-Last week saw the season openers for the two local schools offering Ultimate Disc as a varsity sport this year - Brattleboro and Leland & Gray.
On April 29, Leland & Gray lost to Burr & Burton, 15-1, while Brattleboro rallied to beat Mill River, 12-10, on May 2.
The Rebels and the Bears then faced each other in Townshend on May 3, and the Bears came away with a 12-7 win.
These two schools share a common bond. While the bigger schools in Vermont have enough students to have both boys' and girls' varsity teams, Brattleboro and Leland & Gray are co-ed and try to hold their own against the all-male teams.
The Bears and Rebels also have mutual respect for each other as the trailblazers in high school Ultimate Disc in Vermont. It hasn't been easy, but it takes a certain type of person to play a sport that has no officials and minimal coaching and counts on cooperation, creativity, and fair play to run smoothly.
Rebels coach Eric Emerson said he "kind of fell into" coaching the team this year when the position suddenly became open. He admits he is "brand new to the sport," but is impressed by the spirit of his players.
Bears coach Nate Blunk agreed with Emerson, citing the "depth of leadership and great knowledge of the game" of Rebels senior handlers Trevor Hazelton and Jackson Fillion in addition to how they guided their teammates.
Blunk has lots of players on his squad, and despite about 10 of them not making the trip to Townshend, he had scoring power on hand as Colby Bristol scored five goals to lead the Bears.
Trevor and Drew Hazelton had the Rebels' only goals as the Bears built up an 8-2 lead before intermission. Trailing 11-3 with 15 minutes to play, the Rebels made a game of it with a flurry of goals by Fillion and freshman receiver/handler Miles Seiz before time expired.
"We played great in the second half," said Emerson, adding that they played hard and didn't give up. "That's pretty characteristic of these kids."
The Bears and Rebels will play each other twice more this season; on May 13 in Brattleboro and May 31 in Townshend. Both teams are filled with good athletes who embody the ethos of Ultimate - that you can be aggressive and intense during the game and share snacks and hang out with your opponents after the game.
Softball
• Bellows Falls is playing like a team that expects another shot at a Division III state title. They showed that last week with a pair of wins over two upper division schools.
On May 2 in Westminster, the Terriers came back to beat Division I Burr & Burton, 8-4. Trailing 2-0 with two outs in their half of the third inning, BF scored seven runs to take the lead to stay.
Riley Haskell started it all with a walk, Izzy Stoodley followed with a single to right, and Jaclyn Fletcher then cleared the bases with a towering three-run homer over the left field fence. Natalie Noyes kept it going when she reached on an error, Emma Thompson walked, and both came home on a two-run double by Aliya Farmer. Grace Hayes followed with an RBI double and ultimately scored on a passed ball to make it 7-2.
Stoodley was the winning pitcher, allowing four runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts over seven innings. She also went 3-for-4 at the plate.
The next day in Westminster, Stoodley was the heroine, as she drove in the winning runs in the bottom of the eighth to give BF a 3-2 win over a top Division II team, Otter Valley.
The Otters broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth with a run-scoring hit by Ady Humiston before Stoodley's two-run hit in the bottom half of the inning ended the contest. BF ended the week at 5-2 with the No. 2 ranking in Division III at the midpoint of the season.
• Brattleboro is still searching for its first win. On April 30 at Sawyer Field, the Bears lost to Springfield, 7-5.
• Proctor scored seven runs in the first and seven more runs in the third in a 20-4 win in five innings brattleborooutingclub.org-rowing-clinics-lessons or email [email protected]. Space is limited and the clinic usually fills up.
Senior bowling roundup
• The first week of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on May 2 saw Half Normal (5-0) debut in first place. There's a three-way tie for second between High Rollers, Three Musketeers, and Spare Change (all 4-1), followed by Fab Four (3-2), Slo Movers (2-3), Stayin' Alive and Split Happens (both 1-4), and Misguided (0-5).
Roberta Parsons had the women's high handicap game (241) and series (662), while Marty Adams had the men's high handicap game (279) and Robert Rigby had the high handicap series (689). Half Normal had the high team handicap game (864) and series (2,438).
Rigby had the men's high scratch series (668) with games of 235, 233, and 200. Chuck Adams had a 615 series with games of 246 and 207. John Walker had a 596 series with games of 216, 200, and 180, while Marty Adams had a 545 series with a 228 game. Duane Schillemat had a 526 series, Milt Sherman and Gary Montgomery both had a 520 series, Skip Shine had a 514 series with a 189 game, and Wayne Randall rolled a 195 game.
Carol Gloski had the women's high scratch series (439), with a pair of 160 games, while Shirley Aiken had the high scratch game (163). Nancy Dalzell and Parsons each had a 162 game.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at [email protected].
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.