TROY — The No. 3 Ballston Spa varsity baseball team entered the Section 2 Class AA playoffs with a bang on Saturday, defeating No. 6 Columbia 8 to 2.
The win sent the Dawgs to the semifinals at the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy, home of the Tri-City ValleyCats. But faced with a tough game on Monday against No. 2 Bethlehem Central, BSpa fell short, 4 to 0. It was a rough game for the Dawgs, who finished with zero hits and two errors.
Despite the loss, the team finished with a strong 13-7 record on the season and has a large group of returning players next year. This year’s graduating seniors include Tyler Corry, Conner Garrant, Nate Gurwitz, Jake Nagengast, and Blaine Zoller.
SCHENECTADY — The Ballston Spa girls track and field team impressed once again on Saturday at the William F. Eddy Jr. Meet in Schenectady.
The relay team won both the 4×100 and the 4×400. Gabrielle Bozeth won the 200 meter dash, and teammate Harriety Healey won the 400 meter. In the 100 meter dash, Gabrielle Bozeth finished second, and Petrina Zborovszky wasn’t far behind in third.
GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Thunder advanced to the ECHL Eastern Conference Final after defeating the Norfolk Admirals in round two of the playoffs, 4 games to 2.
The Admirals took the first two games of the series but the Thunder wouldn’t fall that easily. They won four straight games, with a combined total score of 14 to 5.
Adirondack then split the first two games of the conference final against the Florida Everblades last weekend, winning the second game in a 2-0 shutout. The next three games of the series will take place in Florida. If necessary, games six and seven will be played at home at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls on May 28 and 29.
35 students from Malta Ave Elementary performed at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s annual meeting on May 16. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) celebrated recent education initiatives during its annual meeting on the amphitheater stage on May 16. The event was followed by a spirited performance of Des’ree’s hit song “You Gotta Be” by dozens of Malta Ave Elementary students.
Dennis Moench, Vice President of Education at SPAC, said that educational programming in 2023 reached an estimated 50,000 kids, in partnership with more than 120 local schools and nonprofits.
Last year, SPAC launched its “Access the Arts” program, which provides weekly dance, music, and improvisational theater classes to individuals enrolled in day habilitation programs. The program culminated with a performance featuring more than 100 participants on May 1 in the Spa Little Theater.
“We provide avenues for emotional expression, self discovery, social connection, cognitive development, stress reduction, and empowerment,” Moench said. “We believe that all individuals should have access to these benefits.”
Beginning at 2 p.m. on June 2, SPAC will host the seventh annual Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists, a free event featuring fine art displays, poetry slams, and food stands. At 4:30 p.m., hundreds of kids will present a concert on the amphitheater stage with productions that combine music, song, poetry, visual art, and dance.
MALTA — The New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) suspended the license of the Maple Leaf Childcare Center at 2737 Route 9 in Malta last week due to “evidence that the public health or a child’s safety or welfare is in imminent danger.”
The center can end the suspension one of two ways; either they can resolve the issues cited by OCFS as the reasons for the suspension, or they can successfully challenge the decision to suspend the license. OCFS can also decide to revoke the center’s license completely.
The childcare center’s OCFS inspection history over the last two years contained a number of alleged violations, including the use of corporal punishment, children left without competent supervision, and staff members unable to fulfill their responsibilities. Since April 17, 2023, the OCFS recorded nine substantiated complaints against Maple Leaf in Malta.
In the violations, OCFS defined corporal punishment as “punishment inflicted directly on the body including, but not limited to, physical restraint, spanking, biting, shaking, slapping, twisting or squeezing; demanding excessive physical exercise, prolonged lack of movement or motion, or strenuous or bizarre postures; and compelling a child to eat or have in the child’s mouth soap, foods, hot spices or irritants or the like.”
The company also faced scrutiny in April of this year, when a former employee at their Halfmoon location was arrested and charged with child endangerment and harassment.
Maple Leaf did not respond to requests for comment from Saratoga TODAY.
Graph showing Saratoga County unemployment figures provided by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — According to data from the New York State Labor Department, 4,200 Saratoga County residents were unemployed as of March 2024, putting the county’s unemployment rate at 3.5%. In March of 2023, 3,500 of the county’s 121,600-member workforce (or 2.9%) were unemployed, meaning the unemployment increased by 0.6% in the past year.
