Baseball and Sectionals

On May 20th of this year, Aquinas played McQuaid at McQuaid H.S. I was expecting a better game between these two teams on that Thursday but the Knights worked the Aquinas pitching to score 7 runs. Aquinas could only muster 1 run against the Knights' pitcher Nate Harris. McQuaid with a good win over the Irish 7-1. Click here for the rest of the pics...

The next day, Friday May 21st, was my last game to shoot before sectionals began and it had two teams battling for the division. Victor's hitting started off hot knocking the starting pitcher for Sutherland out early. Sutherland did make a run, putting some hits together but not enough before the rain came down. Victor ended up winning 8-5 and winning the division. Click here for the rest of the pics...

The first of two games on June 3rd, was between McQuaid and Webster Thomas for the Class AA title. The Titans pitcher, Cam Scalzo, started off great and actually carried a no hitter through four innings keeping a 1-0 game. He eventually gave up a string of hits that gave McQuaid a 3-1 lead. Nate Harris pitched outstanding for McQuaid and was given the MVP as the Knights won 4-1. Click here for the rest of the pics...

The second game on that Thursday night was between Churchville-Chili v. Penfield for the Class AAA title. Both pitchers were outstanding but Rob Mabee from the Patriots outlasted Jordan Eich to get the victory and MVP award. Penfield won 5-3 and took the Section V Class AAA crown. Click here for the rest of the pics...

Spring Baseball

Finally was able to get a baseball game in amongst all of these lacrosse games. The East Orientals took on the Spencerport Rangers at Spencerport on April 4th. The game stayed pretty close through the first 5 innings that I was able to photograph. Spencerport ended up tacking on a bunch of runs at the end to win 8-2. Click here for the rest of the pics...

One week I'm sweating from the heat and the next week, like on Friday, it's snowing during a baseball game. I was prepared for the cold Friday afternoon but it definitely slowed down the hitting early. Pittsford Sutherland took on the Irondequoit Eagles at Irondequoit on April 9th. Most of the runs were scored late innings as the teams warmed up (but not the weather). Sutherland won the game 8-4 and the weather made me think that my Hawaii trip couldn't come soon enough. Click here for the rest of the pics...

Saturday, April 10th was a beautiful day and I was able to photograph two different games. The first was baseball at Rush Henrietta as they took on Honeoye Falls-Lima. Tough game for the Royal Comets as they lost to a powerful HFL team 16-3. Click here for the rest of the pics...

Arcadia travelled to Gates to take on the Spartans on April 12th. Gates strung some hits together to give them a decent lead and had some strong pitching to win 8-3. Click here to see the pics...

This was the last game I saw before going on vacation a few weeks ago. The game was played between the Cadets and Trojans on April 14th. Hilton's hitting impressed me as they were putting up runs almost every inning. There was a scary moment in the game when one of Athena's infielders was hit in the neck by a throw. He seemed ok as he was helped off the field. Hilton ended up winning the game 11-0. Click here for the rest of the pics...

I was glad to see these teams had their aces going for them when I arrived. I missed seeing Eich last year and wanted to get a chance to photograph him pitching. Wandtke for GC was great too, the only runs scored were due to some errors in the infield by the Spartans. Eich and the Saints came out on top 2-0. Click here for the rest of the photos...

The weather in the last week has been less than sunny and on Friday it looked like the clouds were going to drop some serious rain or snow. The sky opened up in certain areas over Gates creating a small hole in the dark sky. The game did only have a few sprinkles but the threat was always there. Hilton ended up beating Gates 14-5. Click here for the rest of the pics...

I had to shoot some more portraits in Canandaigua last Saturday, so I was able to shoot the Victor v. Canandaigua baseball game. The weather was windy with a little bit of rain falling for the first 6 innings. The Braves had taken an early lead but Victor came back to tie it at 4 sending the game into extra innings. Victor scored a run in the top of the seventh but hail stopped the game in the bottom of the inning. The game was called a tie. Click here for the rest of the pics...

2010 Starts with More Basketball

I have been shooting a lot of girls and boys basketball and the first two weeks of the new year wasn't any different. January 5th, the girls of Gates-Chili dominated Spencerport with a 63-37 win. Click here for the photos...

The 12th of January, I traveled to Wheatland-Chili where they took on the boys of Oakfield-Alabama. It was an exciting game but the Wildcats pulled out the victory at the end 47-44. Click here for the photos...

