For the second straight year, Brattleboro won the Vermont 15-year-old Babe Ruth Baseball championship.
Last year, Brattleboro swept through the state tournament behind a power trio of pitchers - Leif Bigelow, Ian Fulton-Black, and Ben Betz. Those three have graduated to American Legion Baseball, but this year's Brattleboro 15-year-old all-stars are writing their own story of success.
Brattleboro manager Patrick Keppel admits his team doesn't have the star power of last year's team, but they have something even more important to a winning team - resilience.
That quality was needed in the first game of the state tournament last Friday afternoon against Franklin County, a team of all-stars from the St. Albans area. Brattleboro saw a 6-0 lead vanish, but they rallied back to win, 13-7, in an action-packed game at Tenney Field.
“When we were down, they picked each other up. There was no panic,” Keppel said. “We don't have a lot of stars to dominate games like past Babe Ruth All-Star teams did. This is a team. We need contributions from everybody.”
Brattleboro's starting pitcher, Jeremy Rounds, had a no-hitter going through the first four innings, aided by some great defensive plays in the field.
The best one of the day came in the second inning, when Franklin County had a baserunner on second with no outs. Adam Rice hit a sinking line drive to left fielder Joe Rafus, who made a sliding catch, then popped up quickly to throw to second baseman Nate Lewis to complete a double play.
Rounds seemed to be in control and had a 6-0 lead going into the fifth inning, after Brattleboro scored three runs in the third and three more in the fourth. Jack Price drove in two runs with a base hit in the third. He then hit a fielders choice in the fourth that resulted in the ball getting thrown around the infield to three different bases, but every Brattleboro runner was safe and two runs eventually scored.
But Franklin County showed some of its resilience in the fifth as they sent 10 batters to the plate and rocked Rounds for seven runs to take a 7-6 lead.
As Keppel said, Brattleboro didn't panic. Tyler Millerick drove in two runs with a single and Rounds hit a two-run triple in the bottom half of the inning, part of a six-run uprising that put Brattleboro back in front to stay.
“We had some great at-bats,” said Keppel. “We told them before the game to be selective, wait for your pitch, and stay within our approach no matter what.”
Rafus replaced Rounds on the mound in the sixth, and held Franklin County scoreless in the last two innings to nail down the win.
The win propelled Brattleboro into the semifinals of the four-team, double-elimination tournament. They faced Lyndon, and pitcher Adam Newton got the victory in a 3-0 shutout last Saturday morning.
Brattleboro and Franklin County met again on Sunday for the championship, and Brattleboro won, 5-2, to punch their ticket for the New England Tournament, which begins on July 22 in Lynn, Mass.
Babe Ruth 14s in holding pattern
• The Brattleboro Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Star baseball team is playing in Winooski in the state tournament, but they've yet to have a result.
In the opening game last Friday, Brattleboro led Franklin County, 14-10, when play was suspended due to darkness in the bottom of the sixth. Rain kept the game from being resumed, so the completion of this game was pushed back to July 15 at 5 p.m.
Timmy Velasquez, Chris Frost, Shane Cyr and Darwin Holcombe all had two hits each for Brattleboro. Andrew Peloso pitched the first four innings and Frost was pitching in relief when the game was stopped.
Little League roundup
• Last Saturday's thunderstorms delayed the start of the best-of-seven-game series between Brattleboro and Bennington for the 11-12 Little League District 2 title, but the result was worth waiting for.
The scheduled opening game at the South Main Street field was postponed, so the series started at Hogan Field in Bennington on Sunday night.
Brattleboro beat Bennington, 5-2, in a tense pitchers duel. No runs were scored until the eighth inning as Zinabu McNeice struck out eight batters over six innings and Huxley Holcombe struck out five in the final two innings.
Both teams had chances to score the first run of the game in extra innings. Brattleboro's Caden Wood attempted to score but was tagged out by Bennington catcher Hayden Rabideaux. Bennington's hope was also crushed when right fielder Magnus von Krusenstiern made the defensive play of the game when he threw out Billy Rogers at third base in the seventh.
