Pitchers, catchers begin practice

Monday was the first day of practice for high school baseball pitchers and catchers in Vermont. It will be a new game in Springfield.
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Published March 18, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Pitchers, catchers begin practice By Tom Haley Staff Writer Monday was the first day of practice for high school baseball pitchers and catchers in Vermont. Their teammates, as well as other spring sports teams can begin the following Monday. It will be a new game in Springfield. Archie Farmer takes the coaching reins from Larry Partridge for the baseball Cosmos. Andy Bladyka, though, will be back again to guide the softball Cosmos and he has a seasoned team after graduating only two seniors from last year’s squad. This year’s seniors are the same group that won the Division II state crown in 2011. That team did it in a most unusual way. They had a different starting freshman pitcher in the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship game. Bladyka thought back to that tourney ride and wondered if any team in the country had ever won a state softball crown by starting three different freshman pitchers in the final three tournament games. That might well be the case. If not, it is certainly a very short list in a sport where most teams ride one pitcher, or two at the most. Andrea Allen, Sara Locke and Heather Sanborn were those freshmen flingers. Allen has since moved out of state. Locke will be on the shelf with a wrist injury but Bladyka is hopeful she will get it back at some point. Sanborn is ready to go. Eric Ramey has taken over the softball coaching post in Fair Haven and his Slaters will travel to Springfield to play a night game in May. “We get much bigger crowds at night,” Bladyka said. “A lot of the other coaches seem to appreciate that. Springfield is still a softball town.” The Cosmos have normally played a home night game against Rutland, Hartford, Brattleboro and Green Mountain. nnn A few days after the high school baseball tournament, Otter Valley baseball coach Tim Mitchell will fly to Omaha for his first experience at the College World Series. nnn New Castleton College football coach Tony Volpone made Friday count. That was the day of his press conference when he was introduced as the Spartans head coach. Later he lectured at the Vermont Football Coaches annual clinic at Rutland High School. nnn Green Mountain Union’s Madi Huntley was omitted from the list of scorers for the South in Saturday’s Division III-IV girls game at the Vermont Basketball Coaches Senior All-Star Game. She led the South team with 15 points. The Castleton College women’s basketball team was recognized at the VBCA’s day-long event for its Cinderella march all the way to the Sweet 16 at the NCAA Division III National Tournament. Castleton head coach Tim Barrett and assistant Dave Kinsman were in the Windsor gym when the achievement was cited by public address announcer Bob Hingston. The Tufts team that ended Castleton’s march had a scare the next night but survived, 61-59, against Ithaca. Tufts will play FDU-Florham on Friday night in the Final Four at Stevens Point in Wisconsin. The Division III men’s Final Four in Salem, Va., has an even more pronounced New England flavor with Williams and Amherst meeting in the semifinals. It will be their fourth meeting this season, with Amherst winning the previous three. nnn Friday was not the day to be playing Tufts if you were a Spartan. Not only did Castleton suffer a 55-35 loss to the Jumbos in women’s basketball, but Tufts beat the Castleton baseball team that day in Virginia, 7-1. The good news is that earlier in the day the Spartans broke out offensively, beating St. Vincent 16-8 as Mill River graduate Allen White had three hits and knocked in five runs. The baseball Spartans are off until Sunday, when they play a doubleheader at Coast Guard. nnn Carl Serrani and Scott Maxham will be coaching the West Rutland softball team this spring as they take the reins from Paul Dunchus. Mary Colvin will take over the varsity softball duties at Mill River. Mill River Athletic Director Rob Black said there is nothing official yet as far as filling the varsity coaching vacancies in boys soccer and football. Katie Harmon, once an outstanding softball pitcher at Bellows Falls, becomes the varsity softball coach at Fall Mountain in Langdon, N.H., this season. nnn There is a pipeline from Springfield High to Paris, Texas. Springfield graduates Archie Farmer Jr. and Tim Hildreth were freshmen this past fall on the Paris Junior College men’s soccer team and Abi Cox, another former Cosmo, played on the Paris JC women’s soccer team as a freshman.