The next day, January 13th, I was back at Gates-Chili's gym were the boys took on Churchville-Chili. The Saints were without their best player and the Spartans took advantage with an easy win 60-27. Click here for the photos...

On Friday, January 15th, the lady Spartans took on the Greece Olympia Spartans. I took photos of both the JV and Varsity teams this night. The young varsity guards for Gates were great as they took control quickly and beat the Greece team 79-57. Click here for the photos...

Holiday Girls Basketball

Gates-Chili's new gym hosted a Holiday girls basketball tournament that included three other teams. The first game was between Sweet Home(Section 6) and Edison Tech. The Panthers had some tall girls on the inside that really gave Edison trouble. The Inventors did keep it close early but it wasn't enough as Sweet Home pulled away to win 62-23. Click here for the rest of the pics...

The battle of Chili was the second game of the tournament. Gates played well early even with some foul trouble to take a lead. Churchville's guard play kept them in the game but the Spartans paint work was too much as they won 71-53. Click here for the rest of the photos...

Sports Weekend

Once again I am behind on my blog and editing. I should be catching up quick with a day coming up without an event. Here's a composite blog of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Friday night Gates beat Churchville in volleyball 3-0.

Saturday morning I shot a boys soccer game before the Gates football game. The soccer match put two great teams together. On this sunny morning Fairport was playing at Pittsford Mendon. Mendon ended up beating Fairport 2-0.

After the game I drove to Spencerport for their homecoming football game against Gates-Chili. Gates-Chili scored often and played great defense to win 34-0.

Finally on Sunday my long weekend finished with a long day of Chili Lions football at Memorial park.

Volleyball Gallery: CC v. GC

Soccer Gallery: Fairport v. Mendon

Football Gallery: GC v. Spencerport

Football Galleries: Chili Lions

Boys Soccer Week (con't)

Thursday I continued my week of boys soccer with a game between the Greece Athena Trojans and Churchville-Chili Saints. It was a great game that provided some interesting shots as the two teams struggled for control. Athena scored first early in the first half. Churchville came right back about a minute later and tied the game at one. The teams didn't score again as they headed into overtime and finished tied.

Nick Simone (7) plays the ball off his chest in front of a Saints defender.

Saints defenseman Brian Lang (13) keeps the ball away from the attacking Trojans.

Nick Simone (10) battles two Churchville players for the ball.

Saints Tim Randall makes a great slide tackle on Zach Sullivan (25).

Soccer Gallery: CC v. Athena

Boys Soccer Week

I am running behind of course but, Monday and Tuesday I had boys soccer games to shoot. I also will be shooting one more Thursday so it kind of feels like a total soccer week. I am finishing up the last few games shooting for Churchville-Chili, so Monday they faced Dr. Freddie Thomas and Tuesday was Gates-Chili. They beat Freddie Thomas with a marginal victory and won a tight game at Gates. Here are some shots from the first two days of the week.

The first game was at 4:30 and the sun was already getting low giving somewhat of a orange glow on the players. Here a Freddie Thomas attacker does his best imitation of Pele'.

Churchville-Chili's goalie just gets a piece of this ball as it goes off the crossbar and behind the net.

The Gates game was at 6:00 and the sun was not showing on the field once the game began. I probably have said this before but, the Spartans field is not the place to take pictures when the sun goes down. I knew I could only get to about halftime where the pictures would just be a waste of time due to the poor lighting. I quickly shot as many action pics a s possible until the ambient light was gone. Gates scored first but Churchville ended up tieing the game in the second half and taking the lead with ten minutes left for the win.

I am really starting to get some of the timing down to catch some great headers. Hopefully there will be more to come before basketball starts.

Soccer Galleries: GC v. CC

CC v. Dr. Freddie Thomas

Yellow Cards First, Tackle Later

Friday night was a busy night for me. I had a bunch of photos to edit from the previous night and wanted to shoot two Gates-Chili games that night. I knew it was going to create a busy weekend of editing but, I shot them anyways.

First game was girls soccer as GC faced off against the Greece Arcadia Titans. It was my first girls soccer of the high school season and it was a very physical game. There were 3 yellow cards given out during the game and this unsuspecting Arcadia player received the only red card of the match. It must of been something she said because their was no real hard contact before the referee blew the whistle.

