Thetford
One year after narrowly missing a trip to the VPA Division IV softball finals, Colton has his Mountaineers steaming that way again. On Thursday, Whitchester batters amassed 22 hits and received standout offensive performances from four players in a 20-1 defeat of Thetford.
Whitchester (13-1) holds down the top spot in the D-IV standings with one game to play in the regular season.
“It’s very important,” Colton said of the top billing. “You get home-field advantage for a while. It’s very important to us.”
It certainly looked that way against the Panthers (6-6). Sammy Barcomb and Chelsie Trask led the charge with 4-for-5 days at the plate. Trask drove in four runs while Barcbomb delivered two.
Fiona Vaillancourt also had four RBIs on a 3-for-4 day, and Hayley Mears went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Barcomb and Vaillancourt scored four times, and Mears crossed the plate three times. That was more than enough for Trask and Vaillancourt, who split six innings in the circle, fanning a combined seven Panthers.
“The way they’re playing is way above my expectations,” Colton said.
Maddie Kingsbury accounted for both of the Panthers’ hits and their sole run. Pitcher Brooke Horniak struck out five.
Whitchester visits Mount St. Joseph on Saturday to close the regular season. The Panthers also close their campaign that day, traveling to Blue Mountain.
Newport 3, Mascenic 0
Newport
McNeel tossed a six-hitter for Newport, striking out eight against just one walk. Labrie was nearly as potent, whiffing 10 Tigers during her seven innings, all while limiting Newport to just five hits.
Playing as the visitor on their home field, the Tigers broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fourth. Alyssa Burr singled home Kendall Hamilton for a 1-0 lead, later scoring herself on a throwing error during a steal of third base. Burr added a second RBI single in the sixth to score McNeel.
McNeel worked out of a based-loaded, one-out jam in the home first, then retired 11 of the next 12 Vikings. Mascenic (14-3) stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth frames.
The Tigers will enter the D-III tourney as one of three undefeated teams, expected to draw the third seed behind Campbell and White Mountains.
Oxbow 16, Lamoille 3
Hyde Park, Vt.
After a game-opening run, the O’s used an 11-run second frame to take the contest. Maddie Fornwalt and Erika Slicer contributed two-run singles to the big rally, which was built on seven hits, two walks and a Lamoille error. Rilee Wadsworth and Amber Glaude also singled in the assault. Slicer and Glaude also had solo homers in the third for Oxbow.
Fornwalt tossed a complete-game three-hitter with 14 strikeouts for the O’s, who will likely sit behind only Green Mountain in the D-III seedings.
Hanover 13, Kearsarge 8
Norwich
Everyone in the Hanover lineup scored a run or got a hit, coach Mariruth Graham said. Bella Bardales went 3-for-4 with two runs. Daria Gundermann (three runs), Gibbs (two runs) and Bri Elder (one run) all contributed 2-for-3 days for a Marauder squad that slapped 11 hits.
“It’s been a tremendous, positive progression toward a really exciting finish,” Graham said. “The team has competed well together as a whole unit. … I’m proud of each player. They each seem to know their role and play it well.”
Better than that: Graham doesn’t lose anyone to graduation.
Sunapee 7, Nute 4 (8)
Sunapee
The first came in the Sunapee fifth. Down 4-0, Kalleigh Durkee tripled, Elizabeth Bennett tripled her home and Hannah Cooney delivered an RBI single to halve the deficit. After a Tess Palin single, Miah Hamm’s two-run double tied the game.
MacKenzie Wrightington singled to start the eighth-inning rally. After Kathryn Hastings came in to pinch run and Star Lucas followed with a single, Frederick’s blast decided the contest.
Frederick threw three innings of relief to earn the victory for the Lakers (8-7), who have one game remaining in their regular season.
Hartford 17Burr & Burton 4
White River Junction
Emily Ballou had four hits and three RBIs for the Canes, with Hannah Cooney contributing two hits and driving in three runs. Beaucage and Bailey Bean split the pitching duties as Hartford stopped a six-game losing streak.
Hartford will likely open the VPA Division II tournament on the road next week.
South Royalton 8Sharon 6
Chelsea
After Sharon’s Sam Knoerlein drilled a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth for a 6-6 tie, Small blasted a two-run shot to center field to give South Royalton the lead one last time. Carder Stratton had doubled to open the frame before Small’s bomb, which capped a 2-for-4, four-RBI, two-run day.
SoRo had a 6-3 lead through three as Small drove in Jake Hewitt in the first and tripled home another run in the third. Zeb Perreault, Jacob Barry, Austin Tracy and Dominic Craven also had RBIs for the Royals. Stratton relieved Small (11 strikeouts) on the mound in the sixth and shut down the Phoenix for the win, fanning three and allowing one earned run.
