The common theme when talking to Griswold High boys soccer coach Vin Laraia on Thursday could be described in one word; redemption.
The Wolverines are looking for that in more aspects than one this season.
Griswold downed Montville, 2-1, Thursday afternoon which Laraia thought could serve as a confidence boost for a team that came so close last season to winning the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division title.
"Our guys are really happy about this win (Thursday) because they were questioning themselves after last year," Laraia said.
That's because the Wolverines only lost to Lyman, a team which has never lost an ECC Small Division game in its three-plus years in the league, 1-0 twice last season.
"Our goal this year is to win the ECC Small and beat Lyman," Laraia said. "They want to go into the Lyman game undefeated and they want to beat Lyman this year. They're very bitter about those 1-0 losses and they feel they can beat Lyman."
The Wolverines will get two opportunities to do so, on Oct. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Lyman and again on Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m. on the football field in Griswold.
Laraia said the team is not the only ones looking for redemption, there's also an individual with something to prove this year; keeper Brandon McNeil.
The senior captain kept Montville at bay after the Indians took over the momentum halfway through the second half courtesy of a penalty kick. McNeil shut them down thereafter, turning aside seven consecutive chances including a pair of bullets by Tyler and Connor Leeman.
"He's got something to prove, he finished second in the (ECC) voting last year for All-ECC and he wants to be that," Laraia said. "He worked hard over the summer and he's trying hard out there."
Note
HS Football
Last week's Killingly-Wolcott game was the last scheduled football game between the two long-distance opponents.
The two schools had a home-and-home agreement and there was talk on the sidelines last week that a new two-year deal had been struck, but nothing is official yet.
"I don't have an answer for that," Wolcott coach Patrick Russo said last Saturday night. "There's been talk but we won't (finalize) anything until the end of the season. People here have been great to us, I take my hat off to coach (Chad) Neal and the hospitality both last year and this year. We've built a little relationship with him, we've been to the same coaching clinics with him and hung out with him and had dinner. There's good people here in Killingly, we really respect what they do."
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
HS Cross Country: Plainfield's Ruffo growing up
She used to be a young, little girl running among adults in local road races, winning some of the female events despite being just 12 and 13- years-old.
She's still young and small, but Plainfield freshman Keri Ruffo is growing up.
Now a high school freshman, Ruffo ran her first official high school dual meet on Tuesday afternoon in Central Village, winning it with ease.
"I love it," Ruffo said when asked how happy she was to be a part of the Plainfield Panthers cross country team. "It's so much different from middle school, much better, more fun, more competition."
Ruffo is a chip off the old block. Her father, Pat, used to be an athlete at Plainfield in late 1970's and early 80's, known for his prowess in baseball. On Tuesday, he was on the sidelines watching his daughter run past and thinking the same thing as her coaches, Ben Bowne and Kevin Grant, "don't go too fast, it's still the first race of the season."
That's hard to get through to a freshman running her first race at home as Ruffo sprinted out to a lead and never looked back, with the exception of once.
"I looked a little behind me at the (football) scoreboard (about three-quarters of the way through the race) to see if they were behind me," Keri Ruffo said.
She didn't have to worry about that, there was not a Griswold runner within a minute of her.
"I was shocked," Ruffo said.
Griswold coach Mike Flynn - knowing his runners had just completed competing in the Windham Invitational over the weekend - had asked his team to go out as a unit and stay ahead of St. Bernard, don't worry about winning the race.
Those were the same orders issued to Ruffo who had run in the freshman race at Windham; Hardly winded at the finish, she said she also complied with those wishes.
"It's a long season, she's young, we had an Invitational last Saturday and have another one this Saturday, she's running the freshman race there and we want her to have a shot at those big meets," Grant said about the strategy of asking Ruffo to restrain herself a bit. "Our team is pretty strong this year, we figured we could use thise as a workout, just like the Griswold girls did."
Grant said he thought Ruffo's tempo was a "little more on target" than the Griswold girls who he thought "were going a little too slow for their ability."
"Keri did a great job," Grant said.
Whalers on the road
The Killingly High football team got a little break.
It will still have to play New London in November, but it learned on Tuesday that the game between the Redmen and Whalers will be played in Danielson rather than New London on November 12. The Whalers continue to have trouble with the new turf at Canamella Field as was reported in the Norwich Bulletin on Tuesday and likely will not be able to use the new field at all this season.
Only two games, Oct. 22 against Fitch and on Thanksgiving Day versus Norwich Free Academy remain unchanged at the moment.
"It's a challenge for the kids, I know they were hoping for a new field," New London Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Nick Fischer, said Monday, "but coach (Jeff) Larson has done an outstanding job prepping the kids under difficult circumstances."
Not only has New London had to shift most of their games from home to away with the one exception being the game at the Coast Guard Academy against Montville, the team has also had to practice on a make shift field behind the school.
"It's a challenge the kids will have to learn how to deal with, it's disappointing, but it's not a crisis," Fischer said.
She's still young and small, but Plainfield freshman Keri Ruffo is growing up.
Now a high school freshman, Ruffo ran her first official high school dual meet on Tuesday afternoon in Central Village, winning it with ease.
"I love it," Ruffo said when asked how happy she was to be a part of the Plainfield Panthers cross country team. "It's so much different from middle school, much better, more fun, more competition."
Ruffo is a chip off the old block. Her father, Pat, used to be an athlete at Plainfield in late 1970's and early 80's, known for his prowess in baseball. On Tuesday, he was on the sidelines watching his daughter run past and thinking the same thing as her coaches, Ben Bowne and Kevin Grant, "don't go too fast, it's still the first race of the season."
That's hard to get through to a freshman running her first race at home as Ruffo sprinted out to a lead and never looked back, with the exception of once.
"I looked a little behind me at the (football) scoreboard (about three-quarters of the way through the race) to see if they were behind me," Keri Ruffo said.
She didn't have to worry about that, there was not a Griswold runner within a minute of her.
"I was shocked," Ruffo said.
Griswold coach Mike Flynn - knowing his runners had just completed competing in the Windham Invitational over the weekend - had asked his team to go out as a unit and stay ahead of St. Bernard, don't worry about winning the race.
Those were the same orders issued to Ruffo who had run in the freshman race at Windham; Hardly winded at the finish, she said she also complied with those wishes.
"It's a long season, she's young, we had an Invitational last Saturday and have another one this Saturday, she's running the freshman race there and we want her to have a shot at those big meets," Grant said about the strategy of asking Ruffo to restrain herself a bit. "Our team is pretty strong this year, we figured we could use thise as a workout, just like the Griswold girls did."
Grant said he thought Ruffo's tempo was a "little more on target" than the Griswold girls who he thought "were going a little too slow for their ability."
"Keri did a great job," Grant said.
Whalers on the road
The Killingly High football team got a little break.
It will still have to play New London in November, but it learned on Tuesday that the game between the Redmen and Whalers will be played in Danielson rather than New London on November 12. The Whalers continue to have trouble with the new turf at Canamella Field as was reported in the Norwich Bulletin on Tuesday and likely will not be able to use the new field at all this season.
Only two games, Oct. 22 against Fitch and on Thanksgiving Day versus Norwich Free Academy remain unchanged at the moment.
"It's a challenge for the kids, I know they were hoping for a new field," New London Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Nick Fischer, said Monday, "but coach (Jeff) Larson has done an outstanding job prepping the kids under difficult circumstances."
Not only has New London had to shift most of their games from home to away with the one exception being the game at the Coast Guard Academy against Montville, the team has also had to practice on a make shift field behind the school.
"It's a challenge the kids will have to learn how to deal with, it's disappointing, but it's not a crisis," Fischer said.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Grove returns as head coach in Montville today
Montville coach Tanner Grove was re-instated immediately after the Indians win over New London, he met the busses on their return to the high school Saturday and will be back on the job today (Monday). Grove was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs in August and was suspended for the first game of the season. Thus, he had to miss the 21-19 win over New London at the Coast Guard Academy.
Rob Alves and Gary Wilcox served as co-head coaches in the interim while Grove had to stay away from the team.
Alves admitted prior to the game on Saturday that there was a lot of pressure taking over the team for its game against the Whalers.
"I'm very happy, it's a lot off my chest, it really is," Alves said about the return of Grove as head coach. "At the same time, it was a great learning experience and, hopefully, I kept the team going in a positive direction."
After the game, Wilcox said it was nice to see how the team came together and overcame the distractions.
"This whole team stepped up big and overcame adversity," Wilcox said. "We started the season with an issue and these coaches and kids stepped up so big, myself and coach Alves literally focused this group of coaches and kids to overcome all of the nonsense to overcome all of this. Even in the second half (when New London scored 13 of its points) when we had that adversity coming, we held together, we bent, but we didn't break."
Notes
Where were the rosters this weekend?
I went to four high school football games and only one, the Killingly-Wolcott game, had rosters out for the public to bring with them into the game.
Quinebaug Valley-Plainfield had only two copies of team rosters, both of them in the press box. The Norwich Free Academy-Windham game had some made up, but they were in a box inside the ticket booth and there were almost none available at the Montville - New London game (I was fortunate to come away with two of the few that existed).
I realize it was the first game of the year, but when you are charging the public to see a game, the least you could give them is something to follow it better with. It doesn't have to be a complete program, but one sheet with rosters on both sides is better than nothing.
Interesting soccer pairing today, the Lyman and Norwich Free Academy girls and boys play a doubleheader at Lyman Memorial in Lebanon. The girls play in the first game at 4:30 p.m., the guys play in the nightcap at 6:30 p.m. The Norwich Bulletin will be covering both games. Also coming tomorrow, the first fall notebook of the high school season - look for it in your mailbox, newsstands and on-line.
Rob Alves and Gary Wilcox served as co-head coaches in the interim while Grove had to stay away from the team.
Alves admitted prior to the game on Saturday that there was a lot of pressure taking over the team for its game against the Whalers.
"I'm very happy, it's a lot off my chest, it really is," Alves said about the return of Grove as head coach. "At the same time, it was a great learning experience and, hopefully, I kept the team going in a positive direction."
After the game, Wilcox said it was nice to see how the team came together and overcame the distractions.
"This whole team stepped up big and overcame adversity," Wilcox said. "We started the season with an issue and these coaches and kids stepped up so big, myself and coach Alves literally focused this group of coaches and kids to overcome all of the nonsense to overcome all of this. Even in the second half (when New London scored 13 of its points) when we had that adversity coming, we held together, we bent, but we didn't break."
Notes
Where were the rosters this weekend?
I went to four high school football games and only one, the Killingly-Wolcott game, had rosters out for the public to bring with them into the game.
Quinebaug Valley-Plainfield had only two copies of team rosters, both of them in the press box. The Norwich Free Academy-Windham game had some made up, but they were in a box inside the ticket booth and there were almost none available at the Montville - New London game (I was fortunate to come away with two of the few that existed).
I realize it was the first game of the year, but when you are charging the public to see a game, the least you could give them is something to follow it better with. It doesn't have to be a complete program, but one sheet with rosters on both sides is better than nothing.
Interesting soccer pairing today, the Lyman and Norwich Free Academy girls and boys play a doubleheader at Lyman Memorial in Lebanon. The girls play in the first game at 4:30 p.m., the guys play in the nightcap at 6:30 p.m. The Norwich Bulletin will be covering both games. Also coming tomorrow, the first fall notebook of the high school season - look for it in your mailbox, newsstands and on-line.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Windham had good start, poor finish
It was almost like it was 2009 again in Willimantic on Friday night.
That was when Tim Doyle fielded Steve Calitri's opening kickoff near his own goal line and found his way up field for a season-opening 99-yard kick off return that spurred the Windham Whippets on to a win over Norwich Free Academy.
On Friday night, after the kick off and a four-yard run by Shane Doughty, it was Alex Partosan who played the option to perfection and then kept the ball, turned it upfield, and went the 75 yards to give Windham the early eight-point advantage.
"It felt familiar to last year at the beginning of the game," Windham coach Brian Crudden said.
Anthony Facchini felt the same way and on the Norwich sideline, that was not a good feeling to have.
"That was letdown and it was like, here we go again," the NFA running back said. "But I know that we're not last year's team, we're a lot better than that. We've worked so hard in the offseason and preseason that I knew it wasn't going down like that, not like last year."
The Wildcats did answer the touchdown later in the first quarter, but then allowed Windham to score again right before the half. The Whippets put together 231 yards of offense in the first half and held on to the ball for 15 minutes, 48 seconds of the 24-minute half.
Still, NFA coach Jemal Davis wasn't overly concerned.
"They got the coin toss, got the ball and they were able to stop us early," Davis said. "It's tough any time you come up to Windham, especially for the first game of the season, Brian just does an excellent job of preparing his kids and giving you stuff that you can't prepare for."
The turn in fortunes came early in the second half when Windham, thanks to a penalty for coming out of the locker room late and a misunderstood call on the kick, gave NFA the ball on the Whippets 40-yard line. Facchini scored to make it a two-point game and, after a windham turnover, the Wildcats scored again to take the lead for good.
Facchini, who only had 60 yards in eight carries in the first half, finished with 199 yards in 23 carries.
