Sports

High school sports: Teams claim high playoff seeds

ADDISON COUNTY — The Middlebury girls’ tennis team nailed down the No. 1 seed in Division II with a win late last week, while two defending champions — Mount Abraham softball and the Vergennes-Mount Abe girls’ lacrosse — earned No. 2 D-II seeds with road victories.

Several other teams also earned first-round home playoff games as the regular season concluded, including the Eagle-Commodore boys’ lacrosse team; Tiger boy’ lacrosse, softball and boys’ tennis; Otter Valley baseball; and VUHS baseball and softball.

TENNIS

Nobody locally had a better regular season than the MUHS girls’ tennis team, which defeated visiting Spaulding on Friday, 6-1, to complete an undefeated campaign at 10-0.

The top-seeded Tigers will on Thursday at 3 p.m. meet the winner of a play-in contest between No. 8 Harwood and No. 9. Rice. Should the Tigers prevail in that matchup they will face either No. 4 U-32 or No. 5 Mount Mansfield at 3 p.m. in a Saturday semifinal.

Against visiting Spaulding on Friday, the Tiger girls’ results were:

At No. 1 singles, Scarlett Carrara, M, defeated Hallie Pletzer, S, 6-4, 6-3.

At No. 2 singles, Julia Bartlett, M, defeated Camden Kelley, S, 6-0, 6-0.

At No. 3 singles, Abby Bailey, M, lost to Julia Fewer, S, 7-6, 7-5.

At No. 4 singles, Elizabeth Bright, M, defeated Natalie Taylor, S, 7-6, 7-5.

At No. 5 singles MUHS won by forfeit.

At No. 1 doubles, Lois Alberts/Emma Franklin, M. defeated Payton Lamberti/Maggie Pembroke, 6-2, 6-1.

At No. 2 doubles, Gwen Troumbley/Bridget Graham, M, defeated Lily LeCrois/Megan Rea, 6-0, 6-7 (10-6) .

The Tiger boys’ tennis team late last week won a pair of matches to finish the season at 9-2 and earn the No. 4 seed in Division I. They will host No. 13 Colchester in the first round on Wednesday at 3 p.m., and next up would be a quarterfinal match with either No. 5 U-32 or No. 12 South Burlington on Friday at 3 p.m.

On Thursday the Tiger boys won a regular-season rubber match with host U-32, 4-3, despite playing without No. 1 Clyde Malhotra. Malhotra competed in the state singles tournament that day, winning one match before bowing out in a quarterfinal.

In individual matches vs. the Raiders:

At No. 1 singles, Lasse Lieberman, U-32, beat Andy Giorgio, MUHS, 6-1, 6-2.

At No. 3 singles, Kayl Humke, U-32, beat Kellan Bartlett, MUHS, 6-3, 6-2.

At No. 3 singles, Aidan Chance, MUHS, beat Evan Elliott, U-32, 6-1, 7-5

At No. 4 singles, Tzevi Schwartz, U-32, beat Iver Anderson, MUHS, 6-0, 6-4.

At No. 5 singles, Brian Newton, MUHS, beat Julian Fitz, U-32, 6-4, 6-1.

At No. 1 doubles, Aiden Cole/Oliver Poduschnick MUHS, beat Rory McLane/Finn O’Donnell. U-32, 6-1, 6-4.

At No. 2 doubles, Sasha Meyers/Antonio Abdul Sater, MUHS, beat JT Nordenson/Nils Young, U-32, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

On Friday the Tigers rolled over Rice, 6-1.

At No. 1 singles, Malhotra, MUHS, defeated Colin Shea, R, 6-2, 6-0.

At No. 2 singles, Giorgio, MUHS defeated Rodrigo Jimenez, R, 6-0, 6-2.

At No. 3 singles, Bartlett, MUHS defeated Nate McDonald, R, 6-1, 7-5.

At No. 4 singles, Chance, MUHS defeated Asher Schonfeld, R, 6-2, 6-0.

At No. 5 singles, Anderson, MUHS defeated Wilfred St. Francis, R, 6-3, 6-2.

At No. 1 doubles, Ben Cesario/Joona Juntunen, R, defeated Cole/Poduschnick, MUHS, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

At No. 2 doubles, Henry Weston/Brian Newton MUHS defeated May Lawry/Guillermo Bouramia, R, 6-1, 6-0.

SOFTBALL

Mount Abe softball blanked host Milton, 16-0 in five innings on Thursday. The Eagles’ ninth straight victory pushed their record to 14-2 and clinched the No. 2 seed in D-II. They earned a first-round bye and host a quarterfinal on Saturday at 3 p.m., probably against No. 7 U-32.

Cami Willsey sparked the win on the mound, throwing a two-hitter and fanning five, and at the plate, stroking three hits and driving in four runs. Lucy Parker, Bella Powell, Eve McCormick, Karissa Livingston, and Gabrielle Lafreniere all added a pair of hits to Mount Abe’s balanced attack.

MUHS also won big in five innings on Thursday, 13-1 at Spaulding. The Tigers closed the regular season with four wins in five outings to finish at 9-6 and earn the No. 5 seed in D-II. They will turn around and host No. 11 Spaulding (4-12) on Wednesday at 3 p.m., and could travel to No. 4 Springfield for a Saturday quarterfinal.

