Lake Placid’s Vann Morrelli pitches during a game against Chazy on April 17.(News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid baseball team kicked off the season right where it left off last year.

The Blue Bombers notched their first win of the season on April 17 with a 6-3 victory over the Chazy Eagles at home. The win marked Lake Placid’s 15th straight Mountain and Valley Athletic Conference victory dating back to May 13, 2022.

“We fought,” Blue Blue Bombers’ head coach Brian Brandes said. “There were too many walks. It was the first day out in this cold weather, fairly new mound, that can be expected. Our bats were kind of silent, that’ll get better, too.”

After holding the Eagles scoreless in the top of the first, the Blue Bombers broke through with their first run in the bottom half of the first on and RBI single from Vann Morrelli.

Chazy answered with one run in its next trip to the plate, but Lake Placid once again reclaimed the lead on a RBI single from Will Landriault. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blue Bombers pushed the lead to 3-1 on an RBI single from Owen Hayes.

Lake Placid’s Soren Jacobson returns a shot during a match against AuSable Valley on April 17. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

While trailing by two runs in the top of the fifth, the Eagles threatened Lake Placid by scoring one run and putting a runner on third base with just one out in the inning. After Chazy’s Aiden Howell flew out to Lake Placid’s Ryan Curry in left field, the team attempted to tag up and score the equalizer. However, Curry’s throw to home was right on a line and catcher Owen Thomsen was able to tag the runner out at home to preserve the Blue Bombers lead.

Lake Placid went on to score three times in its next at bat and remained in command the rest of the way, despite giving up one run in the sixth inning.

The Blue Bombers recorded 12 hits, and got a solid performance on the mound from Vann Morrelli, who struck out six batters and Jarrett Mihill, who had two strikeouts in relief. Mihill and Morrelli gave up four hits combined.

“(Our) defense was great,” Brandes said. “I thought Jarrett and Vann, other than the eight walks did a pretty good job.”

Chazy’s Jake Poirier pitched six innings in the loss. The southpaw recorded three strikeouts before being relieved in the sixth inning.

“Their pitcher, Jake Poirier, did a great job,” Brandes said. “He’s a good pitcher and he’s young too.”

Morrelli and Landriault had three hits each, while Hayes and Jon Caito each had two hits.

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LACROSSE

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Boys

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St. Lawrence 10, SLP 5

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The Saranac Lake Placid boys lacrosse team found themselves in tightly-contested match with the St. Lawrence Larries on April 22 at Schroeter’s Field in Saranac Lake. However, SLP could never rally past Larries, falling 10-5.

St. Lawrence jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the contest and held at least a two goal lead the remainder of the way. The Larries led 8-5 in the final minutes of the game, and tacked on a pair of goals to seal the win.

SLP’s Scottie Nicholas recorded a hat trick, while Mik Denkenberger scored two goals and chipped in with two assists. Owen Muncil had three assists.

Charlie Dow paced the Larries with four goals and one assist. Merrick Frary added three goals and two assists. Josh Allen, Damien Ashley and Connor Provost tallied one goal each.

SLP’ goalkeeper, Charlie Wilson, had 12 saves and St. Lawrence’s goalie Tyler Tarasek recorded 14 stops.The SLP boys dropped to 1-4 overall.

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Girls

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SLP 13, OFA 4

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The Saranac Lake Placid girls lacrosse team continued its hot streak on April 23 with a 13-4 victory over the Ogdensburg Free Academy Blue Devils at the North Elba Athletic Fields. The win was SLP’s fourth in a row, matching the most consecutive wins the team has had in a season since 2021.

SLP got off to a hot start Tuesday evening when freshman Emma Clark buried a pair of goals to give her squad a 2-0 lead.

After giving up the early lead, Ogdensburg responded with three straight goals — two from Brooke Irvine and one from Ella Ramsdell. After a timeout was called SLP regrouped.

“We were just like, ‘Offensively we have to control the ball and when we get the ball down there, be patient, especially when they are a man down,'” SLP co-head coach Jeff Denkenberger said. “We weren’t in a rush, so once they slowed down, they got it together.”

