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Woodstock Academy junior pitcher Lexi Thompson finished off the week the week by pitching a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts against Griswold in a 13-2 win. Photo by Marc Allard.



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Lax Celebration: The Woodstock Academy boys’ lacrosse team surrounds senior Tyler Green who volunteered to play goalie and helped the Centaurs post a 14-6 win over E.O. Smith. Photo by Sean Saucier.

Woodstock Academy senior Stella Brin reaches high for the ball on a play at midfield in the Centaurs 11-9 loss to the Colonels last week. Photo by Marc Allard

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The weather got a little warmer and the bats on the Woodstock Academy softball team got much hotter.
The Centaurs made the most of a busy week by capturing their first three wins of the season.
Woodstock capped off what was a successful week for the most part with a 13-2 win at Griswold April 16. Earlier in the week, the Centaurs downed Parish Hill, 14-1, and Montville, 9-1. The lone blemish of the week was a loss to Ledyard.
The wins raised the Woodstock record to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in Div. II of the ECC.
“We have some good hitters,” said coach Jason Gerum. “We have a good team. We’re young. I know we return some players who played last year but we only have two seniors. We have some kids who are playing a lot of innings for a first time. All the leaders graduated and the kids are trying to figure out that. We just have a lot of stuff that’s going to take a little time.”
It was made even more difficult considering the Centaurs opened against the likes of Waterford, NFA, and E.O. Smith.
“I don’t mind playing them,” Gerum said. “A team that’s young, that has a little inexperience, but is talented. At the end of the year, (the three games) would have been much better. We’re getting better than we were just two weeks ago.”
The Centaurs scored six runs in the first inning against the Wolverines and that was more than junior pitcher Lexi Thompson needed. She allowed just two hits and struck out 13 for the win in the circle.
“It’s tough seeing those teams (Waterford, NFA, E.O. Smith) early. That’s a tall order for a junior pitcher to kick off the season with that grind,” said Gerum.
Leadoff hitter Sarah McArthur drew a walk and scored the first run against Griswold on a passed ball. Madison Martinez singled and later came home on a Liz Morgis single.
The Centaurs loaded the bases on a single by Savannah Schley and a walk to Avery Collin. Emily Goodell made it 3-0 when she drew a bases-loaded walk and Jenna Bankowski delivered a three-run single to put the Centaurs up by six.
Woodstock added two more in the second inning, one in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth for the win. McArthur also finished with three RBIs in the win while Schley had two and Morgis finished with three hits.
Against Montville McArthur singled and later scored on a Thompson (4 RBIs) ground out in the first inning. After Montville tied the game in the top of the second, the Centaurs opened things up with a five-run second inning. Junior first baseman Morgis got the party started with a solo home run over the left field fence. Collin singled and later scored on a Mia Pannone ground out. Thompson made it 5-1 with a two-run single and she came home on a Delaney Anderson triple.
The remainder of the runs came in the bottom of the fourth when Martinez scored on a Thompson single and Madison Nichols followed with a two-run homer. Thompson did the rest as she yielded just three hits and struck out 12.
Against Parish Hill earlier the Centaurs gave Thompson a nine-run cushion in the first inning. Morgis drove in three of those with a double, her first of three hits in the game. Martinez added a two-run homer in the early uprising. McArthur had four hits and two RBIs in the game.
The Centaurs fell to Ledyard April 14, 17-2. The Colonels jumped out in front 3-0 in the first inning and the Centaurs never could catch up.
Colin and Thompson did knock in runs for Woodstock but Ledyard added three runs in the fourth inning, four in the sixth and six in the seventh to post the victory.
Boys’ Golf: Win 2 of 3 matches
As always at the beginning of the season, Woodstock boys’ golf coach Rich Garceau saw some good and some not-so-good in the first week of competition.
“Right now, the average scores of most of the returning players has increased - which in golf is the wrong direction - compared to how we finished our season last year. That said, we have only had one practice this year before our three consecutive matches this past week.  If you compare where we were at the start of last year and this season, we are moving in the right direction,” Garceau said.