"We obviously know that Anthony is an exceptional athlete, a big, physical kid and he's got some big guys up front, and with that combination, we felt that if we just don't turn the ball over, get some stops, we can control the tempo of the game and run the clock out," Davis said.
NFA won, 25-14.
Notes:
The running game may be old news in the NFL, but not in high school ball. Windham passed the ball seven times Friday night, the Wildcats only five. The longest pass completion of the night was by Windham's Alex Partosan for nine yards. The only completion for NFA's Erik Washburn was good for only a yard.
Penalties and turnovers haunted Windham.
The Whippets were flagged 10 times for 95 yards, the worst being a holding call that negated a 38-yard touchdown run by Shane Doughty in the first quarter that could have put the Wildcats in a big hole early.
Windham also turned over the ball four times, two on fumbles, two on interceptions.
"From the staff on down to kids, we were disorganized and undisciplined, that's disappointing," Windham coach Brian Crudden said.
It's never easy picking winners in the first week of the season and I struggled on Friday night's games. The East Lyme/Torrington game I considered a toss-up so I went with the local folks and Torrington bit me on that one. There was no question that Stonington versus Waterford could go either way as well and that came down to a flip of the coin. I went out on the limb to pick Capital Prep/Hartford Classical over Griswold, the charter school teams have an assosrtment of athletes that changes on a yearly basis and you really don't know what they have before they play. At least, I got the NFA and Ledyard picks right and wasn't far off on either. I said 42-7 Ledyard, the Colonels won 43-7 and I picked NFA to win 24-13, not far from the actual final of 25-14.
I have Fitch, Bacon, New London, Lowell Catholic and Wolcott winning today.
That was when Tim Doyle fielded Steve Calitri's opening kickoff near his own goal line and found his way up field for a season-opening 99-yard kick off return that spurred the Windham Whippets on to a win over Norwich Free Academy.
On Friday night, after the kick off and a four-yard run by Shane Doughty, it was Alex Partosan who played the option to perfection and then kept the ball, turned it upfield, and went the 75 yards to give Windham the early eight-point advantage.
"It felt familiar to last year at the beginning of the game," Windham coach Brian Crudden said.
Anthony Facchini felt the same way and on the Norwich sideline, that was not a good feeling to have.
"That was letdown and it was like, here we go again," the NFA running back said. "But I know that we're not last year's team, we're a lot better than that. We've worked so hard in the offseason and preseason that I knew it wasn't going down like that, not like last year."
The Wildcats did answer the touchdown later in the first quarter, but then allowed Windham to score again right before the half. The Whippets put together 231 yards of offense in the first half and held on to the ball for 15 minutes, 48 seconds of the 24-minute half.
Still, NFA coach Jemal Davis wasn't overly concerned.
"They got the coin toss, got the ball and they were able to stop us early," Davis said. "It's tough any time you come up to Windham, especially for the first game of the season, Brian just does an excellent job of preparing his kids and giving you stuff that you can't prepare for."
The turn in fortunes came early in the second half when Windham, thanks to a penalty for coming out of the locker room late and a misunderstood call on the kick, gave NFA the ball on the Whippets 40-yard line. Facchini scored to make it a two-point game and, after a windham turnover, the Wildcats scored again to take the lead for good.
Facchini, who only had 60 yards in eight carries in the first half, finished with 199 yards in 23 carries.
"We obviously know that Anthony is an exceptional athlete, a big, physical kid and he's got some big guys up front, and with that combination, we felt that if we just don't turn the ball over, get some stops, we can control the tempo of the game and run the clock out," Davis said.
NFA won, 25-14.
Notes:
The running game may be old news in the NFL, but not in high school ball. Windham passed the ball seven times Friday night, the Wildcats only five. The longest pass completion of the night was by Windham's Alex Partosan for nine yards. The only completion for NFA's Erik Washburn was good for only a yard.
Penalties and turnovers haunted Windham.
The Whippets were flagged 10 times for 95 yards, the worst being a holding call that negated a 38-yard touchdown run by Shane Doughty in the first quarter that could have put the Wildcats in a big hole early.
Windham also turned over the ball four times, two on fumbles, two on interceptions.
"From the staff on down to kids, we were disorganized and undisciplined, that's disappointing," Windham coach Brian Crudden said.
It's never easy picking winners in the first week of the season and I struggled on Friday night's games. The East Lyme/Torrington game I considered a toss-up so I went with the local folks and Torrington bit me on that one. There was no question that Stonington versus Waterford could go either way as well and that came down to a flip of the coin. I went out on the limb to pick Capital Prep/Hartford Classical over Griswold, the charter school teams have an assosrtment of athletes that changes on a yearly basis and you really don't know what they have before they play. At least, I got the NFA and Ledyard picks right and wasn't far off on either. I said 42-7 Ledyard, the Colonels won 43-7 and I picked NFA to win 24-13, not far from the actual final of 25-14.
I have Fitch, Bacon, New London, Lowell Catholic and Wolcott winning today.
Friday, September 17, 2010
HS football: Gleim looked good for Quinebaug Valley
Plainfield may have won the football game, 22-19, but the star of the show was Quinebaug Valley running back Shane Gleim.
The former Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech back had a pair of 60-plus yard runs that kept the Pride in the game against the young Panthers in the season opener for both on a rainy night Thursday night in Putnam.
Gleim carried the ball just 11 times, but rushed for 151 yards, 68 of those came early in the second quarter.
Plainfield had just scored on the last play of the first quarter to take the early lead. The Pride took over on their own 25-yard-line after the kickoff and moved up five yards on an encroachment call against the Panthers. That's when Quinebaug Valley coach Shane Szydlo called Gleim's number. Running out of the right wing in the Pride's double-wing offense, Gleim hadn't gone anywhere in his first two carries of the game, that changed this time when he spied a hole and made a quick decision.
"It was originally a sweep where I was supposed to run all the way to the (left) side, but if the cutback lane was there, we take it," Gleim described. "I had three blocks in front of me, I saw the opening with only a defensive back and I just cut it back, had one man to beat."
Unfortunately, he couldn't shake that one man and was finally taken down at the two-yard line. On the next play, Mike Seifert (14 carries, 60 yards) took it in for the score to cut the deficit to one point.
Plainfield scored again before the half and there was concern the game would not be finished when the two teams came out of the locker room to be greeted by heavy rain and lightning which delayed the contest for 30 minutes.
Gleim had seen his yardage total go down in the two carries since his 68-yard burst, he went negative-6 in those. But he made up for that midway through the third quarter after Quinebaug Valley had climbed out of a hole of its own making following a penalty that pushed it back to its own 11-yard -line. Shane Herlihy (5 carries, 35 yards) went 12 yards and a facemask penalty pushed the Pride up to their own 38-yard line. On a wet field, with rain pouring down, Gleim took advantage of the slick conditions by reversing the field, again to the left side, and found daylight for a 62-yard touchdown.
"I got two blocks, one from Norman Henry, and another pancake block right in front of me, so I had no to beat except the one kid that I stiff-armed and then it was just a touchdown- it was all about the blocking," Gleim said.
But even those two runs were not enough to lift the Pride to a victory in their first outing as a combined Putnam/Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech unit.
"As a team, yes, I'm happy; personally, I expected better," Gleim said. "As a team we came together in the second half. In the first half, (Plainfield) was kind of throwing us around, doing whatever they wanted."
The good thing for Quinebaug Valley, it gets a week to rest and think about this game as its next game doesn't take place until Saturday, Oct. 2 at home against Abbott Tech.
NOTES
Although some may have thought it a bad decision to play a game on Thursday night due to the threat of bad weather, it worked out for Plainfield and Quinebaug Valley.
The predicted rain came and came down hard for a time from late in the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth. There was also the one flash of lightning that prompted officials to clear the field for half-an-hour prior to the start of the second half. The predicted damaging winds never materialized and, due to the lack of rain in the area, the field absorbed most of the water and never got real sloppy.
It doesn't look like New London's home field is going to be ready any time soon.
The Whalers this week announced that the game with Waterford on Oct. 8 has been moved from New London to Waterford. The chairman of the building committee for the new turf field in New London, Peg Curtin, had originally indicated that she had hoped the field would be finished by that time.
New London has also asked for the home game against Wilton on Oct. 1 to be moved from Friday to Saturday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. The Whalers hoping to play the Warriors on Waterford's home field.
The New Haven Register preseason poll has Notre Dame of West Haven predicted to be the top team in the state again this year. The West Haven school took 12 of the 18 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters with Masuk - led by former New London quarterback Casey Cochran - getting two and Xavier, New Canaan, Staples and New London getting one each.
Xavier, New Canaan, St. Joseph and Staples rounded out the top five in the balloting followed by Masuk, Cheshire, New London, Berlin and Bridgeport Central. Other ECC schools getting votes included Montville, who finished just out of the top 10, Ledyard and East Lyme.
The former Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech back had a pair of 60-plus yard runs that kept the Pride in the game against the young Panthers in the season opener for both on a rainy night Thursday night in Putnam.
Gleim carried the ball just 11 times, but rushed for 151 yards, 68 of those came early in the second quarter.
Plainfield had just scored on the last play of the first quarter to take the early lead. The Pride took over on their own 25-yard-line after the kickoff and moved up five yards on an encroachment call against the Panthers. That's when Quinebaug Valley coach Shane Szydlo called Gleim's number. Running out of the right wing in the Pride's double-wing offense, Gleim hadn't gone anywhere in his first two carries of the game, that changed this time when he spied a hole and made a quick decision.
"It was originally a sweep where I was supposed to run all the way to the (left) side, but if the cutback lane was there, we take it," Gleim described. "I had three blocks in front of me, I saw the opening with only a defensive back and I just cut it back, had one man to beat."
Unfortunately, he couldn't shake that one man and was finally taken down at the two-yard line. On the next play, Mike Seifert (14 carries, 60 yards) took it in for the score to cut the deficit to one point.
Plainfield scored again before the half and there was concern the game would not be finished when the two teams came out of the locker room to be greeted by heavy rain and lightning which delayed the contest for 30 minutes.
Gleim had seen his yardage total go down in the two carries since his 68-yard burst, he went negative-6 in those. But he made up for that midway through the third quarter after Quinebaug Valley had climbed out of a hole of its own making following a penalty that pushed it back to its own 11-yard -line. Shane Herlihy (5 carries, 35 yards) went 12 yards and a facemask penalty pushed the Pride up to their own 38-yard line. On a wet field, with rain pouring down, Gleim took advantage of the slick conditions by reversing the field, again to the left side, and found daylight for a 62-yard touchdown.
"I got two blocks, one from Norman Henry, and another pancake block right in front of me, so I had no to beat except the one kid that I stiff-armed and then it was just a touchdown- it was all about the blocking," Gleim said.
But even those two runs were not enough to lift the Pride to a victory in their first outing as a combined Putnam/Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech unit.
"As a team, yes, I'm happy; personally, I expected better," Gleim said. "As a team we came together in the second half. In the first half, (Plainfield) was kind of throwing us around, doing whatever they wanted."
The good thing for Quinebaug Valley, it gets a week to rest and think about this game as its next game doesn't take place until Saturday, Oct. 2 at home against Abbott Tech.
NOTES
Although some may have thought it a bad decision to play a game on Thursday night due to the threat of bad weather, it worked out for Plainfield and Quinebaug Valley.
The predicted rain came and came down hard for a time from late in the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth. There was also the one flash of lightning that prompted officials to clear the field for half-an-hour prior to the start of the second half. The predicted damaging winds never materialized and, due to the lack of rain in the area, the field absorbed most of the water and never got real sloppy.
It doesn't look like New London's home field is going to be ready any time soon.
The Whalers this week announced that the game with Waterford on Oct. 8 has been moved from New London to Waterford. The chairman of the building committee for the new turf field in New London, Peg Curtin, had originally indicated that she had hoped the field would be finished by that time.
New London has also asked for the home game against Wilton on Oct. 1 to be moved from Friday to Saturday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. The Whalers hoping to play the Warriors on Waterford's home field.
The New Haven Register preseason poll has Notre Dame of West Haven predicted to be the top team in the state again this year. The West Haven school took 12 of the 18 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters with Masuk - led by former New London quarterback Casey Cochran - getting two and Xavier, New Canaan, Staples and New London getting one each.
Xavier, New Canaan, St. Joseph and Staples rounded out the top five in the balloting followed by Masuk, Cheshire, New London, Berlin and Bridgeport Central. Other ECC schools getting votes included Montville, who finished just out of the top 10, Ledyard and East Lyme.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
HS Volleyball:Griswold looking to improve mental approach
They have five seniors in the starting lineup, three strong juniors and a freshman who played well in her debut in a Griswold volleyball uniform.
The Wolverines have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the year, especially after kicking it off with a, 3-2, win over Norwich Free Academy Wednesday night.
"We're all returning players, we have a freshman who's doing really well, I really think we can go far in the ECC's and even states," Griswold senior setter Tessa Velasquez said.
There were some iffy moments on Wednesday when they started to doubt themselves and the Wildcats, despite being young and inexperienced on the varsity level, took the opportunity to rally back after losing the first two games of the match.
