Roundup
Centaurs
finally play a
home game
and post win
It certainly took a while.
The Woodstock Academy baseball team had to wait until the sixth game of the season to finally get on friendly turf at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
“It was amazing,” said coach Connor Elliott. “(The team) put a lot of work into it this spring and the maintenance department has done a great job working on it. It’s been a battle with the elements and, finally, the field is awesome.”
Fortunately, the Centaurs got to play on it early in the week.
That’s because Spring Break week was typical of spring, some warmth and sunshine and some cold, raw and wet.
The Centaurs took advantage of the sun and warmth to post an 11-4 win over Ellis Tech.
“You learn to appreciate those days because we don’t know how many times we’re going to get them,” Elliott said with a laugh.
Then they got to sit for the rest of the week as their game with East Lyme on Thursday was postponed by rain and their game with Norwich Free Academy on Saturday had to be pushed back because the fields in Norwich were unplayable on Saturday.
Woodstock (5-1) jumped into the lead against the Eagles with five runs crossing the plate in the first inning.
Maxx Corradi drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first inning and was doubled home by Eric Mathewson.
Mathewson advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a Riley O’Brien single to make it 2-0 but the Centaurs were not done yet.
A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases and Noah Sampson knocked in two with a hard ground ball that resulted in an error.
After a couple of stolen bases, the Centaurs had 14 in the game, a Tanner Graham ground out pushed another run across for the Centaurs.
And then, they rested.
“We had a good first inning and then, we just let (Ellis Tech) back in the game. It’s something we’ve been fighting early on this year. It’s a lesson we learned against Coventry. We’ve done a good job of getting ahead but we need to continue to grow the lead which we did eventually. We just don’t want it to get to 5-4, like it did, when it was 5-0,” Elliott said.
The Eagles pulled close in the third against Woodstock ace Brady Ericson who did not have a Brady Ericson outing.
He gave up two singles and a walk to Ellis Tech and then a pair of bases-loaded walks pushed the first two runs across. A ground out allowed the third run to score before Ericson got out of trouble.
He only pitched three innings, however.
“He had a lot of pitches in that third inning and had a little arm tightness which kind of altered his mechanics a bit and he struggled to find himself. But he got through the third inning and I can’t say enough good things about Bradley Blair coming in. He has come on in two big spots this year and he’s two-for-two. I’m definitely developing a lot of trust in him and when he pounds the zone, he has really good stuff,” Elliott said.
Blair would allow a run in the fourth as Ellis Tech cut the Centaurs advantage to a slim one run but Woodstock got one back in the bottom of the inning.
Corradi and Mathewson singled to lead off the inning with both advancing on a stolen base and Corradi scored on a passed ball to make it 6-4.
The Centaurs took over in the fifth when three walks loaded the bases and Mathewson followed with his second double of the game to clear the bases.
The senior second baseman finished four-for-five at the plate with four runs driven in.
“Maybe because it’s because I’m just so into the game, I don’t want to say it was a quiet four-for-five for him but he just swung it the way we kind of expected him to. Maybe that’s a little unfair, but it’s the type of player he is and the kind of young man he is. We go as he goes,” Elliott said.
No one else had more than one hit in the game for the Centaurs.
Now comes the fun part. The rain meant an easy spring break week.
It will not be the same story for the coming week provided the weather cooperates.
The Centaurs are now scheduled to play ECC Div. I foes East Lyme and Waterford on Monday and Tuesday, both at home. They host another Div. I opponent, Fitch, on Thursday before traveling on Saturday the 27th to play at Stonington.
“We’re going to need all of our pitching to be ready. That’s three games in four days and four games in six days. Hopefully, if the weather holds, there will be a lot more playing than practicing. We’re going to need everyone once these games start rolling,” Elliott said.
Track
Junior Christian Menounos owns another Woodstock school record.
