It was the final chapter of the high school season and it was probably only fitting that Waterford High School was involved.
The Lancers had a terrific 2006-07 high school sports year which only left one wishing that they could have won a state championship somewhere.
Four state championship games, four runner-up finishes which should not blemish the fact that the Lancers got to the boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball finals.
Softball had the last chance Sunday but Bristol Eastern wasn't about to let their first state title since 1997 slip away as they shut out the Lancers 3-0.
Waterford had a terrific opportunity, bases loaded, no one out, in the bottom of the fifth but Bristol Eastern pitcher Sara Plourde got a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to end the threat as Waterford came up empty.
"We had girls in scoring position and we couldn't get them in, that's what it comes down to," Waterford coach Kate Peruzzotti said.
"Could we have done anything different? I don't know, hindsight is 20/20, I don't know what we would have done differently. It's about putting the ball in play and we weren't able to do that (Sunday)," she added.
"I think it would have made all the difference," Waterford senior catcher Anna Levesque said. "We're a team when we score that we run with it, we didn't do it (Sunday)."
But all agreed on one thing, it was a great run, even an improbable one, just to get to the championship game.

Rachele Fico is the real deal.
Fitch High School girls softball coach Jon Grossman said that to me on Friday and I'm not about to disagree with him after watching the sophomore dominate a pretty good hitting Norwich Free Academy squad. Fico's effort gave Masuk a 1-0 win over NFA in the Class LL softball state championship Saturday afternoon at DeLuca Field in Stratford. It was Masuk's first softball state title in 33 years.
Fico struck out 17 and allowed only a single to Hillary Schnip while pitching a shutout for the 25th time in 27 appearances.
"I think she's actually a little bit better than what I had expected," NFA coach Jim Cotter said after the game played on a drizzly, breezy and very cool Saturday afternoon.
Cotter had only one hope, keep the game going as long as possible so that a little familiarity with her pitches might help his hitters.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, in search of their first state championship in softball, an infield error ended those hopes of extending the game beyond the normal seven innings as Masuk pushed a run across.
The only chance for a run for NFA came in the fifth inning when Schnip singled, went to second on an error and pinch-runner Marissa Ruiz went to third on a ground out. That's where she stayed as a pop out ended the threat.
Waterford didn't get a chance to play Bristol Eastern in the first game as rain forced a delay and it was a delay the Lancers couldn't afford. The Senior Prom takes place at Waterford tonight and the Lancers didn't want to start any later than noon time today. When that couldn't be accomplished, the agreement was to postpone their Class L title game with Bristol Eastern until Sunday at 4 p.m. in Stratford.
Congratulations do go out to St. Bernard as they rallied for a 6-4 win over Northwest Catholic in the Class S baseball championship. It was the only baseball title game played on Saturday as rain doused the final two.
Good thing the Saints got it in, St. Bernard holds graduation ceremonies on Sunday and couldn't have played again until Monday.

The Eastern Connecticut Conference saw a couple of teams go down yesterday but not without a fight.
You had to feel for the St. Bernard High School girls softball team which had the 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh only to see it disappear when Coginchaug scored five times. It was the Blue Devils third consecutive win over the Saints in the state tournament in the last three years.
Coach Andrea Gaines credited her five seniors for taking the program to the level it has reached, one that is capable of winning a championship, even though they won't ever do so themselves.
Griswold knew they were going to be in for a tough game against undefeated Seymour and that's what they got. The Wolverines fell but had a great run to get to the semifinals.
The Lyman softball team squared off with Terryville in a pitcher's duel that was actually won by Ashley Hogan of Terryville. She won the battle as she allowed only one hit, Lyman won the war as they scored the only run off a walk, an error, and a pair of infield fielder's choices. Sophomore Katherine Fitton was effective for Lyman as she allowed only four hits and struck out 11.
The St. Bernard baseball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit and a little on-field adversity to beat Trinity Catholic 4-2 and advance to Saturday afternoon's Class S baseball championship.
Waterford had to play another thriller as they downed Woodland Regional in eight innings to advance to the M final against Seymour. Seymour, earlier in the day at ECSU, had beaten Montville.
All of that and we still have two more softball semifinals today. Either Bacon or Waterford will advance to the Class L championship as they play one another in West Haven and in Stratford, NFA takes on Cheshire in the LL semis.
Oh, and the major league baseball draft takes place today.
Other than that, nothing is going on.