The Wolverines settled back and relaxed after winning 25-15 and 25-14 in the first two games, then found it hard to recover that same intensity to finish up the match, despite leading 13-3 in the third game.
"We were shanking balls, we weren't focused like the first two games that we had played," said senior Nina Wojtkiewicz who finished with 16 kills, 15 digs, and four assists.
Wojtkiewicz, the emotional leader of the Wolverines, found herself hitting shots back into the net and the euphoria that she had exhibited in the first two games, suddenly turned to wrinkles of worry upon her expression-filled face.
"We lost those two games and I was like' this can't happen, we're not going to let this go,' ", she said.
As Wojtkiewicz goes, so go the Wolverines.
"She gets a little too hard on herself at times and she has to know that she's our senior leader on the court," Griswold coach Jamie Bruno said. "She has to play steady no matter what, she has to be our rock. If she loses her head and she's not as focused, the rest of the team loses its focus."
Fortunately for Bruno, the Wolverines regrouped in the fifth game and played "smart", something they hadn't necessarily done in the middle two games.
"We were trying to get kills, when we really didn't need them, NFA was just playing safe," Bruno said. "We just had to put the pressure on them by using smart shots."
The little hiccup in the middle didn't take away from the fact that it was still a Large Division team that Griswold had beaten and Bruno, like Velasquez, feels the team certainly has the potential to turn some heads this fall.
"We definitely can go places, we just have to get through the mental blockades that we set for ourselves," Bruno said. "We can be our own worst enemy at times, that's our biggest hurdle to get over, and we can do it by just staying focused through the whole match."
The Wolverines have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the year, especially after kicking it off with a, 3-2, win over Norwich Free Academy Wednesday night.
"We're all returning players, we have a freshman who's doing really well, I really think we can go far in the ECC's and even states," Griswold senior setter Tessa Velasquez said.
There were some iffy moments on Wednesday when they started to doubt themselves and the Wildcats, despite being young and inexperienced on the varsity level, took the opportunity to rally back after losing the first two games of the match.
The Wolverines settled back and relaxed after winning 25-15 and 25-14 in the first two games, then found it hard to recover that same intensity to finish up the match, despite leading 13-3 in the third game.
"We were shanking balls, we weren't focused like the first two games that we had played," said senior Nina Wojtkiewicz who finished with 16 kills, 15 digs, and four assists.
Wojtkiewicz, the emotional leader of the Wolverines, found herself hitting shots back into the net and the euphoria that she had exhibited in the first two games, suddenly turned to wrinkles of worry upon her expression-filled face.
"We lost those two games and I was like' this can't happen, we're not going to let this go,' ", she said.
As Wojtkiewicz goes, so go the Wolverines.
"She gets a little too hard on herself at times and she has to know that she's our senior leader on the court," Griswold coach Jamie Bruno said. "She has to play steady no matter what, she has to be our rock. If she loses her head and she's not as focused, the rest of the team loses its focus."
Fortunately for Bruno, the Wolverines regrouped in the fifth game and played "smart", something they hadn't necessarily done in the middle two games.
"We were trying to get kills, when we really didn't need them, NFA was just playing safe," Bruno said. "We just had to put the pressure on them by using smart shots."
The little hiccup in the middle didn't take away from the fact that it was still a Large Division team that Griswold had beaten and Bruno, like Velasquez, feels the team certainly has the potential to turn some heads this fall.
"We definitely can go places, we just have to get through the mental blockades that we set for ourselves," Bruno said. "We can be our own worst enemy at times, that's our biggest hurdle to get over, and we can do it by just staying focused through the whole match."
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Boys cross country: NFA employs different strategy
It was at the Class LL state cross country championships three years ago that Norwich Free Academy coach Chad Johnson realized he had pushed his team too hard in the regular season. They stood before him on that October day at Wickham Park and just didn't have anything left to give; their legs shot.
It was at that time that Johnson decided to adopt a new strategy, run less earlier on and build to the state championships and State Open competitions.
On Tuesday, he went one step further.
Saying his team had potential to do something in October, he sat his top five runners. On top of that, his No. 6 runner had to sit out with an injury. He was relying on the depth of his team to beat an Eastern Connecticut Conference opponent, East Lyme.
The gambit turned out to be a call he probably would like back after his Wildcats lost to the Vikings, 24-32.
"The front guys set different goals for the season and the East Lyme meet wasn't one of them," Johnson said. "I felt confident in our seven through 14 guys that they would be able to get the job done, we didn't want to give it away. But East Lyme ran an inspired race and our guys didn't perform as well as I thought they would."
It puts NFA behind in the conference, a loss that they need some help to recover from if they're going to get anything more than a share of the ECC Large Division title come October.
"That's fine," Johnson said. "We need to run with a true team mentality and when you're asking your guys to get up for a race 13 times, you have to ask for different guys to get up. I expected the guys that we had out there to perform better than they did, but I also think East Lyme ran a heckuva race as well. They ran confident, we ran scared."
Johnson added that, contrary to what some may think, that's not a bad thing. It's part of the maturation process as those runners, who had never been in that situation before, now have experienced it.
"Next time they're in that situation, maybe they will know how to handle it," Johnson said. "We'll get better from this race."
It was at that time that Johnson decided to adopt a new strategy, run less earlier on and build to the state championships and State Open competitions.
On Tuesday, he went one step further.
Saying his team had potential to do something in October, he sat his top five runners. On top of that, his No. 6 runner had to sit out with an injury. He was relying on the depth of his team to beat an Eastern Connecticut Conference opponent, East Lyme.
The gambit turned out to be a call he probably would like back after his Wildcats lost to the Vikings, 24-32.
"The front guys set different goals for the season and the East Lyme meet wasn't one of them," Johnson said. "I felt confident in our seven through 14 guys that they would be able to get the job done, we didn't want to give it away. But East Lyme ran an inspired race and our guys didn't perform as well as I thought they would."
It puts NFA behind in the conference, a loss that they need some help to recover from if they're going to get anything more than a share of the ECC Large Division title come October.
"That's fine," Johnson said. "We need to run with a true team mentality and when you're asking your guys to get up for a race 13 times, you have to ask for different guys to get up. I expected the guys that we had out there to perform better than they did, but I also think East Lyme ran a heckuva race as well. They ran confident, we ran scared."
Johnson added that, contrary to what some may think, that's not a bad thing. It's part of the maturation process as those runners, who had never been in that situation before, now have experienced it.
"Next time they're in that situation, maybe they will know how to handle it," Johnson said. "We'll get better from this race."
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Grove's punishment was the right one
There were those who thought that Montville head football coach Tanner Grove would be suspended for the season or even removed from the position after he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, reckless driving and disobeying the signal of an officer early last Friday morning in Waterford.
The punishment that was handed down on Tuesday, however, seems to me to be the correct one. Grove will meet with the team on Monday, the first official day of practice, and will then be suspended until after the first game of the season.
This is not to condone his actions; to use Montville senior Tyler Girard-Floyd's words, it was a "stupid decision to get behind the wheel."
It's also a stupid decision that many have made and it has not cost them their job. Grove did the right thing when he alerted his superiors, Montville superintendent Pam Aubin and high school principal Tom Amanti about the situation on Friday following his arrest.
Grove then paid the price on Tuesday and Wednesday when the story of his arrest was all over the newspapers in Eastern Connecticut.
Now, he has to apologize to his team and its parents on Monday and, probably worst of all, not coach in one of the biggest games of the year against New London on September 17.
If anything, Grove has already taught his young players a valuable lesson; foolish decisions can cost you, on both the field and in real life.
The punishment that was handed down on Tuesday, however, seems to me to be the correct one. Grove will meet with the team on Monday, the first official day of practice, and will then be suspended until after the first game of the season.
This is not to condone his actions; to use Montville senior Tyler Girard-Floyd's words, it was a "stupid decision to get behind the wheel."
It's also a stupid decision that many have made and it has not cost them their job. Grove did the right thing when he alerted his superiors, Montville superintendent Pam Aubin and high school principal Tom Amanti about the situation on Friday following his arrest.
Grove then paid the price on Tuesday and Wednesday when the story of his arrest was all over the newspapers in Eastern Connecticut.
Now, he has to apologize to his team and its parents on Monday and, probably worst of all, not coach in one of the biggest games of the year against New London on September 17.
If anything, Grove has already taught his young players a valuable lesson; foolish decisions can cost you, on both the field and in real life.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Weather threatening CIAC title games
There is some rain in the area in Stratford and it's sprinkling in Middletown, but the CIAC state championship games are on as scheduled for this Saturday.
No. 6 Waterford is playing No. 4 Montville today for the Class M state baseball championship at Palmer Field in Middletown. Brian Girasoli is covering that game and we will be providing updates both on this blog and on Norwich Bulletin.com.
The Class S softball championship, like Montville-Waterford, is slated to start at noon time. The No. 1 seeded Kangaroos bring a 22-1 record to DeLuca Field in Stratford, No. 6 St. Bernard is 19-6.
It would only seem fitting that the Class L state title will be under the threat of rain, No. 6 Bristol Eastern and No. 1 Waterford were postoned until Sunday the last time they played a state title game in 2007.
Norwich Bulletin.com will also provide continous updates on the two softball state championship games throughout the afternoon.
No. 6 Waterford is playing No. 4 Montville today for the Class M state baseball championship at Palmer Field in Middletown. Brian Girasoli is covering that game and we will be providing updates both on this blog and on Norwich Bulletin.com.
The Class S softball championship, like Montville-Waterford, is slated to start at noon time. The No. 1 seeded Kangaroos bring a 22-1 record to DeLuca Field in Stratford, No. 6 St. Bernard is 19-6.
It would only seem fitting that the Class L state title will be under the threat of rain, No. 6 Bristol Eastern and No. 1 Waterford were postoned until Sunday the last time they played a state title game in 2007.
Norwich Bulletin.com will also provide continous updates on the two softball state championship games throughout the afternoon.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
An All-ECC battle?
Montville is in, can Waterford be far behind?
The Indians qualified for the fourth state championship game in their baseball program's history Tuesday with a 9-2 win over North Branford in a Class M state semifinal game at Beehive Field in New Britain.
It seems whenever Montville makes it to a title tilt, it brings along one of its Eastern Connecticut Conference buddies. Montville beat Bacon Academy, 6-2, in its last state championship foray in 2006. It also lost to Waterford in 1998, 5-1. The only time the formula didn't hold true was in 2003 when the Indians lost to Notre Dame-Fairfield, 7-0, in 2003.
"Does this mean Waterford wins, I have no idea," Montville coach Phil Orbe said with a smile.
Would he rather play haddam-Killingworth than his old rival next door?
"I'm just happy for our kids, our fans and our community," Orbe said. "Our community gets beat up sometimes and I'm just glad we did something that will make our community proud."
Second-seeded Haddam-Killingworth and No. 6 Waterford are underway in the second game of the day at Beehive Field. The winner plays Montville either Friday night or Saturday.
The Indians qualified for the fourth state championship game in their baseball program's history Tuesday with a 9-2 win over North Branford in a Class M state semifinal game at Beehive Field in New Britain.
It seems whenever Montville makes it to a title tilt, it brings along one of its Eastern Connecticut Conference buddies. Montville beat Bacon Academy, 6-2, in its last state championship foray in 2006. It also lost to Waterford in 1998, 5-1. The only time the formula didn't hold true was in 2003 when the Indians lost to Notre Dame-Fairfield, 7-0, in 2003.
"Does this mean Waterford wins, I have no idea," Montville coach Phil Orbe said with a smile.
Would he rather play haddam-Killingworth than his old rival next door?
"I'm just happy for our kids, our fans and our community," Orbe said. "Our community gets beat up sometimes and I'm just glad we did something that will make our community proud."
Second-seeded Haddam-Killingworth and No. 6 Waterford are underway in the second game of the day at Beehive Field. The winner plays Montville either Friday night or Saturday.
Montville leads North Branford in Class M semi
Justin Brachas threw five innings on Saturday, the right-hander is back on the hill today. The Indians are hoping Brachas (8-0) can get them into a Class M state championship game this weekend and so far, he's done the job.
Montville scored two runs in the first inning and another in the third and now owns a 3-1 lead over North Branford through four innings.
Tyler Contillo drew a one-out walk and Brachas followed with a single. The two runners advanced on a balk and Kyle Holland brought home both with a single to center. The Indians added another run in the third when Contillo reached on an error, moved to second on Brachas' second single of the day and scored on a Holland base hit.
North Branford (14-9) scored its only run in the fourth on a single by pitcher Danny Esposito, a double by Sage Leonard and a sacrifice fly by Marc Notile.
The Montville-North Branford semifinal is just one of six semifinals that the Norwich Bulletin is covering today.
St. Bernard and Somers are also playing a Class S softball semifinal in West Haven. That game is scoreless through three innings.
Montville scored two runs in the first inning and another in the third and now owns a 3-1 lead over North Branford through four innings.
Tyler Contillo drew a one-out walk and Brachas followed with a single. The two runners advanced on a balk and Kyle Holland brought home both with a single to center. The Indians added another run in the third when Contillo reached on an error, moved to second on Brachas' second single of the day and scored on a Holland base hit.
