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Softball team
pitcher hurt
The Woodstock Academy Centaurs picked up a win over Fryeburg, Maine, April 16.
But it was a costly one.
The Centaurs rallied in the fifth inning for four runs that helped them to a 7-3 win over their visitors from the north at Roseland Park.
Unfortunately, they lost top pitcher Mackenzie Leveille in the process.
Leveille suffered an ankle sprain when she stepped on home plate while scoring and slipped, landing awkwardly.
“It’s going to hurt for a couple of weeks, we will see how it goes. Luckily, she is not in a big foot boot. When I see foot boot, I know we’re in trouble. She’s in a little makeshift thing so maybe a week or two and we will see what happens,” said Woodstock Academy coach Jason Gerum. “It’s part of the game. The nice thing was we still got a win.”
When Leveille left the game, the Centaurs were trailing, 3-2.
That changed in the fifth inning.
Maia Corrado got it started when she hit a ball sharply to first with the bases loaded.
Hannah Burgess (2-for-4, 1 RBI) scored on that error and then another error on the same play allowed both Julianna Nuttall and Hannah Chubbuck to score to put the Centaurs in the lead for good.
Amanda Bond then knocked in Corrado to give the Centaurs the 6-3 lead.
Megan Preston also knocked in a run for the Centaurs and also had to take over in the circle.
Preston went five innings, gave up only four hits and failed to yield a run to pick up the win.
“I had barely thrown her in weeks,” Gerum said. “She came in and battled a very good team. Megan showed us that we’re still going to be alright.”
Gerum took the blame for the sluggish bats to start.
He gave the Centaurs the weekend prior off after their game with Stonington was washed out.
“The kid’s arms were hurting and hanging and, it was unfortunate with the storm (on Monday). We were going to do batting practice inside and we lost power in the gym. They went three days with nothing and they looked in the (batter’s) box that they were a team that had done nothing in a few days. When they started to warm up, they stated to hit the ball like they have been.”
Preston not only had to pitch the remainder of the Fryeburg game, she also was enlisted for the second part of the morning/afternoon doubleheader.
Preston pitched a shutout through the first four innings but gave up a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth and the Centaurs fell, 5-4.
“I think Meg got a little tired,” Gerum said. “They have good players. She was pitching her second game of the day and hadn’t pitched in a few weeks really. That’s not easy. You can see she was getting a little tired, left the ball up a little and they were able to string some hits together.”
Woodstock Academy (0-3 Eastern Connecticut Conference Div. I) took the early lead on an RBI single by Chubbuck (3-for-4) in the first inning.
Chubbuck raised her average to .600 on the season with the three hits.
“I’ve always had really good eye-hand coordination and it’s easy for me to just see the ball and hit it. I swing and it goes somewhere,” Chubbuck said.
“She is just a great contact hitter,” Gerum said of his first baseman. “We teach line-drive hitting and she is a line-drive hitter. It’s just artwork. It’s the same line drive no matter where it is in the zone. She has a stone face. She looks like she is sleeping half the time, but she is just very serious and unassuming. She’s been doing this for years for us. She is just very consistent.”
Chubbuck’s single scored Burgess.
The shortstop had three hits against the Vikings and was hitting .706 for the season.
“I always see Hannah on the bases and I know that she is probably going to get in if I make contact,” Chubbuck said.
Heather Converse made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
The Vikings cut that lead in half in the fifth and scored four more times in the sixth to take the lead.
Corrado and Converse had RBI singles in the sixth but the Centaurs fell short.
“A one-run loss to a good team with the circumstances we had, we did alright,” Gerum said.
But one-run losses can become frustrating when they are the rule rather than the exception.
April 18, the Centaurs fell to Plainfield, 6-5, to fall to 2-4 on the season.
Three of those four losses have been by one run..
“We’re right there,” the Woodstock Academy coach said. “I will take a bunch of one-run games against really good teams over being mercied or stuff that we have been through here for years. We’ve come a long way. They do start to hurt a little because we are right there, but I can’t complain.”
