-Fans of Brattleboro baseball once again have a glorious environment to watch games now that the newly refurbished grandstand at Tenney Field reopened last week. Unfortunately, the Brattleboro Bears aren’t yet playing up to the level of their surroundings.
The season opener at Tenney Field on April 14 against the Mount Anthony Patriots was suspended after four innings due to a line of thunderstorms in the area. That game will be completed on May 20 when the Patriots return to Tenney Field as part of a doubleheader.
The Bears were trailing the Patriots when the storms came, and were hoping for better luck on April 17 when they hosted Rutland. The weather was perfect, but the baseball was not. Rutland rolled to a 17-4 win in a five-inning game shortened by the 10-run mercy rule.
Rutland took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Charlie Murphy had an RBI sacrifice fly to score Grady Gallagher. They added five more runs in the second inning. Collin Bridge and Tyler Kennedy both scored on passed balls, Kyle Bigelow drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk, and Oskar Ladabouche blooped a single into shallow left field to drive in two runs.
Bears starting pitcher Wylie Nelson, who took the loss, was lifted after Ladabouche’s hit. Carlos Torres relieved Nelson to stop the bleeding, but Gallagher drove in Brody Austin and Gavin Hughes on an infield single in the third inning to make it 8-0.
Brattleboro finally scored a run in the fourth inning when Sean Cozza walked and scored on an RBI single by Charlie O’Connell. Rutland responded with a nine-run outburst in the fifth inning. Murphy and Bigelow drove in runs with an infield hit to open the inning. Ladabouche then cleared the bases with a three-run triple to left. Kennedy followed with a sacrifice fly to score Ladabouche, and Hughes hit an RBI double to push the lead to 17-1.
With a win all but assured, Ladabouche came in to pitch, and Brattleboro took advantage of his inability to throw a strike to score three runs. Connor Emery was hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Kmar Hall. Hall later scored on a wild pitch and Briar Cutting, who reached base on a walk, later scored on a balk.
“We just have to get better,” said Brattleboro Coach Chris Groeger after the game. “We gave up too many walks [13 in all], and made too many mistakes in the field and on the bases. You can’t give any team that many extra chances and expect to win.”
The Bears are off until April 29, when they face Burr & Burton. Groeger said he plans to have the team “work on everything” during the lull in the schedule.
Baseball
• Bellows Falls opened its season with a pair of close games. In the season opener against Fair Haven on April 17 at Hadley Field, Jake Tostrup got what proved to be the game-winning hit in the BF sixth to give the Terriers a 4-1 win. Steven Joslyn was the winning pitcher. He went the distance, allowing four hits and striking out 10 batters.
The next day, in Brandon, the Terriers lost to Otter Valley, 6-5, on a walkoff single by Marek Heitmann in the bottom of the seventh. BF had a 5-2 lead, but a Nolan Quenneville three-run homer tied the game. Jacob Kissell led BF with three hits.
• Twin Valley scored three runs in the third and six more in the fifth to break open a close game and beat Arlington, 11-1, in a five-inning game on April 13 at Baker Field.
Softball
• With 11 players back from last year’s team, Bellows Falls is primed to have another great season. The Terriers opened with a 19-3 win in five innings over White River Valley on April 16. This game was decided early, as BF took a 15-2 lead after two innings.
Brielle Mulverhill was the winning pitcher, giving up two hits and two walks in four innings of work. At the plate, Mulverhill went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and four runs scored, Grace Hayes went 2-for-2 with three RBIs and three runs scored, Aly Streeter drove in two runs and scored twice, Fletcher had two RBIs and scored a run, and Delaney Stoodley and Brook Parker each scored two runs.
On April 17 against Fair Haven, the Terriers held off a seventh-inning rally by the Slaters to hang on for an 11-10 win. The following day, the Terriers were shut down by Otter Valley pitcher Sophia Parker, who struck out 16 batters in the Otters’ 13-5 win. The only BF batter that had any success against Parker was Hayes, who singled and walked three times.
• Brattleboro had an up-and-down week to start its season. It began with a 10-2 loss to Mount Anthony at Sawyer Field on April 14, continued with a 17-5 win over visiting Rutland in six innings on April 17, and finished with a 17-3 loss at Agawam, Massachusetts, on April 18.
