Brattleboro Post 5 is off to a great start to its American Legion Baseball season. After they lost their first league game to Bennington Post 13 on June 18, Brattleboro has since won 11 of 12 league games to take control of first place in the Southern Division with an 11-2 record.
On July 1 at Tenney Field, Post 5 - and pitchers Jolie and Jayke Glidden - swept a doubleheader with Manchester Union Underground.
Jolie was the winning pitcher in a 4-1 win in the game. He went the distance, scattering four hits with two strikeouts and one walk. The infield defense helped him out with three double plays.
Jackson Emery drove in the tying run in the second inning on a groundout, Harper Cutler got the go-ahead run across in the fifth on a fielder's choice, and Alex McClelland hit a two-run double in the sixth.
Jayke went six innings to get the win in game 2, a tight 2-0 win for Post 5. He struck out seven and walked two in holding Manchester to four hits. Emery singled and eventually scored on a passed ball in the fifth inning, and Evan Wright drove in another run in the sixth on an infield hit. Emery then struck out two batters in the seventh to earn a save.
Post 5 kept it rolling with a pair of wins against Lakes Region. On July 5 at Tenney Field, Alex Bingham threw 6 2/3 innings of five-hit ball to get the win in a 2-0 victory.
When Bingham hit his pitch limit with two outs in the seventh, Jolie Glidden came on to get the last out and the save. Brattleboro scored both of its runs in the fifth inning.
The next night, in Castleton, a big sixth inning led Brattleboro to a 9-3 win. Emery held Lakes Region to two hits over five innings to earn the win. A two-run double by Turner Clews was the big hit as Post 5 scored twice in the first inning.
The Brattleboro bats then went silent until the sixth, when Post 5 scored seven runs on five hits, with a two-run triple from Aidan Davis and doubles from Clews and Emery. Davis and Wright each pitched an inning of relief to close out the win. Post 5 finished up with 11 hits in all, with Davis and Zinabu McNiece each with three hits and Clews hitting a pair of doubles.
Post 5 then had to get through a pair of weekend doubleheaders on the road - two against Bellows Falls Post 37 and a pair against Bennington Post 13 - and managed to win three of the four games.
Against Bellows Falls on July 8, they split the two games with Post 5 winning 14-4 in six innings in the first game and losing 7-6 in eight innings in the second game.
Davis led the way in the first game with four hits and five RBIs with a home run, a double, and two singles. McNiece had a hit and three RBIs, while Bingham had a hit with two RBIs. Jolie Glidden went 3 2/3 innings to earn the win, with Jayke Glidden and Eric Kurucz finishing up on the mound.
The second game was tight, with Kurucz taking the loss in relief of Wright and Davis. Three errors in the eighth inning gave Bellows Falls a walk-off win. Brattleboro had seven hits in the game, with Sam Bogart driving in three runs on two hits, while Clews had two hits and an RBI.
On July 9 in Bennington, Brattleboro swept Post 13, winning the first game, 14-3, and taking the second game, 10-7. Post 5 is a good position to hang on to the top spot in the Southern Division with just another week left in the regular season.
Little League round-up
• The Brattleboro 12-U Little League All-Stars began play in the District 2 tournament last week.
On July 8 at South Main Street Field, Brattleboro rallied to beat Rutland County, 9-8, in a back-and-forth game that wasn't settled until the final out. Rutland took a 3-1 lead after two innings and boosted that lead to 6-2 with a three-run third inning.
Brattleboro started their comeback in the bottom of the third with a two-run double by Nolan Domanski to cut the Rutland lead to 6-4. Strong relief pitching from Azyi Crews held the line until Brattleboro exploded for five runs in the fifth inning. Crews drew a bases-loaded walk, Shaun Emery-Greene got two runs home on a fielding error, Axton Crowley had an RBI single, and Carson Depue got another run home on a ground out for a 9-6 lead.
It turned out Brattleboro needed all five of those runs, for Rutland made a big comeback in the sixth inning. Crowley, playing at second base, got the game's final out with a patient play on a ground ball that, if misplayed, would have given Rutland the lead. That play earned him the team's Most Valuable Player award, an oversized gold chain given to the star of each game.
Manager Chad Gundry, who guided Brattleboro to a state title last year, said after the game that this year's team is not quite as dominant in terms of pitching and hitting, but Crews, Crowley, Domanski, and Emery-Greene have performed well in the tournament thus far and they have gotten more than enough offense to win games.