The Centaurs did open a 5-4 lead over the Panthers in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Trailing 4-3, Converse (2-for-2, 2 RBIs) doubled to right field and went to third on a ground out.
The senior tied the game when Maria Scandalito singled to right.
Scandalito advanced to second on an error on the play and scored when Bond reached on an error to give the Centaurs the lead.
They wouldn’t enjoy it for long.
Kristen Rider got ahold of a 1-1 pitch from Preston and hit it over the fence and off the scoreboard in left field for the game-tying home run.
It was the third homer of the game for the Panthers (5-3).
Kacee Hirst and Ryley Meyers both went deep to center earlier in the game for Plainfield.
“We play them every year, sometimes, twice a year and I know the kids. I’ve seen them hit the ball well for years. I knew they had good power and they also hit well five-through-seven (in the batting order). You have to just try and get through. It’s a grind playing them,” Gerum said.
Winning pitcher Mackenzie Peters followed the Rider homer with a sharp line drive past third for a single. She stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a fielder’s choice by Allison Conger to account for the game-winning run.
Peters did allow Burgess (3-for-4) an infield single in the bottom of the seventh, but settled down to get the final outs on a strikeout and a fly ball.
“You know Plainfield is going to get hits and you have to make plays and play great defense and we did. We didn’t make any errors so we played great ‘D’ and played a great softball game. It’s tough to hold those bats off,” Gerum said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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Spring Calling Card
If the outside world is mostly yellow, it must be spring!. More photos on page 6. Linda Lemmon photo.
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caption, page 2:
Carrying the Ball
Peyton Saracina carries the ball for Woodstock Academy in a girls’ lacrosse match against Fitch last week at the Bentley Athletic Complex. Photo by Marc Allard.
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Lacrosse
team likely
to be in the
ECC mix
The Woodstock Academy girls’ lacrosse team proved something last week.
It will likely be in the mix when it comes time to start thinking about who qualifies for the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament.
The Centaurs did weather a tough, 15-14, overtime loss to Fitch early last week but followed up with a 12-3 win over Norwich Free Academy April 18 at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
It raised the Centaurs record to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in Division I of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
“That Fitch game was a tough loss,” said Woodstock Academy coach Kathleen Johnson. “What’s so great is that years ago as a lacrosse program, we were never a contender. Now, we’re contenders. Kudos to Fitch, they played a great game and came back but our season is far from over.”
The Centaurs proved that against the Wildcats.
Woodstock Academy took 22 shots at NFA goalie Lily George in the first half and while she turned away nine of them and a few more went above and around her, six did find their mark.
Although it took a little bit for that to happen.
“At the beginning of the game, we weren’t really scoring, so I really wanted to step up and get something for the team,” said senior captain Emma Ciquera.
The Centaurs took six shots without success before Ciquera began the scoring party.
Ciquera scored the first two of her six goals within 37 seconds of one another, both coming off free position calls.
“I needed the leadership (Thursday),” Johnson said of Ciquera. “We talked about that before the game that I wanted her to be a key part of the offense because we can rely on her and her experience to run the offense. I needed the ball to be in her hands whether it was to score, which she did, or also just to run the offense and keep the possession. In girls’ lacrosse, having possession is half the battle.”
The Centaurs did that well as they only allowed three shots by the Wildcats, all of those coming inside the 10-minute mark in the half.
Emma Redfield scored her only goal of the game 30 seconds after Ciquera’s second tally. Ivy Gelhaus followed up with two of her three goals within 11 seconds of one another.
The senior scored with 14:06 left in the first half, won the face off and put another into the net to make it 5-0 in favor of the Centaurs.
Ciquera completed her first half hat trick with a goal with 6:58 left before Mackenzie Shrewsbury scored a pair of goals for the Wildcats to knock the deficit down to 6-2 at the break.
The Centaurs sealed the deal early in the second half.
Ciquera scored just 21 seconds into the half, Aislin Tracey followed with a goal 10 seconds later and Woodstock Academy would add two more goals before five minutes had elapsed to take the insurmountable, 10-2, lead.
