Sports

BERLIN — When opposing coach Bill Wheatly called him over after Monday night’s game the game the last thing 10-year-old Hayden Snelsire expected to hear was congratulations on throwing a no-hitter. “I was shocked,” Snelsire said. And he wasn’t the only one. Snelsire pitches for the Berlin Little League Yankees in the major league division. He was set to face the Phillies, a team with notoriously hot bats. Yankees coach Cameron McDonough started the game with some of his best fielders deep in the outfield. “I put them there thinking [the Phillies] might knock him around a little,” he said. “But he kept them completely off-balance.” Snelsire is the only fourth-grader in the league and the youngest of only five 10-year-olds in the 11-12-year-old division. Although he’s proud of his accomplishment, Snelsire credited both his coach and his teammates for his success. “Our coach usually calls the pitches,” he said. ...

BERLIN — After suffering an opening day loss to the Yankees, the Berlin Little League Orioles staged a comeback in the late innings of Monday night’s game against the White Sox to win the major league game 7-4. Right-hander Zac Cioccio logged 10 strikeouts for the win and Matt Kinsey picked up the save adding three strikeouts. The Orioles jumped to a 4-0 start early but the White Sox tied the game rallying behind their pitcher Jake Shockley to even the score. The Orioles ground back into the lead behind the hitting of Noah Shockley who supplied a two-run triple and Brennon Holloway who hit a two-run double. Tate Shockley also came through for the Orioles with a triple.  

BERLIN – The Stephen Decatur boys’ and girls’ track teams took top honors during the April 7 six-school meet at Seahawk Stadium in Berlin.  The Decatur boys' squad scored 262 points to win the competition. Parkside was second with 123 points.  Seahawks who placed first in their events were Dan Cericola (200m, 23.2 seconds; 400m, 53.3 seconds), Shameal Stanley (100m, 11.4 seconds; triple jump, 38 feet .5 inches; long jump, 19 feet 3.5 inches), Chris Hurley (800m, 2:11.7) and Brad Hollowell (pole vault, 13 feet).  Decatur Coach Pat Russo said Greg Petersen had a standout performance in the high jump. His jump of 6 feet 4 inches was just shy of the school record (6 feet 6 inches), which has stood for more than 10 years. Hurley, Brett Lueders, Lance Ward and Dan Winters outran their competition in the 3,200m relay race (9:01.2). Cericola, Hurley, Winters and Hollowell were victorious in the 1,600m event (3:42). The 800m relay team of Stanley, DJ Johnson...

SALISBURY — This time last year Manny Machado was preparing for graduation as well as for the Major League Baseball draft. The high school standout was widely considered one of the top prospects in baseball before he even received his diploma but even he was surprised to be taken third overall by the Baltimore Orioles. “I thought I might go high, but I didn’t think I’d go third,” he said. “Right now I’m just looking forward to getting out there.” Machado began earning his keep almost at once, driving in what would turn out to be the game winning run with a triple in his first game as a Shorebird and ending the first home series in the top three of each offensive category. For his part, Machado already has his eye on the closest prize, a Shorebirds trip to the South Atlantic League playoffs. It’s one they haven’t made recently but after an impressive enough start, it is a goal that already appears to be realistic. “I ...

BERLIN – Stephen Decatur opened its baseball season Tuesday on a upgraded diamond that includes new dugouts, but had to face the same old foe, James Bennett pitcher Zack Sterling. The Clippers ace shutout the Seahawks for a 10-0 five inning win. “It was tough playing them in the first game. You come out of the shoot and play the regional champions with a young team like ours,” said SDHS coach Richard Ferro.  Decatur batters could not solve Sterling who used off-speed pitches to keep the Seahawks off balance all evening. “[Zack] has been dominant for two years now,” Ferro said. “He mixes up his pitches really well – like throwing breaking pitches on fastball counts – and that’s tough on young hitters.” The Clippers got to Seahawks starter Brad Stiles in the third inning scoring five runs after loading the bases with no outs. Ferro replaced Stiles with Mike O’Neill, who got out of the inning. In the fifth Ben...

