Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch Weekly Sports Report

L/P Rebels rally

It wasn’t the way the Lakeland/Panas Rebels girls lacrosse squad may have imagined it happening before its game on Saturday night at Fox Lane High School but they got the job done.

The Rebels, led by Emma Bozek’s six goals and one assist, scored the last four goals of their regional championship contest against the Niskayuna Silver Warriors to earn a hard-fought 12-11 triumph and their second consecutive berth in the Class A state final four.

The Rebels will now play at 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 10 at SUNY-Cortland against Northport. Should it win that semifinal contest, Lakeland/Panas will look to earn its first state title in program history at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 11 in the championship game.

The Rebels played in the state title game a year ago, losing a hard-fought contest to Farmingdale 6-5.

“When the season starts, you just try to go as far as you can but you never expect to be playing in the state semifinals,” Lakeland/Panas senior Anna Jeszeck said. “When you get there, it’s just a good feeling.”

Trailing 11-8 with 12:26 remaining in the game, the Rebels began their run of four goals in a row, capped off by a score from Melissa Hanson. Hanson scored what turned out to be the game-winner with just 4:04 left in the contest.

“We were falling apart a little bit so we decided to call a time out,” Jeszeck said. “We just pulled it together and remembered what we came here to do, which was to go to go back to states.”

What made the Rebels’ comeback interesting was the fact that they had to come back in the first place. After earning a third yellow card late in the first half, the Silver Warriors were forced to play with a one-man disadvantage the rest of the game.

Lakeland/Panas’ Alexa Bonnes immediately took advantage, giving the Rebels a 5-4 lead with just five seconds left before halftime.

Despite being a man-down, Niskayuna started the second half by outscoring the Rebels 7-3 before Lakeland/Panas rallied for the victory.

“They were winning draws,” Jeszeck said. “That girl, Kayla Treanor, she was winning draws and that led to goals for them.”

The Rebels were able to seal the game by holding on to the ball in the final 2:30 as fourth and fifth yellow cards by the Section 2 squad force it to play three players down and a sixth yellow card with under a minute left, left it four players down.

Sailors fall to Eastchester

Hendrick Hudson’s softball squad had another great season before falling at No. 2 Eastchester 1-0 in the semifinals of the Section 1 Class A tournament Thursday.

Hen Hud pitcher Julie Gaspar went toe to toe with one of Section 1’s best pitchers, Janine Lalli, who will pitch at Marist next year, keeping the No. 6 Sailors (17-5) in the game. She gave up just one earned run, scattering nine hits, stranding 12 runners, walking four and striking out two.

“Julie throws strikes, she hits her spots,” Hen Hud coach Kurt Thomas said. “She really trusts the defense behind her. She has a lot of faith in all her fielders. She really doesn’t try to overpower people or strike people out, she pitches to contact and allows her defense to do what they do best and they make the plays. She just threw strikes and challenged the hitters. That’s what she has been doing all sectionals.”

Trailing 1-0 after Eastchester scored in the first inning, Hen Hud loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth. Singles by Gaspar, Cassidy Boyle and a walk from Megan Jahoda loaded the bases.

“I thought we were really going to do some damage,” Thomas said. “The pitcher from the other team, Janine Lalli, she got out of tough situations. She struck out the next three batters and didn’t allow us to put the ball in play.”

“I felt like if one of our girls could have put the ball in play, something could’ve happened,” Thomas continued. “Janine Lalli throws that hard that she has the ability to strike out three batters and get out of a situation like that.”

Rachel Buckner led the Sailors offensively by going 2 for 4.

“She didn’t have a problem with that fast pitching because her bat speed is so fast that that she can hit anybody,” Thomas said.

Leonardi takes first

Lakeland/Panas senior Carissa Leonardi took first in the Section 1 Division I girls pole vault with a mark of 11-06.00 in the track and field state qualifier on Thursday at Arlington High School and Friday at White Plains High School.

Schwartz places

Hen Hud senior Ben Schwartz placed third in the Section 1 Division I boys 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.33 at the track and field state qualifier meet that took place at the same days and locations as the girls state qualifier.

For complete results in both the boys and girls state qualifiers, visit www.tullyrunners.com.