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 High school sports talk from Sean Patrick Bowley. Whether it's football, basketball, baseball, or lacrosse season, we've got it covered... May 31, 2008Baseball Saturday Postponed (Lax still on)
(And here they are: Class L | Class M | Class S ) At first there had been some gloomy and doomy (sic) weather forecasts. Rain. Thunder. Lightning. Hail. Brimstone. Cats. Dogs. But a quick check of our friends at The Weather Channel shows that the heavy stuff would barely touch our fair state... if at all. So, probably an ill-advised preemptive strike by the CIAC. We could have played all of these games. This makes me angry 'cause now I'm working Sunday. Thanks CIAC. Here's today's reading from Day 4: In softball, from the Rachele Fico invitational From Class M, a pretty amazing effort Elsewhere, in girls tennis: Weston girls repeat ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the postponements from Saturday's baseball quarterfinals. CLASS L CLASS M CLASS S It is now 2 p.m. and still no rain. Posted by sports on 12:31 PM | Comments (0) May 30, 2008State Tournaments: Day 3 in review
Before we can move on to today's action, here are the links to the myriad of state tournament stories out there. Greenhouse Effect: Amity ace shuts out Staples Posted by sports on 11:52 AM | Comments (0) May 29, 2008State Tournaments: (Breezy) Day 3
And it should be a good one: SCC runner-up Amity, which defeated South Windsor 9-0 (but didn't call it in to our offices for publication) takes on Staples, the FCIAC champions, who will likely throw sophomore ace DAVID Speer (ahem, I accidentally confused him with a former family friend in Tuesday's state tournament primer), the MVP of said FCIAC championship game. Elsewhere, Amity's will take on Bunnell in the Class LL softball second round. That game can be heard here on SportingNewsCT.com Update (6:21 p.m.) -- Class LL baseball: Amity 3, Staples 0; Class LL softball: Bunnell 7, Amity 1. Update (8:39 p.m.) -- Class LL baseball: Stamford edges Shelton, 4-3 and advances to face Trumbull; Masuk, meanwhile, topped Bristol Eastern 6-5 in eight innings and will play Glastonbury (a 1-0 winner over Xavier); Amity advances to play Fitch in Middletown. Westhill advances to play Simsbury in West Haven, SOFTBALL Posted by sports on 12:53 PM | Comments (0) May 28, 2008State Tournaments: (Sunny) Day 2 - updated
For those hopelessly stuck indoors, here's the link for SportingNewsCt.com's broadcast of Amity/South Windsor or Notre Dame-West Haven/Shelton in the Class LL tournament. The CIAC will post all scores live as they come in for both baseball and softball. Here are the links: SOFTBALL Here are some early returns on baseball... Shelton 8, Notre Dame-WH 2 (F) -- So much for the newly-crowned SCC champs. Amity 9, South Windsor 0 (F) -- No such problems for the SCC runners-up. In softball... Bunnell 10, Staples 5 -- Staples' pitcher, we hear, was knocked out of the game with a line drive. ...Bunnell now faces Amity in the second round. 7 p.m. update baseball -- In Class LL SWC champion Masuk defeats FCIAC power Norwalk 3-2. ...Taylor Lasko and Bunnell outlast Tom Lawrence and West Haven, 1-0. ...Bunnell advances to play Westhill, a 16-0 winner over Naugatuck (uh oh. Is this further proof of a weak NVL?) ...Ridgefield 7-6 over New Milford. ...Class L -- Law defeats Darien, 2-0, and advances to face Platt Tech. ...Bethel will indeed play Fairfield Ludlowe in the second round. The Wildcats crushed (another) NVL team in Crosby, 13-2 (this does NOT bode well for Seymour's record). ...In Class M Weston advances (5-0 over Lewis Mills), St. Joseph advances (12-0 over Suffield) and will face East Catholic. ...Wolcott beat No. 2 seed Cheney Tech, 7-3, (no shock here) and will play Foran, a 12-5 winner over