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caption, page 7:

Woodstock Academy’s Bella Sorrentino placed first in the shotput as well as the 100-meter and long jump against Bacon Academy. Photos by Marc Allard.


Roundup
No quit in
this Centaurs’
tennis team
The light almost ran out on this one. Luckily, the match between the Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis team and the Montville Indians played for five hours. The Centaurs posted the 4-3 victory.
“These guys put so much effort into their play (Friday),” said Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis coach Siana Green. That was especially true for No. 1 singles player Stefan Chervenkov. He and his Montville counterpart, David Baukus, played for 3 ¼ hours before Chervenkov pulled out a 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 7-5 victory. “He came off the court with bloody toes from all the stop-and-go play,” Green said.
Chervenkov was elevated from his status as a member of the Centaurs No. 1 doubles team two years ago to No. 1 singles this season.
Chervenkov was down 1-5 in the first set but fought back to win. So far this season, he is 3-1 in his No.1 singles matches. His one loss was to Stonington’s Tucker Callahan.
The rest of the lineup has also been pretty consistent with Connor Quinn playing No. 2 singles and Evan Haskins behind him.
Against Montville, Quinn won his first set, 6-3 but the day caught up to him after that as he lost the next two sets, 6-1, 6-0.
Haskins had beaten his Montville opponent handily in the first meeting between the two teams and did so again with a 6-1,6-1 win but Jai Abrams fell at No. 4 singles and the match was even going into doubles competition.
The Centaurs duo of Gabriel Viau and Asier Ruiz lost at first doubles which left Green a little anxious especially since her second doubles team of Cormac Nielsen and Kyle Pazienza lost its first set, 6-2. Nielsen and Pazienza rallied to win the next two sets, 6-4, 6-3.
The third doubles team of Diego Rodriguez and Cang Nguyen guaranteed the victory with an up-and-down 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win.
The win put the Centaurs (4-1) and Indians (5-1) even in the loss column, essentially tied for first in Division 2 of the ECC. The Centaurs, overall, are now 4-3 and are on a three-match winning streak after suffering a three-match losing streak earlier in the season.
Baseball
No pressure. It’s how the Centaurs baseball team approached its doubleheader against Killingly May 8. It worked.
The Centaurs downed the previously undefeated Killingly squad, 3-0, in the opener and followed that up with a 3-2 second game victory.
“It feels fantastic,” said Woodstock Academy senior Jacob Hernandez. “We came into this game knowing that we didn’t have anything to lose. All the pressure was on them because of their undefeated season. We felt like coming in, playing some baseball and having some fun on a Saturday afternoon.”
The two wins raised the Centaurs record to 10-4 overall and 9-2 in Division 2 of the ECC.
Plainfield now owns the top spot in Division 2 with an 11-1 record followed by Killingly at 10-2 and Woodstock at 9-2.
“Plainfield always finds a way to win games, they play well, they play solid baseball. Obviously, we would like to play them again but we’re not going to. We have to win our games, take care of our business and we will see what they do,” said Centaurs coach Brian Murphy.
Woodstock Academy and Killingly battled for eight innings in the opener, seven of them scoreless as Jon Smith of the Centaurs matched up with Killingly’s Bo Yaworski in a classic pitcher’s duel.
The Centaurs finally broke through in the eighth when Brendan Hill walked and was pinch-run for by Norm Warcholik. Warcholik stole second and went to third on an error on the throw. He scored on an RBI single by Kaden Murphy.
Trey Ayotte reached on a fielder’s choice and, one out later, Hamilton Barnes singled, setting the stage for Hernandez who doubled home both runners to give Woodstock Academy the three-run lead.
Smith pitched seven innings, gave up five hits and struck out six. Marcus McGregor finished up the eighth inning. Kaden Murphy delivered a solid effort on the mound in the second game as he went the distance and only gave up five hits.
“Pitching has been there the whole year,” Brian Murphy said. “We didn’t change our rotation. I know there were some hoping to see (Kaden Murphy) and Bo (Yaworski) hook up in Game 1 but we stayed with what we’ve been doing all year and I’m proud of them.”
Killingly took the early 2-0 lead against the Centaurs in the second game, but Woodstock went ahead for good in the fifth inning.
Trey Ayotte cut the lead in half with an RBI ground rule double. Hamilton Barnes tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Hernandez delivered what proved to be the game-winning RBI single.
The Centaurs had a 50-50 week before the sweep of Killingly. They fell to Plainfield, 3-2. The Panthers held the 3-0 lead for much of the game until Woodstock rallied to score two runs in the seventh. Barnes had a run-scoring single and Jackson Goetz, who had two of the five Centaur hits, lofted a sacrifice fly but the rally fell short.
Things got a little better in Putnam although Woodstock had to, again, overcome a slow start. Down 2-1, the Centaurs scored six runs in the fifth inning to post a 7-3 victory. Zach Roethlein and Smith had two hits and two RBIs in the win over the Clippers.
Girls’ Track
The Woodstock Academy girls’ track team continued its winning ways against Bacon Academy last week. The Centaurs raised their mark to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in Division 2 of the ECC with a 105-45 win over the Bobcats last week.
“I was surprised as the score developed how large of a spread it was,” said Woodstock coach Josh Welch. “Bacon has a very diverse team, with some talent in every field, and good depth, so it was really going to come down to top performances in each event.  There were some excellent matchups in jumps and sprints, in particular, that our girls really pulled through on.  Our depth in distance and throws, and some standout performances in sprints helped us take that step beyond.”
Sophomore Bella Sorrentino, once again, displayed her diverse talents. Sorrentino, who will likely compete in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference heptathlon championship in June, was a first-place finisher on the track (in the 100-meter where she qualified for the Class MM state championship meet with a 13.3 second time); in the field (where she won the shotput) and also took home a first in the long jump.
Jillian Edwards was a winner in both the 100 hurdles and the high jump while Talia Tremblay was best in both the 200 and 400-meter races.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Reegan Reynolds, Tremblay, Linsey Arends and Leila MacKinnon and the 4x800-meter relay team of Arends, MacKinnon, Iris Bazinet and Lauren Brule also qualified for state competition.
Arends and MacKinnon also have a very good chance of qualifying in the 800-meter as individuals.
Other first-place finishes against the Bobcats included Carah Bruce (3200-meter); Magdalena Myslenski (discus); MacKinnon (javelin); Gabby Couture (pole vault) and Reynolds (triple jump).
The Centaurs, after three consecutive home meets, now go on the road for the last two at Windham and Plainfield.
Boys’ Track
Four meets into the season, the outdoor track season can start to take its toll on its young performers. The Woodstock Academy boys’ track team ran into that a bit last week against Bacon Academy.
Injuries to sprinters Eric Phongsa and Jack Marshall cost the Centaurs some valuable points.
The Centaurs depth was impacted even more when the meet was moved due to an inclement weather forecast and Seamus McDermott could not compete due to a prior commitment.
It all added up to a 78-72 win for Bacon Academy.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in Division 2 of the ECC.
Woodstock Academy coach Pete Lusa said despite the close finish, there were no heart-pounding moments at the end.
Adam Schimmelpfennig won both the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter hurdle event for a fourth straight time this season. Distance runner Ethan Aspiras, who has been recovering from an early season injury, won both the 800 and 1600-meter races for the Centaurs.
Other first-place finishers for the Centaurs included Liam Wilcox (triple jump); Keenan LaMontagne (shotput); Silas Strandson (javelin) and Jackson Dias (high jump).
The missing members may have had one positive to it as the Centaurs may have found another sprinter.
Boys’ Lacrosse
The Woodstock Academy boys’ lacrosse team clawed its way back to the .500 mark last week.
After falling briefly below the break-even line with a 12-10 loss to ECC Division 2 leader, Bacon Academy earlier in the week, the Centaurs bounced back with a 13-8 win over Norwich Free Academy May 6.
The win left Woodstock Academy with a 4-4 overall record and a 2-3 mark in Division 1 of the ECC.
Senior Guerin Favreau scored five goals and assisted on five others to give him 37 goals, 21 assists and 58 points on the season. Jonah Libby (17 goals this season) added a hat trick and Zach Gessner tossed in three as well. It was a close, 3-2, match early in the second quarter when the Centaurs rattled off four consecutive goals.
Jacob Jurnovoy scored two of them, one on an assist from Favreau, the other with help from Riley Chapuis. Favreau and Gessner also scored in the rally to give the Centaurs a comfortable 7-2 halftime lead.
NFA got as close as three in the third before Gessner scored his last two goals and Favreau added another to give Woodstock a 10-4 lead going into the fourth.
Two more Favreau goals and a Libby tally put the Centaurs up by eight before the Wildcats made it more respectable with three goals in the final 2 minutes, 45 seconds.
After a back-and-forth first half, the Centaurs scored the first three goals of the second half, Libby getting two of them, against Bacon Academy. But the Bobcats closed the deficit to one with 11:22 to play.
Favreau made it a two-goal game again 29 seconds later but Bacon Academy would not be denied.
The host team scored five goals in the final nine minutes to sneak away with the win.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

