Sports

SCRANTON – Elk Lake’s John Heitsman was one of six double-figures scorers for the Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association March 30 in a 104-88 victory over the Wyoming Valley Conference in the boys’ nightcap to the second annual NEPAHoops Senior All-Star Basketball Games at Marywood University.

Heitsman, who led the Warriors to a Lackawanna League Division 3 championship, started along with two players each from Lackawanna Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A champion Abington Heights and District 2 Class 4A champion Scranton Prep.

Andrew Kettel from Abington Heights was named LIAA Most Valuable Player after finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. He was 5-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers.

Camrin Shovlin from Wilkes-Barre Area was WVC MVP after going 9-for-17 with 21 points and five rebounds.

Heitsman went 3-for-6 from the floor and from the line. He hit a 3-pointer, dished out two assists, grabbed a rebound and blocked a shot.

Scranton Prep’s Packy Doherty had seven of his team-high 19 points during a 12-4 start by the LIAA, which never trailed.

Tyler Lombardo from Delaware Valley added 13 points without missing a shot while Old Forge’s Logan Fanning had 12 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

Dunmore’s Nate Aviles had 11 points.

Scranton Prep’s Larry Reagan coached the LIAA while Jim Lavan from Wilkes-Barre Area and Anthony Macario from Wyoming Area coached the WVC.

All three Wilkes-Barre Area players in the game were also the three double figures scorers for the WVC. Mike Keating had 19 points and David Jannuzzi had 10.

In the girls’ opener, the WVC defeated the LIAA, 79-62.

Kate Reed from Nanticoke was named her team's Most Valuable player after scoring a game-high 17 points in the win. Playing for her high school coach, Ed Grant, Reed made all four of her shots from inside the arc and half of her six attempts from 3-point range to finish 7-for-10 overall.

Honesdale's Ruby Martin was the MVP for the LIAA with the game's only double-double. She had 16 points and 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end.

Mountain View’s Addison Kilmer was in the LIAA starting lineup while Elk Lake’s Kylie Shingler and Madisyn Casselbury were also on the roster.

Kilmer had seven points, was the only LIAA player with two blocked shots and she added three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Shingler hit a 3-pointer for her only points. She also grabbed three rebounds to go along with an assist, steal and blocked shot.

Casselbury had two points, three rebounds and an assist.

Bob Beviglia from Scranton Prep coached the LIAA team.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Elk Lake opened the Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 season with a pair of wins in both boys’ and girls’ meets.

The Warriors downed defending champion Susquehanna, 91-45, in a boys’ meet March 29.

Kendel Jones, who already held school 1600 and 3200 records, broke Mike Bedell’s 15-year-old school record by running the 800 meters in 1:56.24.

Elk Lake followed that up with an 80-56 win at Lackawanna Trail.

The Lady Warriors beat Susquehanna, 91-29, and Lackawanna Trail, 70-60.

In baseball, Montrose continued to pile up runs.

The Meteors have scored in double figures in each game of a 3-0 start that includes 2-0 in Lackawanna League Division 3.

The latest win was a 15-3 romp at Blue Ridge March 30.

Adam Sorensen pitched four scoreless innings with six strikeouts and led the offense with a two-run homer, three walks and four runs scored.

Evan McComb was 2-for-3 with three runs scored; Sawyer Aukema had two hits, two runs and two RBI; Keaton Kildare drove in three runs and Liam MacNamee doubled.

Susquehanna won its opener, 4-3, at Mountain View Saturday in another Division 3 game.

Jax Thomas singled in two runs as the Sabers scored three times in the top of the first, then won the game with his speed after drawing a walk in the top of the seventh. Thomas stole second and third with the game tied and his two-out steal of third drew a wild throw, allowing him to score the winning run on an error.

Gabe Maby threw three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief for the win. He struck out four and walked just one.

Nick Beach had two hits for Mountain View.

Hudson Bain struck out nine while throwing a two-hitter in defeat.

In softball, Montrose opened its season with a 21-1 rout of Blue Ridge March 30 in a Lackawanna Division 3 game.

Kyleise Kublo had three hits, including a three-run homer and an RBI triple. She scored four times.

Winning pitcher Anna Evans was 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBI. Cara Evans doubled, singled and drove in three runs.

Ally Legg had three hits, including a double, and scored three times. Myckenna Kublo tripled, singled, scored twice and drove in two runs.

Isabella Owens also had two hits and two RBI.

In boys’ volleyball, Blue Ridge improved to 5-0, including 3-0 in the Lackawanna League with a 25-12, 25-21, 25-17 sweep of Lackawanna Trail March 31.

Jacob Brown had 16 kills, Landon Bishop had five blocks and Alex Hanson had 28 assists.

COLLEGE CORNER

Dawson Sherman already has two wins as a freshman pitcher at the University of Olivet in Michigan.

Sherman worked five scoreless innings in relief March 1 to finish up a 2-1 win at Wilmington (Ohio). He started and held Otterbein to three runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings of a 5-3 victory March 10.

The Elk Lake graduate has appeared in six games, including three starts, and has proved durable, working a total of 32 1/3 innings. Sherman is 2-1 with a 3.34 earned run average, allowing 34 hits and 10 walks while striking out 21.

Olivet is 4-2 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and 12-9 overall.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Elk Lake, which began this week 1-0 in the division, plays Thursday at Lackawanna Trail (2-0) and Monday, April 13 at home against Susquehanna (1-0) in Lackawanna League Division 3 baseball.

Montrose began the week tied with Lackawanna Trail. The Meteors host the Lions in another Monday, April 13 game.

In track and field, Thursday’s schedule includes Blue Ridge at Montrose in Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 meets. It will be the opener for Montrose, which is the defending girls’ champion. The Blue Ridge girls won their first meet.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

Blue Ridge is back on top of Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball and Jake Brown is one of the big reasons why.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore had a team-high 21 kills in a grueling, five-set victory over defending champion and preseason favorite Abington Heights to highlight a 5-0 effort by the team, including 3-0 in league play, in the opening month of the season.

For his efforts, Brown has been selected as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for March.

Brown leads the team in kills with 58 and blocks with 11.

When league play began, Brown took on a more prominent role in the team’s attack. He had 13 kills in a three-set sweep of Mountain View and 16 in another sweep of Lackawanna Trail in the matches before and after the big victory over Abington Heights.

The Abington Heights match was a new experience for him.

“There was a lot of pressure. I hadn’t really been a part of that before this year,” Brown said. “It was a lot of back and forth, knowing how to keep your head, stay focused and not get down when little things go wrong; just knowing that we work together and we can and will come back.”

Brown already made an impact in one of District 2’s most successful programs as a freshman, contributing 78 kills.

“I’m happy that I was brought up into an already experienced team,” Brown said. “I came in freshman year and coach (Lori Zick) threw me into varsity and I was ready to handle it and learn from the best players on our team and just build chemistry with the other players who had already been playing together for a while.

“I was just figuring that out and improving with them.”

Jake is the son of Cody and Michelle Brown of Great Bend. He is already a two-year varsity starter in soccer and one of the leaders of the junior varsity basketball team while getting some playing time on the varsity level.