Northwestern. And, what were we just talking about? Seymour crushes No. 33 seeded Stonington 4-3 in the first round of Class M. Yikes, guys. Yikes. In softball: Newtown defeated Greenwich 2-0 in the LL first round and will now face Simsbury for the right to (ahem) lose to Masuk. ...Cheshire and Westhill both won 9-0 and will face each other in the second round. ...In Class M Lauralton Hall defeated St. Joseph, 5-0. Baseball, 7:18 update Trumbull, one of the only teams to actually play a second round game, defeated Newington 3-2 and advances to Saturday's quarterfinals. They get a nice break. SPB Posted by sports on 4:17 PM | Comments (2) State tournaments: (Rainy) Day 1
Regardless, we had some intriguing goings on in the first round... Heartbreaker for Stratford. The Red Devils' inconsistent season comes to a 5-4 close aginst Montville in the Class M tournament's first round. Stratford failed to hold a three-run lead in the seventh inning and then lost on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. ...Elsewhere, Bullard-Havens advanced against Windham Tech. So much for Notre Dame: We thought the Class S bracket shaped up nicely for the Lancers as the No. 12 seed. Yet they lost to No. 21 Gilbert 7-5 in the first round. ...Can't tell you much about that game since no one from ND called it in. Edit: Actually, here's the report from the Register Citizen of Torrington, which covers Gilbert. Looks like it was almost a carbon copy of the SWC title game, except that Notre Dame showed a little more offensive life... just not enough to stave off the first round exit. Mahlstadt goes for Trumbull I thought Trumbull would have started Ryan Yerina in the first round of the Class LL tournament. But Dan Mahlstadt goes instead. Despite giving up a first-inning run, Trumbull advances with a 7-1 win over Hall, despite just five hits and four Hall errors. Trumbull, which has struggled offensively through most of this year, is going to have to do better than that, especially against Newington, which won its first-round game 17-10. In softball congrats to Derby's Christina Gelardi for throwing a no-hitter in her first-round win over Norwich Tech. ... a passed ball is Foran's savior and Bethel's death-knell in a 3-2 nine-inning win. ...With a 15-0, six-inning win, Lauralton Hall shows Enfield it has long way to go before it can start playing real softball like the rest of us. To check out Tuesday's entire round up click here. Posted by sports on 1:32 PM | Comments (0) May 27, 2008Top 10 Baseball Poll (tournament edition)Not that I put too much stock into the Register's state baseball poll because it's tough, really, to judge a team by one game. However, I think we should note the poll's standings heading into the state tournament. When its all over, we can compare notes and see how everything shook out. Top 10 Baseball Poll Posted by sports on 1:24 PM | Comments (0) May 23, 2008Championship Week (updated Saturday)
Here are all the links you need for the regional championship games for softball and baseball. SOFTBALL BASEBALL VOLLEYBALL Posted by sports on 10:44 PM | Comments (0) STATE TOURNEY TIME: Softball Pairings
Posted by sports on 11:03 AM | Comments (9) STATE TOURNEY TIME: Baseball Pairings
QUALIFYING ROUND FIRST ROUND Lower Bracket: No. 31 Cheshire (9-11) at No. 2 Simsbury (17-3), 5/27, 3:30; No. 18 Norwich Free Academy (13-7) at No. 15 Southington (12-6), 5/27, 3:30; No. 26 Naugatuck (10-10) at No. 7 Westhill (16-4), 5/27, 3:30; No. 23 West Haven (12-8) at No. 10 Bunnell (15-5), 5/27, 3:30; No. 30 South Windsor (9-10) at No. 3 Amity (16-4), 5/27, 3:30; No. 19 Staples (12-8) at No. 14 Brien McMahon (14-6), 5/27, 3:30; No. 27 New Milford (10-10) at No. 6 Ridgefield (16-4), 5/27, 3:30; No. 22 Newtown (12-8) at No. 11 Fitch (15-5), 5/27, 3:30 SECOND ROUND Lower Bracket:Cheshire/Simsbury