High seeds have Herkimer at home for regional baseball, softball; MV hosts track nationals

HERKIMER - Playoff season has arrived for colleges and Herkimer College will be on the field at home this weekend for baseball and softball.

Herkimer is the No. 1 overall seed in softball and top team for Region III-A while the baseball squad is the top team from Region III East and No. 2 overall seed behind Niagara County Community College. Mohawk Valley Community College missed the baseball playoffs but earned the seventh spot for softball and will also be hosting the Division III track and field championships this weekend while regional play gets under way in the bat-and-ball sports.

Herkimer's baseball Generals (22-7) host of best-of-three series against Finger Lakes Community College (31-15) and play games 1 and 2 Saturday afternoon in Little Falls. Play starts at 1 p.m., and a third game would be Sunday, if necessary.

The Herkimer softball team is 17-5 and carries a 10-game winning streak into its best-of-three sub-regional series against Erie Community College (10-16) starting Saturday. The Generals have won 11 consecutive titles in Region III's split, two-bid format; Corning Community College, the other No. 1 seed, has won three consecutive titles.

The Generals won 15-0 and 9-6 on the road at Erie Saturday, and the Kats needed a split with Tompkins Cortland Community College Tuesday to earn their spot in the playoffs. Corning (24-12) also plays Tuesday and a 4-0 shutout loss to Jefferson Community College in the second game dropped the Red Barons behind Herkimer in the standings.

Corning Mohawk Valley (13-15) in its sub-regional playoff series starting Saturday. The Red Barons swept a Saturday doubleheader on the Utica College field Saturday, winning Game 1 17-0 then coming back from an 8-2 deficit in Game 2 and ending the Hawks' regular season with an 11-8 victory on a walk-off grand slam.

The Herkimer softball squad features names familiar to local high school fans among its top players. Olivia Friend from Oneida is second in the nation with a .595 batting average; the NJCAA's most recent Division III Player of the Week has scored 34 runs and drive in 34. Kerrigan Crysler, Friend's high school teammate, is 7-2, leading the Generals in pitching wins, with a 3.84 ERA while Shelbi Hagues, a freshman from Poland, is 6-1 with four saves and a 2.61 ERA.

Naomi Cohen (.477), Hagues (.422) and Danielle Filapello (.412) join Frind as .400 hitters. Cohen has driven in 30 runs and scored 40; Filapello has 32 RBI; Hagues has scored 21 times; and Alexy Rosnick is batting .342 with 32 runs scored.

Joely Welpe, a catcher who played at Proctor High School, leads Mohawk Valley with a .466 batting average, 31 runs batted in and 21 runs scored. Carley Robinson from Whitesboro is a .329 hitter who has scored 20 runs, and Ashley Fevang and Angelina Hays are batting .327 and .321, respectively.

Hays, an Oriskany High School grad, is 7-4 with one save and a 4.15 ERA as the Hawks' top pitcher.Onondaga Community College hosts Jefferson in the sub-regional feeding into next weekend's championship matchup with Herkimer or Erie. The winner between Corning and Mohawk Valley gets either Hudson Valley Community College or Monroe Community College.

Herkimer enters the regional baseball playoffs with Ethan Glossa (.432), Mikey Rodriguez (.415) and Sotara Ishida (.400) batting .400 or better, and Donovan Rhoden batting .393 with team-leading totals of seven home runs and 38 runs batted in. Rodriguez has scored 45 runs to lead the team while homering five times with 32 RBI; Glossa has scored 36 runs and driven in 37; and Jaden Madrid is batting .370 with 34 runs scored.

On the mound for the men, Ishida and fellow Japanese freshman Tomii Tsubasa are both 6-1 to share the team lead in wins. Ishida, pitching exclusively in relief, has a 1.78 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings while Tomii has struck out 54 batters in 42 innings and posted a 3.00 ERA with three starts. Colin Skermont, a left-hander from Whitesboro High School, is 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.

The top overall baseball seed is Niagara County Community College which plays SUNY-Adirondack this weekend. Cayuga Community College, the No. 2 team from the east and the host of next weekend's Final Four in Auburn, plays Genesee Community College this weekend, and Hudson Valley Community College travels to play at Erie Community College, the defending regional champion.

Track and field competition gets under way Thursday at D'Alessandro Stadium in Utica and continues Friday and Saturday.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: NJCAA Region III sets baseball, softball seeds; Herkimer teams at home