caption:
Striding In
Tommy Li strides safely into third base in a 6-1 win over Ellis Tech last week in Danielson. Photo by Marc Allard.
Eric Preston knew the first ball he hit was going to go a long way.
He was hoping the second one would as well.
The senior catcher for the Centaurs muscled not one, but two balls, over the fence in left field at Ellis Tech in Danielson and his two homers led Woodstock Academy to a 6-1 victory April 23.
The Centaurs also played two tight games against Bacon Academy and Waterford last week, but ended up on the wrong side of both and will go into a relatively light week with a 7-4 record. The Centaurs play only two games this week against New London on Tuesday (the game ended too late for this edition) and Fitch May 3.
Last week’s game with the Eagles was moved to Ellis Tech due to wet grounds at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
That was fine with Preston who feasted on the shorter porch.
“I hit one home run last year, but not two in a game,” Preston said with a smile. “I’m pretty happy about it.”
The Centaurs took the early lead when winning pitcher Tommy Li singled, was sacrificed to second, moved to third on a Luke Mathewson base hit and scored on a Nathan John (13 RBIs this season) single.
Ellis Tech starting pitcher Cameron L’Heureux kept the Centaurs at bay until the third inning when Preston got a hold of a two-strike pitch.
“I knew that was gone for sure,” Preston said.
Three innings later, with the Centaurs up 4-0, Preston took Ellis Tech reliever Codi Beshaw deep for a two-run homer.
“I was a little nervous, it started dipping a little, but it went over,” Preston said.
Preston said he is getting more comfortable at the plate.
He was hitting over .400 until an 0-for-3 effort against Waterford dropped him back to .375.
“It’s nice when he relaxes at the plate, because then the ball travels. He gets in trouble if he tries to do too much,” said Woodstock Academy coach Brian Murphy.
Li did the rest against the Eagles.
“He’s been key for our team and for him to come out and deal for our team like he did is all we can ask for,” Preston said.
Li allowed the Eagles (6-2) just four hits and struck out six.
“He pitched well,” Murphy said. “He was around the plate all day, worked his breaking pitch nice and obviously, his fast ball looked better after the breaking pitch. It was a good team win.”
The junior added RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings to back his pitching effort.
“Tommy helped himself out. He had some big hits and he’s a gamer. It was Tommy Li’s day,” Murphy said.
It was a game that scared Murphy.
The Centaurs were coming off a long spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and had the tough games against Bacon Academy and Waterford still to come.
Fortunately, Woodstock Academy did catch a break when rain postponed its scheduled game against Fitch, moving it May 3.
“That would have stretched our pitching out a lot,” Murphy said.
Instead, he was able to throw Mathewson (4-1) against the Bobcats.
Mathewson allowed only one earned run, but mistakes cost the Centaurs.
Bacon Academy scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning and Woodstock Academy was not able to recover, losing 4-3.
Preston. Mathewson and John knocked in the runs for the Centaurs.
Preston is best known as a catcher.
But he’s done pretty well on the mound this season.
Preston has got the call in, arguably, the two toughest games of the season for the Centaurs and he has shown up.
The offense just has not backed him up.
He suffered a 2-0 loss to Ledyard, one of the top-ranked teams in the state earlier in the season, and April 25, he held Waterford to three hits only to suffer a 2-1 loss to the Lancers.
Jacob Hernandez singled and scored the only run for Woodstock Academy on an RBI single by John in the fourth inning.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
..
Luigi Boselli came into the week undefeated in singles play for the Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis team
“I’m surprised,” Boselli said. “Coach (Ann) Rathbone, (Lauren) Gagnon and (Siana) Green have really guided me a lot. They have done a really good job with me.”
The group of coaches has done wonders with the boys’ program as a whole as the Centaurs are currently 6-1 after winning two of their three matches last week.
The Centaurs have been led by Boselli and junior captain David Fleck, both of whom sport 6-0 records in singles play.
Boselli may be a senior and is more than familiar with the game, but this is his first exposure to tennis American style.
Boselli is an exchange student from Perugia, Italy. He played tennis there for four years. But in Italy, he didn’t play for a high school.
“Here, I represent the school, In Perugia, you represent yourself. Here, we are a group. You don’t just win by yourself and if you lose, all the people lose. It’s a stronger feeling here. When you play, others cheer for you. It’s amazing. It’s just wonderful,” Boselli said.
Rathbone said Boselli recently expressed his desire of how he wants to play hard for the team, to be there for the other players.
So far, he has been, despite having to take time off from the game.
Boselli had not played tennis for the last two years before coming to Woodstock Academy.
He was involved in a motorcycle accident and broke his hand. His doctor, after an operation on the hand, told him to take a break from the game.
But when he decided to come to the U.S., he also decided he wanted to play again.
Rathbone, originally, had slated Boselli for doubles. Boselli tried it, but Rathbone quickly realized that he was a talented singles player and he has been the No. 4 singles for the Centaurs for the entire season.
“He’s pretty solid,” Rathbone said. “He has no weaknesses to attack. He’s solid on (both forehand and backhand shots). He’s mentally tough. He doesn’t relax or take points off. Some kids get sloppy or lazy. He doesn’t. I wish they were all like that.”
The Centaurs rolled to a win in their first match of the week, 6-1, over New London April 23.
Riley Douglas won, but struggled against Wesly Paulo in second singles. The sophomore eventually prevailed, 6-3,4-6,6-4 but it took three hours to finish.
The Centaurs suffered their first loss of the season, 4-3, to an undefeated Ellington team April 24.
Both Fleck and Boselli managed wins as did the first doubles team of Aidan Stewart and Stefan Chervenkova who are now 5-0 in matches this season.