I liked this shot as the lady Spartans celebrated after they scored their only goal. Brianna Szczepanski (22) celebrates with a teammate as the Titan player can't bear to watch.

Once the cards were out and over with, Greece kept control of the ball and scoring to win 4-1. Here junior Blythe Sheridan (11) keeps her eyes on the ball before controlling the kick.

The second game Friday night was GC football at the stadium facing off against Churchville-Chili. The battle for Chili brings a certain vibe to the crowd because these two schools are so close to each other. The Spartans were prepared and ready to play hard after a tough loss last week. They wanted to show that they still are in contention to defend last years championship.

Gates always comes onto the field as one and here they prepare to run into the middle of the field.

The Spartans stadium is very poorly lit for night games. GC may have a new gym and pool but, new lights should now be on the short list. Poor lighting is a sports photographer's nightmare, so I decided to use some off camera flash. I super-clamped my flash to the bottom of the monopod and ran the cord along it up to the hotshoe. This method limited the red eye results as you can see in this shot of Eli Thomas (32) receiving the hand-off .

Thomas had a great game, showing his power that he had last year. He dragged defenders down field all night. Gates other two backs were big on the ground too. Here Levester Tucker (28) points to the sky after a short run for a TD.

GC ended up beating Churchville 34-13, as Gates proved that they are still a power in Monroe County football.

Check out the Soccer Gallery: Arcadia v. GC

Check out the Football Gallery: CC v. GC

Start with Swimming, Finish with Soccer

I am behind on my days because my weekends are busy in the fall. I may miss a few events on the blog but I will do my best to keep this updated.

Thursday I started with Gates-Chili Girls swimming at GC against the Mercy Monarchs. I tryed a few angles but it is very hard to shoot with limited space even in a brand new facility like Gates-Chili. Also, lighting is very difficult, someday I will sneak some strobes in. Anyways heres some of my favorites.

I like the reflection of the red numbers from the scoreboard in this shot. I took one last year that was similar.

I left the pool early to head over to Churchville-Chili, where the boys soccer team was taking on the Spencerport Rangers. Both of these teams have high hopes for this year and have some great players. After the first half was complete the teams were tied 1-1. Spencerport took the lead midway through the second half and even avoided a Saints attempt on a penalty kick late to win 2-1.

When the teams were warming up I took the opportunity to shoot the back up goalies because they usually don't see much game time without a blowout or injury. I really liked the height on this grab by the backup Rangers goalie.

Not only did I get a great goalie shot before the game but during too. The starting goalie for Spencerport made a leap towards me for a Saints shot. I happened to catch him in midair with both hands snagging the ball. You may say, well how do I know it wasn't during practice. If you look carefully on the left you can see the elbow of a Saints player waiting for a rebound.

The hard work and effort these two teams left on the field provided some great photos. This last photo shows a Churchville attacker being blocked by a Spencerport defender.

Check out the Swimming Gallery: Mercy v. Gates-Chili

Check out the Soccer Gallery: Spencerport v. CC

Soccer, Churchville Style

I was asked to shoot a few Churchville-Chili boys soccer games this fall by a proud parent of one of the players. It was my first time shooting at the Saints home field. I was impressed, hopefully Gates can have something like their stadium soon. Anyways, I arrived early and took some warm-up shots and tried to get some of the Saints players in action. The game put the Saints up against the Greece Olympia Spartans who came into the contest without a win and two losses.

The first half was a battle and both teams fought hard for control. Here two players go up strong on a goalie kick.

Ball control created many opportunities for me to get great "battle for the ball" shots

As the sun sets and creates a orange glow on this Olympia player's face, he hurls the ball just past me into player traffic.

I only stayed for the first half because of time issues but Churchville did have many chances to score but with missed shots and some solid goaltending they were kept scoreless. Here Dino Banitskos (8) dribbles past a Spartans defender to get a shot on goal.

After I left, Churchville scored a goal 15 minutes into the second half and went on to win 1-0. Hopefully next game I will catch a goal and celebration from the team.

Check out the Gallery: Churchville Chili v. Greece Olympia

Season Favorites 2008-09: Wrestling

I decided I wanted to finish off my first full high school sports season with a "best of" for each sport. I only shot a few wrestling matches for Gates-Chili this year, but I did shoot sectionals and super-sectionals. So here are my favorites for the 2008-2009 season.

Galleries: 2008-09 Wrestling