winner vs. Norwich Free Academy/Southington winner, 5/28, 3:30; Naugatuck/Westhill winner vs. West Haven/Bunnell winner, 5/28, 3:30; South Windsor/Amity winner vs. Staples/Brien McMahon winner, 5/28, 3:30; New Milford/Ridgefield winner vs. Newtown/Fitch winner, 5/28, 3:30 QUARTERFINALS - 5/31 ------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST ROUND Lower Bracket: No. 2 Wethersfield - Bye; No. 18 East Haven (10-10) at No. 15 Rockville (10-9), 5/27, 3:30; No. 7 Fairfield Ludlowe - Bye; No. 23 Crosby (8-12) at No. 10 Bethel (12-6), 5/27, 3:30; No. 3 Avon - Bye; No. 19 Fermi (9-11) at No. 14 Daniel Hand (11-9), 5/27, 3:30; No. 6 Bristol Eastern - Bye; No. 22 Lyman Hall (8-12) at No. 11 RHAM (13-7), 5/27, 3:30 SECOND ROUND Lower Bracket: East Haven/Rockville winner at No. 2 Wethersfield (18-2), 5/28, 3:30; Crosby/Bethel winner at No. 7 Fairfield Ludlowe (15-5), 5/28, 3:30; Fermi/Daniel Hand winner at No. 3 Avon (17-2), 5/28, 3:30; Lyman Hall/RHAM winner at No. 6 Bristol Eastern (15-5), 5/28, 3:30 QUARTERFINALS - 5/31 ------------------------------------------------------------------- QUALIFYING ROUND FIRST ROUND Lower Bracket:Ellington/Wolcott winner at No. 2 Cheney Tech (19-1), 5/27, 3:30; No. 18 Foran (12-8) at No. 15 Northwestern (13-7), 5/27, 3:30; No. 26 Windsor Locks (10-10) at No. 7 Wilcox Tech (15-5), 5/27, 3:30; No. 23 Weston (11-9) at No. 10 Lewis Mills (15-5), 5/27, 3:30; No. 30 Vinal Tech (9-10) at No. 3 East Catholic (17-2), 5/27, 3:30; No. 19 St. Joseph (12-8) at No. 14 Suffield (13-7), 5/27, 3:30; No. 27 Enfield (10-10) at No. 6 Holy Cross (15-5), 5/27, 3:30; No. 22 Killingly (11-9) at No. 11 Tolland (14-6), 5/27, 3:30 SECOND ROUND Upper Bracket: Ellington/Wolcott/Cheney Tech winner vs. Foran/Northwestern winner, 5/28, 3:30; Windsor Locks/Wilcox Tech winner vs. Weston/Lewis Mills winner, 5/28, 3:30; Vinal Tech/East Catholic winner vs. St. Joseph/Suffield winner, 5/28, 3:30; Enfield/Holy Cross winner vs. Killingly/Tolland winner, 5/28, 3:30 QUARTERFINALS - 5/31 ------------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST ROUND Lower Bracket: No. 2 Sport and Med. Sci. Ac. - Bye; No. 18 Northwest Catholic (10-10) at No. 15 Cromwell (12-8), 5/27, 3:30; No. 26 Tourtellotte (8-12) at No. 7 East Hampton (14-6), 5/27, 3:30; No. 23 Whitney Tech (8-12) at No. 10 St. Bernard (13-7), 5/27, 3:30; No. 3 Career Magnet - Bye; No. 19 Portland (10-10) at No. 14 Wamogo (12-8), 5/27, 3:30; No. 6 Old Lyme - Bye; No. 11 Lyman Memorial (13-7) vs. No. 22 Litchfield (9-11) at Recreation Park, Willimantic, 5/27, 3:30 SECOND ROUND Lower Bracket:Northwest Catholic/Cromwell winner at No. 2 Sport and Med. Sci. Ac. (12-5), 5/28, 3:30; Tourtellotte/East Hampton winner vs. Whitney Tech/St. Bernard winner, 5/28, 3:30; Portland/Wamogo winner at No. 3 Career Magnet (14-6), 5/28, 3:30; Litchfield/Lyman Memorial winner at No. 6 Old Lyme (14-6), 5/28, 3:30 QUARTERFINALS - 5/31 Posted by sports on 10:33 AM | Comments (0) May 21, 2008Big shock: Seymour, NVL baseball champs
For a team that averages over 10 runs a game and has allowed less than 20 all year, we can't say we're too surprised. Although, as mentioned before, you never know with single-elimination baseball tournaments. Seymour softball's semifinal game against Watertown was postponed until today. Posted by sports on 10:54 PM | Comments (0) Wednesday postponements (updated, Thursday)The SWC baseball semifinals have been postponed for the second straight day. This time it was with games in progress. Masuk led Bunnell 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Notre Dame-Pomperaug game is also off. UPDATE, Thursday, 1:50 p.m. The SWC championship will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bethel. The semifinals will be resume Friday at 4:30 (Masuk-Bunnell) and at 7 (Pomperaug-Notre Dame).
