Fire rages in Brooks House, leaving 60 needing ... - The Commons

6 THE COMMONS • Wednesday, April 20, 2011
SPORTS & RECREATION
Colonels open baseball
season with mixed results
The Brattleboro
Colonels started
their first week of the
baseball season with
mixed results.
The Colonels lost their
home opener to Monument
Mountain of Great Barrington,
Mass., 11-3, on April 12.
Brattleboro was not sharp in
any aspect of the game, as losing
pitcher Tommy Heydinger
was hit early and often by the
Spartans. He gave up 3 walks
and 9 hits before he was removed
in the fifth inning, and
his defense behind him was less
than stellar.
The players bounced back
from that loss with a 4-3 win
over Hartford at Tenney Field
last Friday. Pitcher Sawyer
Olson earned the complete
game victory, with 2 walks and
4 strikeouts.
Aside from a shaky fifth inning,
Olson performed solidly.
Soren Pelz-Walsh had the hot
bat with 4 hits and drove in two
runs during the second inning.
Evan Parro and Kevin Paciulli
each hit RBI doubles in the
first inning to stake Olson to a
early lead.
Now 1-1, the Colonels host
Bellows Falls on April 21.
Baseball
• Bellows Falls got its season
off to a good start with a pair
of wins.
On April 12, the Terriers
hammered Windsor, 17-2, in a
game at Hadley Field stopped
after six innings due to the
15-run rule. Pitchers Cooper
Long, Jeremy Kilburn, and
Eric Laurendeau teamed up
to shut down the Jacks. Long
RANDOLPH T.
HOLHUT
Sports Roundup
was solid at the plate too, with
2 doubles, 2 RBIs, and 3 runs
scored. Bruce Wells and Forest
Coleman each drove in 2 runs,
and Matt Marchica scored 3
runs.
BF followed that up with a
12–6 win over Springfield last
Thursday.
Wells and Brendan Hackett
each had 3 hits and combined
for 7 RBIs, while Marchica
went 2-for-3, with 3 stolen
bases and 3 runs scored. Long
and Kilburn again collaborated
on the mound; together, they
struck 7 and scattered 6 hits
while allowing just 2 walks.
• Leland & Gray prevailed in
their home opener last Friday,
a 17-8 win over Twin Valley.
The Rebels put the game out of
reach early, while the Wildcats
hung around but could not put
together a big inning until it
was too late.
Pitcher Drew Barnum went
5 innings to get the win, holding
Twin Valley to just 5 hits
as he walked 2 and struck out
2. Jared Van Osdol finished
up with 3 strikeouts in the final
2 innings. In the 2 innings
he worked, Joe Moore gave up
7 runs to take the loss for the
Wildcats.
Jason Moore and Dal
Nesbitt finished out the game.
Together, the three pitchers
RANDOLPH T. HOLHUT/THE COMMONS
Brattleboro’s Helen Manning competes in the triple
jump at a five-team track meet last Thursday at the
BUHS track.
gave up 16 hits.
It was the third straight
road loss for 1-3 Twin Valley.
On April 9, the Wildcats were
handed a 10-5 loss by Mount
Everett of Sheffield, Mass. On
April 12, West Rutland beat
Twin Valley in a 16-11 game
that was stopped after five innings
due to darkness.
Softball
• A warmer afternoon and
another week of practice gave
the Colonels an opportunity
to tighten up their game after
starting their season with a
32-0 rout of Bellows Falls.
Last Friday, the defending
champs looked the part as
they shut out Hartford, 10-0.
Pitcher Kayla Wood gave up
only 2 hits in the victory, striking
out 9 and walking no one.
Wood helped herself with a
3-for-4 day at the plate, driving
two runs. Ariel Kane hit a
pair of triples, driving in 2 runs.
Both Kane and Kaylee Graham
went 3-for-4, Graham also
drove in 2 runs.
Brattleboro had 14 hits on
the day as Ashley Watson,
Sydney Santor and McKenzie
Bover all had doubles, while
Kelsey Patterson and Taylor
Kerylow also had base hits.
Now 2-0, the Colonels travel
to Claremont, N.H., to face
Stevens on April 21.
• Leland & Gray looked
sharp, and not just because
they have new uniforms this
season.
The Rebels played an excellent
game in shutting down
Twin Valley, 4-1, in their
home opener at Townshend
last Friday. Pitcher Nicole
Sherman got the win, holding
the Wildcats to just 4 hits.
Sherman struck 4, walked 5
and hit a batter, and gave up
the only run of the game in the
seventh.
Twin Valley pitcher Kylieblu
Crawford scattered 9 hits
and walked 4 in a losing effort.
She and her twin sister Bryerlyn
accounted for all of Twin
Valley’s hits, and they helped
put a scare into the Rebels’ fans
as the Wildcats had the tying
run at the plate in the seventh
before Sherman escaped the
jam for the win.
Michaela Tietz and Ashley
Goddard went 2-for-3 for
Rebels. Tietz scored one
run and drove in another,
while Alex Morrow drove in
a run with a sacrifice bunt.
Aly Marcucci and Jacqueline
Hazard each scored a run.