North Branford (14-9) scored its only run in the fourth on a single by pitcher Danny Esposito, a double by Sage Leonard and a sacrifice fly by Marc Notile.
The Montville-North Branford semifinal is just one of six semifinals that the Norwich Bulletin is covering today.
St. Bernard and Somers are also playing a Class S softball semifinal in West Haven. That game is scoreless through three innings.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
ECC boys tennis: Rain wins at ECC championship
You can’t fault the effort put in by the coaches and volunteers to try and get the Eastern Connecticut Conference boys tennis championships in at Waterford High School on Monday, but the elements won out in the end.
The boys singles and doubles championship matches will be resumed today at 3 p.m. at Waterford. Top-seeded Brandon Roode of Griswold won the first set against No. 2 seed Andy King of East Lyme, 6-1, and was leading the second 2-1 when a second line of storms moved into the area. Stonington’s top-seeded doubles team of Dan Banker and Devin White were also enjoying a 6-4, 3-2 lead over the Waterford doubles team of John Stockman and Schuylar Whiting when play was called.
The two championship matches started two hours late thanks to a line of heavy thunderstorms that moved into Waterford area shortly before the scheduled start of 4 p.m.
Once the storms cleared, the Waterford coaching staff, players and volunteers manned the squeegees and even enlisted a leaf blower to clear the court of water and dry it.
Banker and White took a quick 3-0 lead in the doubles match which began prior to the singles competition. Stockman and Whiting, however, rallied to close within one game, 5-4, but the Bears duo was able to pick up the decisive sixth win.
Roode, the two-time defending ECC champion, won the first five games against King before the East Lyme player prevented the sweep in the first set. Roode came back to win the seventh game, but time was not on the players’ side as storm clouds began to gather.
Tournament director Chris Coderre stopped play when those clouds, which failed to produce any lightning, did let loose another torrent of rain that rendered the courts unplayable.
The boys singles and doubles championship matches will be resumed today at 3 p.m. at Waterford. Top-seeded Brandon Roode of Griswold won the first set against No. 2 seed Andy King of East Lyme, 6-1, and was leading the second 2-1 when a second line of storms moved into the area. Stonington’s top-seeded doubles team of Dan Banker and Devin White were also enjoying a 6-4, 3-2 lead over the Waterford doubles team of John Stockman and Schuylar Whiting when play was called.
The two championship matches started two hours late thanks to a line of heavy thunderstorms that moved into Waterford area shortly before the scheduled start of 4 p.m.
Once the storms cleared, the Waterford coaching staff, players and volunteers manned the squeegees and even enlisted a leaf blower to clear the court of water and dry it.
Banker and White took a quick 3-0 lead in the doubles match which began prior to the singles competition. Stockman and Whiting, however, rallied to close within one game, 5-4, but the Bears duo was able to pick up the decisive sixth win.
Roode, the two-time defending ECC champion, won the first five games against King before the East Lyme player prevented the sweep in the first set. Roode came back to win the seventh game, but time was not on the players’ side as storm clouds began to gather.
Tournament director Chris Coderre stopped play when those clouds, which failed to produce any lightning, did let loose another torrent of rain that rendered the courts unplayable.
Friday, May 28, 2010
It's an ECC championship Friday!
The last time these two met, bsck on May 6, East Lyme beat New London, 17-3.
The Whalers are not looking for a repeat of that tonight when they meet the Vikings in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship game at Dodd Stadium at 7 p.m.
"It's a different day," New London coach Mike Wheeler said after his team beat Plainfield, 4-1, on Wednesday in the semifinals to put the eighth-seed into the championship game.
"When we played them last time, they hit the ball better than any team we've faced this year," Wheeler said. "Hopefully, we can keep the ball down and play some defense."
A complete game effort from sophomore Reynaldo Sierra saved the Whaler's pitching staff, they will go with a lefty, Edgar Santiago tonight against the Vikings. He will be going on his normal week's rest and the Whalers are "hoping that he will do a good job" according to Wheeler.
The baseball championship is just one of five championship events in the Eastern Connecticut Conference today.
The number one and two seeds will meet for the softball championship tonight at Griswold High School as the host Wolverines meet top-seeded Waterford. Not only are the Lancers the No. 1 seed in the tournament, they're also the top ranked team in the state. Griswold, however, hoped for another shot at the Lancers having lost to them by a 1-0 score early in the season at Waterford.
The boys lacrosse championship will be decided at 5 p.m. at East Lyme High School when undefeated Ledyard takes on the host Vikings. East Lyme has normally been the favorite in this battle, but when the two met on April 10, it was Ledyard who scored the 16-6 win.
After the boys game, the girls lacrosse title will be decided with St. Bernard playing at East Lyme. The top-seeded Saints lost to the Vikings in last year's championship game, but beat East Lyme this season.
The first championship to be decided, however, will be in girls tennis where the singles and doubles titles will be played for at 3 p.m. at Stonington High School.
The top-seed, East Lyme's Victoria Santoro, will play Stonington's own Emilie Burgess, the third-seed, for the singles title.
The doubles will feature the top-seeded pair of Amy Whitehouse and Nicole Stevens from East Lyme against second-seeded Ali Risley and Haley Mather from Windham.
The Norwich Bulletin will cover all of these events, complete with photos, in tomorrow's newspaper.
The Whalers are not looking for a repeat of that tonight when they meet the Vikings in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship game at Dodd Stadium at 7 p.m.
"It's a different day," New London coach Mike Wheeler said after his team beat Plainfield, 4-1, on Wednesday in the semifinals to put the eighth-seed into the championship game.
"When we played them last time, they hit the ball better than any team we've faced this year," Wheeler said. "Hopefully, we can keep the ball down and play some defense."
A complete game effort from sophomore Reynaldo Sierra saved the Whaler's pitching staff, they will go with a lefty, Edgar Santiago tonight against the Vikings. He will be going on his normal week's rest and the Whalers are "hoping that he will do a good job" according to Wheeler.
The baseball championship is just one of five championship events in the Eastern Connecticut Conference today.
The number one and two seeds will meet for the softball championship tonight at Griswold High School as the host Wolverines meet top-seeded Waterford. Not only are the Lancers the No. 1 seed in the tournament, they're also the top ranked team in the state. Griswold, however, hoped for another shot at the Lancers having lost to them by a 1-0 score early in the season at Waterford.
The boys lacrosse championship will be decided at 5 p.m. at East Lyme High School when undefeated Ledyard takes on the host Vikings. East Lyme has normally been the favorite in this battle, but when the two met on April 10, it was Ledyard who scored the 16-6 win.
After the boys game, the girls lacrosse title will be decided with St. Bernard playing at East Lyme. The top-seeded Saints lost to the Vikings in last year's championship game, but beat East Lyme this season.
The first championship to be decided, however, will be in girls tennis where the singles and doubles titles will be played for at 3 p.m. at Stonington High School.
The top-seed, East Lyme's Victoria Santoro, will play Stonington's own Emilie Burgess, the third-seed, for the singles title.
The doubles will feature the top-seeded pair of Amy Whitehouse and Nicole Stevens from East Lyme against second-seeded Ali Risley and Haley Mather from Windham.
The Norwich Bulletin will cover all of these events, complete with photos, in tomorrow's newspaper.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
ECC championships: Saints ready for Vikes
St. Bernard had its work cut out for them against Waterford.
Now, it gets to go into the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship match against an even hotter club, East Lyme.
That's fine with the Saints.
The top seed in the ECC tournament survived an 11-10 overtime thriller with the Lancers on a very hot Wednesday afternoon in Uncasville, but were already thinking ahead to the title game on Friday night in East Lyme.The Vikings advanced with a 9-6 win over Norwich Free Academy also on Wednesday.
"This will be the second time playing East Lyme this season and we know that they're going to be hungry, just as hungry as we are for them, because we're (both) looking for the ECC championship this year," Saint wing Catherine Brown said.
What she means is, the motivation is clearly there for both.
The Saints still clearly remember their 10-8 loss to the Vikings in last year's ECC championship game and the Vikings, winners of 11 straight remember their last loss this season; it was to St. Bernard by a score of 12-9.
"I'm so excited," St. Bernard senior Chelsea Phillips said of Friday's showdown with the Vikings at 7 p.m.
The key for taking on a club like the Vikings, according to Phillips, is just keeping their composure.
"I think we just have to settle down, make sure we have possession of the ball," Phillips said. "We just have to slow it down on offense, make sure we make good passes and if we play like we can, we'll be OK."
St. Bernard coach Tonya Acosta admitted she would have probably liked to have played NFA in the title game for only one reason, the Wildcats had beaten the Saints already this season and it would have been a chance to avenge that loss. But she agrees with Phillips when it comes to the key for the Saints against the Vikings.
"I think we just have to play our game," Acosta said. "We have a way we play and we don't really change it up for a team. It's not like we focus on one or two players, we play our game 100 percent and we let (the opponent) conform to us."
The East Lyme-St. Bernard championship is just one of five ECC title tilts scheduled for Friday.
The girls tennis title is slated to be decided some time after 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon in Stonington.
The ECC boys lacrosse title game between East Lyme and Ledyard will be played at 5 p.m. in East Lyme, followed by the girls title match.
The ECC baseball championship between second-seeded East Lyme and No. 8 New London will be played at Dodd Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m. and just up the road a bit, also at 7 p.m., the ECC softball championship will be decided at Griswold High School.
The softball quarterfinals and semifinals will be played today with the quarterfinals starting at 4 p.m. in Griswold (two games on their two fields), East Lyme and Waterford. The winners then meet at 7 p.m. in East Lyme and on the main Griswold softball field to decide who gets into tomorrow night's finale.
The ECC golf championship will also be decided today at the Quinnatissett Country Club in Thompson with the first golfers teeing off at 12:30 p.m. Woodstock, the host team, is the favorite to win the team title with Killingly's Fletcher Babcock and Woodstock's Cody Semmelrock battling for the individual crown.
Now, it gets to go into the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship match against an even hotter club, East Lyme.
That's fine with the Saints.
The top seed in the ECC tournament survived an 11-10 overtime thriller with the Lancers on a very hot Wednesday afternoon in Uncasville, but were already thinking ahead to the title game on Friday night in East Lyme.The Vikings advanced with a 9-6 win over Norwich Free Academy also on Wednesday.
"This will be the second time playing East Lyme this season and we know that they're going to be hungry, just as hungry as we are for them, because we're (both) looking for the ECC championship this year," Saint wing Catherine Brown said.
What she means is, the motivation is clearly there for both.
The Saints still clearly remember their 10-8 loss to the Vikings in last year's ECC championship game and the Vikings, winners of 11 straight remember their last loss this season; it was to St. Bernard by a score of 12-9.
"I'm so excited," St. Bernard senior Chelsea Phillips said of Friday's showdown with the Vikings at 7 p.m.
The key for taking on a club like the Vikings, according to Phillips, is just keeping their composure.
"I think we just have to settle down, make sure we have possession of the ball," Phillips said. "We just have to slow it down on offense, make sure we make good passes and if we play like we can, we'll be OK."
St. Bernard coach Tonya Acosta admitted she would have probably liked to have played NFA in the title game for only one reason, the Wildcats had beaten the Saints already this season and it would have been a chance to avenge that loss. But she agrees with Phillips when it comes to the key for the Saints against the Vikings.
"I think we just have to play our game," Acosta said. "We have a way we play and we don't really change it up for a team. It's not like we focus on one or two players, we play our game 100 percent and we let (the opponent) conform to us."
The East Lyme-St. Bernard championship is just one of five ECC title tilts scheduled for Friday.
The girls tennis title is slated to be decided some time after 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon in Stonington.
The ECC boys lacrosse title game between East Lyme and Ledyard will be played at 5 p.m. in East Lyme, followed by the girls title match.
The ECC baseball championship between second-seeded East Lyme and No. 8 New London will be played at Dodd Stadium on Friday night at 7 p.m. and just up the road a bit, also at 7 p.m., the ECC softball championship will be decided at Griswold High School.
The softball quarterfinals and semifinals will be played today with the quarterfinals starting at 4 p.m. in Griswold (two games on their two fields), East Lyme and Waterford. The winners then meet at 7 p.m. in East Lyme and on the main Griswold softball field to decide who gets into tomorrow night's finale.
The ECC golf championship will also be decided today at the Quinnatissett Country Club in Thompson with the first golfers teeing off at 12:30 p.m. Woodstock, the host team, is the favorite to win the team title with Killingly's Fletcher Babcock and Woodstock's Cody Semmelrock battling for the individual crown.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
ECC softball and baseball tournaments not set in stone
The Eastern Connecticut Conference baseball tournament begins tomorrow, the softball tournament on Thursday, but not all that much is set in stone yet.
Take for instance, softball.
Waterford plays Fitch tonight at 7 p.m. at Washington Park in Groton. If the Lancers win, they're the top seed in the tournament and will play at home against the eighth seed on Thursday afternoon an, should they win, play at home again in the semifinals against the winner of the 4th and 5th seeded game who will play at East Lyme. Griswold, currently the second seed, will host the No. 7 while the three and six seeds play on the other field at Griswold. The winners then meet in the semifinals at 7 p.m. also at Griswold. A win by Fitch over Waterford tonight would flip that all around.
