Leland & Gray entered their Division IV softball semifinal on June 6 against top-seeded West Rutland confident about their chances of advancing to the championship game.
And when the fifth-seeded Rebels found themselves with a 4-2 lead over the defending state champions heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, it looked like that confidence was not misplaced.
By the end of the West Rutland fifth, the visiting Rebels were left dazed and wondering what had just hit them as the Golden Horde sent 17 batters to the plate, scored 13 runs, and ultimately cruised to a 22-6 victory.
That big fifth inning broke open what was a pitchers' duel between West Rutland's Aubrey Beaulieu and Leland & Gray's Kristen Lowe. But once the Coombs sisters, Arianna and Bella, started the inning off with back-to-back triples, everything unraveled for the Rebels.
Lowe didn't make it out of the fifth inning. Rebels coach Tammy Clausen replaced Lowe with reliever Hannah Greenwood, who fared no better as the Horde ended up with a total of 14 hits, including a three-hit day for Bella Coombs, while her sister Arianna drove in four runs.
Meanwhile, Beaulieu was throwing strikes and held the Rebels to just five hits. One of them was a three-run inside-the-park home run in the third inning by Molly Bingham.
It wasn't a bad year for the 13-7 Rebel girls, who were playing their first season in Division IV after dropping down from Division III.
With a championship in soccer and final four appearances in basketball and softball, it is a testament to the quality and character of the female athletes at Leland & Gray. Six of them who contributed to that record - Greenwood, Ainsley Meyer, Cat Shine, Makaila Morse, Savannah Cadrin, and Ruth Wright - are graduating.
It is also a testament to the leadership of athletic director and softball coach Tammy Clausen who, along with soccer coach Joe Towle and basketball coach Terry Merrow, forged a successful season for the Rebel girls. Leland & Gray may be one of the smallest public high schools in Vermont, but it consistently fields competitive teams in every sport.
Solons top Rebels in Ultimate playoffs
• The Leland & Gray Ultimate disc team had a great season against southern Vermont teams, but had no answer against one of the best teams in the state as the Montpelier Solons cruised to a 15-5 victory on June 5 in Townshend.
Senior Trevor Stillwagon, the Rebels' leading scorer this season, had four of his team's five goals and had three blocks on defense. After Stillwagon's first goal, assisted by Jackson Fillion, cut the Solons' lead to 2-1, Montpelier scored four straight goals to take control of the game. Stillwagon broke the run with another goal assisted by Fillion to make it 6-2, but Montpelier scored twice more for a 8-2 halftime lead.
The Solons kept up the scoring pace in the second half as the Solons' fast-paced offense and deep bench wore down the Rebels. Trevor Hazelton got a goal, assisted by Fillion, early in the second half, but the Solons had a 10-3 lead by then. Stillwagon got his final two goals, assisted by Finch Holmes and Fillion, to finish the Rebels scoring.
Rebels coaches Joe Towle and Paul Paytas said after the game that Montpelier has a strong Ultimate program that starts in middle school and feeds a steady supply of players - enough for separate boys' and girls' teams as well as a junior varsity squad.
The Rebels, who finished the season with a 9-3 record, have only one co-ed varsity team and it shared some of its players with the track & field program.
“We competed with them, but it's kind of an uphill battle when we only have one team and a low population to draw from,” said Paytas. “It takes years to learn the flow of the game, to be able to see the whole field, to play with confidence.”
Towle said his team played well against “arguably the best team in the state,” and that the Rebels will definitely miss Stillwagon and fellow senior Icabaud Clarke. The good news is that they are the only graduating seniors. The rest of the team are expected back next season and will be ready to take the next step.
Oxbow clobbers BF in softball semis
• Bellows Falls knew they were up against it when they faced the undefeated three-time state champion Oxbow Olympians in a Division III semifinal in Bradford on June 6.
Oxbow pitcher Anastase Bourgeois held the Terriers to four hits and struck out 19 batters over seven innings in a 17-1 victory. She also helped her cause going 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run.
The Olympians got 11 hits off losing pitcher Izzy Stoodley and stole eight bases. Bellows Falls finished its season with a 13-8 record.
Thetford blanks GM in baseball semis
• The third-seeded Thetford Panthers ended Green Mountain's playoff run with an 11-0 win in the Division III semifinals on June 6 in Chester.
