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Roundup
No-hitter highlights 4-win week
Early last week, it was vintage Brady Ericson.
Everything was working for the junior in a 3-0 win over Waterford.
Ericson did not allow a hit and set down 14 Lancer hitters on strikes in going the distance in the seven-inning contest.
It was the highlight of a great week for the Centaurs who also posted wins over East Lyme, Fitch and Stonington to raise their record to 9-1 overall and 3-0 in Div. I of the ECC.
The win over Fitch Thursday also qualified the Centaurs for the state tournament and the team finished up the week with a road victory over the Bears on Saturday.
Ericson added his arm, as a whole, felt better as he was pitching through some pain the week before. He added he was prepared for it if it did happen again and his legs felt better, too. He was also in a good mental state.
Ericson was one error away from pitching a perfect game as he did not walk a batter.
“When he is on like that, he will be tough for anyone,” said coach Connor Elliott.
If there is one thing that Elliott was a bit concerned about is that when Ericson is that dominant, his team takes a little time out.
Woodstock didn’t give their ace a lot of support for sure.
Eric Mathewson reached on a one-out single in the first inning, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored on an error.
Ericson had to protect the slim lead until the fifth inning when Noah Sampson led off with a single, stole second, was sacrificed to third and scored on a Brady Lecuyer pinch-hit single. The sophomore advanced on a ground out and scored when Mathewson singled and the relay throw to the plate was over the catcher’s head.
The team didn’t need much in the way of motivation in the first game of the week against East Lyme.
The Vikings had the Centaurs number last season, handing them three of their five losses including one in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship game at Dodd Stadium.
It wasn’t for a championship but it was for early-season bragging rights in Div. I of the ECC and those belong to the Centaurs after a 5-2 victory over East Lyme.
The Vikings did get on the board first against Mathewson.
Liam Cochrane had an RBI double in the first inning but it was one of only five hits that the senior right-hander allowed.
He settled into a bulldog-type mentality and finished with six strikeouts, going the distance and throwing just three pitches, 107, under the maximum allowed in a high school game.
The Centaurs tied the game in the third inning on a pair of hit batters, a walk and an RBI fielder’s choice by Riley O’Brien,
East Lyme took the lead again in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Noah Farrior but it was Mathewson himself who started what proved to be the game-winning rally in the bottom of the fifth.
He doubled to right field and came around to score the tying run on a pair of wild pitches.
Keon Lamarche, who had a double earlier in the contest, walked and O’Brien singled.
Pinch runner Bradley Blair scored what proved to be the game-winner on a swinging bunt by Caleb Simoneau that resulted in an RBI fielder’s choice.
Ericson, who has struggled a bit early at the plate, got out of the funk with an opposite field two-run double to account for the Woodstock runs.
“It plagued us last year, at times, not hitting with runners in scoring position or with two outs and it has crept back in a little this year," said Elliott.
The bats weren’t particularly explosive against the Falcons on Thursday.
But the Centaurs came up with the hits at key times and staved off a late rally by Fitch to pick up the 6-5 victory.
Mathewson had a two-run single and Maxx Corradi added a run-scoring base hit in a four-run second inning for Woodstock.
The last two Centaur runs came in the sixth inning on a Matt Hernandez two-run single.
A walk, a double, an error and a wild pitch allowed the Falcons to plate two runs in the top of the seventh but Logan Coutu came on top put out the fire and get the last two outs to preserve the win for O’Brien.
Woodstock had to do a bullpen game on Saturday with Logan Coutu, Will Bushey and Jack Sumner pitching the first 5 2/3 innings before Mathewson finished up.
It worked as the pitchers kept Stonington at bay and the bats produced enough for a 7-3 win.
The Centaurs took a first inning lead on a Lamarche RBI single before the Bears tied it up.
Woodstock went ahead to stay when O’Brien doubled in the third inning and two walks loaded the bases.
Sampson had an RBI fielder’s choice and Lecuyer followed with an RBI single. Caleb Simoneau came home on a wild pitch and Corradi had a sacrifice fly to put the Centaurs up, 5-1.
