Five of our local high school teams advanced into their respective semifinals, but the only one that will be playing for a championship this weekend is the Brattleboro Colonels softball team.
The defending Division I champions advanced with a 1-0 win over the No. 3 Essex Hornets on Tuesday at Sawyer Field. The 18-1 Colonels will face the undefeated top seed, BFA-St. Albans, in the championship game in Poultney this Friday night at 7:30.
No. 2 Brattleboro pulled off the rare feat of being held hitless, and still winning the game anyway. Essex pitcher Alexis Perry struck out 11 in throwing a no-hitter, but gave up the only run of the game in the third inning. Kaylee Graham reached on an error, advanced to second on a fielders choice, and scored on a ground ball by Ariel Kane that resulted in a second, and ultimately costly error for the Hornets.
Brattleboro pitcher Kayla Wood gave up 4 hits - 2 each by Emily Lounsbury and Elise Coutois - but great infield defense prevented Essex from taking advantage. Wood finished with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks.
The Colonels had to wait an extra day to begin the defense of their Division I state softball title, as thunderstorms and high winds forced a postponement of last Wednesday's playdown against the No. 15 Champlain Valley Red Hawks at Sawyer Field.
The Red Hawks had to make another trip south from Hinesburg last Thursday to take on the Colonels, but it was Brattleboro who played like they had been riding on a bus for three hours. Still, champions always find a way to win, and even a less-than-focused effort by the Colonels was more than enough to shut down CVU for a 6-0 victory.
Wood pitched a two-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and only 2 walks. The Colonels scored 3 runs in the second inning with big hits from Graham and Taylor Kerylow, and bunt singles by Kelsey Patterson and Wood. Brattleboro got its other 3 runs in the third as Sydney Santor ripped a two-run single.
Bunts were the key to the Colonels' 3-2 win over seventh-seeded Missisquoi in the quarterfinals at Sawyer Field on Friday. The Colonels weren't hitting, so they had to manufacture their runs. After Graham got the first hit of the day the third inning, a triple, Santor scored her with a squeeze bunt.
MacKenzie Bover did likewise in the fourth. After Kerylow was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a bunt single by Ashley Watson, and took third on a wild pitch, Bover reached on a bunt single to score Kerylow. Watson later scored in the inning on a wild pitch. Wood struck out 9 and held the Thunderbirds to just 4 hits.
Colonels boys' tennis
• The top-seeded and undefeated Brattleboro Colonels boys' tennis team lost to fifth-seeded Stowe, 5-2, on Monday in a semifinal at the BUHS courts.
Both Colonel doubles teams lost in straight sets, as No. 1 Kai-Ming Pu and Seth Marcil were beaten by Stowe's Luke Miller and Sam Birmingham, and No. 2 Cuyler Cunningham and Senou Lynn were beaten by Harrison Ball and Calvin Dixon.
Brattleboro pulled even in singles play as No. 1 Chris Miller beat Stowe's Alex Hunter, 6-4, 6-1; and No. 3 Matt Dunn beat Zach Haggerty 6-4, 6-1. After that, it was all Stowe as No. 2 Isiah Ungerleider was beaten by Hunter Grosvenor, No. 4 Cesar Moore fell to Sam Salvas, and No. 5 Jordan Davie-Stefanick lost to Tyler Mullin.
Last Tuesday, the Colonels won their Division I playdown match last Tuesday without lifting a racquet, as No. 16 Woodstock forfeited their match. They had to work considerably harder last Thursday, as they eked out a 4-3 win over No. 8 Champlain Valley in a quarterfinal match at the BUHS courts.
All of the Colonels' wins came in singles play as Brewer defeated Cory Dawson, 6-3, 6-1; Ungerleider beat Will Hall, 6-2, 6-0; and Dunn beat Liam Kelly, 6-3, 6-2. After Moore fell to Henri St. Pierre and the doubles teams of Pu and Marcil and Cunningham and Lynn lost their matches, it all came down the No. 5 singles match. Davie-Stefanick won his match against CVU's Conor McQuiston 7-6 (1), 6-3, to clinch it for the Colonels.
