by Ken Brown
Bears Searching for Momentum
MORRISVILLE – The Danville baseball team dropped a pair of close games to Peoples Academy (PA) and Richford last week to fall to 1-6 on the season. Twinfield-Cabot student athletes are competing for the Bears this spring for the second straight season.
Chandler Follensbee tossed a complete game, striking out eight to power the Wolves past Danville at home last Thursday 8-1. Twinfield-Cabot’s Meles Gouge led the Trojans with a pair of hits and a stolen base and Sebastian Eldred and Denver Lindstrom chipped in with a hit apiece in the loss. The Division III defending champions improved to 4-2 on the season.
Will Steinhour was a perfect 4-4 at the plate, driving in three runs to lead Richford to a hard-fought 12-7 road win over the Bears on Saturday. Jonas Lagasse, Michael Cunningham, and Carter Blaney powered a 14-hit attack for the Rockets with two hits apiece. Cunningham also earned the save with three perfect innings of relief as Richford improved to 4-3.
Danville traveled to face a red-hot Hazen Union team on Monday and will welcome Northfield to town on Saturday afternoon.
Charger Baseball Gaining Traction
CRAFTSBURY – The Craftsbury Academy (CA) junior varsity baseball team saw significant improvement last week as they faced another tough opponent in division II Lyndon Institute, falling to 0-2 on the young season.
The Vikings outlasted the Chargers 12-7 last Wednesday on a cold and rainy day at Dustan Field. Grayson McNaughten struck out five in the loss and Dalton Gravel finished on the hill for CA. Landon Miller reached base three times, scoring twice from his lead-off spot and Dylan Washer made several dazzling plays at shortstop for the Chargers. Head coach Shaun Allen and William Garske are rebooting the baseball program at CA after a four-year absence, playing a full JV schedule this spring with hopes of competing as a varsity program as soon as 2024.
“Grayson pitched a great game against a very good baseball team. He threw strikes and gave his team a chance to field the ball. Dylan made some great plays for us at key moments and I think our hitting will take off soon once the weather warms and our early season jitters subside. A few defensive mistakes by us were probably the difference in the game. If we can continue to cut down on the errors we will be competitive in every game we play. There is a lot to this game of baseball and I think the kids are starting to realize that, but they are looking locked in and ready to get their first win soon,” said Allen.
The Chargers are scheduled to host Danville on Wednesday and will travel to Richford on Thursday.
Lady Wolves Looking for First Win
CRAFTSBURY – The Peoples Academy (PA) softball team is still searching for their first win of the season after forfeiting to Lake Region and suffering a 15-2 road loss to Craftsbury Academy (CA) last week. Hazen Union’s Sarah Collier (captain), Haley Michaud, and Royelle Crown are on the PA roster this spring.
The Lady Wolves looked to get on track this week as they hosted Williamstown on Tuesday and are scheduled to travel to Northfield on Thursday. They will wrap up a busy week with a doubleheader at home against BFA-Fairfax on Saturday afternoon.