The game will resume at 2:30 Thursday at Sacred Heart. Westhill needs one measly out to advance to the championship game, held a half hour after the conclusion of the semifinal. Things went smoother in SWC softball as the top seeds Lauralton, Newtown, Bunnell and Masuk all won. The SCC games were also played (Cheshire, Guilford, Mercy, Amity in softball; Notre Dame-West Haven a winner in baseball). The NVL final between Woodland and Seymour also escaped the rain.
Back at the SWC (up in Bethel, a place I can never seem to find) Masuk was ahead 9-3, having just scored a run, three batters and no outs in the No word on when they'll resume the games as of 8 p.m. Wednesday night. They might resume tomorrow (Thursday) but Notre Dame AD Vin Sarullo said the league might go Friday-Saturday since more rain is in the forecast. Update: The games will indeed be postponed until Friday at Bethel. The continuation of the Masuk-Bunnell semifinal will be 4:30. Notre Dame and Pomperaug will meet in the other semifinal at 7. Saturday will be the final at Bethel. Before the postponement, things (obviously) weren't looking good for Bunnell. Masuk hit starter Luke Wojenski with seven runs on seven hits (including four doubles) in the first inning. Bunnell cut the lead to 7-3 in the top of the third, but Masuk added two more runs off reliever Matt Lee. Lee had just been relieved after Pat Rossomondo's RBI double in the bottom of the fifth. There are runners at the corners with no outs. Check out the rest of the roundup here. Posted by sports on 7:47 PM | Comments (0) FCIAC tournament updates
The boys tennis is completely off and will resume today (Wednesday). Same time, same sites. The girls lacrosse semifinals are set and will be played Thursday at New Canaan. New Canaan vs. Darien at 5:15; Wilton will play Greenwich at 7. Posted by sports on 1:58 PM | Comments (0) May 20, 2008SCC baseball/softball quarterfinals postponed
The semifinals will played Thursday at Yale field at 4 and 7 against No. 2 Branford and No. 1 Guilford. Incidentally, Shelton still has to finish its regular season. It has a game with Hamden that was scheduled for Wednesday at 6. Since they're playing Amity in the quarterfinals, the game time, if not the day, certainly will be moved. But remember, the last day to count for the state tournament is Thursday. Meanwhile, the SCC softball quarterfinal games were also all postponed to today. Here is the revised schedule, according to the league website. Sacred Heart 0, Cheshire 0, 3rd inning, will resume at 3:45 at Cheshire; Guilford 3, Law 2, top of the 4th will resume at 4 at Law; Mercy at North Haven, 2 p.m.; Hamden 0, Amity 0, 1st inning, will resume 3:45 at Amity The semifinals will be played Thursday at West Haven, at 4 and 7. The championship will be held Friday or Saturday at West Haven. Posted by sports on 8:22 PM | Comments (0) SWC semifinals postponed
The SWC baseball semifinal games tonight at Bethel have been postponed, according to baseball contact Vin Sarullo of Notre Dame-Fairfield. Though no makeup date had been determined, Sarullo said the league was hoping to resume tomorrow (Wednesday) either at Bethel or possibly at another site. Edit: The games have indeed been postponed until tomorrow. There will probably be a lot more postponements as the day progresses. Rain is forecast for most of the region into tonight. Posted by sports on 2:27 PM | Comments (0) HS Football: 2008 schedules releasedThe CIAC has published the (tentative) 2008 high school football schedules on the sports section of its website, casciac.org/ciacsports.shtml. A cursory look shows nothing really new. The CIAC is going to be playing an 11-game schedule this season (if you ask me, they should always play an 11-game schedule) and there are just a few new 11th-game matchups to report. Here are a few. Remember, these are all subject to change: Week 1: Here's a good one: Southington at Bergen Catholic (N.J.) Actually, Greenwich wanted to play Bergen Catholic, but the FCIAC decided not to give its 19-team league an 11th-game bye. Instead, the league decided to guarantee each team 10 FCIAC games. The unfortunate offshoot of this is that the larger schools were, once again, left with byes staggered across the schedule. That made it tough for any of them to pick up an 11th opponent in-state since most Connecticut teams have the bye on Week 1. Of the large schools, Stamford got the coveted Week 1 bye and rescheduled NFA. That meant Staples, Trumbull