And there has been a noted improvement in attitude. “The biggest improvement in the players is in their maturity,” Garceau said. “Last year, many of my players would let a bad hole linger in their minds ruining the rest of their round.  This year, we are making and succeeding at putting bad swings and holes behind us and focusing on what is in front of us.”
Woodstock started the season with two straight in the win column at the Quinnatisset Country Club, downing Tourtellotte in an ECC non-divisional contest, 7-0.
Seniors Kyle Brennan fired a 3-over par 39 and Chris Thibault added a 44.
The Centaurs also improved their team score by six strokes from their match with the Fitch Falcons the day before, finishing with a 178 total.
Fitch won more of the individual battles but the Centaurs captured the team total in strokes and took home the 4-3 win over the Falcons.
It was the season opener for the Centaurs and also the first ECC  Div. I match.
Brennan and Davis Simpson were medalists for the team as each shot a 43. Simpson and Landen Kuchy won their individual matches to score points for the team which bested Fitch by three strokes in total, 184-187, to win the match.
The Centaurs (2-1) did fall in their final match of the opening week to Waterford, 5-2, April 14. Brennan shot a 40 and Thibault added a 48. The Centaurs finished with a team stroke total of 192 in the match.
Garceau said he has some newcomers who are showing promise. “We have picked up some 9th-graders with some ability and several international students who are really showing progress along with some players who are excellent athletes and came over from different sports. (Assistant) Coach (Jeff) Boshka has been working with many of our new players and with his eye for a good golf swing, the kids have been making strong progress,” Garceau said.
Boys' Tennis: Split 2 matches
It was a 50-50 week for the boys’ tennis team as it was shutout by Ledyard but followed that with a shutout victory of its own over NFA.
The Centaurs raised their record to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in Div. II of the ECC with the 6-0 win over NFA April 16.
“It definitely felt good especially because we didn’t have our full team, not even close, because of spring break,” said coach Siana Green. “We went in a little nervous because we had to change up some positions.”
The two teams played only five matches with both missing one doubles team. NFA also was missing a singles player and another doubles team and was forced to forfeit those two results, thus the 6-0 win.
“I was happy with my singles players because they were able to adapt to the pace of the shots that NFA was hitting,” Green said.
The Centaurs swept the singles competition with Evan Haskins, playing in the No. 1 slot, posting a 6-2, 6-3 win. Gabriel Viau was also a straight-set winner, 6-1, 6-1 and Jai Abrams scored a 6-love, 6-1 win.
The first doubles team, James Le and Kyle Pazienza, were 6-1, 6-2 winners and Tyler Chamberlin and Ari Abrams posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory at second doubles.
It was also the first match the Centaurs played at their home away from home, Killingly.
Baseball: 5 Straight Wins
The baseball team saved its best for last. In its final game of the week, the Centaurs delivered a 10-0 win over New London in a game that was called after five innings due to the mercy rule.
“We’re happy with our performance this week and (Saturday) was probably our best,” said coach Brian Murphy. “It was a clean performance from pitching to defense to hitting. We were a little sloppy at Ledyard and the players heard about it after the game, but they cleaned it up nicely. We had a great practice (Friday) and were locked and loaded for Saturday. I’m happy because they worked hard and responded to us.”
The Centaurs also posted wins over Ledyard and Killingly in the week to raise their record to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Div. II of the ECC.
Sophomore pitcher Riley O’Brien made things easy against New London (3-3, 0-1).
He allowed only one hit, a second inning leadoff single to Isaiah Plaza, and struck out five to pick up the shutout victory.
“He pounded the zone,” Murphy said. “He’s got location, a few good pitches, and it was good to see him bounce back.”
O’Brien had been dealing with some tenderness in his pitching arm and Murphy elected to shut him down for a week.
He was at his pitch limit and would have been replaced in the sixth inning, but the Woodstock offense rendered that moot when it produced four runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
The Centaurs gave O’Brien plenty of backing in the first inning as well. The team scored five times out of the gate.
Hamilton Barnes opened the game with a double, moved to third on an Eric Mathewson single and scored on a Zach Roethlein base hit. Jon Smith then knocked in both Mathewson and Roethlein with a triple. Smith later scored on a Marcus McGregor sacrifice fly. Ethan Davis walked, stole second, went to third on the sacrifice fly and scored on a Carter Morissette ground out.