He and fellow junior Colton Sallum competed in the Connecticut Distance Festival Friday.
Menounos finished 19th out of 340 competitors in the mile, crossing the line in 4 minutes, 29.6 seconds to break the old record held since 2005 by Kevin Graham.
Sallum placed 43rd in 4:36.
On Saturday, the boys’ and girls’ track teams braved the rain to compete in the Patriot Games in Coventry where another Woodstock Academy school record fell.
The quartet of Olivia Tracy, Juliet Allard, Isabel D’Alleva-Bochain and Julia Coyle finished in 13 minutes, 31.78 seconds to set a new Centaur standard in the Distance Medley Relay. The time was also good enough for third overall at the event.
Allard also placed first in the 100-meter competition in 13.22 seconds while Lilly Morgis was best in the field in the discus where she finished just a couple of feet short for qualifying for Nationals with a throw of 104-feet, 4-inches.
Avery Plouffe finished third in the hammer with a throw of 96-8, good enough to qualify for state competition and Menounos was second in the 400-meter in 52.54 seconds.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Things started well for the boys’ lacrosse team on Thursday. They didn’t end that way.
The Centaurs, playing in their only match of the Spring Break week, lost to the Fitch Falcons in Groton, 15-4.
The loss dropped Woodstock back to the .500 mark at 3-3. The Centaurs, 0-3, are still looking for their first ECC Div. I victory.
Henry Wotton tied the game early in the first quarter for the Centaurs and Gunnar Basak put them ahead, 2-1.
The Falcons (5-1, 2-1) went ahead, however, by the end of the first quarter, 3-2, and scored all five of the second quarter goals to own an 8-2 halftime advantage.
Jared Neilsen had his 17th goal early in the third quarter to give the Centaurs a glimmer of hope.
It was quickly snuffed out by the host team as Fitch scored four unanswered goals in the remainder of the quarter.
The Falcons added three more tallies in the fourth before Basak scored his second goal of the match, and 14th of the season, to account for the final.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The girls’ lacrosse team continues to work.
They just aren’t getting much in the way of reward.
The Centaurs lost a pair of matches on the road to ECC foes during Spring Break week.
Woodstock traveled to Norwich for a game against Norwich Free Academy, but came back on the short end of a 19-1 score.
Kaelyn Tremblay had the only goal for the Centaurs.
“Our defense held strong, but just couldn’t hold them for four quarters,” said coach Heather Miller. The score may not show it but the girls worked really hard and never gave up.”
Miller said the effort was also there in a game against Ledyard.
The Centaurs came up short there as well, 16-2, to the Colonels.
Abby Converse and Caroline Harris scored for Woodstock while Abby Houle had 13 saves in goal.
Girls’ Tennis
Woodstock took three of the four singles matches against the Windham-Windham Tech co-op but spring break absences took their toll and the Whippets posted the 4-3 victory.
The loss was the first of the season for the Centaurs in three matches.
Gianna Musumeci, filling in at first singles, took a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tiffany Tellez to get Woodstock off on the right foot against the co-op team in a match played on a neutral court in Killingly.
Kerrigan Reynolds played well at second singles but lost a 6-1, 7-5 decision to Idalia Lopez.
The Centaurs rallied at third and fourth singles with Margaux Reck posting a 6-4, 7-6 win over Naisha Rios and Katherine Trudeau downed Karla Alegron 7-5, 6-2.
The Whippets pulled out the victory by sweeping the three doubles matches, two out of the three matches went the three-set difference.
Kate McArthur and Delilah Kesselman fell 7-6 (12-2), 6-0 at first doubles.
Maeve Lusignan and Madilyn Ead were nipped 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 at second doubles and the third doubles duo of Abby Budd and Linaea Barlow won the first set, 6-4, but lost the next two by the same score.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

6505- Brady Ericson throws against Ellis Tech.

6684- Second baseman Eric Mathewson makes the diving grab of a pop up in front of sliding teammate Matt Hernandez, the rightfielder. First baseman Riley O’Brien (15) looks on for the Centaurs.

6695 – Shortstop Maxx Corradi legs out a hit for the Centaurs against Ellis Tech. Photos by Gavin Grant/Woodstock Academy.

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