The Centaurs also must have thought they owned an insurmountable lead against the Falcons,
Woodstock Academy fought back from an early 3-2 deficit in the first half to build a 7-5 lead at the half.
Gelhaus had the first half hat trick and Redfield added a pair.
Ciquera scored a goal top open the second half and both Tracey and Gelhaus added a pair of goals each in the first 5 ½ minutes to put the Centaurs up, 12-5.
Someone forgot to tell Fitch that the game was over.
“We were winning the draw and then, we couldn’t win the draw. We couldn’t get possession, rarely had it, and that can cost you,” Johnson said.
Fitch took advantage. It scored two quick goals in the next four minutes to cut the deficit to five.
Bridget O’Leary, Zoe Pearse and Jessica Russo then all scored within the next five minutes for the Falcons to make it a two-goal game, 12-10, with 9:58 left.
The onslaught was not over. Maddie Catlett scored her first goal of the game and Rita Sefransky tied the contest with 4:41 to play. Catlett then scored again with 3:48 left to put the Falcons up, 13-12.
The Centaurs finally broke the eight-goal Fitch run when Peyton Saracina scored with 2:35 to play.
Ciquera put the Centaurs back on top, 14-13, just 19 seconds later but Catlett tied the game with 1:19 to play and forced the overtime.
Catlett scored the game winner 46 seconds into the extra period.
The game with Montville set for April 20 was moved to May 15 due to the weather.
girls were scheduled to play a game on Saturday but inclement weather pushed the match
Boys’ Lacrosse
The Centaurs boys’ team had only one game during the spring break week.
The Centaurs lost to Waterford, 18-5, on a chilly Thursday.
Guerin Favreau scored four of the goals for the Centaurs (3-3, 0-2 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I).
Seth Libby scored the other goal while Gabe Geyer had an assist.
The Centaurs boys, like the girls, were supposed to play April 20 but their game with the Rockville-Stafford cooperative was rained out and rescheduled to May 8.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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If Mother
Nature
would just
let up ...
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — If Mother Nature would be more cooperative, the town’s downtown road projects would be closer to finished.
Highway Superintendent Travis Sirrine said “The weather has been kicking us back.”
The sidewalks on both sides of Canal Street will be completed this week. From there, the crews intend to start on the parking lot off Main Street, next to the Congregational Church of Putnam.
The parking lot will be ground down, graded and paved. The start date for that is April 29.
Weather permitting, he said the town intends to have the parking lot done before the first First Fridays on May 3.
Town crews have already removed the scrub trees and bushes from Main Street to Livery Street. Sirrine said the lot was squared off at the church’s rear parking lot. The lot will be recurbed and replanted and new stripes will be added. He expects that the lot will gain three to five parking spaces.
The lot will be closed during construction.
Around May 6, after First Fridays, crews will — again weather permitting — start a repaving project for the whole downtown block.
The following streets will be milled down and paved: Main Street, Bundy Street, Livery Street, Lee Street and Canal Street.
Sirrine was not sure whether the crews would start on the side streets or Main Street first.
He said crews will be grinding at night and paving during the day. “The whole square will be done,” he said.
Any drainage issues will be addressed, for example replacing catch basins as needed.
He hopes it will take just a few days.
“If Mother Nature would smile on us, we’d have it done a lot quicker,” Sirrine said. “It seems to rain every couple days.”
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PUTNAM — A Putnam woman was arrested on various drug charges after a narcotics-related search and seizure warrant was executed April 11.
Melissa Carroll, 30, 175 School St., was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to sell, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, operating a drug factory, possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Putnam Police Department, the State Police Troop D Quality of Life Task Force, and the Danielson Office of Adult Probation served the warrant. They seized more than 500 bags of heroin, approximately 71 grams of crack cocaine, controlled prescription medications, $530 in currency.
Putnam Police said Carroll was out on bond for previous narcotics violations.
The Putnam Police Department encourages the public to report ongoing or suspected criminal activity @ (860) 928-6565, by utilizing the Putnam Police Department Anonymous Tip Line @ (860) 963-0000 or by accessing on the Police Department website www.putanmpolice.com. All information will be kept confidential
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