• It was another tough outing
for the Bellows Falls
Terriers last Thursday, as they
dropped their home opener
to Springfield, 27-0. BF was
held to just two hits, by Megan
LaBeau and Emma Shaw, who
was the losing pitcher for the
0-2 Terriers. They are off until
April 25, when they travel to
Fair Haven.
Tennis
• It took a victory in the final
singles match to give Hartford
a 4-3 win over the Brattleboro
girls on Saturday. Lauren
Mabie, Mary McLoughlin, and
RANDOLPH T. HOLHUT/THE COMMONS
Pole vaulter John Punger of Bellows Falls clears the bar during competition at
a five-team track meet last Thursday at the BUHS track.
Hayley Ryan all won their singles
matches.
• The Bellows Falls girls
got their season off to a strong
start with a 6-1 victory over
Springfield at the Hadley Field
courts on April 11. The singles
players — Ruth Rowell, Hillary
Willard, Weeze Bennett,
Vanessa Edwards, and Lee
Parslow — all won their
matches.
The closest match of the
day was at No. 2 doubles,
as Remington Kurkul and
Tessa Morey rallied to defeat
Springfield’s Kelsie Howard
and Hannah Sorrell, 2-6, 6-4,
7-2.
• The Bellows Falls boys
opened their season with a 7-0
loss to Hartford last Thursday
at the Hadley Field courts.
They won’t be back in action
until April 25, when they travel
to Brattleboro.
Track and Field
• Twin Valley has a track and
field team for the first time this
year.
In the team’s inaugural meet
in Brattleboro on April 11,
Twin Valley freshman Sammy
Cunningham-Darrah placed in
the top 3 in all the events she
participated in. She was second
in the 100 and 800; she also
took third in the long jump and
joined Emily Furlon, Jennifer
Jones, and Alex Kennedy in
taking second in the 4 x 100
relay.
Cunningham kept it up last
Thursday at a five-team meet
in Brattleboro. Competing
against much bigger schools,
she won the 100- and 200-meter
dash, in 13.9 and 29.57 seconds,
respectively. Kennedy
and Cunningham-Darrah
placed second and third in the
400, while Jen Jones ended up
third in the 1,500.
• While the Twin Valley
girls made some noise in last
Thursday’s home opener for
the Brattleboro track teams,
the Colonel girls came away
with the team victory.
Ursula Casey won the hurdles
and triple jump, and she
took second in the long jump
and third in the high jump to
lead the Colonels.
Halie Lange won the 800
and led the 4 x 800 relay team
to victory. Paige Bailey won
the pole vault, Helen Manning
took the long jump, and
Hannah Reichel was a winner
in the 3,000.
The Colonels came in second
to Fall Mountain in the
boys meet. Greg Reuter led
Brattleboro with wins in the
200 and 400, and a third in
the 100, as well as leading the
Colonels to a second in the 4 x
100 relay.
Jacob Ellis won the 800
and was a member of the winning
4 x 800 relay team. Other
first-place finishers included
Austin Lester in the 1,500 and
Spencer Olson in the 3,000.
Bellows Falls came in third
in the girls’ meet, and fourth in
the boys’ meet.
Lacrosse
• Sam Finnerty scored
the winning goal in suddendeath
overtime to give the
Brattleboro boys a 8-7 victory
over Rutland at Natowich
Field last Friday. Finnerty also
scored and had three assists for
the Colonels in regulation time.
Travis Elliott-Knaggs also
had a pair of goals. Tarique
Rashed, Jon Thomson, Alex
Phomnath, and Nik Rancourt
also scored. Goalie Romello
Lindsey had 12 saves.
The following day, the
Colonels journeyed to
Monson, Mass., and won, 10-
4. Phomnath finished with 3
goals and 3 assists. Thomson
also scored 3 goals, Elliott-
Knaggs scored twice, and
Rashed and Finnerty each
added a goal.
Rashed also got a pair of assists,
while midfielders Taylor
Lynde and Andy Harris each
had an assist. Lindsey and
Logan George shared time in
goal and combined for three
saves.
Miscellany
• The Brattleboro Recreation
& Parks Department will host
the “Hoop It Up” basketball
camp for children entering
grades 2-7 on the week of June
20-24 at the Gibson-Aiken
Center, 207 Main St.
For students in grades 2-4,
the camp will run from 9 a.m.
to noon and will focus on the
development of motor skills,
giving each child the opportunity
to practice specific skills in
a structured and fun setting.
For students in grades 5-7,
the camp runs from 1 to 4
p.m. and will focus on the development
of motor skills as
well as provide opportunities
to practice team skills in game
situations.
The camp is intended for
boys and girls to improve
their skills with ball handling,
dribbling, passing, catching,
and layups.It is directed
by Todd Bell, who coaches
at Brattleboro Union High
School. All counselors are present
or past athletes who are
either attending BUHS or are
involved in college basketball
programs.
This camp has a small
camper-to-counselor ratio,
helping to ensure plenty of
individual attention and instruction
in a fun, supportive
environment.
The cost is$85 for
Brattleboro residents and $100
for non-residents. To register,
stop by the Brattleboro
Recreation & Parks office at
the Gibson-Aiken Center, 207
Main St.. For information, call
802-254-5808 or visit www.
brattleboro.org.