Terriers baseball
• The second-seeded Bellows Falls Terriers' title hopes were dashed on Tuesday with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to the No. 6 BFA-Fairfax Bullets in 8 innings in a Division III semifinal at Hadley Field.
BFA's Robbie Rinaldo pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief, and Garrett Allard scored what proved to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly to deep center. The Terriers struggled to score runs, as the Bullets' pitchers held BF to just four hits.
The Terriers had trouble hitting in their quarterfinal game at Hadley Field last Friday, but still managed to score 6 runs with just 2 hits. BF took advantage of walks, hit batsmen, and a couple of errors. That, combined with aggressive base running, gave the Bellows Falls Terriers a 6-4 win over No. 7 Peoples Academy.
With the game tied 4-4 in the fifth, four consecutive walks and a daring squeeze bunt by Luke Brophy gave the Terriers the lead to stay. Starting pitcher Cooper Long got through a rocky first inning, where he gave up 3 runs, to settle down and and keep BF in the game. Matt Marchica came into the game in the fifth and got the win in relief.
In their playdown game on May 31, the second-seeded Terriers rolled to a 14-1 win over No. 15 Thetford. Long started the game on the mound and Marchica and Jeremy Killburn shared the relief chores. Long hit a two-run homer and Bruce Wells and Brophy each had 2 hits.
The Terriers finished with a 14-5 record.
Rebels softball
• The No. 4 Leland & Gray Rebels were knocked out by the top-seeded Randolph, Galloping Ghosts, 7-2, in a Division III semifinal on Tuesday. The Ghosts scored all of their runs in the first 2 innings, and 5 of those 7 runs were unearned.
It was the second straight year that Randolph has beaten Leland & Gray in the semifinals.
The Rebels won a nail-biter of a game on Saturday in beating the No. 5 Lake Region Rangers, 3-2, in a quarterfinal in Townshend. The Rebels had a 3-0 lead after four innings as Kiara Willhite scored on a wild pitch in the second and a Kori Griffin single in the fourth. Ally Marcucci also scored on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Goddard in the third.
Lake Region got back into it in the sixth as Carley Perron was hit by a pitch and scored on a base hit by Kayla Royer that was bobbled by the right fielder for a two-base error. Corrina Cota followed with a sacrifice fly to score Royer from third. The tension grew in the seventh as the Rangers got the tying run to third with two outs, but Rebels pitcher Nicole Sherman kept Lake Region from getting that third run. Sherman scattered 7 hits in the victory; she walked 2 and struck out 7.
In their first playoff game on Thursday in Townshend, the Rebels topped No. 13 Thetford, 12-5. The Rebels had 14 hits, as Marcucci went 2-for-3 with a double, a RBI and 3 runs scored while Chelsea Cox had 2 hits, including a triple, and 4 RBI. Michaela Tietz was 3-for-4 with a RBI, and Kathleen McAllister, Jacqueline Hazard, and Griffin also had triples.
Pitcher Caitlyn Arellano started the game for the Rebels and gave up 4 hits and a walk in her first taste of playoff softball. Sherman, the customary starter for the Rebels, entered the game in relief and threw 5 innings of no-hit softball with 8 strikeouts and 4 walks.
The Rebels finished with a 15-4 record.
Colonels lacrosse
• The third-seeded Brattleboro Colonels lost to No. 2 Essex, 10-5, in a Division I boys' lacrosse semifinal on Tuesday. Essex broke a 2-2 tie after one quarter with a pair of goals in the second. Brattleboro hung around, but could not take advantage their scoring changes late in the game.
Travis Elliott-Knaggs and Colin Campbell each scored 2 goals; Jon Thomson got the other goal. Logan George played a strong game in goal, finishing with 15 saves.
The Colonels got a bye into the quarterfinals, and showed no signs of rust as they beat No. 6 Rutland, 13-8, at Natowich Field last Friday. Sam Finnerty scored 5 goals and Colin Campbell added 4 goals to lead the Colonels. Nik Rancourt scored twice, Travis Elliott-Knaggs had 2 assists, and midfielder Mac Paige dominated on faceoffs.
Brattleboro finished with a 13-5 record.
Hello, I must be going...