"Who knows what's going to happen when the two of them play," Griswold coach Rick Arremony said about tonight's game."Waterford just doesn't give up any runs (three in 19 games), they're good, they're really good. They have players that make plays everywhere and a pitching staff to help them. I think that's a big asset for them come Thursday when they have to play two games and they have two or three pitchers they can use, they probably will use two, but they could use three. Nobody else has that."
Still, the Wolverines feel as if they're ready to take on the challenge and would like nothing better than to avenge their 1-0 loss to the Lancers back on April 20.
"All of our girls, even our young girls, know what we're up against and we can't take anything lightly," Griswold pitcher Taylor Lane said. "I know it's the ECC's in this little small corner of Connecticut, but these teams are tough. We have two of the top 10 teams in the state (Waterford and themselves) and Fitch is on our heels, we know we have a fight."
On the baseball side, Wheeler got a boost from Griswold on Monday as the Wolverines win over Lyman means a Wheeler win over St. Bernard today in North Stonington gives them the outright ECC Small Division title, the first-ever ECC title in a boys sport for the Lions.
East Lyme's doubleheader win over NFA on Monday clinched them at least a share of the ECC Large Division title, Waterford can grab a piece of that tonight with a win over Fitch.
The baseball tournament begins Wednesday with games at Dodd Stadium, Stonington, Ledyard and Norwich Free Academy, with the semifinals Wednesday night at Stonington and Dodd Stadium.
The championship games for both baseball and softball will take place on Friday, baseball at Dodd Stadium, softball at Griswold High School.
Take for instance, softball.
Waterford plays Fitch tonight at 7 p.m. at Washington Park in Groton. If the Lancers win, they're the top seed in the tournament and will play at home against the eighth seed on Thursday afternoon an, should they win, play at home again in the semifinals against the winner of the 4th and 5th seeded game who will play at East Lyme. Griswold, currently the second seed, will host the No. 7 while the three and six seeds play on the other field at Griswold. The winners then meet in the semifinals at 7 p.m. also at Griswold. A win by Fitch over Waterford tonight would flip that all around.
"Who knows what's going to happen when the two of them play," Griswold coach Rick Arremony said about tonight's game."Waterford just doesn't give up any runs (three in 19 games), they're good, they're really good. They have players that make plays everywhere and a pitching staff to help them. I think that's a big asset for them come Thursday when they have to play two games and they have two or three pitchers they can use, they probably will use two, but they could use three. Nobody else has that."
Still, the Wolverines feel as if they're ready to take on the challenge and would like nothing better than to avenge their 1-0 loss to the Lancers back on April 20.
"All of our girls, even our young girls, know what we're up against and we can't take anything lightly," Griswold pitcher Taylor Lane said. "I know it's the ECC's in this little small corner of Connecticut, but these teams are tough. We have two of the top 10 teams in the state (Waterford and themselves) and Fitch is on our heels, we know we have a fight."
On the baseball side, Wheeler got a boost from Griswold on Monday as the Wolverines win over Lyman means a Wheeler win over St. Bernard today in North Stonington gives them the outright ECC Small Division title, the first-ever ECC title in a boys sport for the Lions.
East Lyme's doubleheader win over NFA on Monday clinched them at least a share of the ECC Large Division title, Waterford can grab a piece of that tonight with a win over Fitch.
The baseball tournament begins Wednesday with games at Dodd Stadium, Stonington, Ledyard and Norwich Free Academy, with the semifinals Wednesday night at Stonington and Dodd Stadium.
The championship games for both baseball and softball will take place on Friday, baseball at Dodd Stadium, softball at Griswold High School.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
HS track: A nice day for the ECC in Montville
Montville High athletic director Walt Sherwin sat down in the press box and marveled at the people surrounding his track and football field.
"What a view from up here," he said several times.
Indeed, it was a pretty impressive one.
The first Eastern Connecticut Conference track championship at Montville High was blessed with great weather; sunshine along with a few clouds to dim its effects from time to time and a nice little breeze that kept everything just a little more pleasant especially for the athletes.
The press box view that Sherwin enjoyed was an active one. Athletes on the track and on the football field, either participating or warming up for their different events.
Behind each football end zone, both jump pits were busy while the field events ringed the entire complex.
And best of all, everything went off without a hitch, at times running ahead of schedule, something that's not often said at large track meets. It finished just about on time with the javelin competition holding up the final results for about 15 minutes.
Down on the track, it was Norwich Free Academy's day to celebrate as both the boys and girls brought home ECC championships.
It was the third time in a row for the Wildcat girls, the NFA boys were happy to re-take the title after Fitch went home with it a year ago. NFA boys coach Jemal Davis said winning the title, however, was not the primary motivation that his Wildcats came in with.
"What we were focusing on was getting back to a level of expectation," Davis said. "If we compete at a certain level, we know we're a very difficult team to beat. We got the numbers which help us, but we still have to come out and perform. (The championship) wasn't a focal point, but we did want them to realize the importance of this meet."
"What a view from up here," he said several times.
Indeed, it was a pretty impressive one.
The first Eastern Connecticut Conference track championship at Montville High was blessed with great weather; sunshine along with a few clouds to dim its effects from time to time and a nice little breeze that kept everything just a little more pleasant especially for the athletes.
The press box view that Sherwin enjoyed was an active one. Athletes on the track and on the football field, either participating or warming up for their different events.
Behind each football end zone, both jump pits were busy while the field events ringed the entire complex.
And best of all, everything went off without a hitch, at times running ahead of schedule, something that's not often said at large track meets. It finished just about on time with the javelin competition holding up the final results for about 15 minutes.
Down on the track, it was Norwich Free Academy's day to celebrate as both the boys and girls brought home ECC championships.
It was the third time in a row for the Wildcat girls, the NFA boys were happy to re-take the title after Fitch went home with it a year ago. NFA boys coach Jemal Davis said winning the title, however, was not the primary motivation that his Wildcats came in with.
"What we were focusing on was getting back to a level of expectation," Davis said. "If we compete at a certain level, we know we're a very difficult team to beat. We got the numbers which help us, but we still have to come out and perform. (The championship) wasn't a focal point, but we did want them to realize the importance of this meet."
Friday, May 21, 2010
HS softball: Fitch picking up where it left off
If there’s one thing that set apart Fitch from the rest of the Class LL softball world a year ago, it was their ability to hit.
Just ask Rachele Fico.
The Masuk High graduate dominated just about everyone in her four-year tenure at the Monroe-based school, with the exception of the Falcons who beat Masuk in the LL final last June.
The faces have changed, but the story remains the same, the Falcons still can hit the ball.
Just ask NFA coach Bryan Burdick after his team fell to the Falcons on Friday, 5-3, in Groton.
“Three runs against this team is not enough, they hit,” Burdick said after his team had seen a three-run advantage disappear in the sixth inning. “We did a good job of keeping Brianna Turgeon (two singles) contained, she absolutely mashed the ball against us last time, but if they don’t get you one way, they get you another.”
Turgeon still was the key.
The junior shortstop set the stage for Fitch’s five-run sixth inning rally with a single. After that, Megan Bondy tripled her home and scored on an error. Cassie Mancini and Taylor Noel singled and winning pitcher Alana Luzzio, a freshman, had the game-winning, two-run single.
“It’s been a lot of work, we have worked so hard on hitting,” Fitch coach Kate Peruzzotti said. “We dedicate so much time in practice to hitting, we do every drill imaginable and I have to say, that most of these kids have come so far from where we started.”
Peruzzotti is obviously pleased with the improvement of players like Mancini and Kassidy Manley in the middle of the order, but the team still rotates around one key bat; Turgeon.
“She’s our go-to player, there’s no one you would rather have up with runners on base,” Peruzzotti said.
The offense and the improvement of Luzzio (9-2) in the circle has led the Falcons to a 14-3 record and the win over NFA clinched second-place in the ECC Large Division for the Falcons.
But can this team repeat what last year’s team did?
Peruzzotti’s answer to that was “Why not? Why not us?”
“I think we have a very good chance to go far in the state tournament,” Bondy said. “We have the ability, we have the skill, as long as we bring our ‘A’ game every time, we have a chance.”
One thing the Falcons have going for them; no pressure.
“I don’t think that we’re the same team by any means, but in some ways, I think we’re better,” Peruzzotti said. “We don’t expect to not give up a run, so when we do, it doesn’t phase them and last year it did a little bit I think, because they were good and people weren’t supposed to score runs against them. These guys, they’re like ‘Hey, they’re going to score runs, we just need to score more.’ “
Just ask Rachele Fico.
The Masuk High graduate dominated just about everyone in her four-year tenure at the Monroe-based school, with the exception of the Falcons who beat Masuk in the LL final last June.
The faces have changed, but the story remains the same, the Falcons still can hit the ball.
Just ask NFA coach Bryan Burdick after his team fell to the Falcons on Friday, 5-3, in Groton.
“Three runs against this team is not enough, they hit,” Burdick said after his team had seen a three-run advantage disappear in the sixth inning. “We did a good job of keeping Brianna Turgeon (two singles) contained, she absolutely mashed the ball against us last time, but if they don’t get you one way, they get you another.”
Turgeon still was the key.
The junior shortstop set the stage for Fitch’s five-run sixth inning rally with a single. After that, Megan Bondy tripled her home and scored on an error. Cassie Mancini and Taylor Noel singled and winning pitcher Alana Luzzio, a freshman, had the game-winning, two-run single.
“It’s been a lot of work, we have worked so hard on hitting,” Fitch coach Kate Peruzzotti said. “We dedicate so much time in practice to hitting, we do every drill imaginable and I have to say, that most of these kids have come so far from where we started.”
Peruzzotti is obviously pleased with the improvement of players like Mancini and Kassidy Manley in the middle of the order, but the team still rotates around one key bat; Turgeon.
“She’s our go-to player, there’s no one you would rather have up with runners on base,” Peruzzotti said.
The offense and the improvement of Luzzio (9-2) in the circle has led the Falcons to a 14-3 record and the win over NFA clinched second-place in the ECC Large Division for the Falcons.
But can this team repeat what last year’s team did?
Peruzzotti’s answer to that was “Why not? Why not us?”
“I think we have a very good chance to go far in the state tournament,” Bondy said. “We have the ability, we have the skill, as long as we bring our ‘A’ game every time, we have a chance.”
One thing the Falcons have going for them; no pressure.
“I don’t think that we’re the same team by any means, but in some ways, I think we’re better,” Peruzzotti said. “We don’t expect to not give up a run, so when we do, it doesn’t phase them and last year it did a little bit I think, because they were good and people weren’t supposed to score runs against them. These guys, they’re like ‘Hey, they’re going to score runs, we just need to score more.’ “
Thursday, May 20, 2010
HS softball: Tourtellotte has been snakebit
There were plenty of things that the Tourtellotte softball team did right on Wednesday, but those things aren't generally reflected in the final score.
The Tigers slipped to 9-8 on the season after they fell to St. Bernard, 1-0, in Thompson on Wednesday.
What the score doesn't reflect is that the Tigers threw out three Saint runners, allowed just six hits and committed just one error before losing the game when St. Bernard scored its lone run in the top of the seventh inning.
Unfortunately, that has been the case for much of the season for Bill Rahall's club.
"This is our sixth loss by one run, it's also our fifth loss in the seventh inning," Rahall said after the game. "We've been up 5-1, 4-1, and 3-1 and have lost it in the last inning. It was 0-0 going into the last inning (Wednesday) and we lost it. I would like to have some of those games back."
The Tigers hung in against a team that had beaten them, 7-1, just six days ago thanks to some nice defensive play.
The Tigers cut down Melissa Halloran at the plate attempting to score on a base hit by Mena Buscetto in the third inning.
In the fifth, first baseman Alyson Santerre made a good decision in throwing behind runner Lindsay Rolfe at third base, they eventually caught Rolfe in a rundown and in the sixth inning, catcher Stephanie Vogel throw out Buscetto as she attempted to steal second base.
"We're playing really good defense," Rahall said. "Laura Durand made a great throw from the outfield (Wednesday). I don't think there's anyone better than Haley Anderson at shortstop, Steph Vogel and Jess Mason do a great job behind the plate."
If there's one thing the Tigers didn't do very well, it was hit. Tourtellotte was limited just three hits by St. Bernard pitcher Alexa Gospodinoff and had runners on base in just three of the seven innings.
"We didn't string hits together," Rahall said. "We kind of juggled up our lineup hoping to get some kids some better looks, but (Gospodinoff) is good."
Rahall was also pleased with Stephanie Girouard (1-5) in the circle, limiting the Saints to the six hits with four strikeouts and just two walks.
"They've been beating up on us for the last four or five years," Rahall said. "We've played great games against them and then allowed four or five runs in the sixth or seventh inning. (Wednesday) we gave up only that run in the seventh, but that's all it took for them."
The win gave the Saints at least a share of the ECC Small Division title for the first time since 2007. St. Bernard can clinch the title for its own against Wheeler on Monday.
The Tigers slipped to 9-8 on the season after they fell to St. Bernard, 1-0, in Thompson on Wednesday.
