Clipper 

baseball &

softball

riding high

By Ron P. Coderre

The student population at Putnam High School has been decreasing in the past years to the point where depending on whom you listen to there are less than 300 students in the building on Woodstock Avenue.  

In looking at that figure it’s amazing that this spring the boys’ baseball team and girls’ softball squad are doing as well as they are.  Realizing that the numbers are low must mean that the talent level is better than average.   At this early juncture of the season, both teams are playing at a .500-level or better.

The men went through a perfect week winning a pair of lopsided contests, including a shutout tossed by Josh Allard.  The ladies split a pair of contests, riding the strong arm of Mackenzie Livingston.

Putnam & Plainfield Post Perfect Weeks

Putnam went on a hitting tirade, giving winning pitcher Allard all the support he required as the Clippers shutout Windham Tech in its opening game of the week 18-0 in a Constitution State Conference contest.  The Clippers produced a barrage of extra base knocks as Jacob Guertin, Nick Foucault and Joe Hill had doubles in the victory and Tyler Genest had a three-bagger.

The Clippers followed up that win with a 25-4 lambasting of Parish Hill behind the tosses of Foucault.  Genest and Guertin had two-baggers and Hill had a double and a triple to go along with two triples off the bat of Luke Sarsfield.  Putnam is 3-2 overall and 3-2 in the CSC East.

Plainfield meanwhile remained perfect at 3-0 with a rare 4-2 victory over New London.  Mike Esposito was the winning pitcher, raising his record to 2-0.

Tourtellotte went through a heartbreaking week losing a pair of games that easily could have gone into the W column as they fell to 1-3 on the season.  Leading 11-3 entering the top of the seventh against Griswold, the Tigers allowed the Wolverines to score nine runs and post an exciting 12-11 comeback victory over a disappointed Tourtellotte nine.  Benny Brissette had a pair of doubles for the Tigers.  Against Woodstock Academy of the ECC Large Division, Tourtellotte lost 5-2 giving up all the runs early in the game before settling down.  Billy Harrington picked up the win for Woodstock which raised its record 2-2 overall.

Earlier in the week the Centaurs lost a pair of Large Division games, 10-6 to Ledyard and 5-0 to East Lyme.  Dan Murphy (double) and Trent Appleton (triple) were the lone bright spots for Woodstock against Ledyard.  In the loss to East Lyme the Centaurs managed only three hits.

Killingly (0-3) is still searching for its first win of the season as is Ellis Teach (0-4).  The Redmen were dropped by Montville 7-1 and lost 5-4 to Griswold, allowing the Wolverines to push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.  The Techsters lost to Bacon Academy 6-1 in an out-of-conference contest.  It took Pomfret eight inning but the Griffins prevailed over neighboring prep rival Marianapolis 7-4.

Tough Week for Local Softball Teams

The wins were few and far between this week for local softball teams but the Putnam Lady Clippers managed to pick up a victory as they pummeled Parish Hill 22-2 after having lost earlier in the week 12-9 at the hands of Windham Tech.  Putnam is 3-3 overall thanks to Livingston who has hurled every contest.

Plainfield at 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in the ECC Medium was perfect on the week, rolling over New London 22-4 and winning a nail biter over Ledyard 3-1.  Keri Lehtonen was the winning pitcher for the Lady Panthers in both games.  

Woodstock Academy, Tourtellotte and Killingly were a combined 0-5 during the vacation week.  The Centaurs (1-2 & 0-1) were dropped 9-1 by Ledyard and 6-1 by East Lyme.  Tourtellotte (2-1 & 0-1) was a 6-1 loser to St. Bernard.  Killingly (0-4 & 0-2) lost to Montville 4-3 and Stonington 6-1.   

Ellis Tech (2-2 & 2-2) split two contests, beating Cheney Tech 35-23 in a game that resembled a football score more than softball.  Sheriden Murphy hung on for the win.  The Eagles then lost another high-scoring affair to Norwich Tech 22-10.

Marianapolis remained perfect on the season at 5-0 with a pair of satisfying victories.  The Lady Knights opened with a 9-5 win over Pomfret School (3-1).  Elaina Consentino and Riley Hehir with three runs batted in apiece paced the Marianapolis win.  The Golden Knights closed out the week with an easy 15-0 shutout over Chase Collegiate School.