May 31 was the first day of the softball, baseball and tennis playoffs, and a slew of our local teams received early exits.
• The biggest shocker came in Division III baseball as the fourth-seeded Leland & Gray Rebels lost a postseason game for the first time in four years.
The three-time defending champs were knocked out by No. 13 Randolph, 6-4, in Townshend. After five scoreless innings, Randolph scored 2 runs in the sixth and 4 more in the seventh. The Rebels' bats finally came alive in the bottom of the seventh, with a pair of two-run singles from Tyler Miller and Drew Barnham.
With two outs, Robert Litchfield came close to tying the game with a long drive to left that had two-run homer written all over it, but it was hauled in on the warning track by outfielder Dylan Jacobs to end the game and the Rebels' bid for a fourth straight title. The Rebels ended their season at 12-4.
• In Division I baseball, the No. 10 Brattleboro Colonels were shut down by No. 7 Mount Anthony's ace pitcher, Tony Baldic. He held the Colonels to just 3 hits in a 3-0 complete game victory for the Patriots in Bennington. Pitcher Sawyer Olson took the loss for Brattleboro (8-9).
• Both Twin Valley teams came up short in their playdown games. The softball team traveled to No. 7 Enosburg Falls and lost 7-3. Kylie-blu Crawford, Sam Bernard, Savannah Nesbitt and Mykayla Pronovost each had a hit, the only four that the No. 10 Wildcats (8-9) managed to get in the Division III game.
The baseball team avoided a road trip for its Division IV playdown game, but No. 11 Canaan came away with an 8-5 win at Baker Field. Canaan broke open a 5-5 tie with 3 runs in the seventh to beat No. 6 Twin Valley (9-7). Colin Lozito went 3-for-3 to lead the Wildcats offensively, while George Molner and Tony Bernard added 2 hits each.
• In Division I girls' tennis, No. 6 Rice skunked No. 11 Brattleboro, 7-0, in South Burlington. The Colonels finished the season with a 5-8 record.
• In the one knock-out game for our local teams that didn't happen on Tuesday, No. 9 Champlain Valley scored 3 unaswered goals in the final 7 minutes to beat Brattleboro, 8-5, in a Division I girls' lacrosse game at Natowich Field on Thursday.
Mariah Lesure led the Colonels with a pair of goals and an assist. Carli Gossard, Shelby DavisLane and Becca Bird also scored as Brattleboro overcame a 5-3 halftime deficit to tie the score late in the second half before the RedHawks rallied back to win. Kali Roberts stopped seven shots in net for the eight-seeded Colonels, whose season ended with a 7-10 record.
Track and field
• Brattleboro's Jacob Ellis and Bellows Falls' John Punger were the stars of their respective state track meets on Saturday,
In the Division I meet in Burlington, Ellis led the Colonel boys with victories in the 800 and 1,500. He also ran the anchor leg of the 4 X 400 relay for another first for the Colonels, and took fifth in the triple jump. Paxton Reed was third in the triple jump and Greg Reuter added a third in the 400. Abadi Kerlin-Smith, Alex Silver, and Reuter teamed up with Ellis in the relay win. As a team, Brattleboro placed fifth.
The Colonel girls lost distance runner Halle Lange to illness. Helen Manning had the only top five finish by tying for fourth in the high jump.
In the Division II meet in Windsor, Punger won the 1,500 for the BF boys and placed third in the pole vault. Teammate Jamie Moore finished third in the 1,500 and fifth in the 3,000, Joe Aslin took third in the javelin, and the 4 X 100 relay team of TJ Bernier, Will Bourne, Ryan Hayward and Aslin came in third.
For the BF girls, Becky O'Neill, Lauren Rowell, Mariah Barnet, and Ashley Palmisano came in fourth in the 4 X 800 relay. O'Neill was also third in the 3,000 and Enny Mustapha was fourth in the javelin. Overall, the BF boys were seventh, while the BF girls were 11th.
In the Division III meet in Chester, Twin Valley's Alex Kennedy was fourth in the 400 and was also on Twin Valley's third-place 4 X 100 girls relay team. Emily Furlon, Jennifer Jones and Sammy Cunningham-Darrah joined Kennedy on the relay team.