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Roundup
Centaurs
denied ECC
title by Fitch
The Woodstock Academy baseball team battled its way to the ECC tournament league championship game.
It downed three good teams along the way; Ledyard, Killingly and Waterford. Four games in three days. That included a late return from Groton May 25, a school day on May 26, and then a doubleheader back at Fitch High School in Groton May 26.
There it met a stumbling block.
The host team, second-seeded Fitch, put up nine runs in the fourth inning and posted a 10-0 victory over the Centaurs in the ECC championship game.
“I’m just so proud of our players,” said coach Brian Murphy.
Woodstock, the fifth-seed, had advanced earlier in the day with a 2-1 win over No. 8 Waterford in a semifinal contest.
Brian Murphy had tried to set up his pitching for a title run.
He pitched Kaden Murphy only 4 2/3 innings against Ledyard and would have had him ready for the championship game when it was originally scheduled for on Friday.
Unfortunately, rain was predicted for Friday so the ECC decided to move the championship game up to Thursday night.
The Centaurs (15-9) hung with the Falcons through the first three innings with starting pitcher Jon Smith allowing just one run. But the Falcons were able to put a big number on the board in the fourth.
Ryan O’Connor (3 RBIs) and Dylan Myer both had two-run singles in the fourth inning for the Falcons (18-4). Myer was also the winning pitcher, allowing just two hits for the Centaurs.
Smith and Brady Ericson had the hits for Woodstock.
Brian Murphy had predicted the bats would take precedent in the last two games of the tournament as all teams involved were running low on arms.
That wasn’t the case in the semifinal game with the Lancers which turned out to be a pitching duel.
The Centaurs pushed the two runs across despite having just two hits against the Lancers.
Ethan Davis singled in the first inning, went to second on a hit batter, to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on an error. Zach Rothlein scored what proved to be the game winner in the fourth inning when he singled, went to second on a ground out, stole third and scored on an error.
Earlier in the tournament, freshman pitcher Ericson was key against Killingly in a 9-3 victory in the quarterfinal game.
The long and lanky righthander was dominant through 6 1/3 innings, giving up just one hit and one run. He also struck out nine Killingly hitters.
Hamilton Barnes reached on an error and scored on a Smith single in the first inning. The Woodstock Academy catcher came home when he stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Roethlein groundout.
Barnes singled and went to third on an error in the third inning. He scored on a wild pitch. Smith and Roethlein followed with base hits and Marcus McGregor walked to load the bases. Another walk to Eric Mathewson made it 4-0 Centaurs.
Woodstock put it away with three runs in the fourth. Roethlein, McGregor, and Kaden Murphy all drove in two runs each in the game.
The baseball team wanted to get back on the right track on Tuesday.
The Centaurs had lost their last four games going into their ECC tournament opener against Ledyard.
Woodstock scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Centaurs rolled past No. 12 Ledyard, 12-4.
Ninth-hitter Jackson Goetz had a key two-run single in the first-inning uprising which had 11 batters come to the plate for Woodstock. He would finish with two hits and three runs batted in.
McGregor, just back from an illness, was a perfect 3-for-3 with two singles and a triple.
The season is not over yet.
The Centaurs learned late last week that they will be the 11th seed in the Class L state tournament and will host No. 22 Bristol Central on Tuesday (game finished too late for this edition).
Boys’ Lacrosse: Finishes 8-9
The season came to a close for the Woodstock boys’ lacrosse team, but coach Jason Tata is excited for the future.
After an 8-9 campaign this year, he feels he has grown a little after his second campaign as head coach.
“I learned a lot this year as a coach that I will be able to bring to this team next year. Just as much as these guys are improving, I’m improving too,” Tata said.
He also likes the bodies who will return to put the blue-and-gold jerseys on again next spring.
The Centaurs will lose leading scorer Jonah Libby. The senior finished with 52 goals and 41 assists for 93 points.
The Centaurs will return their next three top scorers with Jared Neilsen and Jacob Jurnovoy (both who finished with 48 points) and Zach Gessner (47). The defense will also be solid led by Cooper Stewart and Evan Roy.
The Centaurs, seeded 18th in the Class M tournament, finished up May 27 with an 18-5 loss to No.15 Avon in the qualifying round match.
