Spring Fever 2009

A special supplement to The Cooperstown Crier on April 16, 2009 and The Daily Star on April 17, 2009

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ENIOR

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OOPERSTOWN

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BASEBALL

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ELAWARE

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Burns leads a strongouth Kortright teamthat is seeking its thirdectional title thisacademic year.

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Can Jessie Winanslead powerhouse Aftonto its 15th straightection Four Class Dcrown?

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Lesley Harlem looks totake Oneonta softballto the next level in theouthern Tier AthleticConference.

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Cover design by P.J. HarmerStar photo by Brit Worgan

T h e C o o p e r s t o w n C r i e r , T h u r s d a y , A p r i l 1 6 , 2 0 0 9 / T h e D a i l y S t a r F r i d a y , A p r i l 1 7 , 2 0 0 9

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ONEONTA HIGH BASEBALL

By Rob Centorani

Staff Writer

Over the past two seasons,neonta High’s baseball teamhas won 29 games and lost 15.That includes a 16-6 mark lastyear, when the Yellowjacketswent 12-2 in the Southern TierAthletic Conference.That’s the good news forHS.The bad news?For the second straight yearthe Yellowjackets were upsetin their first sectional game.Last year, fifth-seeded ElmiraFree Academy downed thefourth-seeded Yellowjackets,11-9, in the Section Four ClassA playoffs. The year before,fourth-seeded OHS lost, 5-4, tofifth-seeded Susquehanna Val-ley in the Section Four Class Bplayoffs.OHS’ last sectional vic-tory came May 25, 2004, whenthe Yellowjackets defeatedChenango Valley, 8-4, in a Sec-tion Four Class B semifinal.Senior catcher Matt Marce-wicz, a brace adorning the leftankle he dislocated when heshattered his fibula during foot-ball season, said this season’sversion of the Yellowjacketswould very much like to endthat skid.“This is my last chance todo it,” said Marcewicz, who hasalso had three surgeries on hisleft knee in recent years. “Thelast couple of years, we got alittle too far ahead of ourselves.We started thinking about thegame after the game we wereplaying _ who we were goingto play after we played Susque-hanna Valley or who we’re go-ing to play after beating (EFA)and that’s the wrong thing to do.I think we have a strong enoughteam to carry us a long way.”Marcewicz, who said he planson signing a letter of intent thisweek to play baseball next sea-son for Division II Mansfield(Pa.) University, added he andhis teammates expect betterthings this season.“Coach (Joe) Hughes alwayssays he has the highest expec-tations for us, but he’s wrongbecause the guys in the lockerroom have higher expecta-tions, especially me and Jeff (Wiltsie),” said Marcewicz, anAll-STAC player who hit .391last season with two home runsand a team-high 27 RBIs.The one area the Yellow- jackets seem to feel confidentis pitching. Of the 18 playerson the roster, Hughes said 14will see time on the mound thisseason. That includes return-ees Wiltsie, Mike Tietjen, NateEastman, Patrick DeAndreaand Eric Scorzafava.Hughes warned that thoughhe sees pitching as a strength,don’t expect the Yellowjacketsto send overpowering guys tothe mound.