-Bellows Falls ended the first week of the high school postseason in Vermont with its softball and baseball teams both reaching their respective Division III semifinals and getting home games this week. Brattleboro boys’ lacrosse and Leland & Gray softball also have a date in the semifinals on the road this week.
• The BF softball team needed eight innings to defeat the No. 7 White River Valley Wildcats, 9-8, in a quarterfinal in Westminster June 5.
With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, BF’s Grace Hayes hit a lead-off double. The Wildcats lifted starting pitcher Kenzley Barcomb and brought in Liberti Bollman, who gave up a single to right by BF’s Brooke Parker to move Hayes to third. Olivia Tostrup was then intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs. Bollman then struck out Erin Milliken to get the first out.
Meanwhile, Hayes was standing on third. She said she “was just [thinking] ‘I need to score, I want to score, I want our team to move on, I want to keep playing softball, and I want to do it with this team.’” Hayes got her wish when Bollman threw a wild pitch and she raced home to score the winning run.
Bellows Falls head coach Don Laurendeau was happy to see the Terriers grind out the win, but he thought they narrowly escaped an upset.“Eventually we got our run that we needed,” he said. “I’m not saying that we did a perfect job at it, but we did what we had to do to get a run. We’re going to go over a lot of things [in practice]. We need to, because we just can’t play the way we did tonight.”
This game was nip-and-tuck all the way. The Wildcats scored a pair of runs to start the game, but BF made it 3-2 in their half of the first inning as Bri Mulverhill, Delaney Stoodley, and Hayes all reached and scored.WRV tied the game with a run in the second, and again, BF took the lead as Mulverhill walked and scored on an RBI single by Hayes.
Mulverhill, BF’s starting pitcher, gave way to Stoodley in the fourth inning. The Wildcats responded with three runs in that inning for a 7-4 lead, but again, BF tied the game in the bottom of the fourth as an RBI double by Parker and a pair of passed balls resulted in three runs and a 7-7 game.
The Wildcats got a go-ahead run in the fifth on a passed ball, but BF knotted the game at 8-8 in the sixth when Stoodley reached on an error and scored on a passed ball. She then shut down the WRV bats in the seventh and eighth innings, setting up BF’s heroics in the bottom of the eighth.
At press time, the Terriers were set to host No. 3 Lake Region in a semifinal on June 9. The winner plays for a state title at VSU-Castleton this weekend.
• The BF baseball team took care of business by shutting out the No. 10 Fair Haven Slaters, 7-0, in a Division III quarterfinal at Hadley Field on June 6.
This was a much closer game than the final score would indicate. The second-seeded Terriers were stymied by Slaters pitcher Mason Gutel, who held BF to just four hits and two runs over the first five innings.
Bellows Falls did what it does best, and that is create runs with boldness on the basepaths. In the first inning, Jaden Bazin hit a leadoff single, and circled the bases to score thanks to three passed balls. Jakeb Tostrup made it 2-0 in the BF third when he reached second on a throwing error, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Steve Joslyn.
The Terriers finally got some breathing room in the sixth inning by scoring five runs. Joslyn and Jacob Kissell both reached on infield singles, and Tim Fletcher followed with a two-run double down the left field line. Peyton Haskins scored Fletcher with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt. Saul James reached on another infield single, and later scored on a balk by Gutel to end his day on the mound. Declan Lisai singled and Bazin hit a sacrifice fly to score Haskins to turn a close game into a rout.
“‘Small Ball’ still works,” said BF coach Bob Lockerby of the sixth-inning outburst. “That was good execution. We did not hit [Gutel] well, it was just that one bad inning that got them in trouble.”
Joslyn threw the first four innings for BF, with Bazin taking over for the final three innings to shut out the Slaters. The Terriers are now set to host the No. 3 Woodstock Wasps at Hadley Field in a semifinal game on June 10. The winner will play for the state title at Centennial Field at the University of Vermont this weekend.
• Third-seeded Leland & Gray took care of sixth-seeded Windsor, 11-1, in six innings in a Division IV softball quarterfinal in Townshend on June 6. At press time, the Rebels were set to travel north to Wells River on June 9 to take on second-seeded Blue Mountain in a Division IV semifinal. The winner will play for a state title at VSU-Castleton this weekend.
• For the first time since 2013, a Brattleboro boys’ lacrosse team will be playing in the semifinals. For first-year coach Romello Lindsey, it’s a testament to how his players bought into his philosophy.
The fifth-seeded Bears’ playoff ride in Division II started with a 9-3 first-round win over No. 11 Burlington at Natowich Field on June 2. “This was the best game we’ve played offensively and defensively,” Lindsay said. “We go out wanting to make it the hardest game [our opponents] play all year.”
Gabe Alexander led the way for the Bears with two goals and two assists. He, and Max Madow and JT Easton all scored in the first half as Brattleboro took a 3-0 lead. A strong defensive effort in the first half and great goaltending by Zuke DiZoglio set the tone, and the Bears stayed in control the rest of way.
Burlington’s Reuben Lodish scored all three of his team’s goals in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome the Bears’ relentlessness on both sides of the field. Carter Mialkowski, Jackson Patno. Hunter Roth, Griffin Packard (who also had three assists), and Alexander were the Brattleboro goal scorers in the second half.
The Bears headed north on June 5 for a quarterfinal match against fourth-seeded Montpelier and pulled out a 5-4 victory. Now 11-5 on the season, Brattleboro has another bus ride north on June 10 when the Bears face top-seeded Harwood in the semifinals.