Knoerlein finished the day 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Sharon (5-7), which visits Chelsea in its season finale on Saturday. TSA’s Aidan Trimble and Kyle Hedgepeth each had three-hit games.
Sunapee 18, Nute 0 (5)
Sunapee
Ducharme finished with a game-best five RBIs for the Lakers. Darren Hulton went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a triple. Ducharme and Matt Nangeroni (one RBI) both had 2-for-3 days at the plate. Freshmen Garrett Rumrill, Josh Heino and Anthony Borelli combined on three hits, two runs and two RBIs, and junior Mac Cahill contributed a double.
Gabe Hastings tossed a five-inning one-hitter for Sunapee with 10 strikeouts. The Lakers expect to open next week’s NHIAA D-IV tourney on the road.
Chelsea 9Whitcomb-Rochester 4
Bethel
Seniors Zach Rhoades and Kevin Kingsbury made star turns for Whitchester. Rhoades went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two stolen bases, and Kingsbury scored twice, stole three bases and also drove in a pair. The two also combined on 6⅔ innings of pitching. Kingsbury fanned 11 over five frames, and all four of Rhoades’ outs came by way of strikeouts.
Chelsea’s Jake Colby threw five inings of no-hit relief for the victory. Sean and Jeff King combined for six hits and six runs for the Devils.
Whitchester visits Rivendell to close the regular season on Saturday morning.
Burr & Burton 8Hartford 6
White River Junction
Curtis Barry started on the mound and went five innings, allowing 10 hits and three runs while striking out two Bulldogs and walking one. Alex Bushway relieved and surrendered four hits and five runs during 1⅔ innings before senior Tyler Hamilton came on for a batter.
“If you’d have told me before the season started that I’d throw two freshmen against the defending Division I champs and we’d have been within two runs, I’d have taken it,” said Hartford coach Jarrod Grassi whose 4-10 team hosts Fair Haven today. “They just came back and beat us.”
Another freshman, center fielder Jacob Dwinell, had three hits and a sacrifice bunt. Bushway and Kyle Hamilton each had two hits. Hartford’s program features 13 freshmen this season, and Grassi expects another dozen to join it next year.
Hanover 22, Kingswood 14
Wolfeboro, n.h.
Jessica Seibel delivered seven goals and three assists. Maddie McCorkle enjoyed a five-goal, two-assist effort in a contest that also saw Cate Wagner (two), Izzy Sangha (two), Sophie Mitchell (two), Jasmine Lou, Sabin Mitchell, Miranda Galbraith and Hanna Kingston strike the twine. Wagner and Kingston added assists.
Katelyn Hurd had 12 saves for Hanover, which will likely visit Portsmouth to open the state tourney on Wednesday.
Londonderry 7, Hanover 3
Hanover
Mason Winter finished with 11 saves as Londonderry made the most of a 4-1 halftime lead. The Marauders are expected to begin NHIAA Division I tournament play on June 2 at top-seeded Bishop Guertin (17-0).
Wasps Advance at States
Burlington
Biele reached the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Rice’s Becca Tudor and a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of CVU’s Sophie Dauermann. Marsicovetere and Howe also won two matches to get to the doubles semifinals, beating Essex’s Sarah Friedman and Anne Krisna, 6-0, 6-2, and CVU’s Courtney Vincent and Ella Kennedy, 6-4, 6-2.
Woodstock’s Kenzie Biele had a barn-burner of a first-round match, dropping a 4-6, 6-4, 8-10 marathon to Stowe’s Natalie Doehla.
Woodstock 6Bellows Falls 0
Woodstock
Seniors Ethan Earle (6-0, 6-2) and Justin Kopf (6-1, 6-1) cruised to victories at the top two singles positions. Freshman Noah Anderson and sophomore Blake Heston both took 6-0, 6-0 wins as Nos. 3 and 4 in their singles debuts. Asa Gaddis and Charles McGowan were 6-3, 6-0 victors at first doubles, and the Wasps claimed their final point, at second doubles, in a walkover.
Woodstock opens VPA Division I tournament play next week.
Geraghty-Moats Doubly Chosen
Park City, Utah
Geraghty-Moats, 25, retained her spot on the U.S. roster with inclusion on the women’s ski jumping C team. She is also the first selection for USA Nordic’s first women’s Nordic combined roster, also at the C level. Nordic combined, the union of cross country skiing and ski jumping, will hold its first world championship in 2021.
Geraghty-Moats came up short in a bid to make last winter’s Olympic roster in South Korea, an effort partly slowed by injury.
Ivy Tourney to Yale
Princeton, n.j.
The top four teams in the regular-season standings will play for the league’s automatic NCAA berths on March 16-17, 2019. The tournaments were previously held at the Philadelphia’s Palestra, home court for the University of Pennsylvania.