The pairings came out Sunday for the state baseball and softball playoffs, and the local teams are looking good.
The Brattleboro Colonels baseball team finished 15-1 and clinched the top seed in the Division I tournament. They are scheduled to host No. 16 Spaulding (3-13) in a playdown game on Wednesday.
The Colonels softball team went 14-2 and were undefeated against Vermont competition. They clinched the No. 3 seed in Division I, and will host No. 14 Champlain Valley (5-11) in a playdown game on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
At 13-3, Bellows Falls also locked down the top seed in the Division II baseball tourney. They will host No. 16 U-32 (3-13) in a playdown on Thursday.
In Division III, Leland & Gray is hoping for a good playoff run for the baseball and softball teams. At 13-3, the softballers are the No. 3 seed in the Division III tourney, and will host No. 13 Rice (1-15) in a playdown game on Wednesday.
The baseball team finished 11-5 and earned the No. 5 seed. They are scheduled to host No. 12 Windsor (5-10-1) in a playdown on Wednesday.
Baseball
• Brattleboro finished up the regular season with three wins in the final week.
Last Tuesday, they traveled to Hartford and skunked the Hurricanes, 15-0. Soren Pelz-Walsh, Tommy Heydinger and Travis Beeman-Nesbitt all finished with three hits each. Pelz-Walsh and Jamie Martell each homered, while Beeman-Nesbitt doubled and tripled. Martell, Evan Parro, and Chris McAuliffe each drove in three runs.
Last Wednesday at Tenney Field, they shut out Fair Haven, 8-0. Heydinger pitched a complete-game shutout, with seven strikeouts. Kevin Paciulli, Parro, and Heydinger all had two hits each, while McAuliffe had a two-run base hit in the first inning.
The Colonels closed out the regular season at Tenney Field with a 3-1 win over Rutland. Sawyer Olson was the winning pitcher.
• Bellows Falls ended its season with three straight road wins. Last Monday, they traveled to South Royalton and won 1-0. On Thursday, the Terriers spoiled Leland & Gray's Senior Day on Thursday with a 4-1 win in Townshend. The next day, BF hammered Green Mountain, 18-1.
• Leland & Gray ended a three-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over Windsor on Friday. The late season stumble cost the Rebels a chance to host a home playoff game.
• Twin Valley got clobbered by Rutland, 18-4, last Monday. Thirteen errors and 18 strikeouts doomed the Wildcats' chances.
The Wildcats played much better against West Rutland last Wednesday, winning 10-5. Winning pitcher Dal Nesbitt helped himself by going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs, while Cade Nesbitt and Jason Moore also went 2-for-3, and Sam Molner went 3-for-4.
Twin Valley ended the regular season with a 7-0 loss at Poultney on Saturday to finish with a 5-10-1 record. The No. 7 seed in the Division IV playoffs, they were scheduled to host No. 10 Whitcomb (4-12) in a Tuesday playdown.
Softball
• Brattleboro picked up three wins in the final week of the season.
The Colonels had their best day at the plate all season in a 16-1 rout of Hartford last Tuesday. McKenzie Bover and Bailey Paige each went 3-for-3, while Mary Richardson, Daisy Giroux, Lou Lou Terwilliger and Kayla Wood all finished with two hits. Paige, Richardson, and Giroux each drove in a pair of runs.
The hits kept on coming on Wednesday, with a 15-0 beatdown of Fair Haven. Wood drove in four runs on three hits, including a triple, while McKinlie Carpenter had a pair of RBI singles.
In the final regular season game on Friday, the Colonels beat Rutland, 6-1. Haley Struthers and Terwilliger each drove in two runs while Alyssa Bezanson went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.
• After 28 straight losses, Bellows Falls won their first game in more than two years on May 19 when the Terriers beat Burr & Burton, 8-7, in Manchester.
BF had the early lead in this contest, but the Bulldogs rallied to tie it at 6-6 after five innings. BF then came back with two runs in the seventh, thanks to a two-run single by Tasha Long. The Terriers then withstood one last Bulldog rally in the bottom half of the inning. Stephanie Green finished with three hits, Mackenzie Crawford had an RBI, and Emma Shaw fired a three-hitter to pick up the victory.
The Terriers couldn't make it two in a row, as they traveled to Wells River last Monday and lost to Blue Mountain, 18-1. On Friday, the Terriers lost a close 7-5 decision to Green Mountain. The next day, they closed out the season with a 9-2 loss at Leland & Gray to finish at 1-15. The No. 16 Terriers travel to top-seeded BFA-Fairfax for a playdown game on Wednesday.
• Leland & Gray pitcher Nicole Sherman just keeps getting better. She fired a one-hitter on May 19 as the Rebels stung the Woodstock Wasps, 20-2, in a five-inning game cut short by the mercy rule. Kiara Wilhite went 2-for-3, drove in two runs, and scored five runs to lead the Rebels offensively. Last Wednesday, the Rebels beat Otter Valley, 7-2.
• Sammy Cunningham-Darrah drove in five runs with two hits as Twin Valley ripped Mount St. Joseph, 16-1, in five innings on May 19. Pitcher Kate Corey struck out four and walked only one to get the win.
The Wildcats got by West Rutland, 7-6, last Wednesday, scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh to win. They ended the regular season with a 14-2 loss to Poultney to finish with a 9-7 record. They earned the eighth seed in Division III, and will host No. 9 Enosburg in a playdown game on Wednesday.
