The regular season concluded last week for high school baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis, and Ultimate disc in Vermont. The opening rounds of the playoffs for these sports began this week, while the track & field teams will have their state championships this weekend.
Baseball
• Brattleboro has been having trouble scoring runs all season, and their last few games of the regular season illustrated this with shutout losses to Otter Valley (2-0 on May 20), Monadnock (9-0 on May 23), and Burr & Burton (2-0 on May 25).
At the same time, BUHS coach Chris Groeger said after the May 25 game against the Bulldogs at Tenney Field that his young team is “making progress and getting better.”
When the two teams met in Manchester 10 days earlier, Brattleboro lost, 17-2. The May 25 game was far more competitive. Starting pitcher Jackson Emery held the Bulldogs scoreless through five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth. Seb Dostal led off with a double to deep center field and Trevor Greene followed with a two-run homer down the right field line.
Those were the only blemishes on a strong effort by Emery, who struck out seven and walked six while allowing just three hits over his six innings. Emery also got a lot of help from his defense, which did not make an error.
Winning pitcher Ozzie Weber held BUHS to one hit, an infield single by John Satterfield in the fourth inning, over six innings with walks and 13 strikeouts. Dostal struck 0ut the side in order in the seventh to get the save.
The biggest problem all year for Brattleboro has been generating offense. “It's a whole new level for these guys,” Groeger said. “They've been seeing a lot of good pitchers and it takes time to build confidence.”
Groeger had hope that his team would turn in a good effort at Rutland on May 27, but once again, they well just short with a 5-4 loss. Brattleboro finished the regular season with a 6-8 record and the No. 10 seed in the Division I playoffs. They head north on May 31 to face No. 7 Rice in a first-round playoff.
• Bellows Falls finished the regular season at 8-8 with a 3-2 win over Hartford on May 23 and a 10-0 loss to Mount Anthony on May 26.
BF has played a tougher schedule than most of its peers in Division III, with games against Division I teams such as Brattleboro, Rutland, Burr & Burton, and Mount Anthony, as well as Division II powers Hartford and Fair Haven.
Coach Bob Lockerby's reasoning is that the only way a team gets better is to play against good teams. It's a strategy that usually pays off in a higher playoff seeding, since the index point system rewards teams with tougher schedules. That's how the Terriers earned the No. 6 seed in Division III, and a May 30 home game at Hadley Field to host the No. 11 Springfield Cosmos in a first-round game.
• Leland & Gray picked up the No. 3 seed in Division IV with a 10-6 record. They finished the regular season with a 5-4 win over Springfield on May 23, an 14-11 loss to Woodstock on May 25, and a win over Poultney by forfeit on May 27. They got a bye in the first round and will play the winner of the May 30 Arlington-Williamstown game on June 2 in a quarterfinal game in Townshend.
• Twin Valley finished its season without a win. The 0-9 Wildcats are fielding a varsity team for the first time in five years, and coach Greg Nido had his work cut out for him. He has only two seniors on this year's team, and the underclassmen who took their lumps this season will get a taste of the playoffs when they face No. 4 Stratton Mountain School in a May 30 first-round game.
Softball
• Brattleboro ended its season with a 1-15 record with losses to Monadnock (13-1 on May 23) and Rutland (9-5 on May 27). First-year coach Erin Cooke is hopeful that the softball program can start building back toward its traditional status of being a perennial contender in Division I.
• Bellows Falls earned the No. 4 seed in Division III with a 9-6 record. BF finished the regular season with wins over Leland & Gray (8-7 on May 23), Woodstock (17-11 on May 26), and a loss to West Rutland (8-2 on May 27). The Terriers host No. 13 Williamstown in a first-round game on May 30.
• After the BF loss, Leland & Gray finished with wins over White River Valley (15-13 on May 24) and Poultney (10-9 on May 26) before finishing the regular season with an 8-7 road loss to Poultney on May 27).
The Poultney games were important for seeding because Poultney, Leland & Gray, and Blue Mountain were bunched up near the top of the Division IV standings heading into the final week of the season. With an 11-5 record, the Rebels fell to the fifth spot while Blue Mountain and Poultney clinched the third and fourth seeds, respectively.
This means Leland & Gray will travel to Poultney to face the Blue Devils for the third time in a week. They will meet in a quarterfinal game on June 2.
• Twin Valley ended the season without a victory. A pair of losses to Long Trail (21-6 on May 22 and 24-4 on May 24) and a 36-2 loss to Green Mountain on May 27 left the Wildcats with a 0-13 record.
Track & Field
• The Essex Invitational on May 27 serves as both a final tuneup for the state championship meets as well as the qualifying meet for the New England championships. Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Green Mountain, and Leland & Gray were all represented in Essex.
In the girls' events, Brattleboro's Ava Whitney was fifth in the 800 in 2 minutes, 23.96 seconds, and was seventh in the 1,500 in 5:03.7, while teammate Katherine Normandeau was 37th in the 1,500 in 5:50.1. Meredith Lewis tied for fourth in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet, 6 inches, while teammate Addison Devault tied for ninth place. Genevieve Redmond was 18th in the triple jump (31-2.5).
