Berkshire League champs

WINSTED — The Northwestern boys basketball team took the Berkshire League championship for the first time in 22 years with a 71-56 win over Litchfield Thursday, March 3.The Highlanders took down the No. 1 seed, Nonnewaug, Tuesday, March 1, in the first round of the Berkshire tournament.The Berkshire League win catapulted Northwestern to the Class M state tournament, where they faced the Ansonia Chargers. The Highlanders went into the tournament in the No. 12 spot, but the No. 21 Ansonia Chargers bounced them out of states with a convincing 82-62 win.The Chargers launched a speedy, effective offense right from the tip-off Monday, March 7. A quick glance over both benches revealed Northwestern’s height advantage throughout their lineup, but it would be Ansonia’s lightning fast offense that made the difference. The Chargers tallied the first points of the game in the opening seconds. Ansonia continued to score from all over the court, sinking most of their chances. Northwestern was able to hang on offensively with some fantastic shooting from the outside, but found a wall of Charger swats and defense around the net. The Chargers held a 25-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.Ansonia picked up their defensive pressure early in the second and forced a series of turnovers that they neatly converted into additional points. Northwestern remained resilient, however. Every time it appeared the Chargers were firmly pulling away, the Highlanders would respond with accurate three-point shooting. The Highlanders were unable to cauterize Ansonia’s offense long enough to cut the gap and found themselves trailing 44-36 heading into the halftime break.The second half mirrored the first as Ansonia continued to command the game while Northwestern just barely kept up. In the final quarter, the Highlanders began to rally off a three-pointer put up by Northwestern’s John Stevens. A quick turnover was sent back to Stevens, who tallied a second three-pointer from the same spot, sending an incredible surge of energy through the building. Northwestern trailed by only 10 points with the majority of the quarter to try and even things up, but Ansonia recovered and began to push hard late in the game to take the 82-62 win.Ansonia was led in scoring by Reggie Finney, who amassed 31 points. Northwestern found good scoring throughout their lineup, with Stevens and Connor Guiheen leading the pack with 12 apiece. Stevens tallied four from the outside while Guiheen sunk two field goals of his own. The Highlanders graduate three seniors this year, including Bobby Lippincott who tallied 12, Drew McCarthy with eight and Brandon Couloutte.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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