-Thanks to the efforts of so many people, Tenney Field at Brattleboro Union High School has never looked better.
Last season, fans saw the infield was rebuilt with new sod and dirt — the first upgrade to the playing surface since the 1960s — and the installation of fenced-in bullpens next to the dugouts. Still left to be done was the biggest job, refurbishing the field’s historic grandstand after years of deferred maintenance and neglect forced it to be closed in 2017.
The grandstand was finished in time for the start of the BUHS baseball season on April 14, but the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony had to wait until the afternoon of May 11. School officials and many of the local contractors who participated in the project were in attendance, along with some BUHS students.
“It is nice to see that we will continue to add to the history of this ball field and this grandstand,” said Windham Southeast School District Superintendent Mark Speno. “This is literally the nicest venue in Vermont to host a baseball game or any type of outdoor event. So kudos to our school community and to all of our supporters along the way, because it really hasn’t been easy.”
Calling the renovations “long overdue,” Speno said he was happy to see the grandstand being used by teachers and students for outdoor classes, something he said “is just wonderful. We know how hot the building can get, especially in June, so what an amazing asset.”
It took many hands to get this project done. Speno thanked Austin Design, Stebbins Spectacular Painting, Greg Clark Contracting, Iron & Oak Metalworks, J. Evans Construction, Kings Electric, DMI Paving, Wayside Fences, and The Melanson Company. Scott Noren and the BUHS baseball team helped with manual labor, including dismantling the old bleachers so they could be replaced.
Among the long‑term champions of the project was Team Tenney, led by Chris Millerick, cited by Speno as a major supporter and a chief reason the grandstand survived at all. Local businesses and organizations, including WW Building Supply, LaValley Building Supply, and the Brattleboro Elks, contributed materials and funds.
“As you can see,” Speno said, “many people were involved, and that’s what it takes to have a successful community—for everybody to pitch in.”
Speno gave special recognition to Ricky Aither, director of facilities at BUHS, who has been repeatedly described as the “unsung hero” of the project — someone who coordinated contractors, solved day‑to‑day challenges, and saw the effort through to completion. Windham Southeast’s business administrator, Frank Rucker, also received praise for his behind‑the‑scenes work coordinating finances and logistics.
Thanks to the work of so many, baseball fans in Brattleboro — one of the best baseball towns in Vermont — can once again enjoy a first class setting to watch a game. And, there should be plenty of games to watch at Tenney Field in the coming years.
There has been talk of convincing the Vermont Principals Association to consider using Tenney Field as the site for the state high school championships if they ever decide to stop using Centennial Field at the University of Vermont and stage the game in other corners of the state.
Brattleboro will definitely be in the mix to host the Vermont American Legion baseball tournament in the near future. The combination of Tenney Field, with Gouin Field in Dummerston, as the two sites for the eight-team tourney would be hard to beat.
If we want to dream big, Brattleboro might attract a franchise from one of the New England’s two summer collegiate baseball leagues — The Futures League or the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Keene has the Swamp Bats, Burlington has the Lake Monsters, and Montpelier has the Mountaineers. Why not a Brattleboro team in either of these leagues? And, in keeping with the legacy of the great semipro teams in this town’s baseball history, they could be called the Maples.
Unified basketball
• Brattleboro finished the regular season with a 4-5 record, which meant the Bears would be on the road for all its playoff games. The Bears got started on May 13 with a trip north to Bradford, where they faced the Oxbow Olympians in the quarterfinals and pulled out a 42-41 win.
The Bears trailed 41-40 as time ticked down, but Tristen Leland saved the day. He scored the winning basket with one second left to give the Bears a dramatic buzzer-beating victory. They had little time to savor the win, since they had to take on the defending champs, the Middlebury Tigers, on May 14. Brattleboro lost, 57-30, but for Bears head coach Tyler Boone, the season was more successful than expected.
“At the beginning of the season, most of our kids had never played an actual game of basketball,” Boone wrote in an email. “While we are disappointed to not play in an 11th game at Norwich [the site for the state title game], we exceeded our wildest expectations! I am so proud of every member of our team.”
Baseball
• Brattleboro played three games last week and failed to score a run in any of them. On May 11 in Swanzey, New Hampshire, the Bears were shut out by Monadnock, 14-0. On May 13 at Tenney Field, Burr & Burton’s Jack Milian threw a no-hitter as the Bears lost, 13-0. The week ended with a 5-0 road loss to Hartford on May 15 to leave the Bears with a 1-6 record.
• Bellows Falls improved to 7-2 with a pair of big road wins last week. On May 12, BF shut out Fair Haven, 15-0, in five innings. Winning pitcher Jaden Bazin struck out 11 and walked no one in throwing a two-hitter. Steve Joslyn hit a double and drove in three runs, while Jakob Tostrup, Bazin, and Peyton Haskins each drove in two runs as the Terriers took advantage of eight walks and three errors by Fair Haven.
On May 15, Joslyn was the winning pitcher as he and the Terriers held Windsor to just one hit as they cruised to an 11-1 win in six innings. Bazin had three hits, including a double and a triple, and drove in three runs.
• Leland & Gray also had pair of road wins last week to improve to 8-1. The Rebels edged Arlington, 6-5, on May 12, and beat West Rutland, 9-7, on May 15.