One more win and it's on to the state championship.That's sometimes easier said than done.
I was talking with Waterford High School baseball Jack O'Keefe Monday night and asked him if it would be nice to have a Montville-Waterford Class M championship final.
"I only care about Waterford and about our next game, we'll worry about the game after that when it comes," O'Keefe said.
Good answer although things do get a little better especially for the local baseball teams involved as their top pitchers are, once again, available.
Montville plays Seymour this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. and Waterford tackles Woodland Regional tonight at 7 p.m., both those games to be played at Eastern Connecticut State University.
The St. Bernard Saints are a little further from home as they play Trinity Catholic at Muzzy Field in Bristol tonight at 7 p.m.
The Griswold Wolverines girls softball team has a tough task ahead of them, a Class M semifinal vs. Seymour tonight at 7 p.m. at West Haven High School. Seymour comes into the game undefeated.
There's also the State Open track championship this afternoon in New Britain too as the end of the high school year is just about upon us.

Windham High School Principal Gene Blain probably said it best, "the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime."
Windham High senior Amanda Nappi, the best female javelin thrower in the state this year, will not get a chance to compete in her best event at the State Open track championships today because of a judge who decided he had to enforce the rules to the letter of the law and beyond.
You can read the entire story in today's Norwich Bulletin or on-line at Norwich Bulletin.com but one would say this seems to be a little over the top.
The senior had worked to get to this point throughout her high school career but on the first of her final javelin throws Friday afternoon, she slipped and felt her javelin drag behind. As that happened, she yelled out a four-letter expletive beginning with "s". It wasn't directed at anyone, just a "human reaction" according to Nappi.
Unfortunately, the judge heard it and disqualified the Windham senior for swearing.
It appears nothing can be done at this point but that four-letter expletive would hardly get you tossed out of many a high school event where some far worse utterances are overheard on a regular basis, some directed right at officials. A warning, yes, a disaqualification, no.
This is not to condone swearing but this is one case that I have to agree with Blain, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

Griswold High School softball coach Rick Arremony said after his team's win over Holy Cross in the Class M quarterfinals that the Eastern Connecticut Conference may not work for all sports but it certainly does for softball.
Lyman coach Gary Hoyt, Bacon Academy's Anna Dipierro, St. Bernard coach Andrea Gaines and others would certainly agree.
The ECC may have its woes but softball and baseball are not amongst them. The conference is one of the strongest in the state in those two sports, all you have to do is see the number of teams left in the state tournament for the evidence.
The league is represented by four teams in the Class M baseball state tournament's final eight, all play today. Add Fitch from Class LL and St. Bernard drom Class S and that's a really good showing by the league.
Five softball teams are already in state semifinal games next week. Griswold, Bacon Academy, Waterford, Lyman and St. Bernard all have trips to make to West Haven. NFA could become the sixth member of that group today should they beat Trumbull. NFA would have its semifinal game in Stratford on Tuesday, however.
The ECC may be much maligned but it is working for some, just ask the baseball and softball coaches.

You get the idea that playing softball at Bacon Academy is a lot of fun right now.
The girls softball team is on a roll and for the first time ever finds itself in a semifinal state tournament game, they can thank Erica Clauss alot for that.
Clauss is the motor that keeps the Bobcats rolling whether its her pitching, her offense or just her enthusiasm, as Clauss goes, so do the Bobcats.
The Columbia University-bound senior struck out 17 Wilton hitters on Thursday and allowed just one hit to make the 5-0 Bacon win look pretty easy. That came on the heels of a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart the day before where she had to go nine innings.
Clauss also kick started the Bacon offense on Thursday by drawing a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first. She advanced to second on a passed ball, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Katelynn Barr single. It turned out to be all the runs Clauss would need even if Bacon did add four more runs in the fourth but, more importantly, it also took the pressure off the Bobcats shoulders early as they had the lead to work with.
Some other teams hope to do that today. The Fitch Falcons and Waterford Lancers meet today in Waterford at four, the winner moves on to play Bacon Monday in West Haven.
The Griswold Wolverines stay home and host Holy Cross at 4 p.m., hoping to get past the quarterfinals for the first time in three years.
St. Bernard takes on a team that beat them earlier in the season as East Hampton visits the Saints and Lyman plays host to Somers in a pair of Class S quarterfinals.
We'll see you in Jewett City this afternoon.