Hoosac Valley's Tart, Wahconah's Rabuse Recognized

This week’s iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Health Care Athletes of the Week turned in some monster performances on the baseball diamond.

 

It’s hard to be better than Wahconah’s James Rabuse was on the mound on Monday.

 

In a sense, it is impossible.

 

Rabuse threw a perfect game in a 9-0 win over Mount Greylock to lower his earned run average to 1.17.

 

Not only did he retire all 21 batters he faced, he struck out 19 of them after starting the game with 14 straight Ks.

 

“I felt pretty good, I was throwing strikes,” Rabuse said later in the week. “I don’t know what the percentage was, but I was going for just first-pitch strikes. First-pitch strikes, you’re ahead and control the count. And that was my goal.”

 

Rabuse has 32 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched this spring.

 

He was tagged with the loss in Wahconah’s season opener, a 4-0 decision in which he gave up two runs. But on Wednesday he helped his team avenge that loss with an RBI double in an 8-4 win over Southwick.

 

For the season, Rabuse is hitting .500 with two home runs and five RBIs after Friday’s loss to Drury

 

Wahconah (3-2) is home on Monday afternoon against Longmeadow.

 

No Berkshire County team is off to a hotter start than the Hoosac Valley girls softball team.

 

And no one is more integral to that success than junior Izabela Tart.

 

Tart is hitting .762 for the ‘Canes (6-0) and leads the team in hits (16) and runs (21) while trailing teammate Rachael Wnuk for the team lead in RBIs with 13 to Wnuk’s 15.

 

Last week, Tart led Hoosac Valley in three dominant wins. She was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles on Monday, 1-for-1 with four walks on Tuesday and 4-for-4 with a home run and a double to end the week with an 18-2 win over rival Drury.

 

She is at the center of a Hoosac Valley offense that is averaging just more than 20 runs per game heading into Monday afternoon’s game against heavy-hitting McCann Tech, which has scored 49 runs in its first three games.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Health Care.