Locals Lead Mountain League Softball Honors
Outfielder Ida Astick helped lead the Twinfield-Cabot-Danville softball team to its first playoff win in nine years this past spring.
by Ken Brown
NEK – Several local high school softballers were honored with Mountain League honors last week for their stellar seasons on the field this past spring.
Twinfield-Cabot-Danville sophomore Ida Astick led the way with a First Team selection after leading her team to a 10-7 record, including the program’s first playoff win since 2014. Astick leads a talented returning core of underclassmen for co-head coaches Christin Martin and Summer Haverick in 2024, but she will first turn her attention to the soccer pitch, where she also excelled for the Lady Trojans in her sophomore season. The Mountain League was dominated by Division IV Final Four powers Blue Mountain and Richford, with the Lady Bucks steamrolling top-seeded West Rutland in the title game for their first championship in eight years. Joining Astick as a First Team selection was: Blue Mountain’s Kyra Nelson, Lauren Joy, Felicity Sulham, Jade Lamarre, Kaylee Hamlett, Karli Blood, and Gabrielle Houghton, Richford’s Talia McCray, Mikayla Chagnon, Ella Chagnon, Kyrielle Deuso, Vanessa Cunningham, and Maddie Smith, and BFA-Fairfax’s Ella Drury, Melissa Hall, and Jaiden Thweatt.
“Ida has been growing into a phenomenal player for us since eighth grade and has incredible leadership potential. She played wherever the team needed her and learned the disciplines and expectations for nearly every position so she could help where we needed her throughout the season. She was always one of our most positive players and kept her teammates motivated with great communication on the field and in the dugout. She is a true team player who works very hard and I’m so happy to see her recognized for the season she had,” said Martin.
Twinfield-Cabot’s co-op this season with Danville was a huge success and their team was rewarded with a slew of Second Team selections led by: Aleacya Moshinskie, Hannah Haverick, Kim DeBona, Sophi Mancini, and Phoebe Crocker. Rounding out Second Team selections were: Craftsbury Academy’s Alana Ulrich, Jessalynn Gravel, Haley Smith, and Ariana VanDyk, BFA-Fairfax’s Anna Villeneuve, Peyton Niles, and Abigail Langlois, and Williamstown’s Paige Dwinell and Courtney Townsend. Honorable Mentions included: Twinfield-Cabot-Danville’s Madison Duke, Aydyn Paige, and Kendall Hale, Craftsbury Academy’s Savannah Boyce, Sadie Skorstad, Ade Gillespie, and Ella Gillespie, Hazen Union’s Haley Michaud, BFA-Fairfax’s Halle Rocheleau and Faith Benjamin, Richford’s Melody Tracy, and Northfield’s Abi Day.
Ella Gillespie, Gravel, Ulrich, and VanDyk lead a core of seniors that depart a Craftsbury Academy program that they helped resurrect as eighth graders. The program was rebooted under these players and head coach Ashley Gravel in 2019 after being dormant for nearly a decade. The talented group captured the program’s first playoff win in nearly two decades in 2022.
