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AROUND TOWN: 2023 is a year of promises kept

marty myers, the times-tribune, scranton, pa.
·5 min read

Jun. 25—Every high school sports year starts with promise.

Few end up with that promise fulfilled.

Certainly not the way the Lackawanna League's girls teams came through in the 2022-23 season, and there was nothing better than having a front-row seat to witness a first in 40 years covering high school sports.

Not one, but two state championships. Back to back. Neither totally unexpected, yet at the same time, impressive examples of the will to overcome obstacles, large and small, along the way by both Dunmore's girls basketball team, and Mid Valley's softball team.

There are those who will never forget those four months, the joy shared by people who really believed they were family. Equally unforgettable are the painful memories that came along the way.

Success didn't come without disappointment or failure.

There was the crushing loss in the 2019 Class 3A state basketball final for Dunmore's girls. Yet, the team was poised to make several deep runs in the state tournament over the next couple years. Same for Mid Valley after losing the 2021 3A softball final.

Both expected to be back right away, but those plans went off track in ways that couldn't be imagined.

Coming off a 65-51 domination of then-state power Neumann-Goretti, Dunmore's 2020 squad was looking for a return to Hershey. COVID-19 put an end to those dreams.

Ingrained is the night in Hazleton when Scranton Prep girls basketball coach Bob Beviglia said the playoffs were being put on hold after the second-round wins for Dunmore, Sranton Prep, Old Forge and Susquehanna. Hoops never resumed. Softball season came and went, too, without a game being played, no chance to see a ballyhooed freshman by the name of Maranda Runco.

Dunmore's 2021 postseason campaign never got started after COVID shut it down for a second straight year.

The Spartanettes had a different kind of disappointment, expecting all the while to play for a state title, but falling, 5-3, in the final.

Still, there was the promise of better things in 2022, until there wasn't.

Dunmore star and North Carolina freshman Ciera Toomey tore her ACL in the District 2 championship game, and the Lady Bucks' hopes went down with her.

Mid Valley had its sights set on the final, too, but five unearned runs in the first round of states made the Spartanettes unexpected spectators to the title game, too.

Sports, once again, imitating life. Many surprises, not always good ones.

But for Dunmore, there was an upturn. What seemed like a pipe dream in November, Toomey returned to play three minutes before Christmas, then gradually worked her way back to her first full game in the semifinals of the PIAA playoffs.

Mid Valley rebounded as well, riding its "core four" to a quarterfinal rally over Forest Hills, then a big semifinal uprising to a return to the title game, where, like Dunmore, it was a bit of a fairytale ending.

Two of the most dominant players — maybe ever — in their sport, Toomey and Runco, rallied the troops to hoist a championship trophy. Just for an extra measure of feel-good, it was Mid Valley's Chiara Zavislak, who made the final out of the 2021 final, scoring the championship game's only run.

We all have moments that are indelibly etched, part of the fiber of who we are. Lucky are some who served as witnesses from the front row. A year that won't be forgotten, ever.

Boring is good

If you're tuned in to the Golf Channel on a regular basis, chances are you got a chance to see a familiar face to the area golf scene.

Former Clarks Summit resident and Country Club of Scranton, and previously Glen Oak Country Club, superintendent Greg Boring was a guest last week on the run-up to the KPMG Women's LPGA championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, where Boring has been the director of grounds and golf maintenance since 2019.

Boring oversaw the 18-month restoration of the Lower Course, which has played host to nine U.S. Opens, and now three PGA championships.

Bidding farewell

Condolences to the family of Sam Incavido, the former Dunmore educator and coach who died last week at 84.

Incavido was an assistant football coach at Dunmore, then the head coach of the Bucks' golf team for 33 seasons, and was a 2017 inductee into the Northeastern Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Four senior golfers receive scholarships

Congratulations to Abington Heights' Luke Morgan, Mid Valley's Eddie Kaufman, Scranton Prep's Daniel Flynn and Riverside's Jen Genell. The foursome are recipients of scholarships presented by A Swing for Life Golf Academy.

Morgan and Kaufman received the John "Scotty" McAlarney award, Flynn received the Dolores "Dee" McAlarney scholarship, and Genell was presented with the Gilda Mecca Award. The awards were presented by Scotty McAlarney, director of golf at A Swing for Life.

MARTY MYERS is a Times-Tribune sports writer. His Around Town column appears on Sundays. To contact him, email mmyers@timesshamrock.com, call 570-348-9100, ext. 5437 or follow him on Twitter @mmyersTT.

MARTY MYERS is a Times-Tribune sports writer. His Around Town column appears on Sundays. To contact him, email mmyers@timesshamrock.com, call 570-348-9100, ext. 5437 or follow him on Twitter @mmyersTT.