In the Rutland game, the Bears scored eight runs in the first inning and had five more in the third inning to seal the win. Winning pitcher Kennedy Unaitis had six strikeouts in the complete game victory and Alyssa Jones hit a single, a double, and a triple. Facing an Agawam team coached by BUHS legend Kathy Georgina, the Bears gave up 13 runs in the first inning and never recovered. The 1-2 Bears are off until April 29, when they travel to Burr & Burton.
• Despite soggy conditions, Leland & Gray romped to a 13-0 win in five innings over West River Valley on April 14 in Townshend. Twelve of those runs came in the second inning, as the Rebels sent 17 batters to the plate. Those runs came on three hits, nine walks, multiple errors, and several batters hit by pitches. Winning pitcher McKinley Bertram struck out 12, walked three, and did not allow a hit.
Track & field
• Brattleboro’s teams both finished second in a nine-team meet at Burr & Burton on April 16. In the boys’ meet, Mount Anthony finished first with 130 points, just ahead of Brattleboro (115) and Rutland (77). Burr & Burton won the girls’ meet with 149 points, followed by Brattleboro (128.5) and Mount Anthony (78).
The Brattleboro boys were led by Stockton Woodruff, who won the 400 meters in 53.61 seconds. Gabriel vonRanson and Colby Weaver finished second and third in the 200 meter dash with times of 24.50 and 24.63, respectively. Jackson Ferreira was second in the 3,000 meters (10:27.16) and third in the 1,500 meters (4:41.48). Walker Korb was fourth in the 800 meters (2:27.29). The quartet of Basil Leoniak, Weaver, Woodruff and vonRanson won the 4x100 meter relay (46.47), while Ferreira, John Duncan, Lakota Sheldon, and Korb took third in the 4x800 meter relay (9:57.24).
The field events saw Ryan Lin (9.71 meters) and Jakobe Slayton (8.98 meters) finish first and second in the triple jump. Duncan (33.30 meters) and Henry Wilson (31.50 meters) finished second and third in javelin. Noah Duell was second in high jump (1.68 meters), while Wilson (3.35 meters) and Isaiah Traut (1.52 meters) were second and third in pole vault.
In the girls’ meet, Leanna Rago-Marker (2:56.91) and Lydia Donahue (2:59.25) finished first and second in the 800. Hailey Richards was second in the 100 (12.6), while Rae Thibault was second in the 400 (1:08.09), and Margeaux DesJardins was third in the 200 (29.94). Xela Nestel (5:59.89), Rago-Marker (6:04.18), and Donahue (6:06.14) came in third, fourth, and fifth in the 1,500. Nestel was the lone runner in the 3,000 (13.07.13), while Amara Tuma (18.74) and Thibault (19.50) finished fourth and fifth in the 100 meter hurdles. Tuma, Ninah Favreau, Keelin Rosinki, and DesJardins finished second in the 4x100 relay (59.56).
In the field events, Richards won the pole vault (2.90 meters), with Tuma (1.83) and Maeve Bald (1.68) finishing fourth and fifth. DesJardins was second in long jump (4.04), and Evelyn Paine (1.32), Stella Thies (1.22), and Thibault (1.17) were third, fourth, and fifth in high jump.
Leland & Gray also participated in this meet. Lily Litchfield was fourth in girls’ javelin (18.20) and triple jump (8.26), while Ronan Foley was third in boys’ triple jump (7.15), and Lucas Woodruff (53.24) and Paul Woodruff (55.42) finished third and fifth in boys’ 300 meter hurdles.
• The Bellows Falls girls took seventh place, while the BF boys finished eighth in a multi-team meet to open the season April 14 at Hadley Field.
In the girls’ meet, Gracie Patterson (4.44 meters) and Veronica Moore (4.24 meters) finished second and third in the long jump. Kenna Applegate was third in the 100 meter hurdles (21.14 seconds). Moore was also fifth in discus (19.40 meters), while Patterson was sixth in the 100 meter dash (14.07 seconds). In the boys’ meet, Stefan James was second in shot-put (9.79 meters), Brockton Lovell was fourth in discus (21.66 meters), and Colton Shanks was fifth in the 100 meter dash (12.21 seconds) and fifth in the long jump (5.20 meters).