What the score doesn't reflect is that the Tigers threw out three Saint runners, allowed just six hits and committed just one error before losing the game when St. Bernard scored its lone run in the top of the seventh inning.
Unfortunately, that has been the case for much of the season for Bill Rahall's club.
"This is our sixth loss by one run, it's also our fifth loss in the seventh inning," Rahall said after the game. "We've been up 5-1, 4-1, and 3-1 and have lost it in the last inning. It was 0-0 going into the last inning (Wednesday) and we lost it. I would like to have some of those games back."
The Tigers hung in against a team that had beaten them, 7-1, just six days ago thanks to some nice defensive play.
The Tigers cut down Melissa Halloran at the plate attempting to score on a base hit by Mena Buscetto in the third inning.
In the fifth, first baseman Alyson Santerre made a good decision in throwing behind runner Lindsay Rolfe at third base, they eventually caught Rolfe in a rundown and in the sixth inning, catcher Stephanie Vogel throw out Buscetto as she attempted to steal second base.
"We're playing really good defense," Rahall said. "Laura Durand made a great throw from the outfield (Wednesday). I don't think there's anyone better than Haley Anderson at shortstop, Steph Vogel and Jess Mason do a great job behind the plate."
If there's one thing the Tigers didn't do very well, it was hit. Tourtellotte was limited just three hits by St. Bernard pitcher Alexa Gospodinoff and had runners on base in just three of the seven innings.
"We didn't string hits together," Rahall said. "We kind of juggled up our lineup hoping to get some kids some better looks, but (Gospodinoff) is good."
Rahall was also pleased with Stephanie Girouard (1-5) in the circle, limiting the Saints to the six hits with four strikeouts and just two walks.
"They've been beating up on us for the last four or five years," Rahall said. "We've played great games against them and then allowed four or five runs in the sixth or seventh inning. (Wednesday) we gave up only that run in the seventh, but that's all it took for them."
The win gave the Saints at least a share of the ECC Small Division title for the first time since 2007. St. Bernard can clinch the title for its own against Wheeler on Monday.
Monday, May 17, 2010
HS golf: Wildcat provides change of pace for local girls
It was a nice change of pace for many of the 19 athletes who participated in the girls portion of the Wildcat Invitational golf tournament at the Mohegan Sun Country Club at Pautipaug in Baltic on Monday.
Norwich Free Academy, Woodstock and Bacon Academy all have girls programs, but for players like Toni Malerba of St. Bernard, Albriana Farnum of Fitch, Becca Lynch of Ledyard and Kiana Hainesworth of Williams, it was a breath of fresh air.
Instead of competing from the back tees against male players for the most part, they got to compete against their female peers – one of only two times that will occur this season.
“Both Albriana and Toni have played No.1 for their respective teams, so I think it was nice for them to be able to go out and play against the girls in equal competition I guess you could say,” Fitch coach Glen Graham said.
He added, “They’ve been pretty dominant on the boy’s team, so I had her playing in the girls division just to get her some personal accolades.”
For the longest time, it looked as though Graham’s strategy would work out just perfectly as both Malerba, a senior, and Farnum, a junior, brought in identical 46 scores.
Afterwards, however, Malerba was not happy with that score.
“I missed a three-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and got a five on it,” Malerba said with a wince. “I started off slow, got a little better, but I’m majorly disappointed.”
The twin 46’s stood for much of the tournament until the next-to-last group when Ledyard’s Becca Lynch came in three strokes better.
“I was really happy, I play a lot better from the women’s tees,” Lynch said. “It’s a lot easier to play with the girls, we get along better, and it’s easier to talk to them.”
Lynch’s lead was also short-lived.
In the last group was Kiana Hainesworth from the Williams School. The sophomore, who’s swing reminds her coach of Michelle Wie’s, shot a smooth 41 to take home the individual championship.
“I’m thrilled, absolutely thrilled with how well she played,” coach Tom Crowell said. “I know how well plays, it’s making her understand how well she plays.”
Hainesworth said the key for her was a simple game plan, keep focused on her game and take it one stroke at a time.
“I would like to play in college one day, but I’m going to have to practice more if I want to do that,” Hainesworth said.
That and add a little muscle to her long and thin frame as Crowell said the key for the sophomore might be to go on an offseason workout plan to add a little strength to her game.
Norwich Free Academy, Woodstock and Bacon Academy all have girls programs, but for players like Toni Malerba of St. Bernard, Albriana Farnum of Fitch, Becca Lynch of Ledyard and Kiana Hainesworth of Williams, it was a breath of fresh air.
Instead of competing from the back tees against male players for the most part, they got to compete against their female peers – one of only two times that will occur this season.
“Both Albriana and Toni have played No.1 for their respective teams, so I think it was nice for them to be able to go out and play against the girls in equal competition I guess you could say,” Fitch coach Glen Graham said.
He added, “They’ve been pretty dominant on the boy’s team, so I had her playing in the girls division just to get her some personal accolades.”
For the longest time, it looked as though Graham’s strategy would work out just perfectly as both Malerba, a senior, and Farnum, a junior, brought in identical 46 scores.
Afterwards, however, Malerba was not happy with that score.
“I missed a three-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole and got a five on it,” Malerba said with a wince. “I started off slow, got a little better, but I’m majorly disappointed.”
The twin 46’s stood for much of the tournament until the next-to-last group when Ledyard’s Becca Lynch came in three strokes better.
“I was really happy, I play a lot better from the women’s tees,” Lynch said. “It’s a lot easier to play with the girls, we get along better, and it’s easier to talk to them.”
Lynch’s lead was also short-lived.
In the last group was Kiana Hainesworth from the Williams School. The sophomore, who’s swing reminds her coach of Michelle Wie’s, shot a smooth 41 to take home the individual championship.
“I’m thrilled, absolutely thrilled with how well she played,” coach Tom Crowell said. “I know how well plays, it’s making her understand how well she plays.”
Hainesworth said the key for her was a simple game plan, keep focused on her game and take it one stroke at a time.
“I would like to play in college one day, but I’m going to have to practice more if I want to do that,” Hainesworth said.
That and add a little muscle to her long and thin frame as Crowell said the key for the sophomore might be to go on an offseason workout plan to add a little strength to her game.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
HS track: Gazlay, Brown take Plainfield wins
The roots of the Plainfield Invitational track meet started with two very different events, the spring decathlon and heptathlon.
The expansion to a track invitational didn't stop those events from happening on Friday and Saturday at Plainfield High School with St. Bernard's Will Gazlay and Old Saybrook's Nora Brown bringing home the title.
16 male athletes, including one unattached collegiate competitor, and nine female athletes took part in the two events.
"Those are good numbers especially since at this time of year, there are not a lot of kids ready to compete in something like that," Plainfield coach Jeff Parkinson, a former collegiate decathlete himself, said.
"It's fun, I enjoyed it, but it's a tough thing to do at this time of year," Parkinson said.
The only caveat to that is that, outside of the Plainfield competition, there are really no opportunities to experience a live decathlon or heptahlon prior to the CIAC championship in June.
"Most of these kids are never going to get the chance to try these events, let alone in a decathlon," Griswold girls coach Chris Morth said. "It's a very valuable experience for kids who are thinking about doing the decathlon and kids who know they want to do the decathlon and want to see where they're at."
Gazlay was a tweener, he didn't know about the decathlon and therefore had no choice when his coach told him to give it a try. The first-year track athlete finished with 4,745 points.
"I absolutely had a blast," Gazlay said, "some of the most fun that I've had in my life. Usually playing football and basketball, running was a punishment- now it's a sport. I totally regret not doing this since my freshman year."
The pole vault was the biggest challenge and one that he couldn't conquer as he failed to get over the bar.
"My form was terrible," Gazlay said with a smile. "I cleared the opening height, but crashed into the bar and got a nice little cut (on his lower left leg). I knew it was going to be tough, it didn't disappoint."
Gazlay led going into the ninth event, the javelin, but stumbled into third after that event. He made up for it in the 1,600-meter run when a late surge helped him finish second and bring home the victory.
"I had a feeling i would be able to do well, because I've tried several of these events," Gazlay said. "We were thinking about 4,300 points; I never expected to finish with this many points and winning the whole thing."
Woodstock's Kyle Wickiser was second (4,661 points) and Killingly's Zach Hadjer (4,443) was third.
Old Saybrook dominated the girls event with Brown finishing first, her teammates Brianna Hanley and Katie Beezer finished second and fifth.
"Having a heptahlon before the state one (is an advantage) because we usually don't do these events in practice," Brown said. "Having people to compete against is an advantage, too."
Brown's biggest stumbling blocks, the javelin and the 800-meter.
Killingly senior Lauren Hultzman was the top local finisher, she was fourth-best in the competition.
"It's a fun thing to do, gives you more practice, and you get to do events that you normally don't get to do," Hultzman said after her first-ever heptahlon competition.
The decathlon and heptahlon competitions took place in between the Plainfield Invitational events. Parkinson said the addition of the Invitational to the specialy events was a good move.
"It was time for it, time to do something a little bigger," the Plainfield boys coach said. "Schools have been asking us to do it, so we figured we would and year one went well."
The expansion to a track invitational didn't stop those events from happening on Friday and Saturday at Plainfield High School with St. Bernard's Will Gazlay and Old Saybrook's Nora Brown bringing home the title.
16 male athletes, including one unattached collegiate competitor, and nine female athletes took part in the two events.
"Those are good numbers especially since at this time of year, there are not a lot of kids ready to compete in something like that," Plainfield coach Jeff Parkinson, a former collegiate decathlete himself, said.
"It's fun, I enjoyed it, but it's a tough thing to do at this time of year," Parkinson said.
The only caveat to that is that, outside of the Plainfield competition, there are really no opportunities to experience a live decathlon or heptahlon prior to the CIAC championship in June.
"Most of these kids are never going to get the chance to try these events, let alone in a decathlon," Griswold girls coach Chris Morth said. "It's a very valuable experience for kids who are thinking about doing the decathlon and kids who know they want to do the decathlon and want to see where they're at."
Gazlay was a tweener, he didn't know about the decathlon and therefore had no choice when his coach told him to give it a try. The first-year track athlete finished with 4,745 points.
"I absolutely had a blast," Gazlay said, "some of the most fun that I've had in my life. Usually playing football and basketball, running was a punishment- now it's a sport. I totally regret not doing this since my freshman year."
The pole vault was the biggest challenge and one that he couldn't conquer as he failed to get over the bar.
"My form was terrible," Gazlay said with a smile. "I cleared the opening height, but crashed into the bar and got a nice little cut (on his lower left leg). I knew it was going to be tough, it didn't disappoint."
Gazlay led going into the ninth event, the javelin, but stumbled into third after that event. He made up for it in the 1,600-meter run when a late surge helped him finish second and bring home the victory.
"I had a feeling i would be able to do well, because I've tried several of these events," Gazlay said. "We were thinking about 4,300 points; I never expected to finish with this many points and winning the whole thing."
Woodstock's Kyle Wickiser was second (4,661 points) and Killingly's Zach Hadjer (4,443) was third.
Old Saybrook dominated the girls event with Brown finishing first, her teammates Brianna Hanley and Katie Beezer finished second and fifth.
"Having a heptahlon before the state one (is an advantage) because we usually don't do these events in practice," Brown said. "Having people to compete against is an advantage, too."
Brown's biggest stumbling blocks, the javelin and the 800-meter.
Killingly senior Lauren Hultzman was the top local finisher, she was fourth-best in the competition.
"It's a fun thing to do, gives you more practice, and you get to do events that you normally don't get to do," Hultzman said after her first-ever heptahlon competition.
The decathlon and heptahlon competitions took place in between the Plainfield Invitational events. Parkinson said the addition of the Invitational to the specialy events was a good move.
"It was time for it, time to do something a little bigger," the Plainfield boys coach said. "Schools have been asking us to do it, so we figured we would and year one went well."
Friday, May 14, 2010
HS girls track: Montville makes it a three-peat
In the past two years, it has been relatively easy for the Montville girls track team in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division.
Not so this season.
“We had a little rough start to the season and were trying to figure out what kind of team this would be,” Montville coach Joel Finnegan said.
“The last two years, we’ve taken hits through graduation and are not nearly as deep as we were,” he added.
But what they lack in depth, they have made up for in talent and determination.
Shatajah Wattely has provided the talent.
She helped Montville to 20 of its points in its 83-66 win over Bacon Academy that gave the Indians their third-straight Medium Division crown.
Wattely won the 100m, 200m and 400m races and was a member of the winning 4x400m relay team. In the process, she broke her personal best by almost a full second in the 200-meter. The success this year, she’s the top-seeded sprinter in all three races going into the ECC championship next Saturday at Montville High, has her thinking big.
“I want to run in college, I want to go to the Olympics — that’s my future, future goal,” Wattely laughed.
The determination has been provided by the likes of runners like Rachael Skinner.
“We used to be able to throw a number of distance runners out there, (Friday) we had Rachael running the 4x800, the 1,600m, the 800 and the 3,200. That’s asking a lot from a kid and she never complains, just gives us everything she has.”
Mandy Joyce also provided some points with second-place finishes in the javelin and high jump — where top performer Amanda Giroux was unavailable due to an injury suffered in the hurdles — and a third in the triple jump.