There have been similar upticks in unemployment in nearby cities, such as Albany (0.6% increase), Schenectady (0.7%), and Glens Falls (0.7%). New York State’s overall unemployment rate as of March was 4.3%.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Getmyboat, a marketplace for boat charters and rentals, ranked Saratoga Springs the third most popular boating destination in New York State. Saratoga was also listed as the most popular boating city outside of the New York metropolitan area.
The top five New York boating locations were, in order: Manhattan, Sag Harbor, Saratoga Springs, Bay Shore, and Oyster Bay. Schenectady cracked the top ten at number eight.
Getmyboat used its booking and demand data to compile the 2024 rankings. According to the company, the average hourly rate for a boat rental in Saratoga is $145, and the average total trip price is $891. Pontoons are the Spa City’s most popular style of boat.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Ever watch Aaron Judge crack a fly ball to the Yankee Stadium short porch in right field and think to yourself, “hell, I could do that”? Well, it’s time to put up or shut up.
A baseball and softball training academy that allows kids and adults alike to practice hitting, pitching, and fielding is coming to Saratoga Springs. D-BAT, which has about 160 locations around the country, is opening its first facility in New York State at 30 Gick Road this summer.
Franchise owner and general manager Adam Britten said the 18,000-square-foot academy will include 13 cages; three industrial-sized pitching machines that can hold hundreds of baseballs or softballs; Rapsodo, a ball launch and flight monitor; Pocket Radar guns that measure pitch speed; and HitTrax, a system that provides real-time stats and performance metrics.
“You can use HitTrax for basically any ballpark. You can put in Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, and you’re actually simulating hitting at those ballparks and it shows your distance and everything else with almost spot-on accuracy,” Britten said.
Although D-BAT academies attract kids across different age groups and levels of play, parents and older folks are welcome too. A parents’ lounge with four TVs will allow adults to take it easy while their kids train. And if you’re getting up there in age but still want to crack a few dingers, you can do that too.
“We’re really excited to provide an outlet for not just kids, but for adults,” Britten said. “It is more than that demographic of 6 to 18 year olds. You get 3 year olds to 75 year olds.”
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Although the academy focuses primarily on baseball and softball, the space can also be used for lacrosse, field hockey, flag football, and other sports.
“I have cricket, I have cornhole leagues; all these leagues are reaching out because there’s a need for indoor space,” Britten said.
That need was obvious to Britten, a Saratoga native who has been heavily involved in youth sports throughout his life. He’s the president of Saratoga Battle, a basketball program with 150 kids, and he’s the assistant coach of the Saratoga Central Catholic varsity basketball team.
“I grew up in these programs along with my brothers, and my dad was always a coach, so it kind of comes second nature,” Britten said. “But there’s never been a facility like this locally big enough to support rain delays, the eight months of winter we get. Kids aren’t playing baseball year-round like they should, like they are down south or in the midwest.”
Britten plans to open up shop this summer and is already giving potential customers tours of the facility. For more information or to keep tabs on the academy’s progress, visit www.dbatsaratogasprings.com or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — Mystik Dan, winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby, will compete in the Preakness Stakes, trainer Kenny McPeek announced last Saturday.
“All systems go,” McPeek told the Associated Press. “The horse is doing fantastic.”
The decision impacts the upcoming Belmont Stakes at the Saratoga Racecourse. If Mystik Dan is able to pull off another victory at Preakness, he’ll be competing for a Triple Crown in Saratoga Springs this June.
“If we’re looking at a non-Triple Crown year, I would say that the Belmont Stakes is still going to have the buzz and excitement that you see [at] the Travers Stakes,” NBC racing analyst Donna Barton Brothers told Saratoga TODAY last month. “But if you’re looking at a Triple Crown year, then you can take Travers and multiply it by at least two, if not more.”
The Ballston Spa varsity girls track and field relay team poses with their trophies after winning the 4×100 race at the Glenn D. Loucks Games in White Plains last week. Photo via Assistant Coach Matt Germann’s X account, @CoachGermann
BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa High School girls track and field relay team won the 4×100 in two events last week: the Glenn D. Loucks Games in White Plains and the Shen Invy in Clifton Park. At Loucks, their time of 48.14 was both the fastest this year in New York State and a new school record, according to Assistant Coach Matt Germann.
The relay team consists of Tatiana McCray, Harriet Healey, Gabrielle Bozeth, and Petrina Zborovszky. At Shen, they finished with a time of 49.19.
Individually, the girls also impressed. At Shen, Bozeth won the 200-meter dash and Zborovszky won the 100-meter. At Loucks, Healey finished third in the 400-meter hurdles and Bozeth took third in the 100 meter dash.
