home runs and two triples, he hit three home runs in one game. On the mound he pitched 18 innings, allowing 16 runs, walking 16, and striking out 14. On the mound they are led by Eric Sipling. In 47 innings, he had a 2.09 ERA, in 18 appearances, only one start, he struck out 46. Starter Tyler Dunbar pitched 75.2 innings, had a 4.64 ERA in 12 starts, he struck out 63. On the other side of the regional bracket is Arcadia University, the hosts of the regional, taking on Husson University.
IMAGE COURTESY OF WILLIAM ROGERS, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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A Look Ahead: Oswego State women’s hockey prepares for non-conference contest against Utica College
OSWEGO, N.Y. — On Sunday, the Oswego State women’s hockey team will return home to host non-conference opponent Utica College. The Pioneers will travel west down Interstate-90 to take on the Lakers in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. The 3:00 p.m. puck drop will feature the Utica College team that currently holds an overall record of 9-2. The team currently is second in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference with an 8-0-0 conference record. On the other side, the Lakers are 6-2-1 heading into the matchup after having four contests cancelled this week due to COVID-19 concerns. Oswego State is also third in the NEWHL conference and has a conference record of 3-2-1.
The Pioneers were supposed to take on number one team in the nation Middlebury College prior to their matchup with Oswego State but the game was postponed most likely due to COVID-19. In terms of the matchup history, the Lakers are 9-15-2 against the Pioneers but Oswego State is currently on a two-game win streak against the non-conference opponent. Their last game was February 8th, 2020 in which the Lakers won 2-1 on the road. While in the national spotlight, the Oswego State Lakers are ranked sixteenth in the pairwise ranking while the Utica College Pioneers are two spots behind them in eighteenth. Faceoffs will be a big part of the contest as both teams head into the contest with a percentage higher than .580. Oswego State forwards Morgan Shines and Rachel Corbett will be essential in the faceoff circles on Sunday. The Lakers offense, led by Ariella Haas and Megan Teachout will need to continue their dominance Sunday afternoon after scoring an average of 3.1 goals a game in the first half of the season.
WTOP 10 will be live on twitch.tv/wtop10tv at 2:45 p.m. prior to puck drop in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. The student run television station will continue to provide coverage for the Oswego State women’s hockey team as the group continues their 2021-22 season.
Image Provided By Diana Vitale, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Oswego State softball wraps up 2022 season
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State softball team finished their 2022 regular season this past weekend with 2 conference doubleheaders as SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo traveled to SUNY Oswego’s campus. The Lakers were unable to find the win column this weekend and finished the campaign with an overall record of 9-26 and 4-14 in SUNYAC play. Oswego State was eliminated from post season contention as the Lakers finished 9th in the conference standings, just above SUNY Potsdam.
On Friday, the Golden Eagles of SUNY Brockport traveled into Oswego, New York to take on the Lakers in a doubleheader. Game 1 finished with a 9-4 score in favor of SUNY Brockport after the Golden Eagles score first in the top of the 3rd. Oswego State would answer with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning but the Golden Eagles ran away with the contest the rest of the way. In Game 2, Oswego State struck first in the bottom of the opening inning with 1 run. The teams would trade runs in the 2nd inning before the Lakers took a commanding lead in the 4th inning. The Golden Eagles would have a monster 5th inning with 6 runs scored to take the lead and the group never looked back from there.
The following day, the Lakers would honor their seniors in a doubleheader against the top team in the SUNYAC, the Knights from SUNY Geneseo. The Lakers were swept by the Knights as SUNY Geneseo won a close Game 1 by a score of 8-7. Oswego State would take a commanding 7-1 lead early in the contest before SUNY Geneseo reeled back in the Lakers. The contest would go to extra innings as the Knights found the winning run in the top of the 9th inning.
It would be another 1 run game in the second stretch of the doubleheader. Oswego State unfortunately were on the wrong of the score line as the Knights came away with a 6-5 win in the final game of the regular season. SUNY Geneseo would snag 4 runs over the course of a few innings to take an early lead. Oswego State would tally 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to tie the game. In the final inning, SUNY Geneseo would score 2 more runs while the Lakers could only manage to find 1 run and would fall in their last contest of the 2022 campaign.
Laker Zoe Mennig would lead the Oswego State squad at the plate for the 2nd season in a row. The senior catcher finished with a .442 batting average and 42 hits over the course of 95 at bats. Fionna Higgins followed up Mennig with a .300 batting average. Higgins was also the top pitcher in the bullpen this season with the lowest ERA which was 4.72 at the end of the season. The junior finished with a 6-8 record at the end of the season. The Oswego State softball team will return next season in the spring for the 2023 season.
Image Provided By Oswego State Athletics (@OswegoAthletics)