“We’ve had to rely upon fewer kids and they’ve really responded,” Finnegan said. “A month ago, Bacon was better than us and we’ve really made tremendous strides in the last month.”
Not so this season.
“We had a little rough start to the season and were trying to figure out what kind of team this would be,” Montville coach Joel Finnegan said.
“The last two years, we’ve taken hits through graduation and are not nearly as deep as we were,” he added.
But what they lack in depth, they have made up for in talent and determination.
Shatajah Wattely has provided the talent.
She helped Montville to 20 of its points in its 83-66 win over Bacon Academy that gave the Indians their third-straight Medium Division crown.
Wattely won the 100m, 200m and 400m races and was a member of the winning 4x400m relay team. In the process, she broke her personal best by almost a full second in the 200-meter. The success this year, she’s the top-seeded sprinter in all three races going into the ECC championship next Saturday at Montville High, has her thinking big.
“I want to run in college, I want to go to the Olympics — that’s my future, future goal,” Wattely laughed.
The determination has been provided by the likes of runners like Rachael Skinner.
“We used to be able to throw a number of distance runners out there, (Friday) we had Rachael running the 4x800, the 1,600m, the 800 and the 3,200. That’s asking a lot from a kid and she never complains, just gives us everything she has.”
Mandy Joyce also provided some points with second-place finishes in the javelin and high jump — where top performer Amanda Giroux was unavailable due to an injury suffered in the hurdles — and a third in the triple jump.
“We’ve had to rely upon fewer kids and they’ve really responded,” Finnegan said. “A month ago, Bacon was better than us and we’ve really made tremendous strides in the last month.”
Thursday, May 13, 2010
HS baseball: Lyman cools Wheeler's run through ECC Small
East Lyme baseball coach Jack Biggs, after his team beat Wheeler by a meager two runs on Tuesday night, said he thought the Lions had a good chance to make a title run not only in the Eastern Connecticut Conference, but in the Class S tournament.
Lyman coach Marty Gomez, after his team narrowly got by the Lions, 5-4, Thursday afternoon in Lebanon, was inclined to agree with his East Lyme counterpart.
“With those two pitchers (Ben Pearson and Conor Gleason), absolutely,” Gomez said. “It’s good to see Wheeler baseball being very, very competitive with a shot to win the division.”
In fact, if Wheeler had beaten Lyman on Thursday, it would have been very difficult for anyone to catch the Lions and coach Jason Mellow said that’s a credit to his players.
“We’ve been striving for this for the last four years,” Mellow said. “I have seven seniors who were on that 2-18 team and we’ve been waiting for this, we’ve been working for this. We’re here, we’re playing tough, meaningful games.”
What got to the Lions a bit on Thursday was the lack of experience in those tough, meaningful games.
Many of the Lyman players have had that experience, not necessarily in baseball, but certainly in soccer where the Bulldogs finished as state runners-up this past fall. That experience is invaluable and it’s something the Lions didn’t have to fall back on.
The result — Wheeler fell behind quickly when Lyman scored three first-inning runs.
“Ben (Pearson) got away from using his change up, he was just going fast ball, fast ball, fast ball and (Lyman) was teeing up on him,” Mellow said. “He’s effective when he changes speeds and comes from different angles. But he came around and we battled back.”
The Lions tied the game at four in the fourth inning with a pair of runs, but again saw their confidence shattered by a pair of events. Lyman re-took the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning and Wheeler left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
“That was tough to come out with nothing there,” Mellow said.
Despite the loss, the upstart Lions still have plenty to look forward to although the road still has some large bumps, namely Griswold and St. Bernard.
Not that Lyman is wishing any ill will on the Lions, but they also have never won an Eastern Connecticut Conference title in baseball and a Wheeler stumble wouldn’t be unwelcome.
“Our kids want a division,” Gomez said. “We got one (title) in the Quinebaug Valley Conference and we dominated the Charter Oak Conference in baseball for years. This is something that we’ve talked to the kids about and something that they want.”
Lyman coach Marty Gomez, after his team narrowly got by the Lions, 5-4, Thursday afternoon in Lebanon, was inclined to agree with his East Lyme counterpart.
“With those two pitchers (Ben Pearson and Conor Gleason), absolutely,” Gomez said. “It’s good to see Wheeler baseball being very, very competitive with a shot to win the division.”
In fact, if Wheeler had beaten Lyman on Thursday, it would have been very difficult for anyone to catch the Lions and coach Jason Mellow said that’s a credit to his players.
“We’ve been striving for this for the last four years,” Mellow said. “I have seven seniors who were on that 2-18 team and we’ve been waiting for this, we’ve been working for this. We’re here, we’re playing tough, meaningful games.”
What got to the Lions a bit on Thursday was the lack of experience in those tough, meaningful games.
Many of the Lyman players have had that experience, not necessarily in baseball, but certainly in soccer where the Bulldogs finished as state runners-up this past fall. That experience is invaluable and it’s something the Lions didn’t have to fall back on.
The result — Wheeler fell behind quickly when Lyman scored three first-inning runs.
“Ben (Pearson) got away from using his change up, he was just going fast ball, fast ball, fast ball and (Lyman) was teeing up on him,” Mellow said. “He’s effective when he changes speeds and comes from different angles. But he came around and we battled back.”
The Lions tied the game at four in the fourth inning with a pair of runs, but again saw their confidence shattered by a pair of events. Lyman re-took the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning and Wheeler left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth.
“That was tough to come out with nothing there,” Mellow said.
Despite the loss, the upstart Lions still have plenty to look forward to although the road still has some large bumps, namely Griswold and St. Bernard.
Not that Lyman is wishing any ill will on the Lions, but they also have never won an Eastern Connecticut Conference title in baseball and a Wheeler stumble wouldn’t be unwelcome.
“Our kids want a division,” Gomez said. “We got one (title) in the Quinebaug Valley Conference and we dominated the Charter Oak Conference in baseball for years. This is something that we’ve talked to the kids about and something that they want.”
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
HS softball: Plainfield quietly celebrates win over NFA
It’s never easy for a quality Medium Division team to beat a quality Large Division team in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
But Plainfield’s motivation on Wednesday coming into its game with Norwich Free Academy was not the David versus Goliath theme.
The bigger concern for the Panthers was that they had lost their last two games; Lyman beat them 4-3 and Stonington delivered them a 5-4 defeat.
More so than the losses, it was how those losses came about.
“The last two games we got walked off on,” Plainfield coach Jim Langlois said with a shake of his head. “Lyman left us on the field and then Stonington did the same thing.”
But rather than sulking, the Panthers wanted to turn the negative into a positive.
“I told them we’re really close, we’re close to teams that people don’t think we can beat,” Langlois said.
NFA probably would have been included in that conversation until recently. The Wildcats have their own share of hard times, including a loss to an ECC Small Division team, Killingly, earlier this week.
“That kind of sent us mixed signals,” Plainfield shortstop Taylor Smith said.
That was because Griswold beat Plainfield, 7-0, yet barely got past the Wildcats in nine innings, 1-0.
Anotherwords, what NFA team would show up?
“You can’t come into any game underestimating a team,” Smith said.
Fortunately for the Panthers, the Wildcats continued to fight their own inner demons, could muster just two hits and lost to Plainfield, 2-0, on Wednesday in Norwich.
“We have to work our way out of this,” NFA coach Bryan Burdick said. “We made only one error (Wednesday), we don’t typically make errors, and it cost us a run. Our bats are colder than ice cold.”
When you’re not hitting, you’re not scoring and that puts pressure on the rest of your game.
“It carries over mentally from one play to the next and therein lies a major problem; when you don’t score, you press in the field, come back in and press at the plate,” Burdick said. “Hitting is a very organic process, it needs to be fluid. When you’re pressing, you’re not hitting.”
And when you’re hitting, you’re having fun.
That’s the side of the coin that Plainfield (9-5) was on Wednesday as it touched NFA pitcher Tess Rubega for four hits in the first three innings. The biggest, however, came in the fifth inning when Smith looped a triple to right field to score Lindsey Lehtonen, who had drawn a two-out walk, and came around herself on an error to give the Panthers the win.
“It’s a great win,” Langlois said and then pointed to his team who was beginning to board the bus for the ride back home. “It’s a big win for the program and, more importantly, it’s a big win for them. We’ve had big wins before, but this is for them, they’re quietly smiling. That’s not a rah-rah team, but they’re going to go home (Wednesday night) and say ‘that’s pretty good.’”
But Plainfield’s motivation on Wednesday coming into its game with Norwich Free Academy was not the David versus Goliath theme.
The bigger concern for the Panthers was that they had lost their last two games; Lyman beat them 4-3 and Stonington delivered them a 5-4 defeat.
More so than the losses, it was how those losses came about.
“The last two games we got walked off on,” Plainfield coach Jim Langlois said with a shake of his head. “Lyman left us on the field and then Stonington did the same thing.”
But rather than sulking, the Panthers wanted to turn the negative into a positive.
“I told them we’re really close, we’re close to teams that people don’t think we can beat,” Langlois said.
NFA probably would have been included in that conversation until recently. The Wildcats have their own share of hard times, including a loss to an ECC Small Division team, Killingly, earlier this week.
“That kind of sent us mixed signals,” Plainfield shortstop Taylor Smith said.
That was because Griswold beat Plainfield, 7-0, yet barely got past the Wildcats in nine innings, 1-0.
Anotherwords, what NFA team would show up?
“You can’t come into any game underestimating a team,” Smith said.
Fortunately for the Panthers, the Wildcats continued to fight their own inner demons, could muster just two hits and lost to Plainfield, 2-0, on Wednesday in Norwich.
“We have to work our way out of this,” NFA coach Bryan Burdick said. “We made only one error (Wednesday), we don’t typically make errors, and it cost us a run. Our bats are colder than ice cold.”
When you’re not hitting, you’re not scoring and that puts pressure on the rest of your game.
“It carries over mentally from one play to the next and therein lies a major problem; when you don’t score, you press in the field, come back in and press at the plate,” Burdick said. “Hitting is a very organic process, it needs to be fluid. When you’re pressing, you’re not hitting.”
And when you’re hitting, you’re having fun.
That’s the side of the coin that Plainfield (9-5) was on Wednesday as it touched NFA pitcher Tess Rubega for four hits in the first three innings. The biggest, however, came in the fifth inning when Smith looped a triple to right field to score Lindsey Lehtonen, who had drawn a two-out walk, and came around herself on an error to give the Panthers the win.
“It’s a great win,” Langlois said and then pointed to his team who was beginning to board the bus for the ride back home. “It’s a big win for the program and, more importantly, it’s a big win for them. We’ve had big wins before, but this is for them, they’re quietly smiling. That’s not a rah-rah team, but they’re going to go home (Wednesday night) and say ‘that’s pretty good.’”
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
HS baseball: Plainfield downs Stonington, 6-4
There were plenty of smiles in the Plainfield dugout after the Panthers 6-4 win over the Bears in Stonington on Tuesday afternoon.
They didn’t know it yet, but the Plainfield players had given their coach, John Schiffner, his 450th career victory.
What was important at the time was that the win continued the Panthers comeback from a rather dreadful start.
“We’re above .500 now and we weren’t expected to win more than two games this year,” shortstop Nik Ververis said.
The Panthers climbed to 7-6 overall thanks to a 16-hit attack and some solid pitching from Connor Green and Barry Maily.
“This team in particular has been a great deal of fun,” Schiffner said. “They have got better and I, honestly, thought we had a chance of going 0-20.”
The Panthers got their revenge for a 7-1 loss to Stonington at home with four runs in the first inning. Ververis (4-5, 3 runs scored) keyed the uprising with a two-run double, Nate Bedard added a run scoring two-bagger and Jeff Buchert knocked in the other with a single.
The Panthers made it a five-run lead in the fourth when Ververis tripled and scored on a Devin Kotulsky (3-4, 3 singles) base knock.
But the Bears put a little scare into the Panthers when they scored one in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Joe Sartor.
Green (1-2) was touched for three more in the fifth when losing pitcher Jay Hespeler and Cody Candelet singled and centerfielder Tyler Tavares put one over the fence in the field he patrols, a three-run shot to cut Plainfield’s lead to one.
“My number two hitter had a nice home run,” Stonington coach Duffy Grace said, “but, we didn’t hit the ball like we can.”
Plainfield got an insurance run in the sixth off reliever jake Berkowitz on a Kotulsky RBI single.
Maily did the rest as he came on in the sixth for the Panthers and allowed just one hit in the last two innings.
They didn’t know it yet, but the Plainfield players had given their coach, John Schiffner, his 450th career victory.
What was important at the time was that the win continued the Panthers comeback from a rather dreadful start.
“We’re above .500 now and we weren’t expected to win more than two games this year,” shortstop Nik Ververis said.
The Panthers climbed to 7-6 overall thanks to a 16-hit attack and some solid pitching from Connor Green and Barry Maily.
“This team in particular has been a great deal of fun,” Schiffner said. “They have got better and I, honestly, thought we had a chance of going 0-20.”