Stonington scored two in the bottom of the inning but Woodstock put it away in the top of the seventh on a two-run double by Corradi.
Softball
The smiles were coming back a bit for the Woodstock softball team on Thursday.
The Centaurs returned home and the bats woke up a bit, helping to produce a 13-1 win over Norwich Tech.
It broke a five-game losing streak for the Centaurs.
“The girls really deserve it; they have been working hard,” coach Brad Favreau said. “The schedule has not done us any favors. I call it the gauntlet.”
The Centaurs needed only five innings to pull ahead of the Warriors by the required 12 runs to invoke the mercy rule.
Woodstock jumped out on top, 3-0, in the first inning on a pair of walks and an RBI single by Delaney Anderson. Savannah Schley followed with a two-run single to give pitcher Grace Delsanto (five innings pitched, three hits allowed).
Anderson delivered again in the third when she launched a 1-1 pitch over the left-center field fence.
Delsanto followed with a double followed by another Schley single. A ground out by Campbell Favreau and an error gave the Centaurs a 6-0 advantage.
But it was far from over. Kaylee Ziarko and Sarah McArthur both singled and a walk to Maci Corradi loaded the bases for Ellary Sampson.
On the first pitch, Sampson drilled the ball to center field and cleared the bases for a three- run triple.
Sampson scored on an Anderson sacrifice fly to give the Centaurs an 11-0 lead.
Kaylee Ziarko had an RBI single in the fourth.
Sampson and Anderson singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and both advanced on a wild pitch.
A ground out by Delsanto plated the run that ended the contest early.
Unfortunately, the good news was short-lived.
The Centaurs hosted Stonington Friday and saw their record dip to 3-7 on the season after a 14-0 loss in six innings.
Woodstock mustered just one hit off Bears’ junior pitcher Lindsey Houle. Campbell Favreau had that in the bottom of the third inning.
Boys’ Volleyball
The goal has been reached. The rest, honestly, is gravy.
The Woodstock boys’ volleyball team picked up its eighth win of the season in its 13th match with a 3-0 victory over Cheney Tech of Manchester on Friday.
The win qualified the Centaurs for the Class M state tournament.
“We have six matches left so to get here this early is awesome. Now, every win we get after this is just going to be icing on the cake and will, hopefully, put us in a good position for a decent first and even second-round matchup,” coach Adam Bottone said.
Woodstock made it look pretty easy against the Beavers as they posted wins of 25-18, 25-12, and 25-14.
Freshman Brayden Bottone had six kills and six aces to lead the Centaurs.
The victory came on the heels of a pair of losses.
Newington handcuffed the Centaurs for a second time this season on Monday, 3-0, although it was closer than it may sound.
Newington won the first set 25-14 but was pushed in the second and third sets by Woodstock, having to battle for a pair of 26-24 wins.
Aiden Finch had 13 kills, Hunter Larson added five in the loss while Henderson had 17 assists.
The Centaurs were also blanked on the road by Norwich Free Academy, 3-0.
Finch had eight kills, Brayden Bottone added six kills against the Wildcats while Hart had 14 digs.
Boys’ Tennis
It was, in the words of boys’ tennis coach Siana Green, “A Hail Mary.” No, not in reference to a pass of any sort. Rather, a coaching decision.
Pair senior Cang Nguyen with freshman Heath White at first doubles.
“They both have the same type of hitting style which is hit everything as hard as you can. I figured it would either go very well or very poorly but it went in our favor,” Green said.
They outlasted Lyman Memorial’s duo of Eathon Barnes and Brendan Hancock 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 to give Woodstock a 4-3 victory over the Bulldogs.
Woodstock Academy started on a good note as Owen Rigney downed Luke Spellman of the Bulldogs, 6-4, 6-2.
Tyler Chamberlin then bounced back from a 5-7 loss in the first set of second doubles to post consecutive wins of 6-1, 6-0 over Aaron Rodgriguez.
