Submitted photo Ryker Chase, left, and Jake Battko pose with their medals after the Battle for the Bay wrestling tournament last Sunday at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie.

Junior high

wrestling

The Youngsville Junior High Eagles descended on the Bayfront Convention Center for the Battle on the Bay wrestling tournament last Sunday.

It was a busy weekend for some of the Eagles as they had wrestled at the Kane Wolves Den Rumble the day prior.

The Eagles were led by a first-place finish from Tucker Sanford, who went 4-0 with three pins and a 21-6 technical fall to win the 15-and-under, 140-pound bracket. Sanford won this same tournament last year making him a champion in back-to-back years.

The Eagles also had three third-place winners in Jake Battko, Ryker Chase and Johnathan Sullivan.

Battko began his day in the 117-pound bracket with a bye into the quarterfinals then pinned Meadville’s Caiden Hall in 58 seconds to move into the semifinals. In the semis, Battko matched up with Grove City’s Kagan Painter. Painter, a returning state medalist, proved to be too much for the Eagle, picking up the fall in 1:05. Battko then met Warren’s Wyatt Wilson in the consolation semis. In another hotly contested match, Battko avenged his earlier loss to Wilson by winning 17-2 to make the consolation finals. In the consolation finals, Battko mounted a ferocious comeback from an early 3-0 hole to win by fall in 4:02 over Erie’s Marquis Knight.

Chase kicked off his day with a match against Union City’s Hunter Zilhaver. Chase mounted an early 5-1 lead before picking up the fall in 2:31. Chase lost his next match by fall to Bad Karma’s Hunter Emrich, but rebounded with a big 16-3 major-decision victory over Harbor Creek’s Bella Foley. The win over Foley served as a redemption of sorts for Chase as Foley had pinned him when the two met last season. Chase closed out his day losing by fall to Cochranton’s Aden Carter. Chase wound up with the bronze medal at 172 pounds.

Also finishing third was Sullivan, who was coming off a dominating performance at the Kane Wolves Den Rumble. Sullivan posted three technical falls and two pins en route to winning his weight class Saturday. Sullivan kicked off Sunday with a bye into the 12-and-under, 200-pound semifinals. In the semis, Sullivan met rival Isaac Beebe of Maplewood, who came in on the heels of winning a Junior Powerade title last weekend. Sullivan and Beebe proved to be worthy adversaries for one another once again, but Beebe came out the victor by a 2-1 score. Sullivan shook off the loss by knocking off Union City’s Jace Moore by 17-0 technical fall and winning 6-0 over Falconer’s Hannah Evans to place third.

Battko, Chase, Sanford and Sullivan did not make the trip to Erie alone. Joining them, but not placing, were Brayden Patch, Ben Blauser, Brantley Coleson, Khloe Rulander, McKenzie Hodak and Maci Hodak.

Patch and Rulander both posted wins on the day, but had their tournaments ended by the same wrestler in Wattsburg’s Cael Hedlund. Rulander lost to Hedlund by fall and Patch lost by a 7-3 score.

“Overall, I saw some good things from the kids. Some of the kids closed the gap on opponents who had trounced them previously and others exacted some revenge against familiar opponents.” said coach Tim Suydan, “Wyatt and Jake had another great match to make them 1-1 against each other this year, Johnathan showed fantastic growth against a great opponent in Beebe, Brantley went the distance in a good match against a kid who had pinned or tech’d him in all of their previous meetings, and Brayden continued to flash his potential in his matches. Ben, Kenzie and Maci each wrestled hard as well considering their competition level. We came to this tournament looking for some stiff competition and we definitely found it. Hopefully we can use this as another steppingstone for bigger and better things as the season rolls on.”

Little League

baseball

Warren County Youth Baseball/Softball Association (WCYBSA) Little League registration is open through Feb. 1 online at https://leagues.bluesombrero.com/warrencountyyouthbaseballandsoftballassociation

Cost, division and age range information can also be found on the registration site.

For more information, email WCYBSA.board@gmail.com

Adult bowling

Tom Traub rolled a 236-626 to lead the Silver Sliders League at Valley Bowling Center.

Other scores were Jim Seth 178-498, Linda Ross 162-437 and Kellie Dunn 157-375.

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Kellie Johnson rolled a 170-468 and Toni Loomis hit a 168-459 to pace the Ladies Church League at Valley Bowling Center.