Apparently, it wasn’t enough for Fayetteville-Manlius to beat Section III girls golf opponents during the regular season.
The Hornets emerged victorious again during Wednesday’s second annual Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Pro/Junior Challenge at the Links at Erie Village in East Syracuse, beating defending champion Christian Brothers Academy and Liverpool by two shots.
All this was part of the week’s festivities for the Alliance Bank Golf Classic, an annual stop on the Duramed Futures Tour, the developmental tour for the LPGA. Play in that even begins on Friday and runs through Sunday.
F-M’s quartet of Ali Wakefield, Alex Seabury, Maria Mintskovsky and Sara Simons combined with Futures professional Alissa Kuczka to shoot a 33. CBA and Liverpool each had rounds of 35
The Hornets have won the team Section III titles in both 2007 and 2008, both times going through the regular season undefeated. Wakefield, Seabury, Mintskovsky and Simons all have played key roles in securing those titles.
Under the scramble format of this tournament, up to four players on 14 different high-school teams combined with Futures pros. They played the back nine at Erie Village, with the par-three 13th hole a designated place where the pros stepped back and the best two high school players’ scores counted.
Wasting little time to get started, F-M birdied its first three holes — the 10th, 11th and 12th — then combined for two pars at 13 to keep the momentum going. Two more birdies followed, at 16 and 17, and the Hornets never got caught.
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All of CBA’s players had been busy with amateur tournaments earlier in the week. Still, the team of Erin Engstrom (heading off to Boston College this fall), Mary Fletcher, Elisabeth Webber and Emilie Oakes managed four birdies in their round with Futures pro Nicole Jeray.
Moving up in the standings, Liverpool had Alyscia Abold, Brittany Alexich, Laura Nicolais and Jeannine Malay work with Futures pro Amanda Mathis to match CBA’s total and finish ahead of five teams (Baldwinsville, Jamesville-DeWitt, Rome Free Academy, Westhill and Whitesboro) that shared fourth place.
As a reward, F-M returned to Erie Village Thursday morning to face four top players from the Rochester area (Danielle Fuss, Sara Quinn, Michelle Spiegel and Madeline Sisson) in the inaugural Crowley Intersectional Showdown.
Again pairing up with Kuczka, this time in a best-ball format, the Hornets shot 32 on Erie Village’s front nine, earning birdies on holes 2,5, 7 and 8. However, Rochester countered with six birdies and posted a 30 to win by two shots.
East Syracuse-Minoa had a 37 — but one of its players, Brittany Siechen, will be back on Friday to play in the big tournament. She tees off at 2:09 p.m. with Lauren Todd and Taya Battistella.
The full results of the Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Pro-Junior Challenge:
33 – Fayetteville-Manlius (Ali Wakefield, Alex Seabury, Maria Mintskovsky, Sara Simons)
35 — CBA (Erin Engstrom, Mary Fletcher, Elisabeth Webber, Emilie Oakes)
35 — Liverpool (Alyscia Abold, Brittany Alexich, Laura Nicolais, Jeannine Malay)
36 — Baldwinsville (Jamie Schmidt, Lauren Petty, Amanda Wolgemuth, Meghan Chura)
36 — Jamesville-DeWitt (Yvonna Jones, Kara Capstraw, Lindsay Sherling, Liz Worden)
36 — Rome Free Academy (Marissa Feole, Deanna Dearo, Nicollette Darois, Liz Aiello)
36 — Westhill (Carolyn Nanno, Jenna Pollock, Kayla Stirpe, Nicole Deming)
36 — Whitesboro (Arianna Gaeta, Michelle Donahue, Molly Schafer, Jessica Corey)
37 — East Syracuse-Minoa (Brittany Siechen, Danielle Cafferty, Sarah Gabruk, Jennifer Cotter)
38 — Central Square (Leah Bratt, Megan Clark, Jules Shelton, Erin Nash)
38 — Chittenango (Christina Norman, Kelsey Brady, Christina Cordell, Tiffany Lozipone)
38 — Cicero-North Syracuse (Kathleen Fandich, Brianna Lacelle, Erica Stoddard, Amanda Kisselstein)
39 — Auburn (Megan Cahill, Katie Tonzi, Sarah Miller, Lela Feldmeier)
40 — Skaneateles (Brigid Clary, Hilary Fenner)