Ryan Chabot made it interesting for himself.
Chabot had to play 2 ½ Hours but it was worth it as he posted a 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 6-3 win.
The Centaurs needed all those hard-fought wins as Lyman captured fourth singles and the other two doubles matches.
Fortunately, a match with Norwich Free Academy later in the week was a bit easier.
Rigney and Chamberlin set the tone with a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories in the first two singles matches.
Ethan Staples and Nguyen posted the other two singles victories while Chabot and Steven Shen won at first doubles and White teamed with Ben Sperber for a second doubles victory.
The Centaurs, who are now 4-1 overall and 3-0 in Div. II of the ECC, were also supposed to play on Saturday but New London was forced to postpone due to a lack of players.
Girls’ Tennis
It has been an interesting season for the girls’ tennis team.
The Centaurs found out a couple of weeks before that coach Heather Roto had to step aside due to personal commitments.
Since that time, boys’ tennis coach Siana Green and several others have stepped in to help guide the Centaurs who have been practicing alongside the boys’ program.
“It definitely has impacted them,” Green said. “It’s tough for me to see what they need to work on in practice when I am not there for their matches. It’s definitely helped them, in a sense, by growing to know themselves where the mistakes are happening rather than having someone tell them.”
But it is helpful to have a familiar face on the sidelines so Green joined the team at Fitch on Saturday.
It didn’t produce a win but there were some highlights in the 5-2 loss to the Falcons.
Wynter Worth survived a marathon as she defeated Charlotte Beaulieu 0-6,6-2,6-3 in a match that took 2 ½ hours.
The Centaurs (1-4) picked up their other win at first singles where Gianna Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds remained undefeated with a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set victory over Ava Kennedy and Katie Virtue.
The two were also successful earlier in the week when they provided the only win in as 6-1 loss to Ledyard. Musumeci and Reynolds downed Alanah Maranzano and Izzy Treaster of the Colonels, 6-1, 6-0.
Boys’ Lacrosse
One never knows how a team will react to a tough loss. The boys’ lacrosse team, fortunately, found a way to generate some positive energy two days after losing a heartbreaker to Norwich Free Academy and scored a 13-7 win over the Norwich Tech-Windham Tech co-op on Friday in Norwich.
It was important as it brought Woodstock back to the .500 mark at 4-4.
Senior Jared Neilsen almost outscored the Warriors by himself as he netted six goals for the Centaurs in the win.
Four of those tallies came in the first half when the Centaurs opened a 9-3 lead.
Gunnar Basak added a hat trick with Logan Rumrill, Keegan Covello, Sam Desmond and Dylan Phillips also scoring for Woodstock Academy.
Earlier in the week, the emotion could be seen in the eyes of coach Jason Tata and his boys’ lacrosse team as the Centaurs did everything they could but could not put this one away.
Norwich Free Academy scored three times in the final minute and a half and posted a 10-9 win over Woodstock.
The Wildcats led at the end of the third quarter, 7-6, but the Centaurs tied it just 3 minutes, 6 seconds into the final quarter when Gunnar Basak scored his second goal of the contest.
The Centaurs (3-4, 0-4 ECC Div. I) took the lead with 5:15 to play when senior Henry Wotton put the ball in the net.
They got another with just 2:25 to go as Neilsen completed the hat trick off the third assist of the game from his classmate Wotton.
It seemed like Woodstock would be able to breathe a bit easier.
NFA wasn’t going to leave Woodstock empty-handed, however. Logan Jenkins scored his sixth goal of the match with 1:29 left to cut the deficit to one.
Just a little over a minute later, Cortlan Beetle looked like he had forced overtime when he scored to tie the game.
Just before the final horn sounded, Gavin Jenkins cut in from the left of Woodstock goalie Quan Sangasy and put it into the far corner of the net to give NFA the win.
Lucas Theriaque also finished with two goals for the Centaurs in the loss while Phillips added a tally.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The ball went into the net for Woodstock on the road on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the Centaurs needed it to happen on even more occasions than it did.
