WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Watertown Rapids played a rare afternoon game at the Alex Duffy Fairgrounds hosting Boonville in a PGCBL East division matchup.
The Rapids looked to make it 2 straight and 6 out of their last 7 after beating Oneonta Friday night 12-2.
It was a pitchers duel early as Beaver River product Jonah Shearer gets Dan Tauken swinging.
At the bottom of the 1st, Boonville starter Derek Sotolongo punches out Tyree Bradley to end the inning.
At the top of the 4th, there was still no score when Shearer uncorks a wild pitch. Scott Seeker scores to put Boonville up 1-0.
Still in the 4th, Zach Crampton gets all of this Shearer pitch and puts it over the wall in left field for a 3 run home run: Boonville up 4-0.
Shearer gets out of further trouble striking out Conner Lynch. Shearer went 6 innings and striking out 5.
At the bottom of the 4th, the Rapids strike as Michael Norton goes the other way for a 2 run home run to left field, cutting Boonville’s lead in half 4-2.
The Rapids rally behind a 3 run home run from Elvis Lopez to beat Boonville 8-7.
One of the premiere softball tournaments in the region was taking place this weekend at a number of sites around the area, bringing in some of the best softball players from around the Northeast.
What was once known as the Can-Am Shootout is back with a new name and a new person in charge.
Christopher Tehonica has assumed the role of tournament organizer of the 1,000 Islands Challenge, a 3-day long softball tournament, that after a 2 year hiatus due to COVID, is back.
”Lisa Lennox, Mike Lennox had this vision about girls softball and there was not a lot going on besides Steve Randall and Sandy Creek there wasn’t a lot of summer programs. They had this for 15 years. We had anywhere from 44 teams to 104 teams in that but it got too big,” said Tehonica.
The tournament did away with the 10U and open divisions and now have 62 teams participating this year, with a number of clubs from around the Northeast making the trek to the North Country this weekend.
”Buffalo, Pennsylvania, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Binghamton. That’s most of the area,” said Tehonica.
The tournament is a pool play event with each team guaranteed 3 games with Sunday seeing single elimination games.
As in past years, the tournament is taking place at a number of sites around Jefferson and Oswego county.
”Chaumont we got 1 field, Dexter we got 3 fields, Adams we got 3 fields, Sandy Creek we got 1 field, Watertown we have 6 fields, Indian River we have 3 fields,” said Tehonica.
The tournament not only brings in teams from all over the region, but umpires as well.
Tehoncia, a high school and college umpire himself, says bringing in quality umpires from around the Northeast that are a part of his group, CT Sports Officials, is important to keep people coming back.
”To me, in order to sell a tournament, you have to have good umpire, good sports officials. If everybody leaves here happy they come back, and if they come back, the community reaps the benefits. Hotel rooms, the mall, fast food places, convenience stores, hotels. Trickle down. Yeah, the trickle down effect,” said Tehonica.
The 1,000 Islands Challenge: continuing a tradition that benefits not only the players but the region as well.
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