SLP outscored the Blue Devils 4-0 to close out the first half, including a goal from Lizzie Harvey on a pass from Clark with 1 second left on the clock to push the score to 6-3.

“Our defense played a lot this game,” Denkenberger said. “I think struggled in the first half, offensively, with holding the ball. We kept losing it. Ground balls, we were struggling with. Once we settled down and got our composure, we took them out of the game.”

In the second half, the SLP girls out scored their opponents 8-1 to improve its overall record to 4-2. The team used a strong defensive effort and solid goaltending from Samra Cirikovic to shut down OFA’s attack. Cirikovic recorded 10 saves in the win.

Clark paced SLP with four goals and two assists in the contest, while Dann had three goals and three assists. Kaitlyn Yando and Kelsi Burth each netted two goals and Lizzie Harvey and Tyler Burth each scored one. Harvey added two assists, while Yando, Phoebe Peer and Juliana Tremblay recorded one assist each.

“The scoring was spread out,” Denkenberger said. “Once they were patient, it worked.”

Taylor Pinkerton scored OFA’s lone goal in the second half. The Blue Devils fell to 2-8 overall.

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SLP 11, Massena 10

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The SLP girls took down the red hot Massena Raiders 11-10 on April 20 on the road. Prior to the contest, Massena had won four out its last five games.

In a tightly-contested battle, the Raiders led for most of the game before the SLP girls mounted a small comeback late in the game by scoring three unanswered goals.

Tremblay netted a hat trick and did well being aggressive on shots. Tyler Burth, Harvey and Peer scored two goals each. Dann chipped in with one goal, whole Harvey recorded two assists. Peer and Tremblay had one assist each.

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SOFTBALL

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Chazy 23, Lake Placid 6

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The Lake Placid softball team suffered a 23-6 loss to the Chazy Eagles in six innings on April 17.

The Eagles jumped out a 15-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning and never looked back, despite the Blue Bombers recording five runs in the fourth and fifth inning. Lake Placid also out hit their opponents 10-7, but too many mistakes in the field, including nine errors helped Chazy cruise to its third win of the season.

Briar Beaney and Anisa Cecunjanin led Lake Placid with two hits each. Chazy’s Courtney Collins and Wynter Jarus also recorded a pair of hits each. The Eagles’ Kennedy Columbus had the lone extra-base hit with a double.

Columbus pitched a complete game in the win. She struck out six Blue Bomber batters. Lake Placid’s Lili Draper pitched five innings, tallying four strikeouts. Reid Pedu pitched the final inning and earned two strikeouts.

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TENNIS

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Boys

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Lake Placid 5, AuSable Valley 0

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Girls

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Lake Placid 3, AuSable Valley 2

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Playing on their home court for the first time this season, the Lake Placid tennis teams were able to come away with a pair of victories over the AuSable Valley Patriots on April 17.

The Blue Bombers boys team posted a 5-0 victory over AuSable Valley, while the Lake Placid girls won 3-2.

The Blue Bomber girls were lead by its singles players, Sydney Garrison and Jen Giroux, who earned wins in their respective matches. Garrison beat Serena Brandt by scores of 6-1, 6-3, while Giroux topped Ava Belzile 6-3, 6-3.

The girls squad capped off the night, with its third doubles team of Fiona Sullivan and Raquel Arreaza winning their match in straight sets. Sullivan and Arreaza defeated Rebecca and Veronica Uss 7-5, 6-4

In the other doubles matches, AuSable Valley’s Abi McDougal and Rylee Zelinski beat Lake Placid’s Nadia Philip and Kayden Glascock 6-4, 6-3. The Patriots’ Lily Butler and Elizabeth Douglas topped Jenna Audlin and Sophie Spanburgh 6-4, 6-3.

On the boys side, the Blue Bombers won both singles matches with Henry Becker defeating Liam MacDougal 6-0, 6-0 and Soren Jacobson beating Alex Egglefield 6-0, 6-0.

All three of Lake Placid’s doubles teams — Nash Carlisto and Parker Scanio, Owen Keal and Porter Dominesey and Colden Damour and Ian Munson — earned forfeit wins.