Laura Kamel led Bellows Falls with a third place finish in the discus with a throw of 118 feet, 8 inches, and finished 12th in javelin (83-11). The quartet of Hadley Gleim, Tela Harty, Ava LaRoss, and Nola Sciacca finished seventh in the girls 4x100 relay in 53:30. Harty also finished 14th in the javelin (79-7) and 19th in the 300 hurdles (54.00), while Sciacca was seventh in the javelin (91-9) and 18th in the shot put (28-4.5) and Eryn Ross was 16th in the javelin (78-10).
In the boys' events Green Mountain's Eben Mosher was second in the boys' 110 hurdles (15.60) and 300 hurdles (40.38).
The Brattleboro foursome of David Berkson-Harvey, Jack Cady, Dylan Holmes, and Sean von Ranson was second in the 4x100 relay in 44.68, while the BF team of Colby Dearborn, Justin Draper, Brandon Keller, and Gavin Joy were 11th in 46.98. In the 4x400, Brattleboro's relay team of Trevor Gray, Waylund Walsh, von Ranson, and Cady finished seventh in 3:34.66.
Other Brattleboro boys placing in the top 20 were Jacob Girard in the discus (19th, 97-9) and javelin (19th, 127 feet, 7 inches), Holmes in the 200 meters (13th, 23.70), von Ranson in the 200 (18th, 23.88), and Trevor Gray in the 300 hurdles (19th, 45.20).
Cady was fifth for BF in the 400 in 51.93, while Joy was 18th in 54.16. Joy also was 19th in the shot put with (36-10.25), while Dearborn was 18th in the 300 hurdles in 45.15, and Keller tied for ninth in the high jump (5-6). Ben Perry finished seventh in the javelin (124-7).
Leland & Gray's John Parker-Jennings tied for ninth in the high jump (5-6) and 14th in the long jump (18 feet, 11.75), while Jacob Flood was 20th in the 300 hurdles in 45.37.
Lacrosse
• After snapping a four-game losing streak with an 8-6 win over Randolph on May 20, the Brattleboro boys ended the regular season with losses to Mount Anthony (17-2 on May 23) and Hartford (7-4 on May 26) to finish the regular season with a 4-12 record.
Brattleboro was seeded 10th in the Division II playoffs and will face seventh-seeded Burlington in a first-round game on May 31.
• The Brattleboro girls finished the regular season with a 2-13 record with losses to Middlebury (14-3 on May 22) and Burr & Burton (15-1 on May 24). They will be sitting out the playoffs.
Tennis
• The Brattleboro boys finished the regular season at 7-5 with wins over Mount St. Joseph (7-0 on May 20), and Hartford (6-1 on May 22). They earned the No. 8 seed in Division I and got a home match in the first round against ninth-seeded Champlain Valley on May 30 on the BUHS courts. CVU won, 6-1.
• With a pair of wins over Mount St. Joseph on May 20 and a pair of losses on May 23 to Mount Anthony, the Brattleboro girls ended the regular season at 4-9. They earned the No. 10 seed in Division I and ended up losing to seventh-seeded North Country, 7-0, in a first-round match on May 30.
• The Bellows Falls girls finished the regular season at 2-11 and were seeded 10th in the Division II playoffs. The Terriers lost to seventh-seeded Rice, 7-0, in a first round match on May 30.
Ultimate disc
• Leland & Gray earned the No. 4 seed in the state tournament with an 8-2 record, while Brattleboro was seeded No. 13 at 2-6.
Brattleboro wrapped up the regular season with a 14-12 loss to Long Trail School and a 15-5 win over Sharon Academy on May 26, while Leland & Gray finished up with a 12-10 win over Sharon Academy on May 22.
The 8-2 Rebels will host 2-6 Brattleboro in the opening round of the state tournament later this week.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 4 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on May 25 saw No Splits (19-1) have another 5-0 week to hang on to first place. Turkeys (14-6) had a 1-4 week, but remains in second, followed by Stayin' Alive (13.5-6.5), Slo Movers and The Bowlers (both 13-7), Five Pins (11-9), Skippers (7.5-12.5), High Rollers (5-15), and Wrecking Crew (2-18).
Pamela Greenblott had the women's high handicap game (257) and series (668), while Stan Kolpa had the men's high handicap game (260) and series (683). No Splits had the high team handicap game (890) and series (2,515).
John Walker led the men's scratch scoring with a 597 series that featured games of 229 and 197. Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 587 series with games of 219 and 190, Milt Sherman had a 565 series with games of 194 and 192, Gary Montgomery had a 542 series with a 207 game, and Jerry Dunham had a 501 series. Kolpa had a 195 game, while Marty Adams rolled a 192.
Greenblott had the women's high scratch series (488) and game (197); she also had a 173 game. Debbie Kolpa had a 180 game and Nancy Dalzell rolled a 175.