Lacrosse
• The Brattleboro girls have been winning a lot of close games lately, so they were due for a night when the magic wasn't there. That night was last Monday, when Burr & Burton came to Natowich Field and knocked off the Colonels, 15-13.
The Bulldogs trailed 13-12 in the final four minutes, but rallied for three goals to win. Brook Sabol had five goals and four assists, including the game-winning goal. Maddie Rollins and Ava Myette each scored four goals for the Colonels, while Karley Fortier had two goals, and Becca Bird, Carli Gossard, and Hannah Lynde each added a goal.
On Friday, the Colonels wrapped up the regular season with a 14-5 win over Hartford at Natowich Field. Myette and Rollins each scored four goals, while Fortier added three goals. The 9-6 Colonels ended up with the No. 5 seed and will travel to face No. 4 Champlain Valley in a quarterfinal match on Friday.
• The Brattleboro boys picked up a 1-0 win on May 19 when Burr & Burton forfeited the match for self-imposed disciplinary reasons. On Wednesday, the Colonels dropped a 10-3 decision to Keene, N.H., and then lost 10-9 to Woodstock on Friday.
The Colonels finished with a 12-4 record, and earned the No. 3 seed in the Division I tournament. They got a first-round bye and will host a quarterfinal game on Friday against the winner of the playdown game between No. 6 Mount Anthony and No. 11 Rutland.
Tennis
• The Brattleboro boys cruised to a 6-1 win over Fair Haven at the BUHS courts last Monday. The Colonels swept the five singles matches, and missed getting a shutout when they had to forfeit a doubles match due to a lack of players.
They closed out the regular season last Wednesday with a 5-2 win over Hartford. The Colonels got three singles victories, as Isaiah Ungerleider, Asa Lane, and Jordan Renouf all won in straight sets. The doubles teams were both victorious in close matches as the No. 1 team of Cuyler Cunningham and Seth Marcil won 7-6, 6-4, while Tony Acevedo and Hassan Obeidat rallied back to win their No. 2 match 4-6, 6-1, 10-7.
Brattleboro is seeded No. 6 in the Division I tournament and will host No. 11 Burr & Burton in a playdown on the BUHS courts on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
• The Brattleboro girls finished with a 5-8 record, and are the No. 13 seed in the Division I tournament. They will travel to No. 4 Rutland for a playdown on Wednesday.
Track and field
• Another meet, another record for Brattleboro's Jacob Ellis.
At the Hanover (N.H.) Invitational on May 19, Ellis won the 400 in a new school record of 50.59 seconds. Teammates Sam Kochinskas (high jump) and Andy Hale (discus) were also winners, while Paxton Reed was second in the triple jump. Kochinskas was fourth in the 110 hurdles, and Reed came in fifth in the 400.
Helen Manning (high jump) and Ursula Casey (triple jump) each finished fourth for the Brattleboro girls, while Greta Pellerin took sixth in the javelin.
• Jamie Moore and Enny Mustapha had huge days for the Bellows Falls girls. Moore won the 1,600 and was runner-up in the 3,200, while Mustapha won the shot put, finished fourth in the javelin, and teamed up with Cooper Reis, Chapin Reis, and Darion James for fourth in the 4 X 100 relay. Kammie Crawford was third in the javelin, Brit Moyna was fourth in the 100 hurdles, and Anna Clark took fifth in the 800.
The BF boys were led by TJ Bernier, who was second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles. John Punger (400), Jake Stoddard (triple jump), and Joe Aslin (javelin) all finished third, while the 4 X 100 relay team of Aslin, Bernier, Punger, and Stoddard also took third. Kendrick Mills finished sixth in the high jump.
• Ellis kept up the record-breaking pace at the Essex Invitational on Saturday, which was also the qualifying meet for the New England Championships in Saco, Maine, on June 9. He set a state record in the 800 meters, finishing in 1:54.01, breaking the record of 1:54.80 set by Adran Pitman at the 2009 New Englands.
Also qualifying for the New Englands was the Brattleboro 4 X 400 meter relay team of Ellis, Reed, Alec Silver, and Austin Nichols, which came in third. Reed and Casey just missed earning individual spots by placing seventh place in the boys and girls triple jumps. Manning had a personal best of 4 feet, 11 inches in the high jump, but could not clear the bar at 5-1 to miss her spot.
The Division I state championships are this Saturday at Burlington High School.
• Bellows Falls also had several athletes qualify for the New England Championships on Saturday. Moore took top honors in the 1,600 with the first place finish at 4:35. Aslin competed in javelin and finished sixth, while Bernier placed fourth in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles. Punger was fifth in the 400, while Moyna took third in the 100 hurdles and Mustapha was third in the shot put.
The Division II state championships will be held this Saturday at Fair Haven Union High School.
Community bike ride series in Putney
• Join families, friends, and neighbors for a free series of scenic rides leaving from the Putney Tavern Green at 10 a.m. throughout the summer. The first ride was held May 27, others are scheduled for June 23, July 29, and Aug. 26. The Putney General Store and the Putney Food Co-op will both offer apres ride refreshments.
The mapped rides are of varying length and difficulty, from 2.5 miles to 19 miles. Hybrid, cyclocross and mountain bikes are best suited for the terrain and mostly dirt roads. If you don't have a bike, the West Hill Shop will have free bike rentals available. Bike rentals must be reserved in advance. Email diny@westhillshop.com or call the shop, 802-387-5718, with questions.
Organizers say that these are unsupported “show-n-go” rides, with no leaders, and no sweep for stragglers. Segments of these rides might be remote, so prepare accordingly.