Barnes, Mathewson and Smith all had two hits in the win.
Woodstock had kept things going in the right direction April 14y with a 12-5 win over Ledyard.
The Centaurs took control of the game in the second inning when they pushed six runs across the plate. Woodstock loaded the bases on a couple of walks and a hit batter. Barnes put the Centaurs up, 2-0, with a double.
A Ledyard outfield error allowed another run to score and Woodstock made it 4-0 on another fly ball error by the Colonels.
Smith (3 hits, 3 RBIs) and Davis added RBI singles to account for the last two runs of the rally.
Ledyard (2-5, 1-1), like Killingly the game before, did rally to score four runs in the bottom of the third and make it a closer game. The Centaurs countered in the fourth against Ledyard on a two-run double by Jackson Goetz, a Smith RBI single and an error.
Roethlein and Morissette had two hits each in the win for the Centaurs and Kaden Murphy picked up the win on the hill.
Earlier in the week, Woodstock jumped out to a 6-0 lead over Killingly and then held on for a 7-5 win. Davis and Roethlein both drove in a pair of runs for the Centaurs while Kaden Murphy went 3-for-3 at the plate.
Girls’ Lacrosse: Lose Close 1
On the day before the start of spring break, Woodstock and Ledyard played and the Colonels pulled ahead at the end to post the 11-9 victory.
“I’m very happy with the girls,” said coach Mikayla Jones. “I tell them every game to go out there and play the way we teach you with respect and 100 percent effort. If they do that, I will always be happy with the outcome no matter what the score is. That’s the case (Thursday). I’m ecstatic. They played phenomenal.”
Ledyard (2-2, 1-1 ECC Div. II) grabbed the early lead. But the Centaurs (3-3, 0-3) tied the game at two and three before Ledyard scored the next two goals to make it 5-3.
The Centaurs tied the match by the break on a couple of free position tallies. Shannon Gagnon got the second of her two goals when she scored with 9 minutes, 16 seconds left in the half. Sydney Haskins then tied it with 5:50 to play and that’s where the score was at halftime.
Ledyard re-took the lead with a pair of goals early in the second half but the Centaurs closed again when senior Stella Brin scored the second of her coast-to-coast, unassisted goals of the game, outrunning the Ledyard defense to challenge the net.
Unfortunately for the Centaurs, they just did not have an answer for Ledyard midfielder Maddie McLeod who scored the next two goals to put the Colonels up, 9-6.
Caroline Harris had two goals in the game for the Centaurs. Gabby Couture and freshman Haley Whitehouse, who scored her first career varsity goal, also found the net.  Goalie Sofia Murray played tough in the net.
The Centaurs opened the week against a strong Stonington team and lost, 13-3. Harris, Gagnon and Haskins scored in the game for the Centaurs. The Bears also had a high-scoring talent as Ivy Goodman finished with eight of their tallies in the win.
Boys Lacrosse: Green Steps In
I was not the email that coach Jason Tata wanted to see on Saturday morning. His goalie, John Pokorny, let him know that he was too ill to play against E.O. Smith.
“It was like an absolute pit in my stomach, it was like ‘Oh my God.’ You can’t replace a goalie that easily,” Tata said. Fortunately, someone was willing to do so.
Senior defender Tyler Green volunteered to step in front of the net.
Green allowed four goals in the first quarter but calmed down, settled in, yielded just two the rest of the way and helped Woodstock record the 14-6 win over the Panthers to raise the team’s record to 4-3. Green finished with 14 saves.
Jonah Libby got the first two goals of the match for the Centaurs before E.O. Smith put four in the net to take the lead.
But two goals by Jared Neilsen and another by Zach Gessner helped Woodstock to pull into a 5-5 tie by halftime.
The Centaurs took control in the third quarter. Gessner scored a hat trick of his own in the third quarter to help Woodstock establish a 10-5 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Libby added three goals in the fourth quarter to finish with six on the day.
The Centaurs were coming off an ECC Div. I loss to E. Lyme, 20-8, earlier in the week.
Neilsen and Jurnovoy had three goals each in the loss while Gessner added two and Libby tossed in four assists.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy