BRATTLEBORO — Middle relief is an unheralded but crucial role in any baseball team’s bullpen.
The pitcher might only see action every fifth or sixth game, and the goal is typically to eat up innings and preserve the better members of the staff for more critical situations. He is often a veteran who relies on guile because he’s lost velocity on his fastball, and it helps if he’s a southpaw for situational match-ups against tough left-handed hitters.
It is in that vein I enter this space in relief of The Commons’ ace, Randy Holhut, and hope my performance is more like Tom Burgmeier than Tim Lollar.
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Springtime is the season of plenty for high-school sports fans. Starting this weekend and running through the first few days of June, more than 100 games, meets, and matches are scheduled to take place on the diamonds, tracks, fields, and courts of Brattleboro Union High School alone.
BUHS athletic director and varsity boys’ lacrosse coach Chris Sawyer says there’s a home contest scheduled for just about every weekday afternoon or evening — sometimes both — as well as Saturdays. As the weather warms up, families in search of fresh air often show up just to be part of the activity.
“Parents and their kids go for walks on the track and see stuff they might not have seen before,” says Sawyer. No doubt a similar scene plays out on the campuses of Hinsdale, Bellows Falls, Leland and Gray, and Twin Valley.
Game days and start times are weather permitting, of course. Some non-league games might not get played at all if they are rained out. But here’s a rundown of what’s happening with the Purple and White teams, and some games to circle on the calendar.
Baseball
• The Colonels dipped to 4–12 last year after making the Quarterfinals in 2013. Yet Sawyer says he expects Coach Chris Groeger’s charges to bounce back this season.
“This could be one of the stronger teams we’ve had in recent years. It looks like they’re going to have a really deep pitching staff,” says Sawyer.
That prospect makes this Saturday’s 1 p.m. scrimmage against Mount Mansfield an intriguing early-season viewing option.
• The Colonels will spend most of April playing lower-division opponents. Then the Wednesday, May 4 game against rival Mount Anthony starts a run against D1 teams that all won 10 or more games last season, followed by Hartford (May 14), Rutland (May 19), and Burr and Burton (May 23).
Lacrosse
• The Lady Colonels were 5–11 last season in a very competitive Marble Valley League, where Mount Anthony (April 15) and Rutland (April 30) both notched 10 wins.
• First-year coach Sarah Clark’s squad will face some new teams this season in New York–based Hoosick Falls (May 9) and Stratton Mountain School (May 16), which is offering varsity lacrosse for the first time this season. State Champion runner-up Burr and Burton visits May 18.
• The boys have also added new opponents in 2016, hoping to build on last year’s 10–6 campaign and Quarterfinal appearance.
“We’ve really beefed up our schedule,” says Sawyer. “I think it might be one of the most competitive schedules in the state.”
Gone are some of the lower-division opponents of previous seasons. In their place are Burr and Burton (April 27), which is back in D1 after winning five of the last six D2 State Championships. The Champlain Valley squad, which has won the last four D1 State Championships, visits May 13.
Softball
• The 2015 version of the Lady Colonels might not have had the gaudy records of recent championship teams, but they were far from a tough out.
Coach Kelly Markol’s 7–8 squad topped St. Johnsbury in the Playdowns before losing to top-seeded Essex in the Quarterfinals. Sawyer says to expect them to be as competitive as ever.
• Division Two Springfield will give them a good early season contest (April 26), as the Cosmos are coming off an 11–5 season. On May 4 it’s the Mount Anthony Lady Patriots squad, which won the D1 State Championship the past two seasons.
The final home game of the season will be against D2 Bellows Falls (May 24), who are not only a local rival but also finished last year at 13-3.
Tennis
• The sixth-seeded girls reached the semi-finals last year after upending third-seeded Mount Anthony in the quarterfinals.
They’ll open the season against Marble Valley League opponent Rutland (April 8) and then won’t be back home again until the Lady Patriots come calling on May 2. They’ll finish the season with four home matches, including last year’s D2 runner-up Burr and Burton (May 13).
• The boys’ team has a front-loaded home schedule, with five straight home matches, starting with Mount Anthony (April 11) and Bellows Falls (April 13). Both those teams won their Playdown round matches in 2015, and the Terriers upset undefeated Bellows Free Academy in the Quarterfinals.
The home stand closes out with last year’s top-ranked Burr and Burton (April 27).
Track and field
• Brattleboro will host three meets this spring. Mount Anthony, Rutland, Mill River, Fall Mountain, and Stevens all come to Freeman on April 8. The Fenn Relays take place April 29, and then the Mill River (Rutland) team returns May 17.
“It’s a team sport, but some of our individual performers have really excelled,” says Sawyer. “We field a lot of the same athletes who are part of the cross-country team in the fall and the nordic team in the winter, where we’ve had outstanding performances.”
Can’t make it to the game?
There’s always the chance other commitments arise on any given spring evening, but Colonels fans can always keep one ear tuned to the games, thanks to local radio.
“We are fortunate that we have great support from WKVT and WTSA,” says Sawyer. “WTSA has been doing baseball and softball games for a long time.”
WKVT has now picked up lacrosse on the station’s 100.3 FM and 1490 AM frequencies. The station will also broadcast some softball games this upcoming season.
“So that’s a nice vehicle for people,” Sawyer says.