The Putney Fossils won their second straight Connecticut River Valley Baseball League (CRVBL) title with a tidy 5-1 win over the Connecticut River Iron Men in the championship game played Aug. 14 at Gouin Field in Dummerston.
Founded in 2002 by furniture maker Richard Bissell of Putney, CRVBL is a wood-bat summer baseball league for ballplayers age 20 and up. Teams hail from southeastern Vermont and southwestern New Hampshire, but it was tough finding enough players to field more than four teams this season.
This was a well-played and fast-paced game that featured some exceptional defense by both teams and a great pitching performance by Fossils starter Danny Lichtenfeld, who went six innings and held the Iron Men to one run on six hits. Peter Wagner threw two shutout innings of relief to nail down the victory.
“Our defense was unreal today,” said Lichtenfeld, noting a diving stop by second baseman Kenny Howe to rob Iron Men leadoff hitter Joey Parrott of a hit in the first inning and a full-extension diving catch by first baseman Kyle Whitworth on a line drive by Jed St. Pierre.
Losing pitcher Duncan McDonald threw five scoreless innings for the Iron Men, but the Fossils finally broke through in the sixth inning. After the Iron Men scored their only run in the top of the sixth inning, when Tyler Kerr hit a double to deep left field and scored on a base hit by Joey Parrott, the Fossils rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Chase Cunniff led off the inning with an infield hit and Whitworth followed with a single to right. Brandon Reilly moved the runners up with a ground out, and Ryan Smith scored Cunniff from third with a sacrifice fly to tie up the game.
Whitworth then scored the go-ahead run on a ground-rule double to center field by Alex Gauthier. Ryan Lawley scored Gauthier with a base hit, and Wagner followed with another RBI single to make it 4-1. Putney added another run in the eighth inningwhen Smith, at third base after a base hit and a single by Gauthier, successfully pulled off a double steal with Gauthier swiping second while Smith dashed home to score.
The Fossils finished the 2022 season with a 12-1 record and hoisted the Bissell Cup trophy for the second straight season, a tribute to the virtue of showing up and being ready to play every week. They dedicated their victory to Kallaway “Kali” Ann Whitworth, daughter of Kyle, who was born five days earlier and was at her first baseball game.
Lichtenfeld, the manager of the Fossils, said he hopes there will be more teams in the league next season. Over the past two decades, CRVBL has fluctuated in size, from as few as three teams to as many as eight.
Avard competes in U.S. Masters national swim meet
• Longtime Commons writer/sports correspondent Christian Avard competed at the U.S. Masters Swimming Summer National Championships, on Aug. 6-7 at the Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond, Va. He qualified in four events: 50 meter backstroke, 50 meter breaststroke, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter freestyle.
To his surprise, Avard placed seventh in the nation in the Men's 50-54 50 back with a time of 35:69 seconds, and 10th in the nation in the Men's 50-54 50 breast in 38:01 seconds.
Avard was a member of the Team New England Masters Swim Team, which was comprised of masters swimmers from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
The other highlight for Avard was competing in the Men's 200 free relay with men ranging in ages from 69 to 81. The relay finished fourth in its combined age group category (280+). Team New England also finished third in the regional teams division behind second place Virginia Masters and first place North Carolina Masters.
Avard swam competitively growing up in Nashua, N.H. He says his journey back to competitive swimming began in 2011 at the Colonial Pool and Spa in Brattleboro. The former Dummerston resident now lives in Lebanon, N.H., and swims for the Upper Valley Rays Swim Club at the Upper Valley Aquatic Club in White River Junction.
Miscellany
• Congratulations to the Brattleboro Swim Team, coached by Pedr Seymour, who were undefeated during the regular season this summer, won the Southern Vermont Swim League championship, and finished fourth in the state meet.
Winning medals in the SVSL meet were William Hill, who won four gold medals; Kali Taylor and Elliot Murray, who each earned three golds; and Mari Rodriguez, Harper Murray, and Tenley Rea, who each won two golds. Dan Rusu, Sullivan Murray, Liza Leach, Morgan Murray, Mkay Farkas, and Merritt Goodell all won one gold medal, while Farkas also won three silver medals.
In finishing fourth at the state meet, Brattleboro scored its highest point total in more than 20 years. Hill had two golds and two silvers to lead Brattleboro, while Taylor had a pair of golds and Leach won a pair of silvers. Connor Marshall won a silver, and Morgan Murray won three bronze medals.
• Football isn't the only sport that has been sneaking into the summer sports picture. Bellows Falls, Springfield, and Windsor have been playing informal basketball scrimmages at Windsor High School this summer to give these teams a chance to adjust to new players and new coaches for the upcoming 2022-23 boys' basketball season.
BF coach Evan Chadwick recently told the Eagle Times that he has had about 10 players show up for these pick-up games, which are played with a running clock and have no referees and no free throw shooting. “We go at it three or so times a week just to keep the rust off, we have some very dedicated players on this team,” said Chadwick.
• Mike Empey, the longtime line coach for Bellows Falls and Brattleboro, will be the new person in charge of the annual North-South senior all-star football game.
The North-South game, which takes place in mid-November at Castleton University and features the top senior football players in Vermont, often serves as an audition for the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, as most of the players selected for the North-South game usually make the Shrine roster the following summer.
According to the Rutland Herald, work commitments are keeping Empey from coaching, but he will serve as the game chairman for the North-South Game and be responsible for the administrative duties that come with staging the event.
• The Guilford Fair is getting a new event this year - the Beat the Manure 5K race. It will start and end at the Guilford Fairgrounds on Sept. 4, beginning at 8 a.m., and will be run on a hilly course over a mix of paved roads, dirt roads, and trails.
Franklin Farm of Guilford has donated maple syrup for the race winners. Prizes will be given to the first male and female finisher, and to the male and female winner of each 10-year age group. The last finisher will be awarded a bag of local, composted horse manure.
Register online for the race at runsignup.com/Race/VT/Guilford/BeattheManure5K.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 11 of the Brattleboro Senior Summer Bowling League on Aug. 11 at Brattleboro Bowl saw Angus & Company (35-20) have a 4-1 week to hang onto first place with two weeks left in the season.
Good Times (34-21) also had a 4-1 week to stay in second place, followed by The Strikers (30-25), the Number 1's (29-26), The Keglers (27-28), Stayin' Alive (24-31), The Anythings (22-33), and Trash-O-Matic (19-36).
Nancy Dalzell had the women's high handicap game (234) and series (640), while Jerry Dunham once again had the men's high handicap game (275) and series (721). The Strikers had the high team handicap game (925), and Trash-O-Matic had the high team handicap series (2,531).
In scratch scoring, Robert Rigby led the men with a 683 series that featured games of 247, 242, and 194. Dunham had a 631 series with games of 245 and 199, while Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 542 series that featured a 206 game.
Marty Adams had a 538 series that featured a 192 game, while Chuck Adams had a 528 series that featured a 193 game, and Gary Montgomery had a 504 series with a 201 game.
Nancy Dalzell had the women's high scratch series (478) and game (202). Carol Gloski had a 195 game and Sally Perry rolled a 161.