With a 3-1 record in the round robin stage of the district tournament, Brattleboro earned the second seed and will host third-seeded Rutland in the elimination round on July 12 at 5:30 p.m. Bennington is the top seed in the tournament.
• The Brattleboro 10-U team has also been playing well in the round-robin stage of their District 2 tournament, clinching the top seed with an 8-4 win over Rutland County on July 8.
Brattleboro will host the winner of the Bennington-Rutland elimination game on July 13.
Guerino, Cole win Firecracker 4-Miler
• Jason Guerino of Vernon and Deepti Cole of Brighton, Massachusetts were the winners of this year's 48th annual Firecracker 4-Miler on July 4.
The 24-year-old Guerino, who finished sixth last year in his first try racing through the streets of Brattleboro, was the top male finisher with a time of 25 minutes, 24 seconds.
Cole, 42, another second-timer in the event, finished fourth overall and was the top female finisher in 26:42. John Hirsch, 48, of New York City was second in 25:52 and Josh Wooten, 40, of Brattleboro was third in 26:16.
Eve Pomazi, 24, of Brattleboro was the second-place finisher for the women. Her time of 27:50 was good enough for seventh overall.
There were 72 finishers in all, a smaller field compared to past years, in this race organized by the Red Clover Rovers running club. Complete results can be found at runsignup.com/Race/Results/21519#resultSetId-391270;perpage:100.
Honors for Sportsmen Inc.
• Sportsmen Inc. in Guilford has been the local classroom for many hunter education classes for more than 35 years. Recently, the club was awarded the Outstanding Partner to Hunter Education in Vermont Award by the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife's hunter education division.
Two distinct teams teach at Sportsmen Inc. - the team led by Don Rosinski, and the team formerly led by Herb Meyer, now led by Gary Sherer. Each year, Sportsmen Inc. sponsors at least three Hunter/Bowhunter education courses. Vermonters are required to pass the basic hunter education course before they can purchase their first hunting license.
The club's property in Guilford is the ideal setting for teaching hunter safety, as well as proper handling of firearms, for students of all ages. The emphasis that the Fish & Wildlife Department has put on training has paid big dividends in the sharp reduction in fatalities during deer hunting season over the past three decades. There were no hunting deaths reported in Vermont in 2021 and 2022.
Volunteers do all the safety training in Vermont, and the Sportsmen Inc. folks who have given so much of their time to this important task are greatly deserving of the department's honors.
Senior bowling roundup
• At the midpoint of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl, Slo Movers and Turkeys (both 33-17) are tied for first place with No Splits (32-18) in second place. Five Pins (31-19) is in third, followed by Skippers (27.5-22.5), The Bowlers (26-14), Stayin' Alive (24.5-25.5), High Rollers (21-29), and Wrecking Crew (18-32).
In Week 9 action on June 29, Carol Gloski had the women's high handicap game (229), while Diane Cooke had the high handicap series (637). Chuck Adams had the men's high handicap game (270) and series (703), while Turkeys had the high team handicap game (851) and Skippers had the high handicap series (2,461).
Adams led the men's scratch scoring with a 697 series that featured games of 268, 238, and 191. Robert Rigby had a 574 series, with games of 198 and 195, while John Walker had a 583 series with games of 201 and 197. Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 546 series with a 192 game, and Milt Sherman had a 535 series with a 227 game.
Gloski had the women's high scratch series (472) and game (181); she also had a 173 game. Cooke had a 161 game, while Shirley Aiken and Nancy Dalzell both had a 160 game,.
In Week 10 action on July 6, Doris Lake had the women's high handicap game (230), while Vicki Butynski had the high handicap series (637). Charlie Marchant had the men's high handicap game (261) and Jerry Dunham had the high handicap series (667), while No Splits had the high team handicap game (873) and Turkeys had the high handicap series (2,461).
Corriveau Sr. led the men's scratch scoring with a 543 series that featured games of 214 and 191. Dunham also had a 543 series with a 202 game, while Rigby had a 529 series, Adams had a 528 series, Gary Montgomery had a 514 series with a 192 game, and Sherman had a 505 series. Walker had a 197 game.
Dalzell had the women's high scratch series (472) and game (160), while Butynski rolled a 144.