Sunday, December 31, 2006 Tae DALLAS POST PAGE 7 SPOrts Tough d Nanticoke Area, the top-ranked Class 3A team in the state, heads WVC D-II BY DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor LEHMAN TWP. — They were nly freshmen, but Jim Spencer could tell this could be a special group of girls before their basket- ball playing days at Lake-Lehman were finished. Four years later, he proved to be right. Led by a strong senior class, the Lady Knights are looking for- ward to the start of the Wyoming Valley Conference Division II reg- vision awaits LL, Dallas girls ular season. Lake-Lehman will take an 8-2 non-league record in- to the regular season which be- gins Wednesday at home against Bishop Hoban. The game begins at 7:30 p.m. “This group of seniors have been playing together since third grade,” said head coach Jim Spencer, whose team won the La- dy Knights Invitational earlier this month. “I've been coaching them since they were in ninth grade. They always got along, they work hard and they do well in school. You could tell this could be a very good group of girls.” The Black Knights start five se- niors, including returning start- ers Marissa Harrison, Tina Wat- kins and Joscelyn Mahon. Emily Duebler and Lauren Spencer are the other starters. Jim Spencer expects his team to play as many as 10 players a night. Senior Carol Manzoni will come off the bench, joined by juniors Auggie Lippnik and Beth Carey; sophomores Brooke Matza and Catherine Sul- livan; and freshman Gaby OI- shemski. Spencer says the strength of the team forced him to changed his coaching style. “We're not big, but we're quick and we shoot the ball well,” he said. “We changed our style to more of a pressing style because were quick and athletic. These girls also have great work ethic. They go all-out. When they see a loose ball, they go after it.” Led by Nanticoke Area — the top-ranked Class 3A team in the state — the WVC Division II is home to several quality teams this season, says Spencer. The La- dy Knights and Trojanettes will be joined in the league by Dallas, GAR, Nanticoke Area, Bishop Hoban, Bishop O'Reilly and Meyers. “All of those teams are good,” said Spencer. “Last year, every team finished with a .500 or bet- ter overall record. There will be no easy nights.” And the Lake-Lehman coach hopes his team will peak at the right time. “We expect to do well in our di- vision and win our share of games,” said Spencer, who team will compete in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs at the end of the season. “We hope to make a run at the district title.” DALLAS Defense. Speed. Depth. If those qualities are the ingre- dients for a success, the Lady Mountaineers could have the rec- ipe for a very good season. “We have a speed, we have depth and we play great defense,” said Dallas head coach Joe Noon, See GIRLS, Page 8 Mounts, Knights ready for season . Dallas will compete in WVC Division I; rival Lake-Lehman in WVC Division III By DAVE KONOPKI Dallas Post Editor LEHMAN TWP. — The Lake- Lehman boys basketball team . hasn’t reached its ultimate desti- . nation under head coach Dave - Clancy. But the Black Knights are ' certainly in the neighborhood. “Were not quite where we want to be, but by the end of the year I think we will,” said the third-year coach, whose team got off to a 0-6 start to the season ) against tough non-league opposi- tion. “I really think we can be a ..500 team by the end of the year.” The former Lake-Lehman and Wilkes University standout in- | herited a program that had post- ed a combined 1-50 record the - two previous seasons. The Black Knights have started to turn things around under Clancy, posting a combined 10 wins in the last two seasons. “When we took over, the total morale of the program was down,” he said. “They went such a long time without winning games. Basketball is a game of skills and we were teaching skills to sophomores and juniors they should already have. But the kids are really working hard.” Although Wyoming Seminary is the prohibitive favorite to win the division, the Black Knights should be near the top of the Wyoming Valley Conference Di- vision III standings this season. “I think the (non-league) com- petition we played really helped us prepare for the regular sea- son,” said Clancy, whose team opened divisional play Friday against Northwest Area. The Black Knights will play at Wyom- ing Seminary at 7:30 p.m. Thurs- day. “For the most part, we've played well.” The young Lake-Lehman squad - the Black Knights have just four seniors on their 19-play- er roster — starts two seniors (for- wards Kevin Racemus and Chris Vrabel), a junior (center Bruce Mosier), and two sophomores (guards Mike Eckman and Jim- my Dalkiewicz). The team has some size with four of the start- ers standing at least 6-foot-1. The Black Knights are also deep. Clancy says as many as sev- en players could see action off the bench, including seniors Derek Shurmanek and Mike Pelleschi; juniors Brian Shurmanek, Matt Lucarino and Jamie Bronson; sophomore P.J. Stepanski; and freshman Carson Baker. Clancy says his team needs a scorer to step forward during the season. “I'm really happy where we are defensively and we’ve rebounded the ball well,” he said. “We've held most of our opponents to scores in the low and mid-40s. We just