TOWNSHEND – The Hazen Union baseball team protected its home field against Arlington last week before stunning second-seeded Leland & Gray on the road to advance to the Final Four in the Division IV State Tournament.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Grayson McNaughten fanned 11 in a complete game effort and helped his own cause with a multi-hit game to power the Wildcats to a 9-5 quarterfinal road win over Leland & Gray on Saturday. McNaughten had three hits, including an RBI double, and scored three times, as Hazen took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth. The Rebels rallied to tie the game at 5-5 behind Shane LeCours (2-3) and Ryder Butynski (2 RBIs). Jon Sicard (3-4, RBI) helped the Wildcats answer with three runs of their own in the top half of the sixth, and senior Justin Montgomery (2-4, RBI) put an exclamation point on the upset with a solo blast in the seventh. Owen Skorstad, Chayse Newell, Avery Loomis, Maddox Robinson and Kiah Cloutier each had a hit for Hazen. McNaughten scattered five hits and walked five in a 119-pitch effort to earn the win. Connor Richardson took the loss for the Rebels in relief, surrendering four runs on six hits. Leland & Gray’s season came to an end at 10-5. It was only the fifth win of the season for the seventh-seeded Wildcats, who continue to play their best baseball of the spring after navigating a brutal regular season schedule in the Capital League.
“It was a great game. The boys played the best game I have seen so far from them this season!” said head coach Shaun Allen.
Earlier in the week, the Wildcats unlocked their offense with a dominant 15-1 win over No. 10 Arlington in the opening round. McNaughten silenced the Eagles over five innings of work, striking out nine to earn the win. Skorstad (3-4, 2 runs) and Montgomery (2-2, 3 runs, 2 RBI) powered the offense to 11 runs in the first three frames. Newell had a hit and drove in a pair of runs, and Sicard, Loomis, Cloutier and Trevor Smith each had a hit and drove in a run in the win. Arlington ended their season at 2-13.
Up next for Allen’s Wildcats was another long trip to Rutland to take on No. 3 Mt. St. Joseph Academy (MSJ) on Tuesday. The Green Wave sits at 9-5 on the season and outlasted Twin Valley 8-4 in the quarterfinal round. The winner advances to the Division IV Championship game at Centennial Field on Saturday.
“Our goal is to go down there and continue to play the best ball we have to date and come away knowing we didn’t hold anything back. Grayson has been phenomenal for us on the mound. He’s reached his pitch count, so he’s not available Tuesday, but that’s okay. We have a strong staff and have plenty of viable options against MSJ. All we can do is give it everything we have in the tank. If that’s not enough, so be it. We gave it our best,” said Allen.
Vanessa Fournier graduated from Hazen Union School in 1973 and went to work taking photos in Bennington, then returned to Hardwick to work for Vin Zecchinelli of Farland Studio for several years. She started her own photo business in 1979. She's been in photography for over 50 years, working for The Hardwick Gazette for 44 years. She retired in 2023 and is still taking pictures for The Gazette because she still loves what she does.