 

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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs.  The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
April 30
John Fontaine, 51, St. James Row, Danielson; operating a motor vehicle without a license.

 

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Replace
Eversource replaces the utility pole that was snapped in an accident last week on Kennedy Drive. Linda Lemmon photo.


One injured
in accident
on Kennedy Dr.
PUTNAM — A Putnam woman received minor injuries after her car hit a utility pole on Kennedy Drive around 8 p.m. April 29.
Putnam Police Department Captain Justin Lussier said a 2007 Honda Accord driven by Corine Young, 28, hit a utility pole near the corner of Kennedy Drive and Bundy Street.
Police said she was driving south on Kennedy Drive and for some unknown reason lost control of the car and hit the pole.
Young, the sole occupant, was taken to Day Kimball Hospital for minor injuries by Putnam EMS.  
That area of Kennedy Drive was is closed while Eversource secures the broken pole.  In addition to Putnam Police Department and Putnam EMS, the Putnam Fire Department also responded.
 Anyone with information or who may have witnessed this accident is asked to contact Sgt. Louis Cinque of the Putnam Police Department at 860-928-6565.  Tips can also be called in to the tip line at 860-963-0000.

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Helping

The Putnam Rotary Interact Club members spent part of their Sunday, May 2, beautifying the Pomfret Community Market (formerly Pomfret Food Pantry) and the Pomfret Senior Center (housed in the same building). TEEG's cmmunity market held its soft opening May 4. Interact members planted flowers, raked, trimmed bushes and picked up trash. Sierra Girad, Ryley Myers, Maeve Lusignan, Suzie Lefevre, Angel, Roman and John Paul San Antonio and club adviser Roberta Rocchetti all helped TEEG, Right photo: Maeve Lusignan of Woodstock Academy. Center: Group  photo, bottom row, from left: Suzie Lefevre and John Paul San Antonio, Roman and Angel San Antonio. Top Row: Ryley Myers, Sierra Girard, Rocchetti and Lusignan. Left photo: Lefevre and company at work. Courtesy photos.