“We have never beaten Ellington, but we almost pulled it off, it was a good match,” Rathbone said. The Centaurs finished off the week with a shutou t victory over St. Bernard School. Joe Zhou picked up his first singles victory in the win.
“We’re doing very well. We have good chemistry and people are stepping up like Joe did in singles,” Rathbone said.
Girls Win 1
While the boys’ tennis team was busy, the girls’ team had a pretty quiet week.
The Centaurs downed Suffield, 6-1, in their only match of the week to raise their mark to 4-1. Morgan Bassett, Hannah Darigan and Adeline Smith all captured their singles matches in straight sets.
Rachel Holden, who has been a singles player for the Centaurs, suffered an ankle injury which prompted some shifting in the doubles ranks. “(Holden) may start some playing doubles because she is always hurting her ankle in singles. So, doubles is still kind of up in the air. Rachel and Adeline can play doubles, Adeline started playing doubles with Caitlin, but she is a strong singles player for a freshman. I’m not sure how it will pan out. It’s a great luxury to have to be able to put people in different places,” Rathbone said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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caption:
Winning Form
Maddie Grube shows off her winning form in the triple jump April 24. The Centaurs senior also finished first in the long jump, the 100-meter hurdles and was a member of the winning 4 x 100-meter relay team vs. Norwich Free Academy. Photo by Marc Allard.
Norwich Free Academy made its impression as soon as it drove up to the track at the South Campus at Woodstock Academy April 24.
It took two buses to carry the nearly 70 athletes that the Wildcats brought along.
The Centaurs had just about a third of that.
But the small-ish Woodstock Academy group acquitted itself well, forging a host of first-place finishes, but falling short as expected to NFA, 97-53.
“It was great for us to steal nearly half the points and stay in the game with them,” said Woodstock Academy girls’ track coach Josh Welch. “I think it shows what our athletes are capable of doing and their commitment. We talked a little at the beginning of the meet about staying focused, despite the competition, and using it to their advantage rather than a deterrent. I think everybody did that. We had a lot of (personal records). Their attitude was in the right place and they pushed hard.”
None harder than Woodstock Academy senior Maddie Grube.
She captured first-place finishes in the long jump (14-8 ½); triple jump (31-7), 100-meter hurdles (18.79) and was also a member of the winning 4x100-meter relay team for the Centaurs.
“(NFA’s numbers) make it tough. They’re putting like 10 girls in every event and we only have a few so it makes it tough getting points. Our focus this meet was getting personal records and trying to qualify for states,” Grube said.
Grube qualified for Class M state competition in both the 4x100 and bettered her qualifying position in the long jump. Grube also got very close to qualifying for state competition in the triple jump.
After the Ledyard Relays this weekend, the Centaurs only have the Middletown Invitational, a meet with E. Lyme and the ECC championship meet left.
Junior international student Marina Monrabal was a member alongside Grube, Aochen Li and Gillian Price as members of the 4 x 100 team that not only finished with a win against NFA but also qualified for state competition. Monrabal also finished first and qualified for states in the 100-meter. The Centaurs also finished first in the 4 x 400 relay.
Olivia Majek took the baton in the third leg of the 4x400 and was behind by 50 meters. She made up the time and freshman Linsey Arends did the rest, striding home in first. Arends also won the 1,600-meter event.
Boys Fall in Norwich
Kenneth Birlin scored a first-place finish for the Centaurs who fell to Norwich Free Academy, 125-25, in Norwich April 24.
“They actually sat a bunch of their kids because of missed practices and things like that. It was wonderful meet, but they are just loaded,” said Woodstock Academy coach Pete Lusa.
Birlin took first in the 800-meter with a personal best 2:06.4.
“It was a good win for him because in our first meet at Fitch, he kind of went out and ran all on his own. This time, he was challenged until about three-quarters of the way through and he pulled ahead. I’m looking forward to him running at Middletown where he will be a slow seed and he will have people running faster than him and will, hopefully, push him beyond the time he wants to get,” Lusa said.
Lucas Couture qualified for the states with a second in the pole vault (10-feet-6), was second in the 110-meter hurdles and was a member of the winning 4x400 team.
His time in the hurdles was a tenth off of qualifying for States.
“That was into the wind,” Lusa said. “He was pretty pleased (with the hurdles) and he went over 10-6 pretty smoothly (in the pole vault).”
Adam Schimmelpfennig was second in the 300 hurdles and Ethan Aspiras was 2nd in the 3200m for the Centaurs (0-2, 0-2 ECC Div. I). Jackson Dias added third-place finishes in the high jump and 300-meter hurdles. The big goal for the Centaurs now is to get athletes qualified for state competition.
Ledyard Relays
It was a long, cold day in Ledyard April 27.
The Ledyard Relays, normally a two-day event, was condensed to one due to inclement weather April 26. Couture bettered his performance at Norwich in the pole vault, getting a personal best when he cleared the bar at 11-feet. The 4 x 800-meter team of Birlin, Dias, Benjamin Green and Jeremy Romano finished fourth.
On the girls’ side, the 4 x 1-mile relay team of Arends, Megan Gohn, Alexia Bourbeau and Iris Bazinet finished second in 25 minute, 26.7 seconds. The 4 x 100-meter hurdle relay team of Grube, Aria Gianfriddo, Aochen Li and Sydney Couture placed third and the 4 x800 relay quartet of Malloy Tyimok, Anna Kellerman, Sophia Mawson and Bazinet was fifth. Grube also placed fifth in the long jump.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
..
Woodstock public schools
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Putnam Elementary/Middle
Monday: Hot dogs, baked beans. Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, broccoli. Wednesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, cheddar Goldfish crackers, carrots with hummus. Thursday: Popcorn chicken potato bowls. Friday: Putnam Special Pizza.
Putnam High
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Pomfret Community
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