The Fenn Relays were held at the Freeman Track in Brattleboro Union High School on Friday, and both Colonel teams took third place in the nine-team meet.
The 1600 boys' sprint medley team of Jacob Ellis, John Asigbeykye, Paxton Reed and Greg Reuter took first, while the 4 x 800 team of Ellis, Zeke Fitzgerald, Abadi Kerlin-Smith, Austin Lester came in second and the 4 x 400 team of Alex Silver, Kerlin-Smith, Reuter and Ellis finished third. Monadnock was the overall boys winner, and Bellows Falls came in seventh.
The 4 x 800 girls' relay team of Linnea Jahn, Bailey Paige, Hannah Reichel and Halie Lange finished second. The 1600 sprint medley team of Analiz Jasmine Cancel, Eliza Reynolds, Ursula Casey and Lange came in third, as did the 4 x 200 team of Cancel, Casey, Reynolds and Kellie Schiller. Keene was the overall girls winner, and Bellows Falls came in ninth.
Before the Fenn Relays kicked off, the newly renovated track at BUHS was dedicated in honor of Art Freeman, a long-time track and field coach at the school.
• In a warm-up for the Fenn Relays, the Colonels placed third in a six-team girls meet at Hadley Field last Tuesday. The Weiser Howard Relays at Bellows Falls Union High School consisted of the “weight” and jumping events, with marks from three individual competitors combined for a team score.
Bellows Falls was fifth overall in the event. Fall Mountain won the meet, with Springfield in second, Windsor in fourth and Hartford in sixth.
Brattleboro had two second-place finishes. Audrey Pirog, Helen Manning and Casey were second in the triple jump with a total distance of 88 feet, 8 inches; while Casey, Manning and Lange combined for a 13 foot, 2 inch mark in the high jump. BF was second in the javelin as Enny Mustapha, Kammy Crawford and Corina Stack combined for 233 feet, 9 inches.
The local boys teams came to Hadley Field for their half of the Weiser Howard Relays on Wednesday, and the Bellows Falls and Brattleboro boys field teams finished second and third, respectively. As was the case the day before, Fall Mountain won the meet.
BF's trio of Ryan Hayward, Joe Aslin and Tucker Westney won the javelin with a total distance of 379 feet, 4 inches.
Reed, Ellis and Alec Silver posted 118 feet, 8 1/2 inches to win the triple jump for Brattleboro. Ellis and Reed also qualified for the state meet in the long jump, as they combined with Silver for third in that event.
Baseball
• The Brattleboro Colonels lost to Keene, N.H., 9-4, on a sodden day at Tenney Field on April 25. The Blackbirds traditionally have one of the best baseball programs in New Hampshire, so this game offered a chance for the Colonels to see how they fare against top-flight competition.
Unfortunately for the Colonels, they came up short. Senior pitcher Patrick McConnell, a transfer student from Texas, shut down the Colonels for most of the game, holding them to 5 walks and 5 hits while striking out 13.
Brattleboro starter Sawyer Olson scattered 11 hits and walked three in 5 innings of work to take the loss. Keene did most of its damage in the late innings, with three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Last Wednesday, the Colonels lost 1-0 to Burr & Burton in 11 innings in Manchester. Tommy Heydinger went 9 2/3 innings and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard. Travis Beeman-Nesbitt came in to relieve Heydinger and gave up a walk and an infield hit that set up the Bulldogs' game-winning hit - a single to left-center - for the walk-off win.
However, the Colonels finished the week strong with a 5-1 win at Mount Anthony on Friday. Olson struck out 3, walked 2, and allowed 6 hits to get the complete-game victory. Evan Parro had two hits, including a double, for the 3-3 Colonels, while Heydinger had one hit and drove in one run.
• An infield hit by Drew Barnum, slowed by a wet infield, allowed Jared Van Osdol to score from third and give Leland & Gray a dramatic 7-6 walk-off victory over the Green Mountain Chieftains in Townshend on April 25.
Barnum was a hero on the mound too, as he struck out 8 while allowing 8 hits and 4 walks in a gritty effort, Brandon Reilly was 2-for-3 with a double, while Van Osdol went 2-for-4.
Right fielder Forrest Hamer was the defensive star, as he gave the 3-1 Rebels a chance to win it when threw out two baserunners at the plate in the top of the seventh.
• Bellows Falls bounced back from its spring vacation week loss to Brattleboro with a 9-2 win over Otter Valley. The Terriers drew 13 walks and stole 11 bases as they needed only two hits to score their runs.
Matt Marchica was 1-for-2 with an RBI, 2 runs scored. and 5 stolen bases. Luke Brophy had the Terriers' other hit; he drove in a run and stole 2 bases. Forrest Coleman hit 2 sacrifice flies, stole 2 bases and scored a run.
Cooper Long and Jacob Kilburn combined for a one-hitter. Long walked 5, gave up 1 hit and 2 unearned runs in addition to striking out 2, while Kilburn threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Terriers then shut out Hartford, 4-0, on Friday. Marchica threw a one-hitter, with 7 strikeouts and just 1 walk. BF got its runs in the fourth and fifth innings as Bruce Wells singled in each inning, while Brendan Hackett started the fourth with a base hit and Long added an RBI single in the fifth. The Terriers ended the week at 5-2.
