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Golfers finally get on course
Coach Rich Garceau admitted to one emotion prior to the Woodstock Academy boys’ golf team taking to the course early last week against Ellis Tech for its first match of the season.
“I was nervous,” Garceau said. “We were finally getting on a course and really hadn’t practiced on one as yet.”
There was a little familiarity, fortunately, as the match took place at a very friendly venue, Harrisville Golf Course.
Interestingly enough, the course is in Woodstock but it is Ellis Tech’s home course, not Woodstock’s.
The Centaurs are based at Quinnatisset Country Club in Thompson which was scheduled to open last weekend.
“I’m really getting nervous about (this) week when we start going to Quinny because a lot of my guys don’t know that course. Fortunately, (the first match) finally felt like spring. It was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the sun disappeared for a while, but we played OK,” Garceau said.
The Centaurs posted the 177-181 victory on what was better known as “Eclipse Day.”
The event happening while the players were on the course, thus the sun dimmed and the air got a little cooler for a bit.
Plus, it was a bit of a distraction.
“It was a little surreal. It didn’t get super-dark but the sun did dim a bit, enough to be noticeable and you look around and all the kids had their eclipse glasses on staring at the sky. That looked a little weird on the golf course. I did tell the kids, I had no problem with them doing that, just remember the purpose that we were there for and stay focused. It was fun, actually, playing with the sun disappearing,” Garceau said.
At the time, the Centaurs weren’t playing all that well.
“After the sun did its show, we started playing a lot better. We started off rough, had to knock the rust off, but after the sun show was over, we got better. Maybe it was a bigger distraction than I thought,” he added.
Junior Logan Rawson was the team’s medalist as he carded a 40. Senior Donny Sousa finished with a 41. Senior Nick Siverson was the only other upperclassman on the course and he finished with a 52. Freshmen Max Kopp (46) and Brady Hebert (50) were the other varsity players.
“They were freshmen and the nerves showed. It was at Harrisville in a non-league event and I thought it was the perfect time for them to cut their teeth a bit. They did pretty well,” Garceau said.
Hebert played in the second slot so he could be teamed with a hockey buddy of his, Sousa.
“Since we were playing total score, it didn’t matter who was number one or two or three and since Brady had played a lot of hockey with Donny and got along pretty well, I thought the comfort level of having a freshman play with an experienced senior that he knew well might bode well for him,” the Woodstock Academy coach said. “I also put Max and Logan together for the same reason.”
Jarrett Towne was the medalist in the match as he posted a 37 for the Eagles while Jacob Stone shot a 41.
The Centaurs are now off for spring break.
They will be back on the course on April 22 for a home match versus Tourtellotte.
“We will have a couple of practice rounds, hopefully, here at Quinnatisset (this) week and a couple at (Woodstock Golf Course) and then, we’re going to get thrown into the fire because we have three matches (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) after vacation and then it gets pretty busy for the rest of the year,” Garceau said.
Girls’ Golf
While his boys’ golf counterpart was nervous, at least, Rich Garceau has choices with his lineup.
Such is not the case for the girls’ golf team as it has the minimum five players needed to score in a match.
The Centaurs were able to get out on a course for the first time last week at the Connecticut National Golf Club in Putnam and stayed within nine strokes of Killingly, falling 219-228.
“I was very pleased,” said coach Earl Semmelrock. “We missed a bunch of short putts, everyone could have done better. I couldn’t expect much more for the first time. They have three players who are capable of shooting in the 40’s. We kept pace with them so that was good.”
Freshman Reagan Scheck and junior Isabel Mawson led Woodstock as each carded a 51, just one stroke back of medalist Kendra St. Marie of Killingly.
Killingly had the advantage.
“They already have had a couple of matches and have been out on the golf course for weeks. I was pleasantly surprised with our results and look forward to better things,” Semmelrock said. “We do what we can do. We’ve been able to walk around (the Woodstock Golf Course) and just chip and putt but you can’t see what everyone is capable of. It’s been difficult.”
That was seen a bit with Scheck as she had two tough holes but it wasn’t off the tee, but rather what followed.
The rust clearly coming into play for the Centaurs.
The Centaurs do have the spring break week off but won’t be able to take advantage of it much.
Despite the opening of their home course, Quinnatisset, the Centaurs will be missing three or four of their five players due to travel plans.
“There will only be a couple who might be able to practice this week and then we hit the ground running with a couple of matches the following week. It’s going to be a sprint to the finish with 15 matches in five weeks,” Semmelrock said.
Baseball
Something strange greeted high school baseball teams early last week. Warm weather.
“It was so nice,” junior Brady Ericson said after a 5-1 victory over Killingly. “After having games delayed by rain, school being delayed for snow, and the day I finally get a chance to start (on the mound) being 70 degrees and sunny, there was nothing more that you could ask for.”
“It was one of my favorite parts of the game. I was wearing long sleeves and a pullover and I was warm at the start of the game. It was just good to get outside. Things are looking up and we have a whole bunch more of baseball to play over the next few days and I’m pretty confident it won’t be any worse than it’s been the past few weeks,” added coach Connor Elliott.
