Troy Renegades shortstop Joe Foran swings during the home run derby at the AABC 15-and-under Ken Griffey Jr. World Series in Owasso, Okla. (Photo courtesy http://owassobaseball.com/Owasso_Rams_Baseball/Home.html)

Renegades advance to Griffey Final Four: The Troy Renegades defeated Broken Arrow 6-1 Friday afternoon in the loser’s bracket at the AABC 15-and-under Ken Griffey Jr. World Series in Owasso, Okla.
Greg Hotaling pitched a complete game two-hitter for the Renegades. Troy earned its revenge against Broken Arrow, as the Oklahoma team had defeated the Renegades in pool play, 9-2.
During a stretch in the fifth inning, five of six Renegades batters – Greg Scott, Ian Bennett, Jason Gallacchi, Kris Muller and Joe Foran - doubled off Broken Arrow pitching.
Troy advances to the Final Four and will play the Dallas-based D-Bat Sharp team at 1 p.m. central time. The D-Bat Sharp team mercy-ruled the Renegades, 13-0, in the first game of the tournament’s double elimination portion. Preston Palmeiro, son of former major leaguer Rafael Palmeiro, plays for D-Bat Sharp.

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10-and-11-year-old New York State Little League tournament coming to Twin Town

I had a nice coversation today with Bill Rooney, tournament coordinator for the 10-and-11-year-old Little League tournament coming to Twin Town's complex on Williams Road in North Greenbush.

Although the immediate Capital Region doesn't have a team in the field (Saraotga Springs is the closest-to-home team), the army of volunteers at Twin Town will be sacrificing their time to put on the best possible event for the top 10-and-11-year-old teams from around the state.

Time Warner Cable Channel 3 hopes to televise the semifinal and championship games.

For more on this tournament, check out Saturday's edition of The Record for all the details.

2010 New York State 10-and-11-year-old Little League Tournament

Pool A
Saratoga Springs – Section III
Pearl River – Section IV
Massapequa – Section VI
Pool B
Orchard Park – Section I
Geddes – Section II
Mid Island (Staten Island) – Section V

Saturday
Orchard Park vs. Geddes, 6 p.m.
Saratoga Springs vs. Pearl River, 8 p.m.
Sunday
Pearl River vs. Massapequa, 2 p.m. (Field W1)
Geddes vs. Mid Island, 2 p.m. (Field W2)
Monday
Orchard Park vs. Mid Island, 6 p.m.
Saratoga Springs vs. Massapequa, 8 p.m.
Tuesday
Semifinals
Pool A winner vs. Pool B runner-up, 6 p.m.
Pool B winner vs. Pool A runner-up, 8 p.m.
Wednesday
Championship game, 6 p.m.

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Our pal Stan Hudy from The Saratogian is covering the Cal Ripken eight-and-under Mid Atlantic regional tournament this weekend at the Spring Youth Baseball complex in Troy. Look for his stories either in The Saratogian or The Record the next few days. You may also follow Stan on Twitter (@stanhudy).

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Athletics win two in Musial regional: Jason Martin of the Albany Athletics hit a solo home run and doubled in the A's 7-0 victory over the Buena Vista Tomahawks and he then drove in all three of the A's runs in a second round 2-0 victory over the North Haledon Reds in the first day of play in the AABC Stan Musial North Atlantic regional at Keenholts Park in Guilderland Center.

The A's play the Long Island Storm Saturday at 11 am at Keenholts Park. The Storm beat All Stars Academy 6-1 in a first round game Friday. All Stars faces North Haledon at 2 pm at Keenholts. North Haledon defeated SportsFever 7-4 in a first round game. SportsFever was eliminated by the Storm, 9-0, in the second round. All Stars eliminated Buena Vista 8-3.

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The Warning Track Heat, a 14-and-under softball team based out of Stillwater, posted a 9-0 victory over the Northern Nightmare (N.Y.) to win the American Softball Association Eastern National Championship title recently in York, Pa. It was a 60-team field as players from all over the east coast converged for the tournament. Warning Track Heat went 7-0 in the tournament.

 Kayla Doty throws a pitch during the ASA 14-and-under Eastern National Championships last week in York, Pa. (Photos provided by Lisa O'Brien).

Warning Track Heat roster:
Michaela Smith
Rachel Baker
Jordan Podkladek
Heather Dugan
Danielle Mcomber
Hannah Sears
Morgan Rumpf
Jackie OBrien
Jackie Rossi
Kayla Doty
Alyssa Carter

Head Coach - Wayne Carter
Coach - Gary Sears
Coach - Mike O'Brien
Coach - Mike Podkladek

Last week, The Record covered the Lansingburgh Lady Royals as they prepared for the same tournament.

Thank you goes to Lorrie Pizzola, a mother of a player on the East Greenbush Express, who gave us the heads-up on this, as well as to Lisa O'Brien, who sent us a roster and pictures.

We love to pass this news along, but we can't do it without your help, so if you have any tournament results, please send it to us at sports@troyrecord.com

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The Albany Twilight League playoffs begin tonight. Here is a press release sent to us by Albany Athletics head coach Joe Altieri.


ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Albany Twilight League will open its 2010 postseason at Bleecker Stadium on Monday, August 2 with the top seed and defending League champion Albany Athletics taking on No. 4 Blue Slate Blue Hawks, and No. 2 All Stars Academy hosting No. 3 Waterford Nolan Propane.