The host team started pretty quick, rolling out to a big lead at the break.
But the Centaurs didn’t lay down.
Libby and Jurnovoy (1 assist) both had two goals while Jared Neilsen scored the other and added an assist. Will Basiliere had two assists.
The regular season ended a few days before in Groton where the Fitch Falcons rallied in the final nine minutes and posted a 13-11 win over the Centaurs.
Woodstock took a 4-3 lead on the Falcons when Jurnovoy scored the first of his three goals in the match with 6 minutes, 47 seconds to play in the first half.
But the hosts were able to get the tying goal and then scored the next three goals to open a 7-4 lead at the half.
Fitch also scored the first two goals of the second half before the Centaurs woke up.
Libby (three assists) scored both of his goals and Gessner added two of his three to bring Woodstock back to even at 9 with 11:53 left in the game.
Jurnovoy added his third goal of the contest with 9:03 to play to give the Centaurs the 10-9 advantage.
The Falcons scored the next two goals to go up, 11-10, but Neilsen tied it with 5:36 left.
Fitch recorded the victory by scoring the last two goals. Woodstock also played well in a 19-10 loss to E. Lyme on May 19. Libby finished with five goals and three assists against the Vikings. Libby had four goals in the first half against E. Lyme as the Centaurs were able to keep it close, trailing only 10-7 at the half.
But E. Lyme outscored Woodstock 5-1 in the third quarter to put the win away.
Jurnovoy added two goals and two assists for the Centaurs while Gessner added a pair of tallies.
Girls’ Track: Take 3rd
The girls’ track team finished in third place in the ECC Div. I league championship meet early last week at E. Lyme High School.
The Centaurs finished with 99 points, behind first-place and host E. Lyme with 155 ½ and Norwich Free Academy (126).
“It was OK,” said coach Josh Welch. “Watching how the meet developed, we had some girls really hit high points for themselves when we needed to and a few that were pretty good. We had to have one of those everyone had to do their best days just to even get near East Lyme and take a second. NFA had one of those days where everything went well. They had a lot of girls get some huge performances. We could have done a little better but it was good.”
Woodstock swept the hurdles with junior Bella Sorrentino winning the 100m (16.34 seconds) and freshman Juliet Allard taking the 300m (48.2).
“The 300m hurdles was Juliet’s focus mentally and I was glad to see that come through. She beat her personal best by about a second which is about a tenth of a second from the school record which I think was set in the 2010’s. She’s knocking at the door there,” Welch said.
The 48.2 second effort also made her the top seed in the event in the Class MM state championship next week. Allard also finished sixth in the 100m.
Sophomore Jillian Edwards, meanwhile, had one of those good days. She was the other first-place finisher as she cleared the bar at 4-feet, 10-inches in the high jump to tie her personal best in the event.
“She’s been having a tough time with high jump here-and-there. It’s one of those events where getting consistent at those higher heights is a difficult thing to do. She’s starting to show a lot more consistency,” Welch said.
Edwards didn’t expect the first-place finish. She had come in seeded lower as she had only cleared the bar at 4-8 in competition and had just ran the 300m hurdles leaving her “dead tired.”
Plus, the remaining competitors had all cleared 4-10 this season.
But there was a mitigating factor.
Her friends had gathered around and provided not only the motivation but some useful tips. “They were talking to me about my foot placement, my leaning out running up to (the bar) and being springy. They were very supportive. They were telling me I had done it before (Edwards won the high jump in indoor track) and that I could do it. It was very helpful,” Edwards said.
Magdalena Myslenski (discus); Reegan Reynolds (long jump), Linsey Arends (800m) and the 4x800m relay team (Arends, Leah Castle, Julia Coyle and Leila MacKinnon) brought home third-place finishes. Bella Sorrentino was fourth in the shotput, Julia Coyle was fifth in the 3200m and Talia Tremblay took fifth in the 400m.
“The competition was really dense,” Welch said. “When you put Divisions I and II together, the number of places picked up by teams like Waterford and Bacon Academy in addition to Fitch and NFA, made it a really dense pack. So, just to be up there and be in scoring position was fantastic.”
