Sept. 17 sports report: Napolitano wins; Bruno Agostinelli Jr., tennis; Welland Tigers hockey; Three on three hoops tourney
NAPOLITANO STILL UNBEATEN
St. Catharines boxer Antonio Napolitano pushed his pro boxing record to 4-0 with an unanimous decision victory over Ricardo Planter last Saturday night at the CAA Centre in Brampton.
Planter had never been stopped in 18 previous fights and Napolitano came close knocking him out in the sixth and final round.
Napolitano trains out of the St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club.
BRUNO AGOSTINELLI JR. MEMORIAL TENNIS TOURNEY
The tennis tournament at White Oaks named in honour of Bruno Agostinelli Jr., an internationally celebrated tennis player and coach who passed away in 2016, is changing its format.
For the past three years, the event featured pro male tennis players from around the world competing in Niagara’s first and only Futures tournament. This year, the tournament’s organizing committee has decided to host Niagara’s first ever ITF Junior Championships.
The under-18 event will invite elite, top-ranked boys and girls to showcase their talents in both the singles draw (32) and doubles draw (16). Many of these competitors will go on to either receive scholarships to play NCAA tennis at universities across the U.S., or jump directly into the ATP or WTA circuit as professionals.
Admission to the event is free and the tournament’s qualifying rounds will begin Sept. 21, while the main draw will start Sept. 23 and end Sept. 28.
WELLAND ATOMS REACH FINALS
The Welland Tigers minor atom A Tigers hockey team made it to the finals of the St. Catharines Early Bird Tournament before dropping a 3-0 decision to the Woolwich Wildcats.
Welland went 4-0 in round-robin action with wins over St. Catharines (11-0), LPC Wild (9-0), Woolwich (4-0) and the Oakville Rangers (6-2). The Tigers advanced to the final with a 5-4 victory over a tough Niagara Falls Flyers team.
Scoring points in the tournament were Liam Seguin (11-2=13), Dylan Wood (4-6=10), Kingsley Lachnit (3-7=10), Ryan Rousseau (6-3=9), Ethan Rousseau (5-2=7), Brayden Farr (3-2=5), Jordan Hotham (2-3=5), Hudson Bassi (0-3=3), Basil Garofalo (0-3=3), Antonio Mete (0-2=2), Blake Hudak (0-1=1), Sebastian Boucher (0-1=1) and Cooper Ebert (0-1=1).
WELLAND PEEWEES GO 0-3-1
The Welland 91.9 Giant FM/Country 89 Tigers minor peewee A hockey team had three leads against some of the top teams in Ontario, but ended up going 0-3-1 at the Garden City Early Bird Tournament.
Tanner Cutler scored twice and Colby Franchetti once as the Tigers opened the tournament with a 3-3 draw against the Halton Hills Thunder. Franchetti then recorded the lone tally in a 5-1 loss to the Greater London Jr. Mustangs (ranked ninth last season) to close off Day 1 action.
Chace Buti scored his first goal as a Welland Tiger and Julian Belcastro and Matteo Mete also found the back of the net as Welland skated to a 3-3 tie with the York Mills Rangers to begin Day 2. In their final game, the Tigers came within 2:31 of shutting out the Barrie Colts but finished with a 1-1 stalemate. Franchetti scored the lone Welland goal. With only four of the 16 teams moving on to Sunday, the Tigers failed to advance.
PAUL PAONE MEMORIAL
The Seventh Annual Paul Paone Memorial High School Boys 3 on 3 basketball tournament will be played Tuesday, Oct. 22 starting at 7 p.m. at A.N. Myer.
There are divisions for junior boys and senior boys and the entry fee is $40 per team. Teams must be made up of players from the same school.
For more information and to get an entry form, contact Jamie Clarke at jamie.clarke@dsbn.org.
All proceeds go to the Huntington Society of Canada.
