Baseball/Softball Wrap-up

Play ball! 

Local teams 

struggle to get

season 

underway

By Ron P. Coderre

A smattering of baseball and softball games managed to be played as coaches and players anxiously awaited the clearing and drying of local baseball and softball diamonds.  “Old Man Winter” with his heavy snowfall was no friend of spring sports, as it took much creativity and ingenuity to prepare the diamonds for play in 2015.  A winter we all will remember.

Only six baseball games were played in the initial week of action.  The rust, which had to be chipped away, and the lack of outdoor practice took its toll on area teams.  Plainfield and Marianapolis were the only teams to post victories, while Putnam, Woodstock Academy and Ellis Tech all bit the dust in their opening games.

The softball diamond also wasn’t very generous in doling out victories in the initial week of play.  Of the seven games that were contested, only two teams walked off with wins.  Tourtellotte and Ellis Tech posted wins, while Plainfield, Putnam, Woodstock Academy and Marianapolis Prep suffered losses.

Putnam Shutout by Stonington

The Putnam Clippers, hoping to get off on a positive note, were shutout by the Stonington Bears 6-0 in the lid lifter of the 2015 season.  In stepping out of the Constitution State Conference Putnam found the Eastern Connecticut Conference competition a little tougher than expected as they were limited to a mere three hits in the loss.  Josh Allard, coach Chris Hehir’s opening day pitcher suffered the loss.

Plainfield of the ECC opened with a 6-4 non-conference win over CSC opponent Ellis Tech.  Jordan Federer picked up the season opening victory.  He received offensive support from Jeff Nicolosi who registered a double and two runs scored.  Ellis Tech was led by Brett Ravenelle who was 3-for-4.  The Eagles’ freshman hurler Caleb Deslauriers hurled four strong opening innings in the loss.  The Techsters then lost their next contest in a big way, getting pummeled by Bacon Academy 19-0 to drop to 0-2 on the season.

In a rare Sunday afternoon contest, Plainfield demolished Windham Tech 26-0 behind the tosses of Kyle Boarman.  Steve Jankowski with a triple and Dave Carpenter and Federer with doubles paced the 2-0 Panther multi-hit attack.

Woodstock Academy squared off against ECC Large Division foe Ledyard in its opener and was dropped 7-3.  Ryan Gadoury was the lone bright spot for coach Bill Carpenter’s Centaurs, slamming a solo homerun.  

Marianapolis, despite a brilliant pitching performance by senior Billy Hanrahan, fell at the hands of Providence Country Day 2-1 in its opener.  Hanrahan tossed no-hit ball but a pair of costly errors handed the victors two unearned runs.  The Golden Knights bounced back with a solid 7-2 victory over Portsmouth Abbey to even their record at 1-1.  Dalton Bodreau picked up the win limiting Portsmouth Abbey to only three hits.  Tom Horvat, Hanrahan, Ben Fitzpatrick and Christian Cutroni each had to hits in the victory.  

Tourtellotte Ladies Open with Big Wins

The Tourtellotte Lady Tigers softball team picking up where the basketball team left off opened the season with three big wins.  In the early going Tourtellotte sports a 3-0 log. 

The Lady Tigers led by catcher Christina Kopacz’s 3-for-5 offensive showing, which included a homerun and four runs-batted-in, waltzed past Ellis Tech 17-2 in a contest called after six innings.  The Lady Tigers also had a four RBI performance from Crystal Daly.  Hannah Carignan was the lone bright spot for Ellis Tech with two hits and an RBI.

Earlier in the week, the Lady Eagles opened with an 8-2 victory over Prince Tech behind the complete game pitching of Sheridan Murphy, who struck out 10 opponents in posting the win.  Carignan along with Autumn Jackson and Sydney Tetreault each contributed doubles in the 14-hit attack.

Tourtellotte continued its early season barrage by sweeping a twinbill from Putnam 9-1 and 23-8.  Kopacz was the big gun again in the opener with a 4-for-4 performance that included a home run, double and four RBI.  Carinne Sosnowski also had a good day at the bat with a triple, two runs scored and three runs batted in.  Sosnowski continued her torrid hitting in the second game, contributing another triple, five runs scored and five RBI.  Emily Vincent added a home run for the victors.

The remainder of the teams that were able to squeeze in games all suffered losses.  Putnam was beaten in its opener 12-1 by Stonington.  The Lady Clippers are 0-3.  Wheeler pummeled Plainfield 13-1 in the Lady Panthers’ opening contest. 

Woodstock Academy opened with one they wish they had back, losing to out-of-conference opponent Northwest Catholic 3-2.  Angela Caponi was impressive in the loss, striking out nine Catholic hitters and allowing only two hits.  She also contributed a double, which accounted for one of Woodstock’s runs.  The Acads defense committed six errors, which proved costly and led to the loss.

Marianapolis travelled to Portsmouth Abbey for its opener and was dropped 17-3.  Despite a 2-for-3 performance by Megan Tarantino, the Lady Knights fell on the road 7-6 to Worcester Academy.  MPS opens its season at 0-2.

 

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