ON TAP TODAY: WAVERLY SOFTBALL OPENS STATE PLAYOFFS; NEW YORK STATE TRACK & FIELD GETS UNDERWAY (2019-06-07)

Valley Sports Report
THE VALLEY "” Waverly softball plays in its first-ever state playoff game this evening, while Day 1 of the New York State Track & Field Championships begins this morning at Middletown High School with four Waverly athletes in action.

SOFTBALL
NYS Playoffs
Class B Quarterfinals
Waverly vs. Oneida (22-1), 5:30 p.m. @ Carrier Park, East Syracuse: The Lady Wolverines are coming off a 2-1 win over Susquehanna Valley, while the Lady Indians topped Adirondack, 9-2 in the Section III championship game.

Oneida has appeared in eight consecutive Section III title games, last winning a title - in Class A - in 2015.

The game will pit two returning first-team all-state Class B pitchers in Waverly senior Wendi Hammond and Oneida senior Kyra Sholtzhauzer.

Sholtzhauzer is 22-1 with a 1.30 ERA. She has 150 strikeouts and 20 walks in 135 innings. She is also hitting .386 (27 hits in 70 ABs) with two home runs and 17 RBI.

Hammond is 18-2 with a 0.42 ERA and 253 strikeouts in 117 2/3 innings, while walking just 11 and allowing only 42 hits. She is hitting .533 (32 hits in 60 ABs) with 13 home runs and 36 RBI.

Oneida's leading hitter are: freshman Kaylin Curro - the coach's daughter, who is hitting .518 (44 hits in 85 BAs) with 20 steals ... senior Lauren Skibitski, who is hitting .429 (36 hits in 84 ABs) with nine extra-base hits and 29 RBI ... and freshman Olivia Friend, who is hitting .406 (26 hits in 64 ABs) with one home run and 28 RBI.

TRACK & FIELD
NYS Division 2 Championships, 11 a.m. @ Middletown H.S.: Waverly junior Isaac Chandler will compete in the pole vault (11 a.m.) and the 110-meter hurdles (1:30 p.m.) in Day of the New York State meet, while three of his teammates will run in one event.

Junior Melina Ortiz will run in the 400-meter dash (2:30 p.m.), while senior Dylan Ward will compete in the 800-meter run (3 p.m.), and junior Cora Smith will run in the 3,000-meter run (5:40 p.m.) - the final event of the day.

Ortiz is the fifth seed in the 400 with a seed time of 58.79 seconds, and Smith is the 21st seed in the 3,000-meter run with a seed time of 10:24.64.

Chandler is the seventh-seed in the 110-meter hurdles with a seed time of 14.87 seconds. He is also the seventh seed in the pole vault at 14-feet, 9-inches, while Ward is the 23rd seed in the 800 with a seed time of 1:57.45.

On Saturday, sophomore Collin Wright will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and the foursome of Smith, juniors Sheridan Talada and Elizabeth Fritzen, and freshman Olivia Nittinger will run in the 3,200-meter relay.