SARATOGA SPRINGS — The annual Father’s Day Kids’ Fishing Derby returns to Lake Lonely this year, offering a chance for fathers and their children to bond while competing for prizes.

Held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Father’s Day, June 18, the derby is free to attend, and is for children aged 14 and under, to be accompanied by an adult guardian. Free hot dogs, chips, and beverages will be served, and prizes will be awarded.

The derby is sponsored by a variety of local organizations and businesses, including the Saratoga Basspointers Club, the Fraternal Order of Eagles No. 2586, Saratoga Springs Professional Firefighters Union No. 343, Saratoga Springs Recreation Department, Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge No. 161, D&D Marine Services, Saratoga Tackle, Wiggly Worm, and more.

Stuart Mintzer, a co-founder of the Saratoga Basspointers Club, said the club began assisting the Fraternal Order of Eagles with running the derby, and currently helps with marketing, advertising, promotion, and running the event. Bruce Jones and John Huppuch are also co-founders of the Basspointers Club.

Mintzer said the derby seems to get “bigger and bigger” each year.

“I think the last year, we had over 100 people between parents and kids in attendance,” said Mintzer. “Maybe more (this year), but certainly close to that for sure. It takes place rain or shine.”

The derby offers prizes for several categories: pike, sunfish, bass, and pickerel. Mintzer said prizes are given out by age group, with the three largest catches in each age group receiving a prize.

“It’s all catch and release, and we give prizes out for age groups for the first, second, and third-biggest fish,” Mintzer said. “We try to make sure as many kids walk away with something (as possible).”

Fathers and guardians are not allowed to fish, instead assisting their children. Mintzer said a majority of children who participate are between the ages of five and ten, saying, “They just get a thrill out of it.”

Members of the Basspointers Club volunteer to help run the derby on Father’s Day. The derby also features appearances from the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, who bring a firetruck, and the Saratoga Springs Police Department, who bring their horseback team for photos and interaction with the children.

Mintzer also mentioned that the New York State Office of Environmental Conservation has been involved in recent years, promoting the philosophy of “fishing as a sport with conservation in mind.”

“Which is why we want to do catch and release and promote catch and release. Artificial bait rather than live bait,” Mintzer said. “We just love spreading the word about fishing and conservation, and just how nice our local waters are.”

The derby offers a chance for a unique experience on Father’s Day, with Mintzer saying, “People are really looking for something different to do.”

“I mean, what better thing for a father to do than to take his kid fishing?” said Mintzer. “It kind of panned out that there’s more people than we thought that are looking for something like this. More and more came as we helped promote the event. It’s just become this event that we’re really proud to be a part of.”

The Father’s Day Kids’ Fishing Derby will be held June 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Lake Lonely, at 373 Crescent Ave in Saratoga Springs. For more information, call 518-587-3421.

COLONIE — The Saratoga Springs varsity softball team saw its season come to an end on Tuesday, falling 4-2 to top-seeded Colonie in the Section 2 Class AA semifinals.

The Blue Streaks, who were the defending Section 2 Class AA champions, earned the #5-seed in the sectional tournament after finishing 13-7 overall and 8-5 in the Suburban Council. Saratoga beat #4-seed Ballston Spa 1-0 in the Class AA quarterfinals on May 18, setting up a matchup with #1-seed Colonie.

The Raiders struck quickly on Tuesday, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. An RBI single by Gabby Baumann scored Jenny Shafer, with a sacrifice fly from Adrianna Laraway extending the lead to two runs.

Colonie added another run in the third, with Taylor Quinn leading off the inning with a double before stealing third and scoring on an error, making it 3-0.

The Blue Streaks wouldn’t go down easily, however. With two outs in the fourth, back-to-back singles by Sarah Decker and Natalie Conroy put two runners on, and Nia Law drove home both with a double to left field, cutting Colonie’s lead to 3-2.

Saratoga was unable to scratch another run across, however, and the Raiders responded with an RBI single by Katie Parisi in the sixth, scoring Shafer to extend the lead to 4-2. 

In the top of the seventh, the Blue Streaks put the first two runners on base via an error and a walk, but Laraway, Colonie’s pitcher, retired the next three batters to seal a 4-2 victory for the Raiders.

Laraway threw a complete game, earning the win while allowing two earned runs on six hits. She struck out six batters and walked two. Offensively, Quinn was 1-3 with a double, while Parisi and Baumann had RBI singles. Shafer and Kora Juliano each added base hits, while Laraway also had an RBI.

For Saratoga, Jackie Cutting threw six innings, allowing four runs, all unearned. Cutting allowed five hits, striking out two batters with no walks allowed. At the plate, Law was 1-3 with a two-run double, while Decker, Conroy, Cutting, Olivia Tetreault, and Ava Goodman all recorded singles.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On May 10, Saratoga Springs Little League players were invited to run onto the field alongside the Saratoga varsity baseball team! Varsity players high fived and cheered the little leaguers onto the field, celebrating the future players of Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — This Memorial Day, the Abigail Jenks Memorial Ruck Race will be held at Gavin Park, offering the opportunity to honor local service member Abigail Jenks and raise money for scholarships in her honor.