Ericson made Elliott’s job pretty easy.
He only threw five innings but the junior southpaw, bound for UConn in a couple of years, only allowed two hits and all of his outs recorded, with the exception of one, were by strikeout as he finished with 14.
“For the most part, everything was working,” Ericson said. “It’s still early in the season, but my curveball is still going a little high. I have to get it down more but that’s something I can work on, fix and figure out. Other than that, I felt pretty good.”
Elliott had said previously that Ericson just makes a hard game look easy and his performance against Killingly was no exception.
“I don’t get it all the time,” the coach said. “You know it’s coming but it’s just darn tough to hit. I don’t envy any of the kids going against (Ericson), I’m just glad we have him on our team. I wouldn’t want to see him once or twice a year. He’s solid, he’s come back with a great attitude and is a junior captain, stepping into more of a leadership role.”
What impressed Elliott equally as much was that Ericson was 0-for-4 at the plate with three strikeouts and he didn’t let it affect him on the mound.
“He battled on mound, pounded the zone all day. I would like to see a few more strikes but I also think that is kind of an asset for him. I’m not going to over coach that when you get 14 K’s in your first time out,” Elliott said.
His teammates also provided not overwhelming but, certainly, enough support.
The Centaurs jumped out to a 2-0 lead when both Maxx Corradi and Eric Mathewson walked to start the game.
Corradi stole third and scored on an error which allowed Mathewson to move to third. Keon Lamarche delivered him with a single.
Woodstock made it 3-0 in the third inning when Noah Sampson singled, stole second and third, and came around on a Matt Hernandez single.
The Centaurs finished things off in the fifth when Mathewson doubled and Lamarche plated him with a triple, coming home on an error on the play by Killingly.
“We need to string hits together a bit more,” Elliott said. “We get a walk and then hit him around but I would like to see more hits strung together. They don’t have to be extra-base hits or big home runs, just a little more contact and a few more balls in play.”
And there is one other thing Elliott would like to see.
He felt the Centaurs needed a little more energy in the game versus Killingly, something he has felt for much of the season.
“I’m happy with the record but I would like to see more intensity. If we have to scrape past a team, no problem. But if we have opportunities to put teams away, expand our lead, occasionally we do it, but we also get comfortable because the pitching has been so good and the defense so solid. It’s a long season, but we have to look at that more,” the coach said.
The Centaurs had plenty of baseball to play this week.
But they like the game so much; they just wanted to play more.
On Wednesday, they traveled to Coventry for, what turned out to be, a marathon.
The two teams battled for 10 innings before the host Patriots pulled out the 8-7 victory.
Senior Evan Menzel singled in the bottom of the 10th for Coventry, scoring Nathan Spear and finally ending the contest in the Patriots (2-0) favor.
The Centaurs led 3-0 early only to see host Coventry score seven times in the bottom of the fifth.
But Woodstock didn’t call it quits.
Caleb Simoneau was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and Riley O’Brien followed with a double, both came home on ground outs in the sixth to cut the Patriots lead to two.
Woodstock tied it in the top of the seventh when Corradi tripled and scored on a ground out and O’Brien later singled home the tying run to force the extra innings.
The Centaurs (4-1) made up for the overtime a bit on Thursday when they were able to shorten a game to five innings due to the mercy rule.
Woodstock put 10 runs up on the board in the third inning and rolled to a 16-2, five-inning, victory over Tourtellotte.
Ericson (3 RBIs) drove in two with a double in the uprising as did Hernandez with a single.
Brady Lecuyer added an RBI single and was the recipient of one of the three bases-loaded walks in the third inning while Sampson had a sacrifice fly.
O’Brien was the only Woodstock Academy player with a pair of hits in the game to back the pitching of Jack Sumner who struck out 10 in five innings.
Boys’ Volleyball
Woodstock started the spring break in fine fashion, picking up a win on the road in Enfield on Friday.
Woodstock swept three from Computer Science Academy, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-11 to improve to 4-1 in the Connecticut Volleyball League.
The four wins are also important as it’s halfway to the eight needed to qualify for the boys’ volleyball state tournament which is the goal for the Centaurs in this their inaugural season.
Freshman setter Jake Henderson was busy, distributing 20 assists. some of those to classmate Brayden Bottone who finished with seven kills.
Nate Billings added six digs in the quick victory.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy on Saturday.
Woodstock stepped outside of CVL competition for a home match with Farmington and suffered a 3-0 defeat.
The loss dropped the Centaurs overall record to 4-3.
Bottone and Owen Budd each finished with seven kills and Hunter Larson had seven digs but Farmington still was able to prevail 25-15, 25-18, 25-16.
Bottone was very effective behind the service line earlier in the week with 26 points and Henderson was just as effective at setter with 23 assists to lead the Centaur to a 3-1 win over Norwich Tech.
Woodstock lost the first set to the Warriors 26-24 but rallied for victories of 25-18, 29-27, 25-17 over the next three sets.
