Brattleboro Post 5 opened the American Legion baseball season on June 18 with a 2-1 win over Bellows Falls Post 37 at Hadley Field in the season opener for both teams.
While Post 5 got seven hits off Post 37's pitching, they only managed two runs. The first run came in the fourth, on a RBI double by Brattleboro's Evan Parro. Girard Roberge drove in another run later in the game. Winning pitcher Sawyer Olson had five strikeouts.
Post 37's sole run came in the second inning, when Zach Rowling bowled over Post 5 catcher Colin Lozito at the plate to score.
The next day, Post 5 traveled to Bennington to face Post 13, and their ace pitcher, Tyler Kunzmann. The result was a no-hitter, as Kunzmann struck out 15 batters in a 2-0 victory. He just missed out on a perfect game. The only Post 5 baserunner was Jamie Martell, who got on base due to a catcher's interference call with two outs in the fourth inning.
How dominant was Kunzmann? He threw only 92 pitches over seven innings, with 68 of them for strikes. Of the 22 batters he faced, 15 of them started their at-bats with a strike.
The no-hitter spoiled a decent pitching performance by Post 5's Drew Barnum, who allowed only two runs on five hits. But when your pitcher is throwing a no-hitter, you don't need a ton of offense to win.
After starting the season with two close games, Post 5 needed to have a less stressful game. They got it last Thursday, with a 9-0 rout of Woodstock/Windsor at Tenney Field. Brattleboro pounded out 11 hits as Martell, Parro and Soren Pelz-Walsh all finished with two hits. Elliott Gragen added a two-run single. Olson, pitching on three days rest, threw a one-hitter, striking out eight and walking just one batter.
Post 5 then went up to Castleton State College on Saturday and split a doubleheader with Lake Region.
Brattleboro finished up a busy opening week on Sunday with a rematch with Post 37 at Tenney Field. Despite missing their three top players - Olson, Pelz-Walsh, and Tommy Heydinger - for this game, Post 5 ground its way to an 8-5 win over Bellows Falls. Chris McAuliffe drove in three runs, and Barnum went the distance for the win.
A different line-up
• Brattleboro had a close call when it came to fielding a Legion baseball team this season, but they weren't alone. Chester Post 67 also ran in a cash crunch, mostly due to Tropical Storm Irene. It's still too soon to tell whether this is just for this season, or whether this is it for Legion ball in Chester.
The replacement for Chester in the Southern Division is Lake Region, which draws from high schools in the Fair Haven area.
Chester, which was to draw its players from Springfield, Green Mountain and Black River high schools, left players in those programs temporarily homeless. Some of them have landed in Bellows Falls with Post 37.
The Leland & Gray and Twin Valley players are mostly in Brattleboro with Post 5.
Windsor has been a stand alone entry for years, but this year, they had to join forces with Woodstock to be able to field a team. The rest of the Southern Division is unchanged, with Bennington, Rutland, Hartford, and South Royalton rounding out the eight-team circuit.
Legion baseball in Vermont is struggling, a reflection of the decline of baseball in the smaller schools in the state. We can probably expect to see more posts joining forces to field teams in the coming years.
CRVBL roundup
• It's still a three-way fight for first place in the Connecticut River Valley Baseball League as the 6-2 Chester Crush are closely pursued by the 6-3 Claremont Cardinals and Keene Black Dawgs.
Last Thursday, Chester got by the Putney Fossils, 7-4. On Saturday, the Ludlow Athletics beat the Saxtons River Pirates, 12-5. On Sunday, the Walpole Wild Blue won a 16-9 slugfest over Putney, while the Brattleboro River Rats edged Claremont, 5-3, and the Newport Polar Bears beat Keene, 9-3.
Softball roundup
• Going into this week's games in the Brattleboro Area Men's Softball League, the Brattleboro Elks (8-1) were still in first place in Division 1, but they're no longer undefeated. Sportsmen's Lounge/Hotel Pharmacy (1-8) got their first win of the season with a 17-10 victory on June 18. Fletcher's Auto remains in second place at 4-3, but the Moose picked up a pair of wins to improve to 5-4 and a tie with Fletchers for third.
Roadhouse Bar & Billards still leads Division 2 with a 9-3 record, while Zooters/Green Mountain Creamery moved into second place at 5-5. In Pursuit 365 fell to third at 5-6, followed by Westmoreland Auto at 2-8.
In Division 3, Hescock Lawn Care (9-1) also fell out of the ranks of the unbeaten, losing 12-11 to next-to-last place W&B Maintenance (2-9) on June 21. Newton Business took sole possession of second place at 9-2, while VFW dropped to third at 8-3. GSP Coatings is in fourth at 6-4, followed by Aerodyne (7-5) 6-3. GS Precision and Marina/DMI (4-6), and MT3/DJ's/Goodenough (4-7). Stark Outdoors remains in the basement at 1-11.
Falvey Pools leads Division 4 with a 9-1 record. Mocha Joe's is in second at 7-4, while Twin State Auto moved into third at 7-4. Frankie's Pizza/McNeill's Brewery dropped to fourth at 5-4 and the Firefighters are in fifth at 5-5, tied with Tony Farnum Construction at 4-4. Chelsea Royal improved to 4-6, followed by UNFI (4-8), and Brattleboro Family Health Care (1-9).