The Athletics, who won the Twilight League regular season with a 20-4 mark for the third time in the last four years, started the season 3-2 and then went on to win 16 straight league games. All Stars Academy (18-6) meanwhile started the season hot with an 8-0 start and returns to the playoffs after failing to qualify in 2009. Waterford Nolan Propane, the 2009 Twilight League and State Tournament Runner Up, bounced back from a 4-6 start to go 11-3 and end the season 15-9. First-year franchise Blue Slate Blue Hawks (13-11) qualified as the No. 4 seed by winning their last four games of the season.

Winners of each series will advance to the Twilight League Championship Series following the North Atlantic Regional tournament this weekend. (more info to come later in the week on the Regionals).

All Stars, who just captured their first state title Sunday, and the Athletics, who have nine state championships including four straight (2006-09), have both earned berths in the North Atlantic Regional Tournament August 6-8.


Monday, August 2nd:
6:30 pm - #2 All Stars vs #3 Waterford Nolan Propane
8:30 pm - #1 Albany Athletics vs #4 Blue Slate

Tuesday, August 3rd:
6:30 pm - #4 Blue Slate Blue Hawks vs #1 Albany Athletics
8:30 pm - #3 Waterford Nolan Propane vs #2 All Stars Academy

Wednesday, August 4th, if necessary:
6:30 pm - #2 All Stars vs #3 Waterford Nolan Propane
8:30 pm - #1 Albany Athletics vs #4 Blue Slate

Note: home teams listed first

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One more note of interest to local baseball fans...the East Greenbush-Castleton Little League team was ousted from the New York State Tournament Sunday night, losing to South Shore 8-3.
South Shore plays Stony Point in the championship game tonight at 7:30 p.m. in West Nyack.

In other Little League news, World Series coaches will now be able to challenge calls thanks to a video replay system in Williamsport.

Will the Major Leagues follow suit?

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East Greenbush/Castleton's Anthony Butler celebrates going from first to third safely in front of Twin Town third baseman Sal Pezzolla during third inning of District 14 Little League baseball Championship action Thursday July 15, 2010 at East Greenbush. He also came up big Tuesday night in Chatham. (Photos by J.S. Carras/The Record).

CHATHAM — Pressure situations do not seem to bother East Greenbush-Castleton 11-12-year-old Little League slugger Anthony Butler. In fact, he seems to thrive on them.

With Tuesday’s Region 3 championship game against Rotterdam hanging in the balance, Butler blasted a two-run homer to snap a 7-7 tie, then slammed the door shut on a late rally in the bottom of the sixth to propel East Greenbush to a 9-8 victory and a berth in the New York State Championship Tournament.

Tuesday’s clutch play was nothing new for Butler, whose walk-off home run a year earlier against Colonie put the East Greenbush 11-year-old All-Stars into the state tournament.

“I normally come up big in big situations,” Butler said.


For the full story, click over to www.troyrecord.com


With the Section 3 title now in hand, East Greenbush/Castleton sets its sights on the state championship tournament, with the winner there moving on to play in the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Bristol, Connecticut.

East Greenbush/Castleton will be in Pool B, along with teams from Section 4 (Montgomery or Stony Point) and Section 6 (Sunrise or North Babylon) Their first game is scheduled for Thursday at 7:45 p.m. against the Section 4 representative.

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And the rest of Tuesday's local roundup:
Little League
District 14 B Round Robin
East Greenbush Gold 3, Twin Town Blue 2: Tommy Miller’s single in the seventh inning scored Tommy Donahue with the winning run.
Nick Raymond and Donahue each hit a double for East Greenbush. Miller struck out 14 in six innings for the victors.
Twin Town’s Colin Fazziola’s two-run single in the sixth inning tied score and forced extra innings.
Brunswick 8, Twin Town 7: Brandon Cellucci pitched two shutout innings to stop a Twin Town rally and record the victory.
Twin Town rallied to within a run in the fourth inning when Joe Vooris slammed a three-run homer.
Chris St. Dennis hit a three-run homer to give Brunswick an early lead it never relinquished.

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East Greenbush/Castleton's Anthony Butler celebrates going from first to third safely in front of Twin Town third baseman Sal Pezzolla during third inning of District 14 Little League baseball Championship action Thursday July 15, 2010 at East Greenbush. (Photos by J.S. Carras/The Record).

Thursday night, East Greenbush-Castleton defeated Twin Town in the District 14 championship game, 16-2.

To read Andrew Santillo's story on the game, click here.

Andrew also made a couple of videos and a box score from the game, which I have pasted into this post.

For videos from this game, click here.

East Greenbush/Castleton's Anthony Butler hits a single against Twin Town during third inning of District 14 Little League baseball Championship action Thursday July 15, 2010 at East Greenbush.

Twin Town pitcher Jarid Lucier (90) makes catch in front of third baseman Connor Kasuba off the bat of East Greenbush/Castleton's Jarrette Fortin (not in photo) during second inning of District 14 Little League baseball Championship action Thursday July 15, 2010 at East Greenbush.

East Greenbush/Castleton pitcher Cody Seeberger (24) throws against Twin Town during first inning of District 14 Little League baseball Championship action Thursday July 15, 2010 at East Greenbush.

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