Welch said Arends was not particularly happy with the third-place finish in the 800m but both Bacon Academy’s Jordan Malloy and Ledyard’s Kate Littler both took two seconds off their previous personal bests as did Arends.
“Third-place doesn’t always feel great but it also put her as the third seed (in the 800m) in Class MM. It just shows how dense those heats were,” Welch said.
There were also a host of sixth-place finishes with Myslenski doing so in the pole vault; Lauren Brule in the 3200m; Allard in the 100m and Castle in the 800m.
The Centaurs next compete June 1 in the Class MM state championship.
Boys’ Track: Taking Home Firsts
Woodstock freshman Christian Menounos didn’t know what to expect, honestly. It was his first ECC Div. I-II championship meet.
So, he did what came naturally. “I just went into it just trying to race my race and pushing myself as hard as I could,” Menounos said.
He started a little conservatively, running behind the pack, not trying to hold on, but rather to conserve his energy.
“There were guys in the race that were faster than him, truth be told, and I don’t know if they were tired and just sitting, but the pack stayed together and that benefitted him because he has a heck of a kick,” said coach Peter Lusa.
The longer they stayed together, the more optimistic but also more nervous Lusa became.
Until just three laps were left and Menounos broke out.
“I knew I had the kick and once I saw that they were staying the same pace and I was going faster, I just told myself that I wasn’t going to let up,” Menounos said.
He finished in 10:02.52, 16 seconds better than his seed time.
“I want to improve on that. My major goal is to go sub-10 (minutes) this season which would be really great,” Menounos said.
The Centaurs, as a whole, finished seventh as a team at the championship meet at East Lyme. They had just one other first-place finisher — senior Keenan LaMontagne won the discus with a throw of 153-feet, 1-inch and was second in the shotput.
LaMontagne is the defending Class MM state champion in the discus.
Senior Ian Hoffman placed third in the 800m and fell short of his goal of setting a Woodstock Academy school record.
Hoffman also posted a sixth in the pole vault. Other sixth-place finishes were had by Vincente Bastura in the 1600m, Silas Strandson in the 300m hurdles and Jeff Phongsa in the 200m.
The Centaurs have the Class MM state championship meet to contend with next on Wednesday at Willow Brook Park in New Britain.
Girls’ Golf: Ready for Tourney
Woodstock senior Jillian Marcotte finished off the regular season in style. She finished with her best score ever on her home course, a 47.
“I’m happy that it all came together (Thursday). I parred a couple of holes which I was happy about, had a couple of double bogeys in there but it is, what it is,” Marcotte said.
It came at the perfect time. It was the final regular season match for the Centaurs who downed Bacon Academy 229-267.
“It went by really fast,” said coach Earl Semmelrock of the season. “We had some poor weather early in the season, got through that, and before you know it, you’re looking at the last week of regular season matches and next week, it’s the tournament.”
It was also Senior Day for Marcotte.
“She has been an incredibly good influence on the other girls. I’ve had a lot of success here with the golf team over the years and this was one of my better years in terms of how the kids got along. There were no issues. We had some COVID and sickness issues but everyone battled through it. We never had to postpone or cancel a match because of that,” Semmelrock said.
Marcotte agreed the season flew by. “We had a lot of new people come out like (freshmen) Lily (Bottone) and Sophie (Gronski) who joined us halfway through the season when I was in Europe on April break. Their games are really coming together,” Marcotte said. “I’m going to miss this a lot. The girls are great. We have a lot of fun on the bus. I’m going to miss choosing where we go for dinner because medalist got to choose but this team really has come together and Coach has been really great to us.”
Ella Musumeci added a 59 against the Bobcats.
The win gave the Centaurs a 6-9 overall record and a 4-6 record in the ECC.
“That’s fine. We don’t base success on wins and losses; we base it on the progress that was made. I can’t say enough about that progress. We have some novices who have embraced the game and are happy to be out here every day. It’s a great group of kids,” Semmelrock said.
The Centaurs traveled to the always tough Old Lyme Country Club earlier in the week and fell just short against E. Lyme, losing by six strokes, 242-248.
Marcotte shot a 57 and Gronski added a 59.
