SOUTH ROYALTON — The White River Valley baseball team entered Tuesday’s season opener against visiting Rivendell having won 35 straight games, covering two full seasons and state championship victories in 2019 and 2021 sandwiched around the canceled 2020 season.
In fact, the Wildcats haven’t lost since the school was formed out of the merger of South Royalton and Bethel. And they wasted no time making it 36 straight.
White River Valley (1-0) scored six runs in the first inning and kept adding on from there in a 13-0 victory over the Raptors, with seniors Dominic Craven and Macin Gaudette and freshman Donovan Craven combining on a five-inning no-hitter.
The elder Craven also starred at the plate with a triple and a double, as did Gaudette, the transfer from Hartford, who singled twice and hit a sacrifice fly. Senior Arliss Spaulding was 3-for-3.
Senior Wyatt Underhill took the loss for Rivendell (0-1).
“We’ve still got some work to do,” WRV head coach Devin Cilley said. “We’ve got some holes right now, but we’ll get the lineup figured out, and we’ll be all right. Hopefully by the end of the next couple weeks, we’ll be getting things locked down and be ready to go for the rest of the season.”
The Wildcats will head to Leland & Gray on Thursday, while the Raptors are at West Rutland that afternoon.
SALEM, N.H. — The Bears improved to 3-0 with a dominant showing at Salem.
Evan Yang, Alex Rockmore and Charlie Birkmeyer all won without dropping a game, 8-0, in their singles matches. Zach Pearson added an 8-2 win and Kevin Pillsbury won, 8-1. Pablo Martin-Asensio added his first career varsity win in a 9-7 battle at No. 6 singles.
Yang/Rockmore, Pillsbury/Birkmeyer and Ryder Wilson/Ming Liu all won 8-0 in doubles for Hanover. The Bears are back in action on Wednesday at home hosting Nashua North.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Raiders dropped an overtime heartbreaker in their season opener at Trinity.
Hunter Grant had two goals to pace Lebanon (0-1). Griffin Auch, Colin Maher and Noah Mekus also scored. Auch and Cesar Salcedo had one assist each. Goalie James Barnett made 10 saves for the Raiders.
Lebanon now looks forward to its home opener against Hollis-Brookline on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.