By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
MONTPELIER (June 9, 2025) – Summertime baseball is mostly to find out who will replace the players who graduated and get your team ready for the next spring.
In Montpelier’s case, the Locos lose just one senior off a team that made the Division VII regional finals, so needing to find an abundance of players…well not so much.
The eight starters remaining from that team, along with their younger prospects, opened their ACME season with a 14-0, five-inning romp over Hilltop.
“I think our experience coming back will help us the most next year, “ the Locos Toby Hutchison said.
“The mentality of the kids now and the confidence going forward will be valuable, they have been there and know they can do it.”
“Right now, we are just trying to find that one guy to replace Tyler Plourde. That being said, there is no position that is set, everybody is going to have to work.”
“Summer ball is going to be good for us trying to build our JV program back up, keeping people interested and bringing new people out and getting the new kids accustomed to our program and how we run it.”
A number of familiar names put four runs on the board in the first against Cadet starter Brennan Dempsey.
CJ Fidler was hit by a pitch to open the game, made his way to third on a ground out, and scored on an error to give Montpelier the only run they really needed.
However, the Locos were far from done, as Griffin Cooley and Wesley Hartsock each singled and a ground ball tacked on three more first inning runs for a 4-0 Loco lead.
Fidler’s run scoring double added a run in the fifth, then Montpelier put four more on the board in the third.
Cooley’s RBI single and Hartsock’s run-scoring double to deep left were the big blows in the inning, knocking Dempsey out of the game, and bringing Bryson Kesler to the mound.
Kesler struggled finding the plate, and four walks, along with a wild pitch marked two more runs to push the Loco gap to 10-0.
Five walks and a hit batter, coupled with a sacrifice fly and bounce out added four more tallies in the bottom of the fourth.
On the mound, Jaxon Stahler gave up three hits, one each to Dempsey, Brady Wagner and Cameron Nichols, and walked two in his four innings of work to get the win. Stahler struck out four Cadets.
Malachi Smeltzer pitched the fifth and struck out the side to finish the win.
HILLTOP 000 00 – 0 4 4
MONT 415 4x – 14 6 0
Records: Hilltop 0-1, Montpelier 1-0
WINNING PITCHER: Stahler (4 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts) Other: M. Smeltzer
LOSING PITCHER: Dempsey (2 innings, 5 hits, 8 runs, 5 earned, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts) Other: Kesler, Rebeck
LEADING HITTERS: (Hilltop) – 4 singles; (Montpelier) Hartsock – double, single, 3 RBIs, 2 runs; Fidler – double, RBI; Cooley – 2 singles, RBI, 3 runs