Sunday Sports: Match play kicks off in Watertown City Golf Tournament

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Match play in the 2021 Watertown Men’s City Golf Championship kicked off Sunday at the Watertown Golf Club with the top 32 golfers in the championship flite competing for the title.

We start out with top seed Bob Hughes as he met Taylor Reardon. On the 4th hole, Hughes was up 1 with the chip for birdie that comes up short. He settles for par. Then it was Reardon with a chance for birdie to even the match. He misses and pars the hole. Hughes still 1 up. On the 5th hole, it was Hughes with the long putt to save par but he’s off the mark. Reardon puts his tee shot within 2 feet and birdies to win the hole, but Hughes wins the match 3 and 2.

2nd seed Matthew Barton met Sam Cavallario. It was Cavallario with the birdie opportunity but it slides left of the hole. Then it was Barton with a chance for birdie to win the hole but his putt goes just right. Barton goes on to beat Cavallario 1 up.

Former City Champ and 3rd seed Adam Brown took on Chris O’Brien. It was O’Brien with the chip for birdie that settles within a foot of the hole. He pars the hole. Brown needing this putt to halve the hole and he sinks it. Brown beats O’Brien 2 and 1.

4th seed David Marconi was in a battle with Hunter Zehr. Marconi needing this putt for bogey and it finds the bottom of the cup. Zehr with a putt for par to win the hole but he misses. Marconi beats Zehr 1 up.

5th seed Dylan Kerenahan was in a matchup with Scott Taylor. It was Taylor with the birdie chance but it takes a right hand turn. Then it was Kerenahan also with a long birdie putt and he drains it. Kerenahan beats Taylor 3 and 1.

Also in the City Golf Championship:

• Brian Phillips over Jarrett Sweet 4 and 3
• James Ambrose over Rocco Canale 3 and 2
• William Cool over Marcus Emerson 2 up
• Brandon Mothersell over Caleb Houppert 4 and 3
• Shawn Thomas over Josh Woodward 1 up on the 21st hole

Practice for the JCC Women’s Basketball team begins in October. And when the Lady Cannoneers take to the court, first year coach Tim LaMay will have a roster full of new faces, beginning a new chapter in Lady Cannoneer Basketball after a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the span of 3 months, LaMay has reshaped the roster of the 2021-22 Lady Cannoneers, bringing in 9 new players on a team that currently consists of 13 players.

”It’s gonna be fun to see a pretty young program kind of transition into college, but I think that’s what’s gonna be pretty common for all of us. Coaches, not only just our league but in college basketball alone, is are teams are gonna come in with a lot less experience at the college level from not having a season last year,” said LaMay.

Several of those new players will be coming from area high schools led by Hammond’s Hailey Cunningham, OFA’s Gabrielle Morley and Emily Farrand, Josie Barton of LaFargeville and Sam Malbeuf of IHC.

LaMay, who coached in the Northern Athletic Conference at Potsdam, says having local connections helped in the recruiting process.

”Having those connections pretty early and them at least knowing who I was or having coached against some of them in the past when I was coaching at the high school level, it did help a little bit because they were able to talk to athletes a little bit about myself as I was trying to do the same so I think it did help a little bit,” said LaMay.

LaMay says having so many new faces on the roster this season will help him implement his style of play as opposed to having a number of carryovers from former Coach Josh Woodward’s squad.

”Yeah, I think a mix of that and just the lack of college basketball experience for a lot of these players, it’s gonna be a challenge. One thing that I’m looking forward to right off is being able to implement our stuff that’s not court related, right, so our culture. We can do that right as soon as the students get on campus and we’ll do that early. We’ll start talking about culture, our team building. All of those things and then I think that alone will help us implement our on court stuff,” said LaMay.

With the start of the season quickly approaching, LaMay says he has a number of emotions running through him as he begins his journey as a head coach of a college basketball program.

”You know, with the excitement comes a little bit of nerves too, I think, which are pretty common. I’m excited to kind of try out my things and implement my style. Truthfully, I don’t know that there is another program, you know, that plays quite like I hope that we will play,” said LaMay.

In Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League action, the Watertown Rapids played Auburn. Watertown wins 6-5, however, a second game in wat was supposed to be a doubleheader was forfeited as team officials cited injuries to pitchers as the cause.

The Rapids improved to 12-20, but fell to 12-21 after the forfeit. Their next game is Tuesday at Mohawk Valley.

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