The Montrose baseball and Mountain View softball teams were dominant while jumping to the early lead in the standings when a break in the weather finally allowed the Lackawanna League to complete its first week of competition.
Montrose started 3-0 in baseball where Lackawanna Trail and Forest City are each 1-0 in Lackawanna League Division 4 play.
Mountain View went 3-0 in softball where Lackawanna Trail was the only other team without a loss, starting 1-0.
Montrose outscored opponents, 33-1, and put two of the three games away early on the 10-run rule.
The Meteors opened with a 16-0 rout of Elk Lake in six innings April 13 when Hunter Traver drove in five runs.
R.J. Arnold went 3-for-3 and Montrose broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to defeat defending champion Mountain View, 7-1, the next day.
Kyle Watkins threw a one-hitter and went 3-for-4 at the plate when Montrose shut out Elk Lake, 10-0, in five innings Thursday. Andreas Mittman was 4-for-4 with three runs and three runs batted in.
Mountain View won its first three softball games by a total of 31-2.
Samantha Krisa got all three pitching wins, throwing two shutouts, including a no-hitter.
Krisa opened the season with a five-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory over defending champion Montrose. She struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Lucy Adams drove in two runs while Makenna Whitaker scored two runs and had two hits.
Mountain View defeated Forest City, 11-2, Wednesday then, 15-0, in four innings Saturday.
Krisa struck out 12 while driving in three runs on three hits in the first over Forest City.
In the second meeting, Krisa threw a four-inning, no-hitter with six strikeouts.
Adams drove in four runs while Ariana Gabriel went 3-for-3.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Mountain View remained unbeaten in Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball, improving to 7-0.
In professional baseball, the defending Eastern League champion Binghamton Mets bashed 17 hits in their home opener while defeating the Harrisburg Senators, 9-3, Thursday.
T.J. Rivera went 4-for-4 three RBI.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins clinched a home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs with a victory Saturday then closed out the regular season with a 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Sunday in Allentown.
Defenseman Sean Escobedo had a goal and two assists while Jeff Zatkoff made 32 saves Sunday to finish 45-24-3-4.
Jayson Megna had a hat trick Saturday in a 5-4, home-ice win over the Norfolk Admirals to secure the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs.
The Penguins allowed the fewest goals in the American Hockey League for the third straight season.
Goalie Matt Murray was named Wednesday as the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL Rookie of the Year.
Murray led the league in shutouts (12), goals against average (1.58) and save percentage (.941) while finishing fifth in wins (25).
The Penguins finished second out of five teams in the AHL East Division. The Binghamton Senators were third at 34-34-7-1, but missed the playoffs.
LOOKING BACK
Elk Lake’s distance running strength carried the Lady Warriors to a third-place finish out of 16 teams in the Molly Dry Invitational track and field meet April 10 at Mansfield University.
Kenzie Jones won the 3200-meter run and finished second in the 1600 to lead Elk Lake.
Andrea Rockefeller won the 2000 steeplechase.
The Lady Warriors finished second and third in both the 800 and 1600. Kenzie Jones was followed by Keri Jones in the 1600 while Justine Johns and Katie Bennett were 2-3 in the 800.
Bennett, Johns, Keri Jones and Julie VanEtten teamed to take second in the 3200 relay.
Megyn Stevens added a second in the shot put.
Bennett, Kenzie Jones and Johns were all state medalists in cross country, finishing in the top 17 individually while helping the Warriors finish second in the state among Class A girls’ teams.
Hunter Watkins won both the javelin and the 300-meter hurdles while also anchoring the third-place 1600 relay team.
Hunter Bedell and Cody Oswald were each part of third-place finishes in both the 1600 and 3200 relays. Eddie Cumens completed the 1600 team while Brett Carney and Seth Owens were also part of the 3200 team.
COLLEGE CORNER
Taylor Watkins is making an impact as a freshman javelin thrower on the East Stroudsburg University women’s track and field team.
Watkins, who finished sixth in the state at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships for Elk Lake last year, had already qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships in the event when she threw a season-best 126-10 in the Coach P Invitational at Moravian University April 12.
Watkins was fifth out of 33 throwers in the event. Three of the four to finish ahead of her were from Division I Lehigh University. East Stroudsburg is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II school.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose is at Elk Lake Monday, April 27 in the regular-season finale in Division 4 of the Lackawanna Track Conference.
Entering this week, Montrose led the boys’ standings at 3-0 while Elk Lake was tied with Blue Ridge at 2-1. Elk Lake led the girls’ standings at 3-0 while Montrose and Blue Ridge were tied at 2-1.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opens the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs in a best-of-five playoff series with the Syracuse Crunch.
The Penguins are the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference while the Crunch is seeded fifth.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton hosts the first two games Friday and Saturday at 7:05.
The series continues in Syracuse April 29. If necessary, the remaining games are in Syracuse April 30 and Wilkes-Barre May 2.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
KENSETH WINS IN THUNDER VALLEY
Matt Kenseth, winner of Bristol Sprint Cup race
BRISTOL, Tenn.—Matt Kenseth and his team outlasted rain, four red flag periods, and a slew of wrecks, to win Sunday’s Sprint Cup race that lasted over ten hours, and consisted of 511 laps around the .54-mile track.
“What a race,” said Kenseth. “I didn’t think it would ever end. But this is what it takes to be a championship team. We’ve got to continue putting ourselves in a place so we can win.”
Kenseth started on the pole, but relinquished the lead to Kevin Harvick early in the race. He never regained it until lap 481 after Kurt Busch, the leader, pitted for four fresh tires.
