Dragon Tales Official Newsletter of Oneonta State Athletics
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Dragon Tales Official Newsletter of Oneonta State Athletics Volume 2, No. 3 Spring/Summer, 2001 SOFTBALL WINS SUNYAC TITLE Red Dragons Advance to Regional Final Game The 2001 softball team used a strong offensive attack and young arms to complete a 38-10 record while advancing to the Northeast Regional final of the NCAA Div. III tournament. Along the way they set new records for consecutive wins and most wins in the history of the softball program. For the senior class it was truly the best way to end their careers as they set the bar extremely high for future teams to try and reach. The season began in Fort Myers, Fla. for 10 games in which the squad finished 5-5 and had many questions regarding the direction that the season would take. They came out of the gate with three straight wins, but faltered losing five of the last seven games including the last three. It was evident that the team had senior leadership and it was also evident that the squad had some solid pitching in the form of two freshmen, Liz Scimeca (Sayville, N.Y.) and Cara Limongelli (Westbury, N.Y.) to go with sophomore Sandy Moxley (Oneonta, N.Y.). When the Red Dragons returned north they found snow covered fields and were forced to go back indoors for nearly two weeks before they could get back into action. Their first action was on the road to open their SUNYAC schedule against Geneseo and Brockport. They managed to split both doubleheaders and returned home with a 7-7 record overall and 2-2 in conference play. They dropped their opener to Geneseo 8-1 and then came from behind to win 6-5 in the second game. The next day they lost 2-1 in the first game to Brockport and then won the second game 7-2. From that point the Red Dragons ran off a school-record 21 straight victories that included doubleheader sweeps of Cortland, Buffalo State and Fredonia on the road. They put themselves in first place in the conference with an opportunity to host the conference tournament the first weekend in May. During the run, the trio of arms for Oneonta each won seven straight decisions. Offensively, seniors Liz Alayna Isby McGrail (Stamford, N.Y.) and Samantha Fancher (Binghamton, N.Y.) were swinging hot bats as both players raised their averages to well over .400 with slugging percentages better than .500. The Red Dragons went 5-1 to end the regular season and entered the SUNYAC tournament as the top seed and host as the top six teams began the battle for the NCAA berth. Oneonta opened with a five- inning, 8-0 win over Plattsburgh in the opening game of the tournament. The next day they held off a late charge by Geneseo to win 6-5 and then followed with a 4-2 win over Cortland to put themselves in the title 2001 SUNYAC Champions game on the final day. Trailing 6-1 after five innings to Cortland, Oneonta rallied in the last two innings to win 8-7 to clinch the SUNYAC championship. In this issue... Oneonta was seeded first in the five-team Northeast Regional tournament hosted by --Softball Recap, pg. 1+2 --Don Flewelling Retires from Oneonta State, pg. 2 Ithaca College during the second weekend of May. Their opening game was against Kings College --Men’s Lacrosse Recap, pg. 3 of Pennsylvania and they won 5-1 to move into the winners bracket of the double elimination --Men’s Tennis Recap, pg. 4 tournament. The next day rain delayed the start of their game with Ithaca and, when they finally --Baseball Recap, pg. 5 got a chance to play, the hosts rallied to win 9-4. The next day Oneonta defeated St. John Fisher 2- --Women’s Lacrosse Recap, pg. 6 1 and then beat Ithaca 3-2 to force a deciding game which was postponed until Monday at --Three Sport Standout Liz McGrail, pg. 7 noontime. The Red Dragons were eliminated behind a tremendous pitching performance by the --Soccer Duo Bring Home Gold Medal, pg. 7 Bombers 5-0. --Weaver and Rummery Attend Leadership Conference, pg. 8 Alayna Isby (Nassau, N.Y.), Andrea Bradford (Middletown, N.Y.), Melissa LaBarre --Spring Athletes of the Week, pg. 8 (Conklin, N.Y.), McGrail and Limongelli were all selected to the All-Tournament Team for their --Chi Alpha Sigma Induction, pg. 8 performances over the five games. --Athletic Awards 2000-01, pg. 9 --Spring Honor Roll, pg. 9 Batting Leaders: --Scott Meyer Signs With The Reds, pg. 10 Average: .................................... Liz McGrail, .444 --Paula Polce Attends Professional .........................................Samantha Fancher, .424 Tryout Camp, pg. 10 OB%: ............................................... Fancher, .477 --Verizon Academic Honors, pg. 11 --SUNYAC Spring Commissioner’s List, pg. 11 ........................................................ McGrail, .476 --Paula Polce Selected as New York Scholar Athlete, pg. 11 SB: ...................................................... Fancher, 20 --CHAMPS Review 2000-01, pg. 12 ........................McGrail and Beth Oppenheimer, 7 --Spring Scoreboard, pg. 13 Runs: ................................................... Fancher, 51 --Fall Schedules, pg. 14 --Join the Red Dragon Club, pg. 15 --Alumni Feature of Jamey Sunshine, pg. 16 Melissa --New Outdoor Athletic Fields Under Construction, pg. 16 LaBarre ........................................................... McGrail, 37 Flew completes flight with O-State 2B: ..................................................... McGrail, 15 Don Flewelling is gettin’ while the gettin’s good. ...................................................... Tara Hinkle, 10 3B: ........................................................ Fancher, 5 ................................... McGrail and Hilary Jake, 2 After leading the Oneonta State softball team to within a game HR’s: ............................................. Kelli Winnie, 5 of an NCAA Division III World Series berth this spring, ................................... McGrail and Alayna Isby, 3 longtime teacher and coach Don Flewelling has retired. RBI’s:........................................................ Isby, 38 ........................................................... McGrail, 30 Flewelling leaves behind a legacy in two sports that may or TB: ..................................................... McGrail, 88 may not be seen anytime soon, but leaves as a Red Dragon ............................................................ Fancher, 72 through and through. Slugging: ........................................ McGrail, .652 Flewelling came to Oneonta State in 1967 and never looked ............................................................... Isby, .531 back. He built a men’s basketball program into a regional and Pitching Leaders: national contender including playing for the NCAA Div. III title Wins: ...................................... Cara Limongelli, 16 in 1977. He is the winningest basketball and softball coach in ..................................................... Liz Scimeca, 12 the college’s history and, during his 11 years as the softball Winning%: ............................... Moxley, .818 (9-2) ............................................. Scimeca, .800 (12-3) coach, Flewelling never had a losing season and led the program to two SUNYAC titles IP: ................................................ LiMongelli, 137 and two NCAA berths - the only such heights in the history of the softball program. ........................................................ Scimeca, 88.2 Flewelling officially retired after the first semester of the 2000-2001 college ERA: ................................................. Moxley, 1.39 year, but agreed to coach his 11th season of softball on a part-time basis. .................................................... Limongelli, 1.74 SO: ................................................. LiMongelli, 79 “This transition is not a happy one because we lose Don Flewelling,” Athletic ........................................................... Scimeca, 42 Director Steve Garner said. “He deserves the next part of his life, but we’re sad for Saves: ............................................... Limongelli, 3 Oneonta because we’re really losing a warrior.” “Don is a throwback,” Garner continues. “In the old days, people could coach anything. You could give him anything to do and he could do a good job.” The Red Dragons finished with a school-best record of 38-10 this spring after losing in the Northeast Region championship to Ithaca College on May 14. Besides his conference honor, Flewelling was selected as the NYSWCAA State Coach of the Year and earned Regional honors by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Flewelling, who was also the SUNYAC Coach of the Year in 1999, compiled an overall record of 269-106. “I think any time you’ve done something for 40 years, I mean, I was always a coach, “Flewelling said. “It’ll be something I’ll miss for sure. This is a great way to finish.” Flewelling, a native of Glens Falls, is a 1964 graduate of Cortland State and a 1965 graduate of Ball State University. Prior to his coming to Oneonta, he had success- ful coaching stints in basketball and baseball at Ball State, Cortland and Mynderse Academy. Flewelling retired from coaching men’s basketball after the 1989-90 season because of health reasons, said Garner who took over the program in 1990. Beth Oppenheimer “No one wanted to see him step down then either,” said Garner, who has been at Oneonta State for 22 years and has served as the school’s athletic director for the last seven years. “His real love is coaching,” said Al Sosa, who has known Flewelling since their college days at Cortland. “Some of us enjoy the teaching, but all