had to go outside the state. Trumbull resumed its Catholic Memorial deal from last year. Greenwich picked up St. Joseph-Montvale (N.J). Staples grabbed North Andover (Mass.). Westhill kept its deal with Platt Tech. Because the CCC also opted to fill its bye with its membership, Norwalk lost its Bristol Eastern deal. Harding, Central and Edit: As I thought, Danbury retained its home-and-home with Rutland, Vermont. So the Hatters have been crossed off the list. Anyway, back to the matchups.... Pomperaug at Windham ...Wilcox Tech at Derby/O'Brien Tech. ...Xavier at Northwest Catholic. ...Hillhouse at Holmdel (N.J.). (where?) ...Stamford at Norwich Free Academy. ... Bunnell at Middletown. ...Barlow at Bullard Havens. ... Here's one: Oxford begins its inaugural varsity season playing St. Paul/Goodwin Tech/Lewis Mills. Newtown at Shelton (This also is an intriguing matchup between two Class LL schools who never play each other despite their proximinty. Personally, I would have rather seen Shelton play Seymour or Ansonia. But the NVL, in their infinite wisdom, decided to fill the bye with league schools. Thanks, NVL. Another brilliant decision). ... Now, the best part: Who's not playing? Looks like a lot in the SCC. Fairfield Prep is still without a game (the Jesuits were trying to play Ansonia until the NVL decided to pair the Chargers in a Week 1 barnburner against Sacred Heart.). ...West Haven hasn't picked up a game. (traditionally, WH coach Eddie McCarthy never likes to play it.) ...Notre Dame-West Haven. is also without a game. ...From the SWC Brookfield and New Fairfield are without Week 1 games. Here's where you can find all of the matchups in grid-form: IMPORTANT NOTE: The CIAC committee has not published the class structures for the 2008 season, so please don't assume these are the classes. Bunnell, for example, is listed at Class L in the above grids. But AD and committee member Dave Johnson said the Bulldogs will be moving down to Class MM for the first time since 2004. That is all. Now, back to the spring season... Posted by sports on 1:03 PM | Comments (1) Upset central - FCIAC, SWC
Just look at Norwalk last year. They won the FCIAC, then as a four seed get bounced by No. 36 Ridgefield, of all teams, in the first round. Also last year, Greenwich as the 33rd seed, beats No. 1 Naugatuck, 5-4 Unfortunately, winning any kind of title nowadays requires just as much luck as talent. Baseball at this level needs to play series, or at least a double elimination tournament, to find a true champion. But, with little time to spare, proms, graduations and, finally, American Legion baseball to be played, there's just no window of opportunity for our high schools. (An aside, if you want real high school-level baseball, American Legion is it. High school season is merely spring training for Legion, anyway. THAT said... the FCIAC was turned on its head in its quarterfinal round with the top-four seeds all going down. Stamford, done in by Norwalk. Trumbull gets bounced by Staples. Fairfield Ludlowe? Outed by McMahon. Even No. 5 Westhill topped No. 4 Ridgefield. The Vikes are the highest seed remaining. The SWC, not so much, but we did see No. 1 Bethel and No. 4 Newtown take a dive. That's two out of four top seeds. And, over in softball, unbeaten and top-seeded Trumbull goes down to eighth-seeded Staples (a result which must make Masuk start salivating, huh?) Now I ask you, what in tarnation's goin' on 'round here? Check out the damage here in Monday's baseball roundup and Monday's softball roundup At least Seymour kept status quo by crushing Sacred Heart in the NVL semifinals, 13-4. But look closer: this was close through four innings before the Wildcats secured their Wednesday championship date with Woodland. Posted by sports on 12:49 AM | Comments (0) May 19, 2008Ryan Osiecki to LouisvilleAccording to sources, former Seymour quarterback Ryan Osiecki has finally found a college home. It's not UConn, which recruited him throughout his senior year, but Big East rival Louisville. It was too late as of this writing on Monday to contact Osiecki, but he has apparently been asked to walk on. He apparently won't be a scholarship player, but will compete with several others for a spot as a backup behind projected starter Hunter Cantwell, who takes over for former QB Brian Brohm. Matt Simms, the son of former New York Giants' quarterback Phil Simms, is a sophomore on the team. Osiecki, who was a four-year starter for Seymour from 