Tanner Swisher took the loss for second-seeded GM, pitching one inning, while winning pitcher Xander Oshoniyi pitched five innings of one-hit ball for Thetford, with six strikeouts and one walk.
Oshoniyi had two hits, as did Thomas Amber, Dempsey McGovern, and Andrew Spooner; Amber drove in three runs and McGovern had two RBIs. Green Mountain finished the season with a 16-2 record.
Legion Baseball begins this week
• The American Legion Baseball season in Vermont gets started this week as Brattleboro Post 5 is scheduled to host Bennington Post 13 on June 13 at Tenney Field, and then has a doubleheader against Lakes Region on June 17 at Tenney Field, starting at 2 p.m.
Bellows Falls Post 37 opens its season with a doubleheader on June 17 against White River Junction Post 84 that starts at noon at Hadley Field.
While the 2023 season will open with seven teams in the Southern Division - Bellows Falls, Bennington, Brattleboro, Lakes Region, Manchester, Rutland, and White River Junction - the Northern Division is down to six teams.
With Barre Post 10 and S.D. Ireland dropping out, that leaves Colchester, Essex, Addison County, Franklin County, Montpelier, and South Burlington in the Northern Division.
The state tournament will be held July 22-26 and be hosted by Lakes Region with Castleton University as the primary site for the games. Last season, Brattleboro took first place in the Southern Division and finished with a 15-6 record, while Bellows Falls, the third place team in the South, finished with a 12-9 record. Both Post 5 and Post 37 had early exits from last year's tournament as Essex Post 91 repeated as the state champs.
Soccer officials needed
• If you have an interest in officiating high school soccer in southern Vermont, a clinic for new officials will be held Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Old School Community Center, 1 School St., in Wilmington from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The cost of the clinic is $50, which includes a rulebook and membership in the Vermont Soccer Officials Association through Dec. 31, 2023.
The clinic format will feature classroom instruction and on-field refereeing of a low-key scrimmage.
Pre-registration for the clinic is required. For more information, contact Eric Evans at [email protected].
Call them the Brattleboro Bears
• When the Brattleboro Union High School sports teams take the field for the 2023-24 school year, they will be sporting a new nickname - the Bears.
It will take some time to get used to, but at least “Bears” fits nicely into a headline, will not offend anyone, and is a better choice than Bobcats or Badgers, the other two finalists that were considered for a new BUHS mascot.
While bobcats and badgers are rarely seen, bears do occasionally wander into Brattleboro. They are better known in these parts for raiding bird feeders, compost piles, and garbage cans than for their athletic prowess, although I've seen bears in at my house display some impressive feats of strength as they ripped open trash receptacles.
Here's hoping the school comes up with a good logo to go with the new name.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 6 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on June 8 saw Slo Movers (22-8) have a 4-1 week to move into first place while Five Pins (20-10) had a 5-0 week to move into a tie for second with Turkeys (also 20-10), who had a 1-4 week. No Splits (19-11) is in third place, followed by The Bowlers (17-13), Stayin' Alive (16.5-13.5), Skippers (13.5-16.5), Wrecking Crew (11-19) and High Rollers (9-21).
Vikki Butynski had the women's high handicap game (243), while Roberta Parsons had the high handicap series (656). Norm Corliss had the men's high handicap game (268) and series (678), while Slo Movers had the high team handicap game (869) and series (2,495).
Chuck Adams led the men's scratch scoring with a 660 series that featured games of 235, 215, and 210, while Robert Rigby had a 602 series with games of 236 and 191. John Walker had a 526 series with a 221 game, Gary Montgomery had a 521 series with a 198 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 513 series with a 180 game, and Jerry Dunham had a 510 series. Other notable games included Stan Kolpa (201), Milt Sherman (195), and Corliss (189).
Carol Gloski had the women's high scratch series (448), while Butynski had the high scratch game (188). Gloski had games of 164 and 160, while Nancy Dalzell rolled a 161.
Sorry, wrong Glidden
• Brattleboro catcher Jayke Glidden wrote to me last week to point out that it was he, and not his brother Jolie, who hit a two-run homer in the 5-2 loss to Rice in the first round of the Division I high school baseball playoffs on May 30.
Far be it from me to rob someone of the glory of going deep, so consider this a belated correction to the record.