Tiger pitcher Olivia Audet tossed a one-hitter, allowing only a Sage Johnson homer. Grace Paquette drilled a two-run homer and singled for MUHS, Olivia McCray poked three hits, and Sienna Rubright and Taylor Betourney chipped in two hits apiece to the Tiger attack.

VUHS softball had less luck on the road on Thursday, falling to D-II No. 3 seed Enosburg, 16-3 in six innings. Despite the setback and their 5-10 record, the Commodores’ strength of schedule allowed them to earn the No. 7 seed in D-III. They will host No. 10 Peoples (5-8) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. A weekend quarterfinal with No. 2 Oxbow (13-1) looms.

Vs. Enosburg, Felicia Poirier homered and doubled, and Audrey Tembreull doubled, singled and scored twice.

Otter softball closed its regular season on Saturday by defeating visiting Hartford, 12-11, allowing OV to move up two spots in the D-II rankings to No. 9. The Otters will open at No. 8 Lamoille (8-7) on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Details of Saturday’s Hartford game were unavailable.

On Thursday visiting Proctor outslugged OV, 19-7. A highlight for OV was another strong relief pitching performance from Riley Keith in her return from a serious injury.

BASEBALL

On Thursday the Eagle nine blanked host Milton, 12-0, in five innings, to finish 9-7, good for the No. 7 seed in the competitive D-II race. They will host No. 10 Stratton (3-1) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. A quarterfinal at No. 2 Spaulding (13-2) on Friday would probably be next.

Vs. the Yellowjackets Adam Mansfield tossed a one-hitter, striking out six. Colby Lathrop doubled twice, singled twice and scored three times to spark the attack. Zeke Savage contributed three hits and two RBIs, while Neil Guy drove in four runs with three hits. Ryan Whitcomb and Carter Monks added a pair of hits apiece.

Also on Thursday host Enosburg blanked VUHS, 9-0, as Justis Orton tossed a complete-game three-hitter. Tucker Stearns took the pitching loss.

VUHS earned the No. 3 seed in D-III with a 6-9 record against a schedule heavy with D-II competition. They will open at home vs. No. 11 Randolph (4-12) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., with a Friday quarterfinal at No. 3 Montpelier likely up next.

The Otters split a pair of games and finished at 7-8, good for the No. 8 seed in D-II. They will open by hosting No. 9 North Country (6-8-1), and if they advance will almost certainly face undefeated No. 1 Hartford in the quarterfinal round.

On Thursday OV upended visiting Rutland, 9-3, as Fraser Pierpont tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out five. Pierpont also doubled twice, singled and stole four bases. Parker Todd drove in a run with a squeeze bunt, and Ethan Blow, Lucias Sheldrick and Jordan Beayon also all drove in runs for the Otters.

On Saturday Hartford defeated OV, 10-7. Details were unavailable.

LACROSSE

On Saturday the 12-2 Commodore girls’ lacrosse team coasted past Stowe, 19-4. Coupled with first-place Hartford’s victory over GMVS, the win allowed VUHS-Mt. Abe to move past the Gumbies in the D-II standings and earn the No. 2 seed.

Hartford, with which the Commodores have split two games, is the No. 1 seed and GMVS, who defeated VUHS-Mt. Abe in Waitsfield, is the No. 3 seed. A potential semifinal rematch between the Commodores and Gumbies will now be at VUHS. No. 7 Woodstock is likely to pose a quarterfinal challenge to the Commodores before then on Saturday at 4 p.m.  

In the big win at Stowe, Ryley Olsen (four goals, four assists), Sydney Weber (four goals) and Sophie Davis (three goals) led the attack. Hannah Kelly, Elena Bronson and Txuxa Doherty-Konczal added two goals apiece. Doherty-Konczal (three saves) also shared time in net with Illia Dennison since goalie Ashley Tierney was hurt. Tierney’s status for the postseason is uncertain.

The Tiger boys’ lacrosse team split a pair of games to finish 10-4 in a tight D-I race. They will host No. 5 Essex on Friday at 4 p.m., with defending champion Champlain Valley looming as a probable semifinal foe for either team.

On Thursday the Tiger boys eased past visiting Rutland, 8-2, as Toby Draper led the offense with three goals and an assist. Owen Lawton and Mason Kaufmann added two goals each, and goalie Jack Rizzo had another strong outing, making eight saves.

On Saturday the Tigers took visiting CVU to overtime in a 7-6 setback. Alex Leonard scored the overtime game-winner for the Redhawks, and goalie Jake Bowen made nine saves. Draper led the Tigers with three goals and an assist, and Rizzo made a dozen saves.

The Tiger girls lost to visiting Mount Mansfield on Friday, 7-5, leaving the Tigers with a 4-9 record and a No. 8 seed. They will host No. 9 Rice in a play-in game at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. A win would move the Tigers into a Saturday quarterfinal vs. undefeated top seed Burr & Burton.

Three Cougars scored two goals apiece on Friday, and MMU goalie Merrill Spofford came up big with nine saves. Hana Doria and Alanna Trudeau each scored twice for the Tigers, Sophie Larocque added a goal, and goalie Lydia Deppman made five saves.

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