2002-2006, spent last season prepping at Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. Despite drawing some interest before February's signing day, he was not offered a Division I scholarship. At the time, Milford coach Bill Chaplick said Osiecki had scared teams away with his academic standing. To that end, this apparent commitment (which quite honestly came out of nowhere) makes sense. Louisville's taking a low-risk chance on a non-scholarship player while Osiecki gets a foot in the door as a walk-on. Luckily for Osiecki, his is a road well traveled at Louisville. This is essentially what Cantwell did three years ago. Cantwell, one of Kentucky's best high school quarterbacks during his senior year, walked on at Louisville for the 2005 season. He wound up replacing an injured Brohm during the second-to-last game of that season against Syracuse, played well in the season finale and then became the co-MVP of the Gator Bowl (a 35-24 loss to Virginia Tech). Osiecki would probably love to have that kind of success. So he may be a long shot, but it's better than no shot at all. Who knows? In two years, we just might see Osiecki reunited with his younger brother, Mike -- a soon-to-be senior linebacker at Seymour, who is committed to attend UConn -- in the 2009 Louisville/UConn game. Posted by sports on 11:31 PM | Comments (0) May 16, 2008CSC baseball pairingsCourtesy of John Carew of Platt Tech, the CSC baseball playoff schedule. It's a bit confusing with the CSC's penchant for predetermined pairings and sites. But I think I've dumbed it down a bit...
Semifinals Final Posted by sports on 5:36 PM | Comments (0) May 15, 2008HS baseball playoffs set... almostOK, we finally have some idea of what the local baseball playoffs are looking like. Only one league was set as of this writing. (Here's a hint, it's the best conference in the state! Right?) As for the others, there are still games to play and, unfortunately, Friday's forecast of rain might throw a few wrenches into nice and tidy quarterfinal draws come Monday. So keep an eye on what's going on. Until then, let's take a look at what's what: FCIAC The top six seeds are set for the quarterfinals, which will begin Monday at the home of the top four seeds. No. 1 Stamford (16-2 FCIAC) So McMahon goes to play Fairfield Ludlowe. Westhill plays at Ridgefield. Today's game between Darien (10-7) and Norwalk (10-7) will wrap up seeding. This, of course, is contingent on if they actually play the game. Rain is in the forecast for Friday. So there'd better be a good reason why these teams didn't move the game up like everybody else in the FCIAC. SWC: A Notre Dame win over New Fairfield today would give it the No. 5 seed and a date at Newtown. (This one's for you Al Carbone): Of course, everything is all set over at the "BEST CONFERENCE IN THE SCC (this absolutely stinks that these also happen to be division rivalry games. We see these games twice a year, SCC. Any way we can mix it up somehow? You guys have 21 teams, for crying out loud. Can't make it work? C'mon. You are the "BEST CONFERENCE IN THE But I digress. Here's the rest of the schedule. SEMIFINALS - Wednesday at Yale Field CHAMPIONSHIP Saturday, May 24 at Yale Field Posted by sports on 11:08 PM | Comments (1) Bunnell's Lasko perfectOf all the bruises Bunnell has taken over the last few weeks, perhaps none has been beaten up more than pitcher Taylor Lasko. After a hot start to the season, the Boston College-bound lefty lost a nine-inning duel to Bethel's Matt Barnes and got hammered by arch-rival Masuk 10-2. On Wednesday vs. New Milford, it was redemption time for Lasko, who pitched a perfect game with 12 strikeouts. After his teammates made to spectacular plays to preserve the perfect game in the fifth, Lasko struck out six straight before ending the game by getting a ground out. According to Lasko and coach Scott Szturma Lasko never pitched a ball three the entire game. "He was unhittable," Szturma said. The win was important, not just for Lasko's psyche, but for Bunnell's as well. The win snapped a recent slide that had seen Bunnell lose four of six games to fall from first-place in the SWC. Now, the Dawgs have secured a home game in next week's SWC tournament. For more read our high school baseball roundup here. Posted by sports on 1:47 AM | Comments (0) May 14, 2008Masuk's Fico: Perfect, Perfect, Perfect, Perfect, Perfect... D'ohI heard a good joke yesterday, it went something like. "When the Class LL softball tournament's