• Twin Valley improved to 5-4 with a 14-4 win at Poultney on May 11 and a 9-1 victory at Baker Field against Mount St. Joseph.
Softball
• A pair of lopsided road wins improved Bellows Falls’ record to 8-1. On May 12, the Terriers walloped Fair Haven, 24-4, in a five-inning game where BF pounded out 17 hits. Bri Mulverhill, Olivia Tostrup, and Grace Hayes each had three hits, while Jocelyn Fletcher and Brook Parker both had two hits. Delany Stoodley struck out nine and walked two in holding Fair Haven to just one hit.
On May 16, BF cruised to a 16-6 victory over Springfield. Mulverhill was the winning pitcher; she scattered eight hits with 12 strikeouts and four walks. At the plate, she had two hits and scored three runs. Hayes and Stoodley both had two hits, and Candace James drove in three runs with a pair of hits.
• Leland & Gray is 7-2, with their two losses coming at the hands of the defending Division IV champs West Rutland. The Golden Horde swept the regular season series with a 6-2 win over the visiting Rebels on May 15.
This game was tied 2-2 entering the bottom of the sixth as Leland & Gray’s McKinley Bertram and West Rutland’s Emma Lee were locked in a pitchers duel before the Horde then broke open the game with four consecutive base hits and scored four runs.
The Rebels got their runs in the first, when Addison Eldridge walked and eventually scored on a Molly Bingham groundout, and in the fourth, when Sophia Hallock singled and scored on a Sophia Hall RBI single.
Earlier in the week, the Rebels beat Mill River, 15-7, on May 11 in Townshend and defeated visiting Springfield, 13-9, on May 12.
• Brattleboro was winless last week with a 19-6 loss at Monadnock on May 11, a 3-2 loss to Burr & Burton at Sawyer Field on May 13 and a 10-0 loss at Hartford on May 15 as the Bears fell to 1-8.
Track & Field
• The Bellows Falls girls finished fourth, while the BF boys were sixth in an eight-team meet at Hadley Field on May 12.
Veronica Moore led the BF girls with a second place finish in javelin (25.10 meters). She was also second in long jump (4.25), third in discus (26.26), and fourth in the triple jump (9.14). The 4x100 meter relay team of Elyse Thurber, Avery Maxfield, Haven Harty, and Gracie Patterson finished fourth in 56.59 seconds. Maxfield was fourth in the 800 (2:46.92) and javelin (23.01), Thurber (56.37) and Kenna Applegate (58.78) were fourth and fifth in the 300 hurdles, Patterson was third in long jump (4.20) and fifth in the 200 (29.44), and Loralei Hill was sixth in the 400 (1:13.07).
In the boys’ meet, BF was led by Stefan James, who was third in javelin (34.32 meters) and fourth in shot put (10.65). Kai Parson was fourth in javelin (32.37) and fifth in pole vault (2.46), Karter Pierce was fourth in the 400 (1:01.37), Brock Lovell was fifth in discus (30.23), Morgan Haskell was fifth in the triple jump (11.02), and Cam Perry was sixth in shot put (10.30).
Leland & Gray also participated in the meet. For the girls, Abby Dunn was eighth in discus (19.0), while Lilly Litchfield was eighth in javelin (20.27) and triple jump (8.15). In the boys’ meet, Lucas Woodruff (49.87) and Paul Woodruff (54.07) were fifth and eighth in the 300 meter hurdles.
Lacrosse
• The Brattleboro boys got back in the win column with three home victories last week. The Bears defeated Mount Anthony, 8-2, on May 11, and rolled over Rutland, 15-3, on May 13. Weather forced a change of venue to the Landmark College artificial turf field on May 14, but the Bears were unfazed and beat Stratton Mountain School, 13-3, to improve to 6-2.
• The Brattleboro girls lost at Woodstock, 15-4, on May 11. The Bears remain winless at 0-6.
Free 5K fun run in Townshend
• Registration is now open for Leland & Gray’s PAT (Positive Action Team) free 5K Fun Run, which is set for Saturday, May 30, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, on Oakwood Cemetery Road in Townshend.
Organizers say all ages and speeds are welcome. Register by May 27 at forms.gle/CdSL88TFkmRxDNyX9. A free lunch will also be provided after the run.
Senior bowling roundup
• In Week 2 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on May 14 saw Number 1 and Near Miss (both 8-2) tied for first place, followed by Strike Force (7-3), Queen ‘n’ Joker (6-4), Slo Movers, The House, and Pin Heads (all 5-5) Skippers (4-6), Ducks (2-8), and Team Two (0-10).
Diane Miller had the women’s high handicap game (252) and series (674), while Joe Bonneville had the men’s high handicap game (260) and series (657). Pin Heads had the high team handicap game (882) and Slo Movers had the high handicap series (2,484).
Kevin Napaver again had the men’s high scratch series (649) with games of 228, 213, and 208, while Robert Rigby had a 611 series with games of 235 and 194. John Walker had a 565 series with a 212 game, Rick Westcott had a 524 series with a 196 game, Gary Montgomery had a 507 series, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 504 series, Rich Garren had a 192 game, and Rich Pietro rolled a 191.
Diane Cooke had the women’s high scratch series (463), with a pair of 159 games. Nancy Dalzell had the high scratch game (164), and Debbie Rittenhour rolled a 150.
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.