Unified basketball
• Brattleboro took a big lead early and held on for a 48-30 win over Otter Valley on April 13 at the BUHS gym. The Bears led 24-6 after one quarter and led 30-12 by halftime. On April 15, the Bears lost to Burr & Burton, 45-37. The 2-3 Bears are off until April 28, when they face Mill River.
• Twin Valley lost to visiting Mount Anthony, 53-48, on April 15. The 1-3 Wildcats are off until April 27, when they travel to Fair Haven.
Tennis
• The Brattleboro boys opened their season on April 13 with a 6-1 loss to Burr & Burton at the BUHS courts. Mark Richards had the only victory for the Bears at No. 1 singles, beating Liam Hershberg 3-6, 6-4, 10-5. This was the first of the matches with Burr & Burton; the teams will face each other again on April 30 and May 11.
• The Brattleboro girls lost their opener on April 15 to Rutland, 5-1. The Bears’ lone win came at No. 1 doubles, where Sylvia Plitt and Drea Muravski beat Kinsley Rodrigue and Phoenix Woodard 6-4, 1-6, 10-4.
Lacrosse
• The Brattleboro boys started the season April 14 and gave new coach Romello Lindsey his first varsity win with a 9-6 victory over Mount Anthony in Bennington. The Bears scored five goals in the third period to take the lead and hung on for the victory.
• The Brattleboro girls lost to Mount Anthony, 11-5, in the season opener in Bennington on April 15.
Ultimate disc
• Brattleboro fell behind early and never recovered in a 15-5 loss to Burr & Burton in the season opener at Natowich Field on April 15. Riley Bristol and Elijah Cummings each had two goals for the Bears, Levi Green had a team-high three assists, and Dylan Taylor also scored. All of the Bears’ goals came in the second half and took the sting out of an 8-0 deficit at the midpoint of the match.
BOC paddling program begins 2026 season
• The Brattleboro Outing Club (BOC) 2026 paddling schedule features 11 trips on local reservoirs, lakes, ponds, and rivers, around the Brattleboro area. The first BOC trip of the season is on the Hinsdale “setbacks” on the Connecticut River Saturday, April 25. Meet at 8 a.m. in the Walmart parking lot on Route 119 in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. BOC Paddling coordinator Larry McIntosh says to “expect to see songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, beavers, and turtles.” There will also an on-the-water refresher training with kayak “assisted rescue.”
All BOC trips are free and open to the public; just show up at the time and place noted, with a boat/board, and all the necessary paddling and safety gear, plus water, snacks, and lunch needed for a day’s outing. Life jackets are required. For more information, contact McIntosh at Lmacyak@gmail.com or call 207-703-6668, and find the full schedule and description of paddling sites at BrattleboroOutingClub.org (click on the “Summer Paddling” tab).
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 15 of the winter/spring season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on April 16 saw Bad Boys (47-28) have a 4-1 week to maintain their hold on first place. Lucky 7 (42-33) took sole possession of second place, followed by Wayne’s World (41-24), Serious (39.5-35.5), Candy Men (38-37), Strikers (36-39), Spare Time (35-40), Bowling Stones (33-42), Three Strikes (32.5-42.5), and Slo Movers (31-41).
Diane Cooke had the women’s high handicap game (263) and series (637). Al Dascomb had the men’s high handicap game (258) and Skip Shine had the high handicap series (723). Three Strikes had the high team handicap game (887) and Candy Men had the high handicap series (2,546).
Kevin Napaver had the men’s high scratch series (708) with games of 262, 256, and 190, while Peter Deyo had a 657 series with games of 233, 232 and 192. John Walker had a 599 series with a 236 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 564 series with games of 212 and 191, Shine had a 555 series with a 200 game, and Pete Cross had a 524 series with a 197 game. Gary Montgomery had a 514 series and John Laamanen and Milt Sherman each had a 193 game.
Cooke had the women’s high scratch series (474) and game (205), and Carol Gloski had games of 164 and 163.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at news@commonsnews.org.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.