Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch Weekly Sports Report, May 9

Peekskill based Downstate 13U volleyball squad captured the regional championship for a second year in a row at Saturday's Powerzone Volleyball Facility in Denville, N.J.

After a five-month season ranked at No. 2, the Downstate team saved its best for last. The tournament, consisting of the top 15 teams from the tri-state area, saw the Downstate squad come out seeded first after pool play with an 8-0 record. 

After easily defeating Allegro 25-13 and 25-15 in the first round, Downstate had to face a tough CJVA Vipers squad. The Vipers took game one easily 25-14 which served as a wake up call to Downstate. 

Downstate responded by winning game two 25-17 to set up a deciding game to 15. The contest stayed close at 10-8 but then saw Downstate pull away and win 15-10, putting it in the finals against No. 3 Aviator, which had defeated the top-seeded Hurricanes.

Coming out of an emotional win in the semifinals, Downstate came out sluggish and trailed 18-8 in the first game. That's where things turned around. They fought back to tie the score at 24-24 with error free ball and went on to win 26-24. 

Game two was just as exciting with the teams being tied 14 times during the match. At 18-18, Downstate slowly pulled away to win the match and the tournament 25-22.

“Last year, with basically the same team, we had won the regional in the 12U division,” Downstate coach Kurt Pelaccio said.  “Next year we will try for a three-peat with the opportunity to go to nationals.”

Making up the championship squad are Katie Roche (Cortlandt Manor), Ashley Brockhausen (Verplanck), Gillian Steiglitz (Montrose), Kelsea Gillen (Montrose), Emily Barthlemes (Montrose), Lindsay Pelaccio (Verplanck), Nicole Etta (Cold Spring), Julia Mines (Katonah), Emily Tomlinson (Bedford), Stephanie Rizzo (Hawthorne), Nicole Papalardo (Bedford) and Melissa Tringali (Cold Spring).

PHS Dwyer excels

Peekskill senior pitcher Brian Dwyer leads Section 1 with 57 strikeouts, including 12 in a 6-2 triumph at Peekskill Stadium against visiting Putnam Valley (3-7) on Friday afternoon.

“I was just keeping them off-balanced, throwing fastball, curveball,” Dwyer said. “They didn’t know what was coming. I didn’t have my best fastball today but mixing up the pitches and speeds helped out a lot.”

What also helped Peekskill (5-8) out a lot was getting off to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

“Whenever we have a lead we play more confident,” Dwyer said. "Getting an early lead definitely helps.”

Helping Peekskill get off to that early lead was a one-out double by Roberto Hiraldo, who scored on a double by Nick Soto. Soto then came in on a mammoth home run by Jason Zeboris.

“Jason had a big home run for us,” Salumn said. “He’s a sophomore, he’s been starting all year. He’s in the lineup because of his bat and he came through today. He was able to drive a ball to right-center that went over the fence. He had another sac fly later in the game. He had three RBI. He did a great job offensively.”

Dwyer of course did a great job on the mound.

“He pitched a great game,” Peekskill coach Chris Salumn said. “He was able to get ahead with his fastball and his curveball was very sharp. He had a lot of swing and misses. He had 12 strikeouts. He really kept the hitters off balance. He was able to locate his fastball and get ahead. His breaking pitch was his out pitch. He did a great job today.”

In addition to his prowess on the mound, Dwyer also contributed offensively with an RBI double in the fourth inning, which drove in Nick DeChristopher

Panas softball

Coming off a big 8-2 triumph at sister school Lakeland on Friday, Walter Panas will look to improve on its 6-6 mark when it travels to Harrison at 4:30 p.m. Monday, May 9.