Roundup
Spring season gets underway for Centaurs
The weather cooperated, so did the field conditions for the most part and the spring season got off without a hitch on Saturday.
Three Woodstock Academy teams got their first games in on the first day that games were allowed to be played with the boys’ lacrosse team bringing home a victory and the softball and baseball teams losing a pair of hard-fought games each decided by one run.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Coach Jason Tata wanted to see his team do one thing before the half against RHAM in Hebron. Tie the game.
The Centaurs were down by a goal with less than a minute left in the first half but they won the face off and got the ball down to junior attack Patrick Griswold who was able to put the ball in the back of the net with two seconds left to tie the game going into the break.
“The momentum just changed right away,” Tata said. “We came out hot in the third quarter and it was the motivation we gained from that final goal of the first half. It sprung us.”
It showed. The Centaurs owned the next two quarters, outscoring the Raptors 4-1 in both the third and fourth quarters to leave Hebron with a 12-6 victory.
That was a far cry from the match with RHAM on May 21 of last year.
The Raptors left with a 15-2 win.
“It was mental,” Tata said of the difference between the two games. “There were so many times that myself and (assistant) coach (Drew) Beau(pre) were going back-and-forth about on the bus ride home about how there were so many moments that we could have just rolled over. There were a couple of penalties, strange calls, balls bouncing the wrong way, we were losing ground balls, but we tied the game at halftime and the boys believed it was our game.”
The first attack line, according to Tata, “looked phenomenal.” The numbers the trio produced certainly were.
Griswold finished with five goals while Dylan Phillips added four goals and two assists and Corey Lafond contributed three goals and six assists.
“Unbelievable. They were playing so unselfish, they were playing next pass and 10 of our 12 goals were assisted. If you wanted to add in hockey (second) assists, it was much more,” Tata said.
Logan Rumrill and Zach Armbruster added the other assists for the Centaurs.
In addition to the offense, Tata was also happy to see the team do something it didn’t do well last year.
The Centaurs finished the game.
“We didn’t finish half our games last year. We decided not only are we going to finish it; we’re going to put our stamp on it. We’re going to set a good scoring differential, we were going to show that we were the dominant team (Saturday),” the coach said.
Baseball
There was a little trepidation for the baseball team prior to its season opener Saturday.
The Centaurs were getting ready to face East Lyme, one of the perennial powers in the ECC which was coming in with a bit of a chip on its shoulder after losing to Woodstock, 11-1, in last year’s Div. 1 tournament championship game.
The Vikings got a little retribution as they did leave Woodstock with the 3-2 victory but it was hardly a one-sided game.
And there were positives for coach Connor Elliott to pull up despite the loss.
“I was very encouraged by the youth. All of our offensive production came from freshmen and sophomores,” Elliott said.
Indeed, the Centaurs took a 2-1 lead in the game in the fourth inning.
Sophomore Collin Ericson drew a one-out walk and another sophomore, Trevor Turner, pinch ran.
Turner managed to get under the skin of East Lyme starting pitcher Aidan Cochrane and eventually was able to steal second.
That was important as freshman catcher Jameson Costa followed with a single to left.
Turner would have likely been held at third, however, the ball got away in the outfield and Turner was able to scamper home to tie the game on the error.
Costa went to second on the play and advanced to third on a base hit by sophomore Will Ellsworth. He came home on a sacrifice fly by another underclassmen, sophomore first baseman Rhys Asikainen who finished 2-for-2 at the plate against one of the toughest pitchers in the ECC.
“I was very, very encouraged and I’m sure they will continue to improve and then, our veterans will pick us up. They will. They have. They are more than capable. It wasn’t a great game for some of our more experienced players and that happens,” Elliott said.
‘The Centaurs did struggle a bit defensively.
Andrew Sevigny scored the first East Lyme run in the third inning when he reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another error.
The Vikings tied the game in the fifth when Nick Cambi reached on an error, going to second in the process, stole third and scored on an RBI fielder’s choice by Harrison Papuga when the Centaurs could not successfully complete a rundown play.
Cooper Siragusa continued the inning when he reached on an error, moving Papuga to third, and Papuga came around on a Greyson Biggs single.
“We have 19 games to clean it up and we will,” Elliott said. “I have every confidence in this team, every confidence in these guys. These juniors and seniors have been here before and I know they will get it right,” Elliott said.
Logan Coutu got it right on the mound for the most part. The senior went five innings, allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one.
“No earned runs, a couple of K’s in there and a lot of weak contact. Cambi found the barrel in the first inning (a double) but I thought he was pretty much perfect from innings 2-5 and that’s what we need him to do,” Elliott said.
Softball
Things started well for the softball team but Rockville put together a five-run second inning and that big lead made it difficult on the Centaurs who lost a close, 7-6, decision Saturday.
Woodstock took the early, 1-0, lead in the bottom of the first when Maci Corradi walked and scored on a double by fellow senior Ellary Sampson.
The Rams, however, responded with five hits, including two doubles, and a walk and pushed five runs across the plate.
The Centaurs tried to pick their way back into the game as Sampson needed just one swing to score the second run of the game in the third with a solo homer to centerfield.
Rockville went back up by four in the top of the fourth only to see Woodstock to close within a run in the bottom of the inning.
Caroline Ethier and Janelle Elliott both singled and an error allowed Ethier to score. Julia Tellier followed with a sacrifice fly that scored pinch runner Tasha Oatley and a Corradi single produced the fifth run of the game for Woodstock.
The Rams added another run in the fifth and they needed it as the Centaurs answered again in the bottom of the inning.
Ella Chitmanotham singled to lead off the sixth for Woodstock and came across on an Ethier one-out triple but a strikeout and ground out ended the threat.
The Centaurs went in order in the sixth and could only muster a two-out walk in the seventh.
Sampson led the offense with a trio of hits for Woodstock while Ethier had a pair in the loss.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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