“They can beat anybody butthen again, they can get beatby anybody, too,” Hughes said.“They’re just not that power10-12 strikeout guy like (Tim)Christman was or the Connollys(Mike and Jon) or the Thoma-ses (Ron and Kyle) or the (Clay)Bellinger, who are rare com-modities. We’re going to pitch alot of people and you don’t haveto strike out 10-12 to be effec-tive.”Asked to identify the team’stop pitcher, senior Wiltsie said:“I don’t know if we really havean ace. We have three veteranpitchers returning _ myself,Mike Tietjen and Pat DeAn-drea, but (Brendan) Wolfangerhas come up and he’s throwing just as hard as any of us. Anace, I don’t know if we have one.There’s still room for improve-ment for all of us. Maybe someare better than others, but ev-eryone is about equal. It givesus time to develop.”Hughes said returnersWiltsie (6-0, 1.20 ERA last sea-son), Tietjen (3-3, 3.50) andDeAndrea (3-1, 1.47), and Wol-fanger will make up the startingrotation. Wolfanger is up from a junior varsity team that won theCentral Division championshipand lost, 6-5, to Horseheads in aSTAC semifinal last season.OHS, off to a 2-2 start thisseason, graduated four playerswho earned All-STAC recogni-tion last season, Andy Dickson,who’s playing for Mohawk Val-ley CC this spring, Lane Potter,Larry Jankowski and Jack Ben- jamin.But the Yellowjackets returnfour players who hit better than.300 last season _ Marcewicz,Wiltsie (.328 and a team-high 28runs scored), DeAndrea (.333),Eric Scorazafava (.344) andietjen (.400).Hughes said Wiltsie _ who’llplay shortstop when he’s notpitching _ and Marcewicz willbat 1-2 in the lineup.“Opposing pitchers will haveto get two pretty good hitters outto start the game,” Hughes said.“They’ll try to set the table foruys like Nate Eastman, DaltonSmith, Brendan Wolfanger andEric Scheer, and others.” Junior Eastman is a firstbaseman. Smith, a senior who.256 hitter last season, can playfirst base or catch. Scheer, a se-ior outfielder, hit .286 a yearago. Wolfanger, a junior, willplay in the outfield when he’sot pitching.Left-hander Dave Schultewill see time also see time atfirst base. Scorzafava, DeAn-drea and Marcewicz will sharetime at second. Wiltsie and De-ndrea are the shortstops.Isiah Fleming, a junior upfrom the JV team, and DeAn-drea are will split time at thirdbase.In the outfield, Wolfangerand Scheer will man two spots,and junior Cory Hunter and se-ior John Gibson will also com-pete for playing time, as will juniors Matt Pidgeon, Jamesarson, Kasey Hogan and TomBrindley.Hughes said Fleming, Schul-te, Carson, Brindley, Scheerand Gibson will also see timeon the time on the mound, aswill junior right-hander DanBroe, a utility player. Gibson iscoming off arm surgery.“I don’t think the schedulehas gotten any easier,” Wiltsiesaid. “I think it’s gotten tough-er. It’s going to be a challengingyear.”dded Marcewicz: “We wantto walk off the field with no re-rets, no what-ifs. If that meansa sectional championship _awesome. If that means a statechampionship, even better.But if that means a hard-foughtame deep into the playoffs andwe just don’t make all the way,that’s baseball, You have tolove it.”