The girls’ lacrosse team traveled to Montville on Tuesday and found some offense in an 18-8 loss to the Wolves.
“That was, literally, the best game we’ve played. The scoreboard doesn’t show it but we got eight goals. The defense was super-strong, (goalie) Abby (Houle) had 15 saves. It was the best game the girls played,” said coach Heather Miller.
Senior Caroline Harris led the way for the Centaurs with three goals and a pair of assists.
Co-Captain Piper Sabrowski and sophomore Kaylee Saucier each added a pair of goals and an assist and the other co-captain, junior Abby Converse, had a goal and an assist.
The Centaurs could not find the net against Killingly at home on Thursday and lost, 14-0, to fall to 0-9 on the year.
Boys’ Golf
One could just imagine boys’ golf coach Rich Garceau just shaking his head at the thought.
“It has probably been the longest into the spring that we really haven’t spent significant time on the golf course,” Garceau said. “I’ve seen kids at the driving range, but not really on the course. On the range, someone can hit it a mile but they might not be able to score around the green until you get them out on the course.”
Garceau said his team throughout the varsity and JV ranks has some talent.
Finding the time to do so now will be the question.
The Centaurs had three matches this past week and have four scheduled for the coming week. So far, the results have not been too bad.
Woodstock finished off the week with a 3-1 record after a 6-1 victory over Montville Thursday.
None of the first four matches were decided by more than three strokes.
Logan Rawson and Donny Sousa shared medalist honors as both posted a three-over par 39 total. Rawson was just one stroke better than his opponent, Ben Godburn, of Montville. Sousa had a three-stroke cushion over Eli Klusek.
Aidan O’Connor lost his match by three strokes but Brady Hebert posted a two-stroke win over Nolan Muncaster and Max Kopp capped things off with a six-stroke win to guarantee the Centaurs the win.
The match the team wanted back came against Norwich Free Academy in the first ECC Div. I match of the year.
The Centaurs lost to the Wildcats, 5-2.
Rawson was again the top performer for the Centaurs and won his match by a stroke over Nick Wigfield of the Wildcats as Rawson delivered a three-over 43.
Sousa, however, was on the opposite side of the equation as he lost by a stroke to Tyler Hollis 43-44.
Hebert was the only other player for Woodstock in the 40’s with a 46.
The Centaurs started the week off in fine fashion as they came off spring break and posted a 7-0 win over Tourtellotte at Quinnatisset.
The top three players for the Centaurs, Rawson, Sousa and O’Connor all carded four-over par 40’s to pace the team. Alec Nunes added a 46 and Nick Sivertsen came home with a 48.
Girls’ Golf
Remember what the opening words of caution were from girls’ golf coach Earl Semmelrock this season.
Because of the lack of depth and experience, everyone had to be at every match for the Centaurs to be successful.
Of course, the reality is that will never happen.
Isabella Mawson had some family commitments and missed both the East Lyme and Stonington matches last week.
The Centaurs lost in both. But there was some success.
Mawson was on hand for a match and led the Centaurs to their first win of the season, 230-238, over Bacon Academy.
Mawson shot a 53 for Woodstock while both Reagan Scheck and Liliana Moran posted a 56.
The Centaurs did fall to Stonington 216-229 despite a pair of the better scores for the Centaurs this season. Moran finished with a 49 and Scheck added a 51.
But the Centaurs had to dig deep to find a fifth player.
“If it’s one of the good players missing, then we have to rely on the girls who are just learning the game to be a scorer and contributor and that can be difficult,” Semmelrock said.
The Centaurs also lost to East Lyme, 248-259.
No one was able to card under 60 on a chilly, blustery day down by the shoreline.
That has been another problem for the Centaurs. The weather.
“I agree with Rich Garceau, It’s been one of the worst early springs between the courses not being open and the weather and now, the matches roll in on you,” Semmelrock said
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
caption:
Brady Ericson (14) celebrated coming back to the dugout after a two-run double versus East Lyme. He went on to pitch a no-hitter the following day versus Waterford.
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