brackets come out, all teams on Masuk's side of the bracket should just tell the CIAC, 'Sorry, Gas prices are too high. We're not renting a bus and going 50 miles to Masuk just to be fodder for Rachele Fico.'" Please, let's examine the line for Miss Fico -- who must be picking off softball records faster than one of her 65 mph strikes. Ahem... Through Tuesday, Fico has pitched in 126 innings this year. She's struck out 330 batters. She's allowed just eight hits and one run all season (unearned). The last hit was with two outs in the seventh inning of a 3-0 victory over Bethel on April 23. Her ERA is 0.00 She's thrown five straight perfect games and six out of her last seven games heading into Wednesday's clash with Lauralton Hall. Her only blemish in the last seven games was a walk with one out in the first against New Fairfield. Since April 25, Fico has only allowed two base runners. One was a hit batter against Immaculate. The other was the walk to New Fairfield. She's retired (drumroll please....) 128 consecutive batters over 80 innings. That's 20 straight to end the New Fairfield game, 21 vs Brookfield, 30 vs. Bunnell, 15 vs. Stratford, 21 vs. Pomperaug, 21 vs. New Milford. The five straight perfect games ties a national record set by Lana Davis of Illinois' Casey Westfield High School in 1989. She can set the record... [ring] Hold on, phone call at the office. "Hello, Connecticut Post Sports." [click] Well, folks. At approximately 4:20 Wednesday, the perfect game streak is over. Fico allowed a hit to Lauralton Hall in the first inning. [sigh]. Her streak is over. But at least the Connecticut Post jinx lives on. :) [edit: Lauralton now has two hits off her in the top of the sixth... and Masuk doesn't have a hit off Bridget Gates... Edit, edit: Masuk has won with a ninth-inning RBI single. Here's Big Mike Cardillo's Story: Fico not perfect, but Masuk still is I guess anything can happen. Maybe playing the Masuk-half of the draw isn't such a bad idea after all. Posted by sports on 1:21 PM | Comments (0) May 13, 2008Trumbull topples Ludlowe, 3-1Ah. McDougall Field. It was quite a glorious afternoon for baseball at one of the FCIAC's finest facilities, especially sitting next to its namesake, Jerry McDougall, who, when he wasn't giving me orange slices to gnaw on during Tuesday's key FCIAC battle between Trumbull and Ludlowe, he was reading off the names of the Ludlowe players and guessing who their parents or grandparents might be. Meanwhile, not an overly exciting game but a good one for Trumbull, which defeated Ludlowe 3-1 to grab the upper hand on the No. 2 seed in the upcoming FCIAC tournament. Ryan Yerina pitched a complete game, seven-hitter with eight strikeouts. Tim Zubrinsky and Rob Blanc hit solo home runs. Trumbull has just knocked Ludlowe back big time. So here's a look at the FCIAC race with two games left. The playoffs begin Monday at sites of the higher seeded teams. Stamford is in first place at 15-1 and has Danbury and New Canaan left. It has tiebreakers over everybody except Ludlowe. Trumbull is in second place at 13-3. Trumbull has Wilton and Greenwich remaining. Trumbull has lost to Westhill, Ridgefield and Stamford. Ludlowe is in third place at 13-3. Ludlowe has Bassick and Danbury remaining. Ludlowe has lost to Trumbull, Westhill and Fairfield Warde. Ridgefield technically in fourth at 12-4. Ridgefield has lost to Stamford, St. Joseph, Ludlowe and Greenwich. It hold tiebreakers over McMahon and Westhill. McMahon is 12-4. The Senators finish with Trinity Catholic and Ridgefield. McMahon has lost to Trumbull, Darien, Stamford and Ludlowe. It holds tiebreakers over Westhill. Westhill is 11-4 with a game against Darien played Wednesday, and games with Greenwich and Staples left. Westhill has lost to Norwalk, McMahon, Ridgefield, Stamford. Staples is 9-6 and ahead of Norwalk and Darien for seventh in the playoffs. Norwalk and Darien are 8-7. St. Joseph is a longshot at 9-8. Posted by sports on 8:36 PM | Comments (0) Ludlowe stumbles, Trumbull tonightJust when you thought Ludlowe would just cruise into the top seed in the upcoming FCIAC baseball tournament, crosstown rival Warde comes around and tripped up the Falcons, 6-3, at the Arena at Harbor Yard last Tuesday. (A game, incidentally, which wasn't called into the newspaper, so no info on that game ... grr). Toss in a subsequent 10-2 blowout loss to Westhill and suddenly the Falcons have started sliding. They've lost two in a row and were a game