It's much a part of the Fourth of July in Brattleboro as the parade down Main Street and the fireworks at Living Memorial Park.
It's the Bill Powers Memorial Firecracker 4-Miler Road Race, sponsored by the Red Clover Rovers. This year, 113 runners participated in Monday morning's race, which started at Living Memorial Park and finished at the Common.
The overall male winner was Jason Porter, 41, of Bedford, N.H., who covered the course in 22 minutes, 30 seconds. That was just four seconds faster than Brattleboro native Jason Dunklee, 37, of Watertown, Mass., who was second in 22:34. Dunklee won the race in 2009.
Heather Conarroe, 23, of Greenwich, Conn., was the women's winner in 25:03, which was fast enough for seventh place overall. Ali Cole, 29, of Manhattan, Mont., was the second female finisher in 28:53, good for 25th overall.
Winners by age group included Delaney Bullock of Brattleboro (female under 12), Peter Paasche of Guilford (male under 12), Maddie Rollins of Brattleboro (female 13-19), Kalle Jahn of Brattleboro (male 13-19), Conarroe (female 20-29), Kyle Jones of Brattleboro (male 20-29), Monique Levesque Frost of South Newfane (female 30-39) Dunklee (male 30-39), Julie Reimer of Shoreview, Minn. (female 40-49), Porter (male 40-49), Janice Bohonowicz of Greenfield, Mass. (female 50-59), Brad Fawley of Brattleboro (male 50-59), and Stan Kolpa of Vernon (male 60-99).
Full race results can be found at www.redcloverrovers.com. And, if you missed out on the race, the Red Clover Rovers are midway through their summer fun run series, with 1, 2 and 3-mile runs on Upper Dummerston Road that start and finish at the Brattleboro Country Club. Runs begin at 6:30 p.m. on July 6 and 20, and Aug. 3, 17 and 31.
Gloves, Sweat and Cheers women's softball tourney this weekend
The Women's Freedom Center (formerly the Women's Crisis Center) hosts the 17th annual “Gloves, Sweat and Cheers: Safe at Home” women's softball tournament at Living Memorial Park this weekend.
This is one of the organization's biggest yearly fundraisers. Last year's tournament generated more than $3,000 from entry fees, raffles, t-shirt sales, and concessions.
Teams from around New England will compete for top honors in two divisions. Games will be played on both the upper and lower fields in Living Memorial Park, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and continuing through late Sunday afternoon. The actual schedule depends on the results of each game. Updated schedules will be posted at each field.
Founded in the early 1970s, the Women's Freedom Center's mission is to end domestic and sexual violence against women and children by providing support to survivors and education for the community. Their services include a 24-hour hotline, shelter for women and children, advocacy, outreach, education and prevention, and support groups. All services are free.
Donations can always be made directly to the Women's Freedom Center at P.O. Box 933, Brattleboro, VT 05302, or by calling 802-257-7364.
Legion baseball
• Brattleboro Post 5 started its week with a 10-7 win over Rutland last Tuesday. Post 5 had 10 hits as Ross Meyer went 3-for-4, and Brandon Reilly and Soren Pelz-Walsh each added 2 hits. Pelz-Walsh also drove in 4 runs. Sawyer Olson scattered 9 hits in a complete-game victory; he struck out 4 and walked 1.
Post 5 lost to Bennington Post 13, 12-2, in a five-inning game at Tenney Field cut short by the 10-run rule. Bennington starting pitcher Cody LaFlamme had a shaky first inning, but shut down the Brattleboro hitters after that. He walked 1 and struck out 6. Losing pitcher Tommy Heydinger gave up a three-run homer by Tyler Kunzman in the first, then was literally knocked out of the game when he was hit in the hand by a Kyle Parmenter line drive in the fourth. Post 13 had 12 hits in all.
Brattleboro finished the week with a doubleheader sweep of South Royalton on Sunday at the Dummerston School field. Post 5 won the first game, 10-4, as Reilly, Jamie Martell, Evan Parro and Drew Barnum all finished with 2 hits. Reilly also drove in 3 runs. Barnum got the win on the mound. In the nightcap, Post 5 cruised to a 10-2 win as Olson struck out 9 to get the victory and helped himself with 3 hits and 4 RBIs. Now 6-2, Post 5 hosts Rutland on Thursday.
• Bellows Falls Post 37 began its week with a 7-5 loss to Windsor/Woodstock at Hadley Field on Monday. Post 37 had a 4-1 lead in the third inning, but three errors in the fourth opened the door for Windsor/Woodstock to come back. Pitcher Cooper Long took the loss, he gave up 9 hits over 6 innings. Matt Marchica pitched 1 inning of relief, and had two hits at the plate.
Post 37 then swept a doubleheader from Chester Post 67 on Saturday at Hadley Field. A Jeremy Kilburn RBI single in the sixth inning provided the first game's only run in a 1-0 win for Post 37. Derek Osborne was the winning pitcher, holding Post 67 to 6 harmless hits. In the second game, Bellows Falls rolled to a 9-3 win. Long was the winning pitcher and went 3-for-3 at the plate, while Nick Gendron went 2-for-4. Post 37 is now 6-2.
CRVBL roundup
• The Connecticut River Valley Baseball League took the Fourth of July weekend off, save for an exhibition game, as the CRVBL All-Stars played their counterparts in the Pioneer Valley Over Thirty Baseball League in a July 4 game at Vermont Academy.
Selected to the CRVBL All-Star team were: Brattleboro's Rob Eccleston, Eric Weber, and Marty Vallender; Chester's Scott Renfro, Jamie Spence, Jesse Lane, and Chuck Harriman; Claremont's Gerry Thompson, Paul Felix, Mike Wells, and John Grainger; Keene's Tim Santaw and Mike Adams; Putney's Steve Stanley, Richard Bissell, and Quinton Carr; and Saxtons River's Justin Beebe, Andrew Robbins, and Frank Brown.
Three games are in the schedule for Sunday, July 10. Keene will take on Saxtons River at Vermont Academy at 10 a.m. Dummerston School will host a pair of games as Chester plays Brattleboro at 10 a.m., followed by Claremont versus Putney at 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.crvbl.org.