Business Directory Now Online!!!

Look Here For Future Specials

Please visit our kind sponsor

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing

Elk Lake Eliminated From Softball Playoffs; Senators Bring Binghamton First AHL Title
By Tom Robinson

BLOOMSBURG - The Elk Lake Lady Warriors had recorded one out and out strike in the bottom of the seventh inning as they moved closer to a trip to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA softball playoffs.

A strike of a different kind halted Elk Lake’s progress.

Lightning forced a delay of more than an hour and, when play resumed, Brandywine Heights came up with the two runs necessary to extend the game to extra innings where the Bullets eventually pulled out a 4-3 victory in the 11th inning.

Elk Lake had reached Thursday’s quarterfinal game at Bloomsburg University by beating Pen Argyl, 2-1, in 10 innings June 6 at Marywood University in the opening round of the PIAA tournament.

Brooke Darling struck out five and allowed just one hit in the first four innings against Brandywine Heights, the District 3 champion.

Darling also was in the middle of a three-run Elk Lake outburst in the top of the fourth.

Mckenzi Moon started the inning with a running, slap single on which she beat out a chopper just to the left of the mound.

Bri Hollenbeck walked.

Darling then pushed a bunt hard past the pitcher and charging first baseman to the spot vacated by the second baseman, allowing Moon to score all the way from second with the game’s first run.

A passed ball put both runners into scoring position, but Hollenbeck was retired trying to retreat to third base on Casey Tyler’s groundball.

With rain falling hard and the wind blowing out, Sara Kwiatkowski got the ball up in the air twice. The first was a foul ball that Brandywine Heights first baseman Taylor Bortz could not judge and overran. The second was a long ground-rule double that hopped over the right-field fence to score courtesy runner Debbie Harvey and Tyler for a 3-0 lead.

The Bullets managed three hits in the fifth for their first run.

Megan Olsen singled and scored on a Bortz single.

When Darling struck out Shelby Snyder with two runners in scoring position to end the sixth, she set up a bottom of the seventh against the bottom third of the order.

The rain delay soon changed the momentum of the game.

Elk Lake moved within an out of the win when play resumed before Katrina Hughes drew a walk. Leadoff hitter Amanda Hess doubled down the left-field line.

Jenn Seabourne, who had struck out swinging in each of her first three at-bats, dropped a double into left-center to tie the game.

The game moved to the international tiebreaker rule in the 10th inning, with each team starting with a runner on second base.

Elk Lake got two runners into scoring position in the 10th, but had one thrown out at the plate.

Hughes then decided the game on a two-out single in the bottom of the 11th.

Darling and Kwiatkowski each had a single and a double in the loss for Elk Lake.

By handing District 2 Class AA and Lackawanna League Division 3 champion Elk Lake its first loss of the season, Brandywine Heights (25-2) advanced to the state semifinals.

Elk Lake won an extra-inning game earlier in the week.

Hollenbeck’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th lifting the Lady Warriors past Pen Argyl.

Darling threw a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts and retired all nine batters she faced in extra innings.

Darling also singled to drive in Moon in the first inning.

Pen Argyl tied the game in the fourth.

Elsewhere in the PIAA playoffs, the Valley View softball team reached the semifinals while the Old Forge baseball and softball teams were eliminated.

Valley View ripped Jersey Shore, 11-1, and Pope John Paul II of Royersford, 14-1, in five innings in the Class AAA softball tournament.

Old Forge defeated Greenwood, 5-3, in the Class A softball opening round, but lost to Wyalusing, 10-0, at Bloomsburg Thursday.

Muncy topped Old Forge, 8-3, in Class A baseball.

District 2 has one baseball team alive after Tunkhannock won twice in Class AAA.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Senators gave Binghamton its first championship in 29 years as an American Hockey League member with a 3-2 victory over the host Houston Aeros June 7 in Game Six of the Calder Cup Finals.

Ryan Keller’s power-play goal 9:09 into the third period broke a 2-2 tie and lifted the Senators to the title.

Binghamton, which had missed the playoffs each of the previous five seasons, won the best-of-seven final, 4-2.

The Senators rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 series deficits by winning the final three games. They set a Calder Cup record for road wins by going 10-2 away from home in the playoffs.

After starting out the playoffs by losing three of the first four games to the Manchester Monarchs, Binghamton went 15-4 in its final 19 playoff games.

Binghamton’s Robin Lehner earned the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Calder Cup Playoffs after going 14-4 with a 2.10 goals against average and a .939 save percentage.

Roman Wick and Bobby Butler scored the other Binghamton goals and Lehner made 34 saves in the clinching game.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Pennsylvania meets Ohio Saturday night at 7 in the Big 33 Football Classic at Hersheypark Stadium.

There are no Susquehanna County players in the game, but the Lackawanna Football Conference is represented by three players and there is a fourth from District 2.

Abington Heights tight end Morgan Craig, Riverside running back Nick Rossi, Delaware Valley lineman Brandon Clemons and Wyoming Area nose guard Julian Campenni are on the Pennsylvania roster for the game, which features graduating high school football players.

In high school sports, the PIAA baseball and softball championships are scheduled for Friday in State College.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

Back to Top

NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

Jeff Gordon Cruises To Pocono Victory

POCONO, Penn. - Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway, 2.92-seconds ahead of polesitter Kurt Busch, and 4.25-seconds ahead of his brother Kyle.