On lap 483 there was a big pileup of cars caused by Tony Stewart. One of the cars taken out was the No. 5 driven by Kasey Kahne.
“Well, Tony just decided to spin me,” said Kahne. “I don’t know what his deal was.”
There was another caution on lap 392, when Kenseth’s teammate Carl Edwards, who was running second, slipped and slid up into the outside wall, bringing out the race’s last caution.
Due to a light shower NASCAR red flagged the race and brought all the cars down on pit road. The track was dried in less than twenty minutes, and when the race restarted it was a green-white-checkered finish.
Kenseth got a good jump on the second place car driven by Jeff Gordon. Jimmie Johnson, who had been involved in three separate accidents, got by Gordon for second. He was unable to catch Kenseth, and finished as runner-up.
“It was an awesome finish to a wild night,” said Johnson. “The team won this race. They patched up my car every time I messed it up.”
Jeff Gordon finished third, followed by Ricky Stenhouse, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier, Danica Patrick, and Austin Dillon.
Two teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were involved in the race’s first wreck during lap 19. Keselowski, who was running just ahead of Logano spun and lost it. Logano had no place to go and ran into the rear of Keselowski’s No. 2.
The first major pileup occurred during lap 278. The No. 41 driven by Kurt Busch got sideways, and slipped up the track into Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48. Nearly half of the field either spun or bumped into another car.
The second big one came on lap 310. Jimmie Johnson was in a hurry trying to get back to the front and brushed the rear of No. 26, driven by Jeb Burton. Both cars spun out. Several cars behind them slipped, slid, and ran into each other, including Kevin Harvick, who broadsided the No. 18 driven by David Ragan that was sitting in the middle of the track.
“I don’t know what happened with Jimmie,” said Jeb Burton. “I’ve never had any problems with him, I just know that he tapped me, and sent me spinning. You try to give those guys as much room as you can.”
Denny Hamlin started the race as usual in his No. 11 Toyota. During the first red flag period at lap 23, he relinquished his seat to Erik Jones, because of muscle spasms in his neck.
The start of the race was rain delayed, then after 23 laps had been run; it was stopped for almost four hours. There were two more brief red flag periods due to light showers. The race, which was scheduled to start at noon, did not end until 10:35 pm ET.
Top-16 Chase leaders after 8 of 26: 1. Harvick-314, 2. Logano-284, 3. Truex-281, 4. Johnson-258, 5. Keselowski-255, 6. Earnhardt-241, 7. Kahne-237, 8. Kenseth-236, 9. Gordon-224, 10. Almirola-226, 11. Hamlin-223, 12. McMurray-223, 13. Patrick-211, 14. Menard-210, 15. Edwards-203, 16. Newman-201.
LOGANO LEADS WIRE TO WIRE AT BRISTOL
Joey Logano put on a strong performance in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race as he led every lap of the 300-lap race.
“That’s amazing,” said Logano. “To be able to lead the entire race surprises even me. When you get into leading a lot of laps, something usually goes wrong. Today everything went right.”
Daniel Suarez, the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver from Monterey, Mexico, who is in his rookie season as an Xfinity driver finished second. It was his best career finish and first race at Bristol.
Suarez's transition to the Truck and Xfinity Series level hasn't been quite as smooth a ride as he had hoped. He has finished outside the top-10 more often than inside in his first 13 races.
“All day long we had a good car,” he said. “We improved the car at every single stop and that's the most important thing is to learn, to improve. To be honest my team is doing an amazing job. They are having a lot of patience with me as a rookie and it's been a good day. I'm very happy.”
Chris Buescher was third, and then it was Erik Jones, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Brian Scott, Brendan Gaughan, and Elliott Sadler.
Top-10 points leaders after 7 of 32: 1. C. Buescher-258, 2. T. Dillon-258, 3. Elliott-246, 4. D. Wallace-236, 5. Reed-220, 6. Sadler-215, 7. Gaughan-211, 8. Smith-211, 9. Scott-205, 10. Suarez-202.
KYLE BUSCH TALKS ABOUT HIS INJURIES
In a press conference last week Kyle Busch said he does not know when he will get back into a race car but hopes he can return by July as he continues to recover from a broken right leg and a broken left foot suffered in a crash Feb. 21 at Daytona.
He said he is healing well and still has a small crack in his right leg as well as a walking boot on his left foot. Kyle Busch suffered a broken right leg and a broken left foot in a Feb. 21 crash at Daytona
“First and foremost, I have to please my doctors. ... They say my recovery is going faster [than expected],” Busch said. “I don't even ask. They won't release me a timetable.”
Busch said the wreck was his fault, being greedy trying to win the race. He was trying to push teammate Erik Jones, who ended up spinning. While Jones was spinning, he took the air off the rear of Busch's car, sending him into the skid into the wall.
NASCAR has made no decision on whether it will waive the rule that a driver must compete each race weekend in order to be eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. NASCAR also could waive the rule that requires a driver to be eligible with a win and a top-30 placement in the regular-season standings, although it has not waived that rule when issuing past waivers.
Weekend Racing; The Cup and Xfinity Series will continue their short track racing as they head to the .75-mile Richmond track for two night races. The trucks do not race again until May 8.
Fri., Apr. 24; Xfinity Series race 8 of 32; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Sat., Apr. 25; Sprint Cup race 9 of 36; Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.
Racing Trivia Question: What year did Tony Stewart break into the Sprint Cup ranks?
Last Week’s Question: How many Cup championships did NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly win? Answer. Two, in 1962 and ’63.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.
