The American Legion Baseball season has begun and Brattleboro Post 5 and Bellows Falls Post 37 should be in the thick of the race for the top four playoff spots in the Southern Division.
• Post 5 is off to a fast start. In their league opener against Lakes Region at Castleton State College on June 22, they got a 5-2 win.
Danny Richardson pitched 6 1/3 innings to pick up the victory, with George Atkins getting the last two outs for the save. Cam Wright led the offense with three hits, including a home run. Kassidi Ramirez, Rob Heileman, and Jeff Kerylow all hit safely for Post 5.
On June 24, they shut out Randolph, 9-0. Atkins was the winning pitcher. He had a no-hitter going until the top of the seventh, when the first batter he faced hit a double. He then retired the next three batters to settle for a one-hitter with seven strikeouts.
Atkins got plenty of run support, as every Post 5 player had at least one hit, giving the team a total of 12. Wright hit two home runs, including a grand slam, to give him six RBIs for the evening. Chris McAuliffe and Heileman each had two hits and an RBI.
The next night, Post 5 had its home opener at Tenney Field against Bennington Post 13 and cruised to a 9-1 win. Leif Biglow threw a four-hitter, and benefited from great fielding behind him, including three double plays.
Offensively, Brattleboro did most of the damage early, roughing up losing pitcher Devin Babson for six runs on six hits in four innings. Ramirez had a two-run double in the first inning. Wright and Ramirez hit RBI singles and Atkins followed with a RBI triple in the second.
“I think we have a pretty good team here,” said Post 5 coach Wayne Wright after the Bennington win. “They can get off to a rough start in games, but they're good enough to know they have the talent to bounce back. We've got good pitching, and a great catcher in Chris Lasch. The question is if we can hit, and we've had plenty of hitting in the last couple of games.”
• Post 37 split a doubleheader with Bennington Post 13 on June 20. In the first game, shoddy fielding behind ace pitcher Chris Armstrong led to four unearned runs and a 5-4 loss. Bellows Falls won the second game, 3-1, as reliever Nate Greene closed out the final three innings by retiring nine batters in a row.
On June 25, Post 37 beat Hartford, 5-2, at Hadley Field. Armstrong went the distance for the win, scattering eight hits but walking no one. Hartford got both of their runs in the first inning, but Bellows Falls came back with a run in the first off a Doug Avellino sacrifice fly. They took the lead in the second inning on a two-single by Austin Stack, and got two insurance runs in the fourth on a wild pitch and a RBI single by Carson Fullam.
Before the game, Post 37 catcher Ethan Illingworth received the Frank Giamartino Award, presented by the Southern Vermont Baseball Umpires Association. It is given to a southern Vermont high school player who exhibits passion and enthusiasm for baseball.
This was the third year in a row that Illingworth was chosen for the award, which his named for the late Frank Giamartino, a longtime umpire and youth baseball booster who died in a car crash in 2006.
Bob Lockerby returns as Post 37's coach this season. He contemplated retiring after last season, but changed his mind. Having many of the players from the BFUHS team that reached the state baseball finals this season on the Post 37 roster probably helped convince Lockerby to stay another year.
Firecracker 4-Miler race set for July 4
• The Red Clover Rovers will host the annual Bill Powers Memorial Firecracker 4-Miler on Saturday, July 4.
This is a 4-mile point-to-point race that begins at Living Memorial Park, travels through downtown Brattleboro and ends at the town common. Each mile is marked. There is one water station at Mile 2. Prizes will be awarded to the male and female winners of each age group (1-12, 13-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-plus).
Water and light refreshments are provided at the finish. In order to minimize impact on the environment, the race features local or organically produced food, compostable cups at the water stop, and reusable water bottles at the finish (to be taken home by the runners).
Registration is $10 in advance, or $15 on race day. Registation begins at 8 a.m. at Living Memorial Park, with the race starting at 9:30 a.m. Visit www.redcloverrovers.com for more information.
Also, the Red Clover Rovers have begun their summer fun runs on Upper Dummerston Road, starting and ending near the Brattleboro Country Club. They are held every other Wednesday on July 1, 15, 29, and Aug. 12 and 26.
Lacrosse camp in Brattleboro
• The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department will be offer a one-week Lacrosse Camp for boys who are entering grades 3 through 9 on July 6-10 from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost for the this camp is $36 for Brattleboro residents and $51 for non-residents.
Camp will take place at the West River Park on Route 30. No experience is necessary to participate in this fun camp. Groups will be made accordingly and skills will be taught. Bring any equipment you may have, as well as a mouth guard and water bottle. Other equipment will be loaned out for the week as available.
This program will be run by the BUHS Boys Lacrosse coaching staff. To register, stop by the Recreation & Parks Department Office, 207 Main St. or visit www.brattleboro.org.
Tee It Up for Health results
• Grace Cottage Hospital's sixth annual Tee It Up for Health raised almost $25,000 for the hospital's Patient Care Fund.
Twenty-eight teams participated in the tournament, held on Saturday, June 13, at The Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain in Wilmington. The winning team was John Curran, Darryl Bucossi, Joe Garofalo and Don Lazeski. Second place team was Jim Lindsay, Eileen Ranslow, Elizabeth Walker, and Jon Wilson. The third place team was Coop Bills, Scott Cleary, LindaJane Parson, and John Streeter.