Track & Field
• The Brattleboro boys finished 10th, while the Brattleboro girls finished 11th in the Division I state championship meet on June 6 at Burlington High School. Nico Conathan-Leach led the Brattleboro boys with a third place finish in the 3,000 meters in 8 minutes, 59.34 seconds. Colby Weaver was fourth in the 100 meters (11.53 seconds), and Stocktown Woodruff was sixth in the 400 (51.47). The 4x100 relay team of Woodruff, Gabriel vonRanson, Basil Leoniak, and Weaver finished fifth (46.11), while the 4x400 team of Weaver, vonRanson, Noah Duell, and Woodruff came in fourth (3:37.01).
Haley Richards led the Brattleboro girls with a first-place performance In pole vault (9 feet, 11.25 inches). The 4x100 relay team of Amara Tuma, Teagan Thurber, Margaux DesJardins, and Richards got a sixth-place finish (53.18).
• Green Mountain was third, and Bellows Falls fourth in the girls’ Division III track & field state championships on June 4 at Burlington High School. GM also was third in the boys’ meet, with Bellows Falls finishing 12th. White River Valley took the Division III team state titles in both meets.
On the girls side, Bellows Falls captured the state title in the 4x800 relay with Haven Harty, Avery Maxfield, Elyse Thurber, and Gracie Patterson finishing in 10 minutes, 54.30 seconds, beating out Thetford by nearly 25 seconds. BFs Veronica Moore was champion in javelin with a toss of 94 feet, 10 inches. She also finished third in long jump (4.60 meters), fourth in triple jump (9.58), and fifth in discus (29.92)
Green Mountain’s Desi Broadley continued to build on a historic high school career with state championships in the 1,500 and 3,000 meter races. She finished the 1,500 in 5:09.93, and captured the 3,000 title in 11:15.31. In the boys’ meet, BF was led by Brockton Lovell, who was fifth in discus (34.67). Kai Parson was fifth in pole vault (2.59), and Morgan Haskell was sixth in long jump (5.58) and triple jump (11.55).
Baseball
• Second-seeded Leland & Gray got upset by seventh-seeded Hazen, 9-5, in a Division IV quarterfinal on June 6 in Townshend. The Rebels ended their season with a 10-5 record.
• Third-seeded Mount St. Joseph defeated sixth-seeded Twin Valley, 8-4, in a Division IV quarterfinal game on June 6 at Baker Field in Wilmington. The Wildcats finished the season with a 6-8 record.
• Thirteenth-seeded Brattleboro was shut out by No. 6 Colchester, 16-0, in a first-round Division I playoff game on June 2. The Bears finished with a 4-10 record.
Softball
• Brattleboro stayed close in the early going, but couldn’t overtake the Burr & Burton Bulldogs in a 10-6 loss in a first-round Division I playoff game in Manchester on June 2.The Bears tied the game, 5-5, in the top of the fourth inning, but Burr & Burton held Brattleboro to a single run the rest of the way. The Bulldogs had 16 hits.
Girls’ lacrosse
• Sixth-seeded Hartford defeated 11th-seeded Brattleboro, 12-5, in their first-round Division II playoff game in White River Junction on June 3. The Bears finished the season at 3-11.
Ultimate disc
• Ninth-seeded Milton made the long trip to Brattleboro on June 3 for a first-round playoff game at Natowich Field, and the result was a 15-9 loss for the Bears.
Tennis
• The No. 5 Brattlebotro boys shut out No. 11 Rutland, 7-0, in the first-round of the Division I playoffs at the BUHS courts on June 2.
• Second-seeded Woodstock defeated seventh-seeded Bellows Falls, 6-1, in the Division II girls’ quarterfinals on June 3.
Summer Free Fishing Day is June 13
• Vermont’s annual, statewide Summer Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 13, which coincides with opening day of the state’s regular bass fishing season and some of the best bass fishing in the Northeast.
The bass season opens each year on the second Saturday in June and extends through the last day of November. To learn more about fishing in Vermont, or to purchase a fishing license, visit vtfishandwildlife.com.
Adult kickball games at Memorial Park
• The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department announced it is now accepting registrations for pickup coed adult kickball. Games will be held on Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m., from June 14 until August 23. This program is for anyone 18 years old and up. Games will be played at Living Memorial Park on the Lower Softball Field. Participants may join at any point. The fee is $3 a night for Brattleboro residents and $5 a night for non-Brattleboro residents.
Pre-registration is required. Individuals can register online at vtbrattleboroweb.myvscloud.com/webtrac/web or in person at the Gibson-Aiken Center on Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. In addition, participants can call and register over the phone with a credit card by calling 802-254-5808. Full program rules are available on the registration website. If you have questions, contact Sarah at [email protected] or 518-926-9595.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 5 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on June 4 saw Number 1 and Queen ’n’ Jokers (both 17-8) tied for first place, followed by Strike Force (16-9), Skippers and Slo Movers (both 15-10), The House and Pin Heads (both 13-12), Near Miss (11-14), Ducks (7-18), and Team Two (1-24).
Candida Wall had the women’s high handicap game (244), while Darlene Ladabouche had the high handicap series (651). Fred Ashworth had the men’s high handicap game (258), while Al Dascomb had the high handicap series (652). Queen ’n’ Jokers had the high team handicap game (913) and series (2,445).
Robert Rigby had the men’s high scratch series (570) with a 214 game, Kevin Napaver had a 535 series with a 202 game, and Rich Pietro had a 523 series. Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 504 series with a 191 game, and Mike Pavlovich had a 502 series.Ladabouche had the women’s high scratch series (483), with games of 182 and 172 and Andrea Papanek had games of 173 and 172.
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.