The race will take place May 29 at 9 a.m, and is in honor of Specialist 4th class Abigail Jenks, the first woman from the Capital Region to enlist as a combat paratrooper, where she was assigned to the 82nd Airborne division. Jenks passed away during a routine helicopter training mission in 2021, and the race was designed to raise money for scholarships in her honor.

Jack Trimmings, organizer of the race, said this is the first year the race will be open to the public in an effort to raise awareness and honor Jenks’ legacy.

“Last year, we set up a scholarship fund in the name of Abigail Jenks for the high school,” said Trimmings. “We completed a ruck last year, on a walkathon basis. We took GoFundMe funds, and that went toward the scholarship, and to host the event this year.”

Along with Vincent Sablich, who is now his partner in organizing the event, Trimmings and several friends completed a 22-mile ruck in honor of Jenks last year. This year, the group is opening the event to the local community members for the first time.

Funds raised will go toward two scholarships to be given to graduating seniors from Saratoga Springs High School. Trimmings said the idea is for one scholarship to go to a student committed to military service, and for the other to go to a student who is exemplary in the arts.

“Abigail was actually a very talented artist and painter,” Trimmings said. “That’s also kind of her legacy. … It will be one for the military and one for the arts every year, hopefully.”

This year’s event will take place at Gavin Park, where participants will make four loops around the park for a total of six miles.

A ruck race is walking, jogging, or running with a weighted backpack, Trimmings said. The Army standard weight is 35 pounds, and participants are asked to bring their own backpack. The SNACpack program will be accepting donations after the race, with Trimmings suggesting participants weigh their backpacks with canned goods to donate.

“My family started a SNACpack foundation,” said Trimmings. “It’s a Saratoga school district-specific foodcare service for students who don’t have enough food on the weekends, on breaks, summers, and things like that. We’re accepting some canned goods, if that’s how participants would want to pack their backpack with weight.”

Tickets to the Ruck Race are $20 for racers, and $15 for students and non-racers. Racers must be ages 15 to 65, but Trimmings said all ages are welcome to participate without a weighted backpack through a non-racer ticket.

The race will begin at 9 a.m. on Memorial Day. Trimmings said it “means a lot” to be able to honor Jenks, noting that the goal of the race is simply to “spread the message” of her life and story.

“It means a lot, knowing that now we’re hopefully going to get a community into this,” Trimmings said. “At the end of the day, our goal is to spread the message. If we can open that up to the community, then that’s one of the best ways to do it.”

To sign up for the Abigail Jenks Memorial Ruck Race, visit https://zippy-reg.com/register/jenksruckrace.

BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Middle School Physical Education staff recently presented students with the annual Sandy Morley PE Leadership Award.  The Physical Education (PE) staff selected six eighth grade students who demonstrated great leadership and responsibility in the PE program, are respectful of others, make good decisions, value learning, are physically active, and have a positive influence on their peers.

“You were nominated by the PE staff for these characteristics and we congratulate you on standing up for what is right, not what is always popular,” indicated PE Instructor Kevin Dayton. “Please keep leading the way as you always have; today, tomorrow, and into the future.”

The staff gave the students certificates and t-shirts during a brief ceremony with other PE students and Principal Laszewski in attendance to celebrate their accomplishments.

The following students are the recipients for the 2022-2023 school year: Corbin Malmfeldt, Sam Bentley, Jackson Rosato, Caiylin Bodkin, Avery Arnold, and Molly Tracey.

BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa varsity baseball team has battled through adversity this season, and the Scotties are looking to put it all together as they hit the home stretch of the regular season.

Head coach Curtis Nobles, in his 10th season as the Scotties’ head coach, said he feels the team experiencing ups and downs in the early portion of the season will benefit them down the line.

“Baseball’s not always meant to be perfect,” said Nobles. “The fact that we’ve experienced ups and downs, I feel more equipped to be going in toward the second half of the season, trying to fight for a way for playoffs, versus kind of on cruise control.”

He also noted that the Scotties have played in several tight games already, including a one-run victory over La Salle Institute and one-run losses to Shenendehowa and Christian Brothers Academy.

“So we’re right there,” Nobles said. “Sometimes you don’t see the fruits of your labor until you have success.”

Senior first baseman/outfielder Matt Arnold echoed this, saying adversity can prepare the team moving forward.

“We faced some good teams, so we did face some adversity,” said Arnold. “Those were all really good games, really close games, and I do feel like that’s helped shape us to kind of where we’re at right now.”

The Scotties have been led offensively by Arnold, junior Blaine Zoller, and sophomores James Haughton and Mike Pritchard, among others. Nobles also highlighted two of the team’s pitchers, senior Nick Rychcik and freshman Jameson Hotaling.

“(Rychcik) was a reliever last year, he stepped into the role of a starting position,” said Nobles. “He’s been giving us quality innings. Jameson Hotaling, who’s a freshman, has been totally nothing but growth and maturation. He’s a guy to watch coming up, for sure.”

As the Scotties move through the second half of their schedule, Nobles said they will look to “win each day.”

“We’re trying to be humble and hungry. We want to take it one day at a time,” Nobles said. “Trying to get guys to be more present, be in the moment. Don’t practice to play, practice to be successful. We’ve got to win today first.”

“Our mindset right now is to take it one game at a time,” added Arnold. “Stay focused on us, stay locked in on us. I feel like that’s really going to help us in the long run.”