Senior Aiden Finch had 10 kills and Budd added nine for the Centaurs.
Girls’ Lacrosse
Woodstock played well in the first half against Montville Friday. Unfortunately, it didn’t carry over to the second.
The Centaurs fell to the Wolves, 12-3.
The match was close early. The play of junior goalie Abby Houle kept Woodstock in the hunt as she thwarted Montville on numerous occasions early.
“She’s been really solid. She’s done club. She has prepared for this,” said assistant coach Kristen Rohan. “When she’s doing well, we’re all motivated.”
The Centaurs did get a couple of goals early with Clara Dowdle scoring three minutes into the contest off an Abby Converse assist.
Just a couple of minutes later, Converse converted off help from Kaylee Saucier.
The Wolves were able to maintain a 4-2 lead at the half and then began to break things open in the third quarter when they scored four more times, three of those tallies came from sophomore Kaylie Spreng who finished with eight goals in the match.
The Centaurs offense sputtered a bit in the third quarter with Alexa Delmanoco getting the only goal off another Saucier assist.
“We started strong and I think we just need to do a better job of staying in that mentality, game-winning mindset, and just keep scoring and just maintain that confidence,” Rohan said. “It’s all about confidence. All of our girls can score and all of us can play any position. It’s about keeping possession of the ball.”
The Centaurs opened the week with a tough match at Killingly on the road.
The hosts posted a 16-4 victory with Saucier and Caroline Harris each getting a pair of goals and Dowdle finished with two assists.
On Tuesday, the Centaurs traveled even further down the road to Manchester where they fell to East Catholic, 17-4.
Harris had half the goals for the Centaurs with Dowdle and Saucier getting the others. Saucier also had an assist.
Softball
The week’s opener for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs had to be moved to Plainfield’s home field due to transportation issues.
That didn’t faze the Centaurs who put together four runs each in the third and sixth innings to post a 10-2 win over the Panthers.
Winning pitcher Grace Delsanto helped her own cause with three hits including a triple and a double and an RBI.
Senior Delaney Anderson had two hits and drove in three and both Maci Corradi, on a pair of singles, and Madison Bloom, with a double, drove in two runs each for Woodstock.
Delsanto’s bat stayed hot on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the Centaurs couldn’t turn that into a victory as they slipped back to the .500 mark with a 7-6 loss at Ledyard.
Delsanto had another fine day at the plate for the Centaurs, going 4-for-4 with four runs batted in.
She was 7-for-7 with five RBIs in the games against Plainfield and Ledyard.
Delsanto, who was also in the circle for the game, helped herself after both Ellary Sampson and Anderson singled with two outs in the first inning.
The junior went opposite field for a two-run base hit and the early lead.
But Woodstock could not shake Ledyard which tied the game in the bottom of the inning.
Sarah McArthur and Sampson led off the third inning with singles with McArthur scoring on an error and Sampson crossing the plate on a base hit by Delsanto to make it 4-2.
The Colonels tied the game in the bottom of the fourth again but Sampson and Delsanto combined to erase the deficit.
Sampson (3-for-4) singled and came around on a Delsanto triple and courtesy runner Avery Hardacker scored to make it 6-4 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Ledyard had one more rally left in it.
The Colonels scored three times in the bottom of the inning to post the victory.
Brookfield made the trek to Woodstock, a two hour-plus drive on a yellow bus Saturday.
It wasn’t about to go home without having played a game.
But the weather did everything it could to make it difficult to accomplish that.
The Centaurs and Bobcats had to play in periods of bright sunshine and heavy rain, accompanied by strong winds and even a little hail.
The Bobcats did not go home empty-handed as they posted a 13-3 victory over Woodstock.
The loss dropped the Centaurs to 2-3 on the season.
Sydney Miller was big in the circle for Brookfield as she allowed only three hits and struck out 17.
Delsanto had one of those three hits and drove in a run for Woodstock. Anderson and Bloom scored on wild pitches.
Bloom and Sampson had the other hits for the Centaurs.
Miller had three hits and drove in three runs at the plate to help her own cause.
Isabella Pontecorvo, Isabella Barreiro and Haylie Miller each drove in a pair of runs for Brookfield.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions inside:
2024 Logan Rawson 1: In their first day on the golf course, the Woodstock Academy boys’ golf team had some issues to contend with. Junior Logan Rawson found himself with an awkward shot near a tree at the Harrisville Golf Course but he rebounded to lead the Centaurs with a 40 in a win over Ellis Tech.
2024 Donny Sousa and Brady Hebert: Woodstock Academy senior captain Donny Sousa was teamed with his friend from hockey, freshman Brady Hebert, in the first match of the golf season for the Centaurs. Sousa carded a 41 and Hebert finished with a 50 in his first high school match. Photos by Rich Garceau/Woodstock Academy.
2024 Baseball eclipse: The Woodstock Academy baseball team took advantage of an off day to take in the solar eclipse on the baseball field at the Bentley Athletic Complex. Photo by Connor Elliott/Woodstock Academy.
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