Earlier they fell to undefeated NFA, 208-225. Marcotte shot a 51 for the Centaurs while Shannon Cunniff added a 52.
The Centaurs will take part in the Wildcat Invitational (the results were too late for this edition) and will host the ECC championship at the Quinnatisset.
And another ECC championship is not necessarily out of reach.
“If we play to the best of our ability, we can compete. That’s all I’m asking for and whether or not it happens, we won’t know until Thursday,” Semmelrock said.
The Centaurs will just miss out on Div. II state tournament play this season.
The top 15 teams get in, Woodstock Academy is ranked No. 16.
“I don’t think we will get in. We would have had to put in a ridiculous number (Thursday) to get by Mercy (High School). After the whole season, we’re going to be the first team out. We made it our mission over the last half of the season but we needed three really good scores this week and it didn’t happen,” Semmelrock said.
Softball: Ready for States
For the first time in three years, the Woodstock softball team had to play the majority of the powerful softball programs in the ECC. The Centaurs finished with an 11-9 overall record after a 9-4 win over East Catholic.
“I’m pretty good with that,” said coach Jason Gerum. “Any time you can get double-digit wins, make all the tournaments, that’s a pretty successful season.
Woodstock had to play the likes of Waterford, NFA, Fitch, East Lyme and Ledyard for the first time since 2019.
The 2020 softball season was cancelled and last year’s was limited to regional play.
It took some adjusting by the Centaurs.
“It’s a different animal,” Gerum said. “It’s more than just the talent of the players. They have a lot of kids who come to tryouts, have a lot to choose from and there is a lot more depth. They are competing at a high level all of the time. It’s not cyclical. They are always very, very good. It was definitely an eye-opener and I think the kids held their own.”
Gerum chose to throw Lexi Thompson against East Catholic.
He felt it more important to throw his ace in a game that would have possible impact on the state tournament rankings rather than an ECC tournament first-round game on Tuesday against Fitch.
“We don’t like to pitch Lexi in back-to-back games. That’s a lot to take on for some pitchers,” Gerum said. “There were a lot of factors. If she had pitched the back-to-back games (if the Centaurs had beaten Fitch), then there was a third game in three days on Wednesday. It didn’t work out for us well.”
The Centaurs fell behind East Catholic, 3-0, early but rallied to close within one in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs.
Madison Martinez reached on an error after Sarah McArthur walked. That error allowed McArthur to score and Martinez came home on a ground out by Thompson.
Woodstock took control in the sixth when it pushed six runs across the plate.
Madison Nichols and Savannah Schley singled to lead off the inning and Mia Pannone tied the game with an RBI single.
Jenna Bankowski loaded the bases when she reached on an error and McArthur gave the Centaurs the lead for good when she drew a bases-loaded walk.
A Martinez ground out scored another and Thompson put the finishing touches on the rally with a three-run homer to left.
Thompson finished with five RBIs in the game and also was stellar in the circle. She allowed just four hits and struck out 10.
Schley had two of the five hits for Woodstock Academy.
Without Thompson in the circle against the third-seeded Falcons, the No. 6 Centaurs lost the ECC first-round tournament game, 11-1, to Fitch in Groton Tuesday.
Thompson gave the Centaurs the early lead with an RBI single in the first inning. McArthur, who had singled, came all the way around from first base.
Fitch put the game away with four runs in the second inning and seven in the third.
But there was a bright spot in the later innings for Woodstock.
Freshman Grace DelSanto pitched the final three innings and allowed just one hit with two strikeouts and two walks. McArthur and Martinez finished with two hits each for the Centaurs.
The conclusion of the regular season was especially poignant for the two seniors on the Woodstock squad. Jenna Bankowski and Madison Nichols were honored prior to the last home game of the regular season against Waterford recently.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
captions:
Slides Home
Freshman Brady Ericson, who would pitch the Centaurs past Killingly in an ECC quarterfinal game, slides home with one of the Centaurs’ 12 runs in a first-round ECC win over Ledyard. Photo by Marc Allard.
Senior Day
After shooting her career best at Quinnatisset, a 47 against Bacon Academy, Woodstock Academy senior Jillian Marcotte was honored on Senior Day. Photo by Adam Bottone/Woodstock Academy.
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