• Twin Valley lost to Green Mountain, 15-4, in Chester on Thursday. Walks killed the Wildcats as Ian Murdock, Dal Nesbitt and Jason Moore issued a combined 14 total bases-on-balls.
Softball
• Brattleboro kept up its winning ways with a 10-3 victory at Keene, N.H., on April 25. Taylor Kerylow, Sydney Santor, and Kayla Wood all had 3-for-4 games; Kerylow tripled and drove in 2 runs, Santor also drove in two runs, and Wood knocked in a run. Ashley Watson and Cassie Rawson each also had a hit. Wood threw a four-hitter, with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
They followed that effort with a 17-0 shellacking of Springfield at Riverside Park. Wood threw a no-hitter as she struck out 15 and walked 3. Santor went 5-for-5, Rawson was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and three runs batted in, and Kerylow went 3-for-6 with a triple and an RBI. Ariel Kane also went 3-for-6, with 2 RBIs. Wood, Mary Richardson, Watson, and Amy Murphy also had hits.
The Colonels maintained their undefeated record with a 10-3 win at Mount Anthony on Friday. Rawson went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs to lead the offense. Santor, Kelsey Patterson, and Kalee Graham all had two hits, including a triple by Graham. Brattleboro ended the week at 6-0.
• Leland & Gray clobbered Green Mountain, 16-1, in a five inning game in Townshend on April 25 cut short by the 15-run rule. Pitcher Nicole Sherman walked two and struck out eight in pitching a two-hitter. She also smacked a home run over the fence in the fifth to end the game.
Michaela Tietz had 2 hits, including a triple, and 2 RBIs. Aly Marcucci also had two hits, with a double and a RBI. Ashley Goddard had 2 doubles and a RBI, and Ashley Meyer drive in three runs.
• Twin Valley eked out a 4-3 win over Mill River last Tuesday. Pitcher Kylie-blu Crawford gave up only 2 hits, but walked 8 batters. She made up for the wildness with 7 strikeouts. Mykayla Pronovost went 2-for-3, while Crawford, Savannah Nesbitt, Sam Bernard each had hits for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats' bats came alive the next day in Chester, as Kylie-blu and Bryer-lyn Crawford, Bernard, Kate Corey, Bonnie Boliver, Ashley Dix, Pronovost and Nesbitt all had 2 hits in a 11-0 rout of Green Mountain. Kylie-blu had 5 strikeouts in the complete game shutout, and drove in three runs.
• Bellows Falls lost 18-3 to Hartford last Wednesday. If you're an optimistic Terriers fan, there were some good things to take away from the game.
Pitcher Savana Rentas got her first start, and even though she gave up 16 hits, she showed enough promise that she could be seeing more action at that position. The Terriers also broke in a new catcher, freshman Tasha Long, which freed up the Terriers regular catcher, Megan LaBeau, to move to first base. And the Terriers had 7 hits, including a 3-for-3 day by Rhianna Pratt.
In other words, the winless Terriers are still a work in process, as demostrated by their 15-0 loss to Fall Mountain on Friday. Long had the main highlight, a double that spoiled a no-hit bid.
Lacrosse
• Mount Anthony beat the Brattleboro girls in overtime, 10-9, at Natowich Field on April 25. Trailing 8-3 with 14 minutes to play, the Colonels scored five goals to force the extra period. Paige Lavesque then scored two of her game-high six goals in OT to win it for the Patriots. Karley Fortier led Brattleboro with 5 goals, Mariah Lesure added 3 goals, and Maddie Rollins had 2 assists.
The Colonel girls bounced back with a 10-9 win over Vermont Academy in Saxtons River on Wednesday. Hannah Lynde scored the game winner with her first-career goal with 31 seconds left in regulation. Fortier scored 3 goals, Rollins and Carli Gossard recorded two each, and Ava Myette and Maia Fulton-Black each had a goal. Lynde also picked up an assist.
Brattleboro picked up another win on Thursday with a 16-2 pounding of Hartford at Natowich Field. Fortier had 6 goals and an assist. Myette added 3 goals, and Rollins had 2 goals and an assist.
Tennis
• The Brattleboro girls lost to Woodstock, 5-2. last Wednesday. No. 2 Lauren Mabie and No. 5 Miranda Moseley were the singles winners for the Colonels. Both doubles teams and the other singles players came up empty.
• The Bellows Falls girls were blanked by Rutland, 7-0, at the Hadley Field courts on Friday.
Bisbee, Spencer named to VPA Hall of Fame
• Two longtime fixtures on the local sports scene, Spaulding “Bis” Bisbee III and Frank Spencer, were recently named to the Vermont Principals' Association Hall of Fame.
Bisbee, of Westminster. taught physical education and coached baseball and football at Bellows Falls Union High School for more than three decades. He won nine state titles.
Spencer, of Wilmington has served as a history teacher, athletic director, basketball and soccer coach, and the past 23 years as principal. He is retiring at the end of the school year.
A third man with local ties who made his name elsewhere, Antonio “Tony” Orciari of Brattleboro, was also selected. He was a standout basketball player at St. Johnsbury Academy before graduating in 1997.
The VPA established the Hall of Fame in 2003 as a way to recognize, preserve and promote the heritage of interscholastic athletics and activities in Vermont by honoring individuals who have made extraordinary contributions on behalf of students.