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Pitcher
Mackenzie Leveille shows off her winning pitching form in a victory over Griswold. Photo by Marc Allard.




It’s been a long time.
Over a dozen years in fact since the Woodstock Academy softball team last beat a Griswold team.
Woodstock Academy coach Jason Gerum should know.
He was there — in the other dugout.
“The last time Woodstock Academy beat Griswold was when I was coaching there, Woodstock upset us, and I was devastated,” Gerum said.
Therefore, it was another upset April 9 when the Centaurs downed the Wolverines, 5-4, at Roseland Park.
So, even though he beat his long ago, former program — Gerum has been coaching at The Academy for eight years — he said it was not even more satisfying for that reason.
“It’s more about the gauge,” Gerum said. “I had such a good career as a coach at Griswold and (Griswold coaches) Bob and Rick (Arremony) are good friends of mine and I know how hard they work and how good their teams really are, year in and year out. It’s satisfying for me because I use them as a gauge. If we can play with them, we’re playing good softball. I have such respect for their program.”
It was also the good news for the week.
The Centaurs traveled to Norwich April 11 and ran into a loaded Norwich Free Academy team.
The Wildcats posted an 18-0, 4 ½ inning win to drop the Centaurs to 1-2 and 0-2 in Division I of the Eastern Conference.
The Centaurs game versus Stonington April 13 was postponed by a wet field.
It almost appeared it would be a case of déjà vu for the Centaurs when the Wolverines came to town.
As they were in their season opener with Fitch on the previous Saturday, which ended in a 7-6 loss, Woodstock Academy was on top, 4-3, going into the top of the seventh.
Griswold tied the game when Kaitlyn Davis (3-for-4, 2 doubles, 1 triple) doubled down the right field line to open the top of the inning. Davis came across on an outfield error.
The difference from Saturday was that the Centaurs prevented the Wolverines from taking the lead.
Winning pitcher Mackenzie Leveille buckled down and got a pair groundouts and catcher Juliana Nuttall threw out pinch-runner Samantha Falco attempting to steal second.
The Centaurs then manufactured a run in the bottom of the inning.
Hannah Chubbuck (3-for-4, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI) singled to centerfield to lead off the inning.
Maia Corrado reached on an infield error and Leveille reached on a sacrifice fielder’s choice to load the bases
After a strikeout, sophomore Megan Preston stepped to the plate.
“A little bit of stress, a little bit of nervousness, but I knew I had to get the bat on the ball and do the best I can to get the runner in,” Preston said.
She barely accomplished getting the bat on the ball, but got enough to hit a roller to third. Griswold’s Hailey Hill fielded it cleanly but Chubbuck slid under catcher Kamryn Gurnee and the ball popped loose for the game-winning run.
A brief celebration ensued; after all, it was only the second game of the season.
“It was exciting knowing that we pulled it out and no one expected it. We didn’t really expect it,” Preston said.
The Wolverines (2-2) took the lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Sarah Aviles.
But Leveille helped her own cause in the bottom of the inning.
Hannah Burgess, who hit 1.000 for the first two games of the season (7-for-7) with a 3-for-3 performance, singled, was sacrificed to second and went to third on a single by Chubbuck. Leveille, one out later, stroked a ball down the left-field line that just stayed fair for a two-run double.
The Wolverines tied it in the second on a solo homer by Hill and went ahead in the third on a Davis triple and a single by Cheyenne Zvingilas.
The Centaurs re-took the lead in the fifth on a Burgess double, an RBI single from Chubbuck and an RBI single by Heather Converse.
“We had that game with Fitch the other day and we didn’t want to go through that again. We had the lead on Fitch the whole game and let it slip. We knew Griswold’s top batters were coming up and we talked about digging deep and knocking off a top team,” Gerum said.
The Centaurs did stop the Wolverines not only in the seventh, but also in the fourth and fifth innings. Losing pitcher Julia Janca had a lead-off triple in the fifth, but the Wolverines failed to push the run across. Griswold also had runners on first and third and one out in the fifth and could not score.
“We got lucky there, too, because Griswold had its meat of the order up,” Gerum said. “Every game, you learn from your last one. We went into the classroom after the Fitch game, spent an hour in there, talked about all the situations, talked about what we could have done better and (Tuesday) we did what we talked about.”
The Centaurs didn’t have much of a chance against the undefeated Wildcats April 11.
NFA scored 10 runs in the first inning and five more in the second.
Preston and Chubbuck had the only hits of the game for the Centaurs.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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