haven’t shot the ball well. We've been spending a little more time on our shooting and we've talked about finishing shots near the rim. I'm confident we’ll make the shots as the season goes on.” Lake-Lehman's Kevin Racemus, right, and Brad Faqgula of Dallas (22) are expected to play big roles for their respective teams this season. Ee, A PHOTOS FOR THE DALLAS POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Adam Singer of Dallas, right, is one of the returning starters for the Mountaineers. Speaking of confidence, Clan- cy says a little dose of it could help ignite his program. “Our confidence needs a boost. We need a win over a big team,” he said. “We've been close several times close but we've come up just short. A win like that would mean more than anything I can do for them during a practice. With these guys, I think it would snowball into something great.” For the time being, the coach says the team will take the season one small step at a time. “Our guys have been focused on getting better with each game,” said Clancy. “They want to get better as individuals and as a team. If they keep working hard, I think there’s a bright fu- ture for us.” DALLAS The Mountaineers lost several players to graduation from last year’s team, which advanced the to the District 2 Class 3A quarter- finals. And this season, the team is moving up from Division II to Division I in the Wyoming Valley Conference. But that doesn’t mean Dallas can’t have a successful season. The Mountaineers return a number of solid players under head coach Ted Jackson Jr., in- cluding three-year starter Brad Fagula. Fellow senior Adam Sing- er also returns to the starting li- neup for the Mountaineers. The duo will be joined on the court by junior center Myer Messinger, se- nior Brendan Delaney, junior Pat Murray, senior Connor Lenahan, senior Robert Monk, sophomore Henry Messinger, and junior Kyle Arnaud. The Mountaineers lost their WVC Division I regular season opener against Valley West, but rebounded to advance to the fi- nals of a holiday tournament at James Buchanan High School in Mercersburg, Md. Dallas returns to conference play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Tunkhannock. Jackson did not return several telephone messages for this sto- ry. Myer Messinger of Dallas drives to the basket while being de- fended by Lake- Lehman's Bruce Mosier. Both players are ju- niors and will start at center for their respec- tive teams. FALL BASEBALL DHS enjoys successful fall season Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the Dallas baseball coaching staff. The Dallas High School fall baseball team recently con- cluded a successful season with a third-place finish in the regular season and a third- place finish in the playoffs. The Mountaineers posted an overall record of 10-6 under coaches Ken Kashatus and Jim Casey. Senior Ryan Konopki led the Dallas offense, leading the team in batting average (.405), hits (17) and RBI (14). The Mountaineers had a team batting average of .282. Matt Ruch, a Bishop O'Reilly junior who resides in the Dallas School District, finished with a .630 on-base percentage and a batting average above .400. Senior Tom Parrish scored 15 runs and stole eight bases in eight attempts; sophomore Scott Skammer hit .371 and finished with an on-base per- centage of .532; senior Greg Harris and junior Jordan Thi- mot combined for nine extra base hits and 22 RBI; senior Dan Jacobs hit .316; and soph- omore Mark Noyalis hit .500 in limited playing time. Defensively, Ruch (2-1, 1.64 ERA) and junior Doug Hard- ing (three wins, 3.16 ERA, two shutouts) led a young pitch- ing staff with a combined 69 strikeouts. Parrish (1-2) and sophomore Josh Shaver (2-0, one save) pitched in a com- bined 12 games and 29 1/3 in- nings. Senior infielder John Giampietro (.972 fielding per- centage) and sophomore Hun- ter Englehart (.921) combined for 74 chances and committed only four errors. Harris had 84 chances without an error as the catcher. Senior infielder Gerrid Koh- li led team in innings played with 93. Junior outfielder Ryan Phillips and sophomore infielder/outfielder Konrad Kraszewski also played a sig- nificant role in the success of the team. The Mountaineers finished the season with a team fielding percentage of .940. Greeley to lead King’s College baseball camp King’s College baseball coach Jerry Greeley will con- duct his annual pre-season clinic from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 14, 21 and 28, and Feb. 4, 11 and 25 at the Wilkes- Barre school. The instruction will cover hitting, pitching, catching, defensive play and conditioning. The Jan. 14 session will be for players in grades 9-12. The session is designed for high school baseball players who wish to continue their aca- demic/athletic careers at the collegiate level. An NCAA rules education session will be conducted for players and families. The remaining sessions will be for players in grades 1-12. The cost is $30 for one ses- sion, $50 for two, $ 70 for three, $85 for four, $100 for five and $115 for all six ses- sions. Early registration is rec- ommended. To register, visit www.kings.edu/athletics and click baseball. You may also call Greeley at 977-4623, or e- mail him at baseball@kings.e- du.
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