Letter to the Editor: Writer claims to have blown lid on corruption but found no audience

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Outdoors with Tom Venesky: Ticks are now an unwelcome reality in Pennsylvania’s woods

Kendra Croker teamed for a victory at No. 2 doubles, then clinched the match for Wilkes with a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the top singles match Saturday as the Colonels captured their ninth straight Freedom Conference women&#8217;s tennis crown with a 5-0 victory over Misericordia.Croker and Madison Salmon posted an 8-5 win in doubles play.Taylor Hoffman took the No. 2 singles match for Wilkes, 6-0, 6-0 and teamed with Anastasia English for an 8-3 victory in the top doubles match.Olivia Hewison and Alnna Denauski won 8-2 at No. 3 doubles. The rest of the matches were stopped when Croker delivered the clinching point for the Colonels.MEN&#8217;S TENNISWilkes 5, King&#8217;s 0Dominic Parfianowicz won in singles and doubles play while clinching the Colonels&#8217; eighth straight Freedom Conference championship with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 4 singles at the Ralston Athletic Complex.Tournament MVP Adam Lefkandinos won the No. 5 singles match, 6-0, 6-0.Wilkes improves will await word on its destiny for the NCAA National Tournament on Monday afternoon.The Colonels cruised through doubles play, as Jacob Parfianowicz and Dominic Parfianowicz took an 8-2) victory at No. 1, Steven Wilson and Brendon Blachowski won 8-0 at No. 2 and Max Appello and Michael Kranz took the third doubles match, 8-1.BASEBALLKing&#8217;s 7, Delaware Valley 3King&#8217;s 8, Delaware Valley 3Kyle Lupas drove home four runs in the first game and Ryan Giambi pitched a two-hitter in the second as the Monarchs swept a doubleheader.Andrew Fisher pitched a complete game in the opener, while Stephen Brynok had two hits, scored two runs and added an RBI.In the second game, Giambi allowed three runs, struck out eight and walked two. He finished his Monarch career with the second most strikeouts in a career in program history with 165, two career strikeouts shy of the school record of 167 held by 2010 graduate Dan Jenkins.Bruce Breithaupt led the Monarchs with four hits, three runs batted in, and one run. Joe Zito knocked in two while scoring one. Justin Martinelli and Tom Gibbons scored two runs eachKing&#8217;s ends the season with an 11-21 overall record and 6-15 mark in Freedom play. SOFTBALLMisericordia 6, Eastern 3DeSales 6,Misericordia 3After eliminating Eastern, the Cougars dropped the Freedom Conference championship game to DeSales.Melissa Parker had a grand slam for Misericordia in the opener and Sam Hardy added a two-run homer. Bailee Schies scattered 10 hits to earn the complete game win.In the final, DeSales scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning for a come-from-behind win.Parker had a solo homer for the Cougars and Whitney Ellenberg and Sam Hare both had two hits, including a triple. Lori Brennan and Diana Kestenbaum both doubled.Misericordia fell to 26-15 and will await a potential ECAC Tournament bid.MEN&#8217;S LACROSSEEastern 22, Misericordia 7The Cougars fell in the Freedom Conference championship game, despite 14 saves in goal by Misericordia&#8217;s Patrick Johnson.Pat Kellish led the Cougars with four goals and an assist and Chris Fleming added two goals and an assist.Misericordia dropped to 10-7 and will await a potential ECAC Championships bid.WOMEN&#8217;S LACROSSEFDU-Florham 18, Misericordia 9Liz Mulvey and Allie Elmes scored two goals each for Misericordia in the Freedom Conference championship game loss.Brooke North, Melina Juliano and Emily Hegner all had a goal and an assist. Olivia Garcia added a goal. Katie McLoughlin made seven saves in goal.The Cougars finished 9-9.MEN&#8217;S TRACK AND FIELDCougars finish fifthAndrew Nelson won two championships to lead Misericordia to a fifth place finish at the MAC Championships at Messiah.Nelson ran an NCAA &#8216;B&#8217; qualifying standard 48.11 to win at 400 meters and joined Mike Harth, Jarrett Higley and Tyler Lamberson on the winning 1600 relay.Nelson was third at 200 meters while Harth and Lamberson were third and sixth, respectively, at 400 meters.Mikael Hause finished sixth at 1500 meters and eighth at 800 meters.Cameron McDowell was sixth in the javelin and Angel Guzman placed eighth in the discus.WOMEN&#8217;S TRACK AND FIELDCougars claim first MAC crownBethany Killmon was named the female Track Athlete of the Meet and Chris Wadas was named Coach of the Year as Misericordia University captured its first MAC Championship, accumulating 205 points to out-distance host school Messiah.Killmon won the steeplechase on Friday and finished second at 1500 meters and at 5000 meters Saturday.Amy Viti won at 400 meters and 800 meters and Bianca Bolton won at 1500 meters and placed second at 800 meters.Sarah Wigg added a win in the discus.Kelty Fairchild, Katie Fairchild, Melanie Fry and Viti won the 1600-meter relay.Chelsea Hall was second in the javelin and Nicole Schwartz was second in the discus.HIGH SCHOOLSBASEBALLRoyals take twoHoly Redeemer rebounded from two tough losses this week to win both games of a WVC Division 3 baseball doubleheader on Saturday at MMI Prep.The Royals (7-5 WVC) won the opener 4-1 before taking the second game 5-0.Redeemer&#8217;s sweep of the second-place Preppers pushed Hanover Area (9-2) closer to a fourth straight division crown. The Hawkeyes could clinch the Division 3 title as early as Monday with a win at MMI coupled with a Northwest loss to Meyers.MMI (6-4) may have the best shot at catching the Hawks because the schools play both games of their season series back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday.SOFTBALLHazleton Area 12, Stroudsburg 0Samantha Varela pitched a two-hitter and drove home three runs at the plate and Mikaela Browdy and Lexi Wolk both accounted for four runs as the Cougars won in a game shortened to five innings.Browdy finished with a double and triple, scored two runs and drove home two more. Wolk also had two RBI and scored twice. Mackenzie Yori added two runs scored for Hazleton Area

Colonels capture 9th straight Freedom Conference title