Rogers relieved Bennington starter Brodie Krawszck in the eighth inning and loaded the bases. Alex Bingham hit a blooper to right field, allowing Elias Gradinger and von Krusenstiern to score. Wood added insurance with a three-run homer to center field, scoring Bingham and Jack Pattison.
Game 2 was scheduled to be played on July 12 in Bennington.
• The Brattleboro 9-10 year old All-Stars are also playing Bennington in their District 2 tournament.
Game 1 of that best-of-five series got played in Brattleboro ahead of last Saturday's downpour and Bennington cruised to a 14-0 win in a game stopped after four innings due to the mercy rule.
Tanner Bushee was the winning pitcher for Bennington. He threw just 43 pitches over four perfect innings, striking out two batters.
Brattleboro lost Game 2 on Sunday, 8-1, in Bennington. Brattleboro's Will Hill hit a single and a double and teammate Bronson Finnell hit a single. Brandon Weeks scored the lone run for Brattleboro. Game 3 is scheduled for July 12 at South Main Street Field.
Legion roundup
• After getting swept in a doubleheader by White River River Junction Post 84 last Saturday, Brattleboro Post 5 bounced back and beat Lakes Region, 8-0.
Winning pitcher Kassidi Ramirez struck out nine in a complete-game shutout. Chris Hall drove in two runs, while Tanner Bell, Chris Lasch, Dan Petrie and Ramirez each added a base hit for Brattleboro which improved to 14-3.
Brattleboro Swim Team beats Rockingham
• The Brattleboro Swim Team outpointed Rockingham, 477-309, in a meet last week at Living Memorial Park.
The Brattleboro girls took their meet, 236-161, while the Brattleboro boys cruised to a 242-148 win.
Calvin Gould, Matt Brooks and Ben Connor all finished first in four individual races for the Brattleboro boys.
Lillian Fisher, Kennedy Taylor and Isabelle Magbie all won three events each for the Brattleboro girls.
Other winners for BST were Drew Brooks, Parker Thibault, Isabella Thurber, Will Hill, Catey Yost, Andrew Prah, Lily Charkey, Sophia Mark, Matt Dulmaine, Kelsey Parker, Molly Schoales, Jordy Allembert, Grace Matweecha, Ernie Antonucci, Phelan Muller, Kayli Nicholson, Kali Taylor, Zachary DiZoglio, and Yaya Cooper.
BST's next home meet is scheduled for Tuesday, July 19, at 5 p.m.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 10 of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League, saw Team 10 hold on to first place with a 39-11 record, followed by Team 4 (32-18), Team 3 and Team 8 (31-19), Team 6 (27.5-22.5), Team 2 (24.5-25.5), Team 9 (22.5-27.5), Team 5 (20-30), Team 1 (18-32) and Team 11 (12.5-37.5).
The high handicap game in team play was rolled by Team 10 (661), while Team 4 had the high handicap series (1,823).
Lois Pease had the women's high handicap game (239) and series (648). Peter Gilbert (252) rolled the men's high handicap game, and Dick Cooke (679) notched the men's high handicap series.
No one had a 200-plus game, but Sonya Shippee (511) and Marty Adams (543) each had a 500-series. High averages for the women last week were Sonya Shippee (156), Shirley Aiken (154), and Lorraine Taylor (150). Top men's averages belonged to Fred Ashworth (178), Jerry Dunham (172), and Marty Adams (171).
Elm City Derby Damez hits the track on July 16
• The 2016 season for the Elm City Derby Damez, a flat-track roller derby team based out of the Monadnock Region, will finish up with three of their final four games at the Withington Rink at Living Memorial Park in Brattleboro.
The Damez homestand will begin on Saturday, July 16, against Twin City Riot (Central Vermont Roller) from Montpelier, at Withington Rink.
Admission is by donation. The game will start at 6 p.m.
Now in their seventh season, the Derby Damez are a skater-owned and operated team. Visit www.elmcityderby.com for more information.