back of Stamford in the FCIAC race heading into Monday's game at Trumbull. That game, however, was postponed from Monday night to today when, according to Trumbull coach Phil Pacelli, an accident on Strobel Road in Trumbull caused a massive power outage, early dismissal and the postponement of all athletic contests after school. The game, which essentially is for the No. 2 seed in the FCIAC tournament, will be played today at 4 p.m. at Trumbull. Posted by sports on 9:57 AM | Comments (0) May 12, 2008High School baseball... down the stretchBaseball is heading into its final week before conference tournaments begin and, a week later the state tournament. We have so much do do and say, I think it's best to take tiny nibbles and see how many story lines we can knock off before tournament time. If all goes well, we'll try to hit a few other sports (Softball, lacrosse) as well. Let's start with... Platt Tech We gave the Panthers a little pump in our "Who's hot" brief in last weeks. But they deserve much, much more then that. Since starting 0-2, Platt Tech has won 15 straight and has outscored its opponents a little more than an average of 5-1. The latest was a 15-3 victory over Abbott Tech. We caught up to coach John Carew and after a quick discussion for this week's notebook, we came to a conclusion: This is the best Platt Tech baseball team in ... well we don't quite know yet, but it's been awhile. It's certainly the best under Carew, whose previous best was 10-10. The Panthers will wrap up their regular season with games against 5-9 Whitney Tech, and then SCC's Career and West Haven (which defeated Platt Tech 14-1 this season). But it has already clinched the top seed in the CSC West Division and is aiming at winning its first league title since 1994. Their 15-2 record is the best in at least 10 years... maybe more. And, with pitchers Pat Re and Chris Dunn back from injuries, the Panthers are at full strength for the playoffs. Not that they've needed them. Platt Tech's lineup, which was an unknown to start the season, averages 13.5 runs a game. Don't look now, that's Platt Tech sitting pretty as the No. 2 seed in the Class L tournament. Platt Tech as plenty to prove, however. CSC schools are not historically tough in the state tournament. Carew's never won a first-round game in his seven years. Norwich Tech (in Class M, 2000) is the only CSC school to reach the state championship game in the history of the state tournament. But, just like Bullard-Havens in football, it should be interesting. Posted by sports on 11:29 PM | Comments (0) May 2, 2008It's been a while since... (hs football)I was just going through my old blog postings back in December, toward the end of high school football season. I just realized that it's been a while since I hit the virtual picket lines for my realistic state playoff proposal. ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! I know, I know. A little too late for this year. But it's helpful (not to mention important) to keep the bug out there. ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! Woah there. Woah. Whew. Thanks for indulging me. Now, you may get back to ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! er...regularly scheduled, ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! Sorry. This has a mind of its own. Anyway get back to your regularly scheduled after-...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...noons. ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round,Three state championships! ...One more round, Three state championships! ...One more round, three state championships! Posted by sports on 2:09 PM | Comments (2) |
Due to the threat of rain and, probably more important, thunder and lightning, the CIAC baseball has been postponed to Sunday (look below for the rescheduling). The first rounds of the boys lacrosse tournaments are still on, however. 
Seymour defeated Woodland 12-4 to win a second consecutive NVL baseball title tonight. The Wildcats are now 22-0 as they attempt to defend their Class M state championship.
Elsewhere, 
Lost amid the shuffle of last night's postponements were these from the FCIAC. 
The SCC baseball quarterfinal rounds have also been postponed to tomorrow. They actually started a game today before the rain became too much. Xavier leads Notre Dame-WH 1-0 in the third inning. It will resume tomorrow at West Haven at 4. Amity and Shelton will play at 7.
 
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