“A lot of hard work went into this win,” said Gordon. “We know it takes working as a team to win races and championships. I don’t feel like I’m locked into the Chase yet, but I do feel a lots better after today’s race.”

Jeff Gordon, winner of Sunday's Pocono Cup race gives high-fives.

It was Gordon’s second win of the year and fifth at Pocono. He moved up from 13th to 11th in Chase standings. It was his 84th career win, tying the four-time champion with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third on the career victory list.

“It was cool,” said runner-up Kurt Busch. “I’ve got to give it to Jeff. The old boy ran good today. We threw all we had at him, but it wasn’t enough.”

Gordon will reach his 40th birthday on August 4.

“We had a great car and I wish we could have gotten up there and battled for the lead,” said third-place finisher, Kyle Busch. “We had a third or fourth place car and that’s all we could do.”

Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Juan Montoya, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, and Martin Truex were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Points leader Carl Edwards took a big hit as his No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford developed engine problems midway of the race and he was unable to finish.

“It was tough out there,” Edwards said. “As a driver you want to go out and get every bit of power out of your engine that you can, and sometimes things like this happen.”

There were four cautions, but they were all for debris on the track.

No wrecks, no bumping or grinding, just 200 laps of cars going round and round.

Top-12 Chase contenders after 14 of 36: 1. Edwards-492, 2. Johnson-486, 3. Earnhardt-482, 4. Harvick-481, 5. Kyle Busch-467, 6. Kurt Busch-457, 7. Kenseth-448, 8. Bowyer-419, 9. Stewart-417, 10. Newman-417, 11. J. Gordon-411, 12. Hamlin-408

HORNADAY GETS TEXAS TRUCK WIN

FORT WORTH, Texas - Ron Hornaday Jr. won the Camping World Truck Series race after leader Johnny Sauter was black-flagged for changing lanes on the night’s final restart.

“Good way to steal one,” Hornaday said. “I think we had a third- or a fifth-place truck, but it worked out for us. On that restart, he was the leader, but he kind of blocked, basically.”

Sauter, who had passed Hornaday for the lead with a powerful run through Turn 4 on Lap 130, was penalized for moving from the outside lane to in front of Hornaday before crossing the start/finish line on a green-white-checkered restart on Lap 167. The race went 168 laps, one beyond its scheduled distance.

Asked at what point he realized Sauter had broken the restart rule, Hornaday said, “Soon as the green dropped he turned in my lane, and I was yelling, ‘He’s in my lane!’ At that time we had a second-place truck, but it was a (good) call. I spun my tires, he spun his tires, and his spotter must have said, ‘Clear.’

“You go into another guy’s lane, better give it back before you get to Turn 1. Sticky call. But you can’t change lanes until you pass the start/finish line. And I hate that rule.”

Parker Kligerman, David Mayhew, Brian Ickler, Joey Coulter, Ricky Carmichael, Ryan Sieg, Miguel Paludo, James Buescher, and Justin Loftin rounded out the top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 8 of 24: 1. Sauter-326, 2. Whitt-306, 3. Hornaday-293, 4. Dillon-291, 5. Crafton-285, 6. Peters-280, 7. Buescher-279, 8. Kligerman-270, 9. Coulter-254, 10. Gaughan-248

Richard Childress was fined $150,000 by NASCAR last week for beating up on Kyle Busch, but NASCAR Chairman Brian France has a lot messier personal problem.

According to the Charlotte Observer, France was back in court last week trying to void an agreement with his ex-wife that calls for him to pay her millions of dollars, as well as more than $40,000 a month in alimony and child support.

“She got a boatload of money,” France’s attorney, Johnny Stephenson, told the judge.

Megan France’s attorneys told the judge their client had not broken the separation agreement, and they accused Brian France of refusing to pay her the millions he’d promised in the agreement.

On Friday, Judge Jena Culler ordered Brian France to pay his ex-wife alimony and child support in full and on time.

“Brian France has selectively chosen the provisions of the separation agreement that he wants to enforce,” Megan France’s attorney told the court. “Yet at the same time, he’s repudiated his obligations under that contract.”

Brian France’s attorney argued that Megan France is not in financial distress.

“You know how much cash she got. You know how much real estate she got,” Stephenson told the judge. “You know that it is an enormous sum of money. Even among rich folks, it’s an enormous sum of money.”

Brian France had agreed to pay Megan France a total of $9 million as well as $32,000 a month in alimony for 10 years and $10,000 a month in child support, according to court documents. Their separation agreement also spells out the custody terms for their young twins and provisions about their upbringing.

Megan France’s attorneys argued their client had not breached the agreement.

The judge sided with Megan France.

Thought for the day: If your wife does all the cooking and you do all the eating, don’t complain.

Weekend Racing: Both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI, which has a seating capacity of 137,00. The Trucks have an off week.

Sat., June 18, Nationwide Series Alliance Truck Parts 250, race 15 of 34, Starting time: 3:30 p.m.; TV: ABC.

Sun., June 19, Sprint Cup Sour Cream Dip 400, race 15 of 36, Starting time: 1 p.m.; TV: TNT.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Which two NASCAR Sprint Cup tracks are road courses?

Last Week’s Question: Which driver helped bring car owner Richard Childress to racing prominence? Answer. Dale Earnhardt.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.

Back to Top

©