BERLIN – Stephen Decatur played the role of Sisyphus against Delmar last Friday and like the Greek mythological figure, the Seahawks could not push the boulder all the way to the top of the hill. Decatur mounted comebacks in the third and fourth quarters but never could take the lead. Down 12 points in the third, the Seahawks charged back and pulled to within 43-40 with two minutes left but then Delmar hit consecutive three-pointers and built a 51-40 lead.  In the fourth, led by Leigh Anne Flounlacker, who finished with a game-high 36 points, Decatur rallied again to 55-50 and then 61-57 with less than two minutes left. But with less than a minute to go Delmar hit a three-pointer and the Seahawks comeback ran out of time.  “We kind of killed ourselves by letting them get way ahead,” Flounlacker said. “Then we had to play catch-up and that was a lot harder on us. The entire game we were behind and then we would get so close and they would score and i...

BERLIN – For three years Dakota Roderick wrestled on Stephen Decatur’s junior varsity waiting for his chance to make an impact for the varsity squad. Last Wednesday he got his shot and created a seismic bang by securing the Seahawks second 4A/3A East Region duals title in four years. Roderick’s 17-5 decision over Old Mill’s Mark Lee gave Decatur the decisive points to beat the Patriots 37-33 and secure a trip to the state duals tournament. “It was really exciting but there was also a lot of pressure because if I didn’t win my team would lose,” Roderick said. “But I know I’m a good wrestler, my coach told me so, and I’m on a very good team, so I was confident in myself.” Unfortunately, Decatur lost to Urbana, 41-31, in the state duals semi-finals on Saturday. But last week the Seahawks held off Old Mill and tight match. After Nick McLoota lost at 135 pounds, the Patriots were within striking distance at 33-27. But...

BERLIN – Mardela started pulling away from Stephen Decatur in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s game and built a 35-23 lead at the half. But in the third quarter Mardela buried Decatur with a 12-2 run to open the half and then essentially put the game away with a 56-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Mardela won easily 74-43. “We had a short half time because I wanted to get them out there and moving,” SDHS coach Mark Engle said. “We talked about staying focused, rebounding and getting the ball inside. Our third quarter in the Pocomoke game killed us and our third quarter tonight really killed us too.” Decatur, playing with a less than 100 percent Tre Foreman, could not generate any offense and lacked intensity on defense allowing Mardela plenty of open looks at the basket, which led to an onslaught of converted three-point shots and plenty of offensive rebounds of misses. “Mardela does a great job of drawing in the defense, ...

BERLIN – Mardela started pulling away from Stephen Decatur in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s game and built a 35-23 lead at the half.  But in the third quarter Mardela buried Decatur with a 12-2 run to open the half and then essentially put the game away with a 56-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Mardela won easily 74-43.  “We had a short half time because I wanted to get them out there and moving,” SDHS coach Mark Engle said. “We talked about staying focused, rebounding and getting the ball inside. Our third quarter in the Pocomoke game killed us and our third quarter tonight really killed us too.” Decatur, playing with a less than 100 percent Tre Foreman, could not generate any offense and lacked intensity on defense allowing Mardela plenty of open looks at the basket, which led to an onslaught of converted three-point shots and plenty of offensive rebounds of misses.  “Mardela does a great job of drawing i...

BERLIN – From the look of the score, 50-10, Stephen Decatur blew out Kent Island on Monday night by registering six pins and losing only four matches, but that did not tell the whole story, according to SDHS coach Kevin Gilligan, who was fuming after the match.  “Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Performance-wise, attitude-wise we were not good tonight, not one bit,” said Gilligan, whose squad is 11-0. “Hats off to Kent Island, they came to wrestle. I don’t know what our issue was.” The match started out slowly for Decatur as Nate Rosenblatt lost the 103 pound decision. In the 112 pound match Matt Meekins seemed to win until he was given an unsportsmanlike penalty by the referee for making a gesture toward the Kent Island bench.  “Good teams don’t act like that. Good teams are always ready to wrestle and tonight we weren’t a good team,” Gilligan said. “They have to decide if they are going to be a team that wre...