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ob Centorani can be reachedt rcentorani@thedailystar,comr 607-432-1000, ext. 209.

Deep pitching staff should aidYellowjackets

OHS looking for postseason success

Star photo by Brit Worgan

neonta’s Eric Scheer slides safely into second base as Unatego’s Tyler Newman reaches forhe ball during Monday’s game at Oneonta High. The Yellowjackets are off to a 2-2 start.

T h e C o o p er s t own C r i er ,T h ur s d a y ,A pr i l 1 6 ,2 0 0 9 / T h eD ai l y S t ar ,F r i d a y ,A pr i l 1 7 ,2 0 0 9

ONEONTA HIGH SOFTBALL

By Rob Centorani

Staff Writer

The 2008 season ended with a10-0 sectional quarterfinal lossto eventual Section Four ClassA champion Maine-Endwell.Oneonta High’s offense mus-tered nothing _ not a hit, nota walk _ no one reached baseagainst Nicole Osovsky, whoseperfect game included 12strikeouts. Oneonta High’s de-fense committed six errors andthe Spartans amassed 12 hits off losing pitcher Lesley Harlem.Last season started with fourSouthern Tierthletic Confer-ence losses. OHSwas outscored,2-5, during thatstretch.wo years ago,the Yellowjack-ets won threeSTAC games _two against Nor-wich and a surprising, 4-3, vic-tory over Seton Catholic Cen-tral. Last year, they went 6-14overall and 2-12 in STAC _ bothleague victories coming againstNorwich.Will this season be any dif-ferent?Perhaps, but don’t expect theYellowjackets to contend forconference or sectional titlesany time soon.“Obviously in the past, wehaven’t been a team that’s wona lot of games, but we wantit bad this year,” said juniorshortstop and third-year varsitystarter Katie Bredin, who went3-for-3 in Oneonta’s season-opening, 3-1 loss at Cobleskill-Richmondville on April 2. “Weobviously want to get betterand win more. We’re all excitedabout the season.“We all have that desire towant to win,” she continued.“We’re not going to come upthis season and go undefeated,but we’re better.”Third-year coach RandyBrockway referred to his pro-gram taking baby steps.“This core group of girls Ihave, they played all last seasonand then the summer,” he said.“I think with our game experi-ence, it should put us ahead.The girls down in Binghamtonare playing year-round and itpays off. They have their owntravel programs and we’re try-ing to do our own travel thinghere.“I think we’re closing the gapslowly,” he continued. “We feelwe’re a little bit closer thanwhere we’ve been in the past.”So instead of winning cham-pionships, some on this year’ssquad spoke of surprising oneof the conference’s kingpins.Maybe a victory over a Wind-sor or Chenango Valley orSusquehanna Valley or Maine-Endwell or Chenango Forks _teams with rich traditions andsoftball-savvy rosters.“That would be the best,”Bredin said. “We want a keywin like that, a big victory overa team that just thinks they’reto come and walk all over us.”A win or two like that alsowould help to improve the Yel-lowjackets’ re-cord.“We haven’thad a recordover .500 in a fewyears, but I thinkwe’re capable.It’s just a matterof confidence,”said third-yearstarting pitcherHarlem, who joins catcher ErinWolstenholme, third basemanSienna Wisseand Bredin off an OHS basket-ball team thatwent 25-1 andadvanced to theClass B state fi-nal. “We don’thave those build-ing blocks thereyet, but we’rehere to do that.”Harlem, a two-time DailyStar First-Team All-Star, isprobably the best place to startwith these Jackets, who lost Mi-chelle Seeger and Sara Spragueoff last year’s roster. In a sportdominated by pitching, it’s like-ly OHS will need a big seasonfrom Harlem to reach its goals.She took the decision in all20 of Oneonta’s games last sea-son, striking out 123 battersalong the way.“Lesley is a good, funda-mental pitcher,” Brockwaysaid. “She can hit her spots allday long. It just comes down topitch selection, making sureher pitches are moving and get-ting a little power behind it.“Right now, she’s a little bitbehind because of basketball,”he continued. “It’ll take awhilefor her to get her zip back shehad at the end of last season. Tocompare her to the other girlsin STAC, she’s right there.”olstenholme and Wisse,both sopho-ores, wereSecond TeamDaily Star All-Star selectionslast season. Wol-stenholme hit.340 last spring,when Wisse bat-ted .316. They’llhit fourth andsecond in the order, respec-tively.Bredin, who batted .314 lastseason, is the leadoff hitter.Senior center fielderBridgette Aikens _ a .260 hit-ter in 2008 _ will bat third. Theonly other senior on the roster_ Aikens’ twin sister, Andrea_ is the team’s first baseman.he remainder of the start-ing spots will be manned by junior Kaitlyn O’Connor (sec-ond base), freshman Briannaeorge (left field) and eighth-rader Brianna Haines (rightfield).Brockway described sopho-ores Brianna Ferchen andalla Losie, along with eighth-rader Hayley Dower, as versa-tile players he can plug into nu-erous positions this season.“This year is going to be dif-ferent than years before,” said’Connor, a second-year varsityplayer. “We have the talent thisyear.”

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ob Centorani can be reachedt rcentorani@thedailystar.comr 607-432-1000, ext. 209.

‘We all have that desire to want to win. We’re not going to come up thisseason and go undefeated, but we’re better.’

— OHS shortstop Katie Bredin

Oneonta comingoff 6-14 season

Yellowjackets still looking to turn corner

Star photo by Brit Worgan