The Panthers got their revenge for a 7-1 loss to Stonington at home with four runs in the first inning. Ververis (4-5, 3 runs scored) keyed the uprising with a two-run double, Nate Bedard added a run scoring two-bagger and Jeff Buchert knocked in the other with a single.
The Panthers made it a five-run lead in the fourth when Ververis tripled and scored on a Devin Kotulsky (3-4, 3 singles) base knock.
But the Bears put a little scare into the Panthers when they scored one in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Joe Sartor.
Green (1-2) was touched for three more in the fifth when losing pitcher Jay Hespeler and Cody Candelet singled and centerfielder Tyler Tavares put one over the fence in the field he patrols, a three-run shot to cut Plainfield’s lead to one.
“My number two hitter had a nice home run,” Stonington coach Duffy Grace said, “but, we didn’t hit the ball like we can.”
Plainfield got an insurance run in the sixth off reliever jake Berkowitz on a Kotulsky RBI single.
Maily did the rest as he came on in the sixth for the Panthers and allowed just one hit in the last two innings.
Monday, May 10, 2010
H.S. Baseball: Battling the elements in Montville
Just ask Terrance Farina how bad the wind was on Monday afternoon at Montville High School.
The Waterford shortstop called for a pop up that looked like it would fall into his glove on the shortstop side of the pitcher’s mound. By the time he finally tracked down the wicked, wayward ball, it was almost on the first base line and his long trek resulted in it trickling out of his glove and on to the ground.
It was that kind of day for infielders and outfielders alike in Montville’s, 12-4, high school baseball win over Waterford.
“The wind was just whipping — it was swirling all over the place — you couldn’t get a read,” Montville outfielder Max Hart said.
The leftfielder had it easy, he was only challenged once late in the game; others weren’t so lucky.
Montville (12-2) had its own field betray it in the second inning when a fly ball by Pat Rogers got caught in the jet stream and blew over Tyler Seeley’s head for an RBI triple.
“You want it to be caught,” Indians’ winning pitcher Tre Gonzalez said. “Any time a pitch goes over your head, you cringe a little bit and want it to be caught, but you can’t be mad at anyone.”
The Indians got a measure of revenge in the bottom of the third when Hart slapped a long shot of his own to center field that resulted in a two-run triple and ignited a six-run inning for the Indians.
The wind was bad for the players; the fans had their own complaints about the weather. The game started at 5 p.m. due to testing in Waterford and when the sun went down, those left watching the game huddled close for warmth.
The Waterford shortstop called for a pop up that looked like it would fall into his glove on the shortstop side of the pitcher’s mound. By the time he finally tracked down the wicked, wayward ball, it was almost on the first base line and his long trek resulted in it trickling out of his glove and on to the ground.
It was that kind of day for infielders and outfielders alike in Montville’s, 12-4, high school baseball win over Waterford.
“The wind was just whipping — it was swirling all over the place — you couldn’t get a read,” Montville outfielder Max Hart said.
The leftfielder had it easy, he was only challenged once late in the game; others weren’t so lucky.
Montville (12-2) had its own field betray it in the second inning when a fly ball by Pat Rogers got caught in the jet stream and blew over Tyler Seeley’s head for an RBI triple.
“You want it to be caught,” Indians’ winning pitcher Tre Gonzalez said. “Any time a pitch goes over your head, you cringe a little bit and want it to be caught, but you can’t be mad at anyone.”
The Indians got a measure of revenge in the bottom of the third when Hart slapped a long shot of his own to center field that resulted in a two-run triple and ignited a six-run inning for the Indians.
The wind was bad for the players; the fans had their own complaints about the weather. The game started at 5 p.m. due to testing in Waterford and when the sun went down, those left watching the game huddled close for warmth.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
HS track and field: Sun, warmth greets Ledyard competitors
The Ledyard Relays had built a reputation.
"Usually it's raining or snowing, and cold," NFA girls track coach Kara Kochanski said.
But for the second year in a row, blue skies and comfortable temperatures in the mid-70's greeted the coaches and participants at Ledyard High School on Saturday.
"The Ledyard relays is great," Griswold girls coach Chris Morth said. "You never get weather like this so when you come here and it's 75 degrees and sunny, the kids all get really into it."
That's because, according to the Griswold coach, that the athletes get to do some things they don't get a chance to do during dual meets.
That includes running relays which are sometimes skipped in the duals due to a lack of numbers as well as some other fun events such as the 4 x 1600 meter relay and the weight person 4 x 100-mter relay.
The other thing about the Ledyard Relays, as almost all coaches agree, it's the last "fun" event of the season prior to the tough and serious stretch that follows.
"You want to see them pop out a really good time here, but you also want it to stay under the radar," NFA assistant coach Chad Johnson said.
There were some performances that may find the radar.
Chris Antoine of NFA set a Ledyard Relay mark when he cleared six-feet-six-inches in the high jump. That was an inch better than NFA alum Mike Elliott, but there's another Elliott record that Antoine is really shooting for, his six-foot-eight mark at the ECC championship.
The only other record that fell came in the 4x1600-meter where the NFA quartet of Molly Kalla, Cassy Hunter, Kathleen O'Brien and Sarah Eagan, all seniors, breezed to victory.
The Wildcats also had Wahnetah Carty (long jump), Yana Babbitt (javelin), and Kaylan Pickford (pole vault) pick up individual firsts.
"I'm very pleased," Kochanski said. "I like the way it started out when we got the record in the mile race and then Wahnetah comes in and jumps her best in triple jump and Yana had a personal record in the javelin."
"Usually it's raining or snowing, and cold," NFA girls track coach Kara Kochanski said.
But for the second year in a row, blue skies and comfortable temperatures in the mid-70's greeted the coaches and participants at Ledyard High School on Saturday.
"The Ledyard relays is great," Griswold girls coach Chris Morth said. "You never get weather like this so when you come here and it's 75 degrees and sunny, the kids all get really into it."
That's because, according to the Griswold coach, that the athletes get to do some things they don't get a chance to do during dual meets.
That includes running relays which are sometimes skipped in the duals due to a lack of numbers as well as some other fun events such as the 4 x 1600 meter relay and the weight person 4 x 100-mter relay.
The other thing about the Ledyard Relays, as almost all coaches agree, it's the last "fun" event of the season prior to the tough and serious stretch that follows.
"You want to see them pop out a really good time here, but you also want it to stay under the radar," NFA assistant coach Chad Johnson said.
There were some performances that may find the radar.
Chris Antoine of NFA set a Ledyard Relay mark when he cleared six-feet-six-inches in the high jump. That was an inch better than NFA alum Mike Elliott, but there's another Elliott record that Antoine is really shooting for, his six-foot-eight mark at the ECC championship.
The only other record that fell came in the 4x1600-meter where the NFA quartet of Molly Kalla, Cassy Hunter, Kathleen O'Brien and Sarah Eagan, all seniors, breezed to victory.
The Wildcats also had Wahnetah Carty (long jump), Yana Babbitt (javelin), and Kaylan Pickford (pole vault) pick up individual firsts.
"I'm very pleased," Kochanski said. "I like the way it started out when we got the record in the mile race and then Wahnetah comes in and jumps her best in triple jump and Yana had a personal record in the javelin."
Thursday, April 22, 2010
HS girls lacrosse: NFA happy with win over St. Bernard
NFA coach Eric Page had his team practice a little game of keep away.
“We practiced that for the last few days, up by one, down by one, what are we going to do,” Page said.
He had expected the Wildcats game with St. Bernard, after all, to be a “nailbiiter”.
Fortunately for Page, he didn’t have to chew his nails as his Wildcats posted a 15-12 win at Norwich Free Academy on Thursday.
His Wildcats (4-2) built a six-goal lead late in the game and then practiced what he had preached, kept the ball away from the Saints.
The Wildcats got a little helping hand from the Saints (4-1) who weren’t as aggressive as coach Tonya Acosta wanted.
For example, with a minute and a half left in the first half, the Saints had the ball behind the Wildcats net. They worked the ball front and back, but Chelsea Phillips could only get a desperation attempt as time ran out. It allowed the Wildcats to go into the half with a 7-5 lead, a lead they would build on in the second half.
“That was huge,” NFA senior Lucy Fernandez said of the early lead. “The most important part of the game is winning the draws so once we got the momentum and the lead and realized that we could win and that’s what kept us motivated.”
Fernandez added that once the Wildcats built the lead to five goals, that the Saints “got a little flustered”. To their credit, St. Bernard recovered and made it a three-goal difference with five minutes, 12 seconds left in the game.
The Saints momentum, however, disappeared when thunder and lightning suspended the game for 90 minutes,
NFA put the game away just two minutes after play resumed when Abbie McNomee put one past Saints keeper Erin Amarello.
“That was the real play of the game,” Page said. “Coming out after the rain, winning the draw and scoring the goal. It was a big confidence boost for us.”
“We practiced that for the last few days, up by one, down by one, what are we going to do,” Page said.
He had expected the Wildcats game with St. Bernard, after all, to be a “nailbiiter”.
Fortunately for Page, he didn’t have to chew his nails as his Wildcats posted a 15-12 win at Norwich Free Academy on Thursday.
His Wildcats (4-2) built a six-goal lead late in the game and then practiced what he had preached, kept the ball away from the Saints.
The Wildcats got a little helping hand from the Saints (4-1) who weren’t as aggressive as coach Tonya Acosta wanted.
For example, with a minute and a half left in the first half, the Saints had the ball behind the Wildcats net. They worked the ball front and back, but Chelsea Phillips could only get a desperation attempt as time ran out. It allowed the Wildcats to go into the half with a 7-5 lead, a lead they would build on in the second half.
“That was huge,” NFA senior Lucy Fernandez said of the early lead. “The most important part of the game is winning the draws so once we got the momentum and the lead and realized that we could win and that’s what kept us motivated.”
Fernandez added that once the Wildcats built the lead to five goals, that the Saints “got a little flustered”. To their credit, St. Bernard recovered and made it a three-goal difference with five minutes, 12 seconds left in the game.
The Saints momentum, however, disappeared when thunder and lightning suspended the game for 90 minutes,
NFA put the game away just two minutes after play resumed when Abbie McNomee put one past Saints keeper Erin Amarello.
“That was the real play of the game,” Page said. “Coming out after the rain, winning the draw and scoring the goal. It was a big confidence boost for us.”
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
HS baseball: Lyman struggles against another Large school
It was a battle of unbeatens that didn’t exactly go the way Lyman wanted.
Unfortunately, that’s been the norm rather than the exception for Lyman when it comes to playing crossover games against Large Division schools.
Wednesday was just another example as East Lyme handed Lyman its first loss in five games, 6-0.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game, but I feel like we’re where we want to be,” Lyman coach Marty Gomez said.
“We want to beat some of these (Large) teams and I think we have a team that can do that,” the Lyman coach added. “We always compete against them; we’ve beaten NFA, have never got to Fitch, have come close with Waterford, but it’s time that I think these kids want to win some of these crossover games against good baseball programs.”
Gomez added that Wednesday’s loss “was disappointing”, but he took solace in the fact that after East Lyme scored four runs in a first inning rally, the Bulldogs held them to two the rest of the way.
On the other side of the field, Vikings coach Jack Biggs was happy with his team which played well in all facets of the game. East Lyme failed to commit an error and turned two double plays defensively. Senior pitcher Alec Christian (2-0) allowed just three hits and the Vikings produced 12 hits, all of them singles.
“(Lyman starting pitcher Jared)Szuba is one of the best pitchers in the league, he’s been around for awhile, and he throws some good pitches,” Biggs said. “We did pretty well (Wednesday).”
The tests only get tougher for the Vikings this week as they travel to Groton on Friday for a 3:45 p.m. showdown with the Fitch Falcons.
Unfortunately, that’s been the norm rather than the exception for Lyman when it comes to playing crossover games against Large Division schools.
Wednesday was just another example as East Lyme handed Lyman its first loss in five games, 6-0.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game, but I feel like we’re where we want to be,” Lyman coach Marty Gomez said.
“We want to beat some of these (Large) teams and I think we have a team that can do that,” the Lyman coach added. “We always compete against them; we’ve beaten NFA, have never got to Fitch, have come close with Waterford, but it’s time that I think these kids want to win some of these crossover games against good baseball programs.”
Gomez added that Wednesday’s loss “was disappointing”, but he took solace in the fact that after East Lyme scored four runs in a first inning rally, the Bulldogs held them to two the rest of the way.
On the other side of the field, Vikings coach Jack Biggs was happy with his team which played well in all facets of the game. East Lyme failed to commit an error and turned two double plays defensively. Senior pitcher Alec Christian (2-0) allowed just three hits and the Vikings produced 12 hits, all of them singles.
“(Lyman starting pitcher Jared)Szuba is one of the best pitchers in the league, he’s been around for awhile, and he throws some good pitches,” Biggs said. “We did pretty well (Wednesday).”
The tests only get tougher for the Vikings this week as they travel to Groton on Friday for a 3:45 p.m. showdown with the Fitch Falcons.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
HS softball: Waterford players happy with lofty ranking
Some of the Waterford players thought it was pretty cool.
“It’s a nice feeling, a little unexpected too and it gave us some extra motivation (Tuesday),” Waterford sophomore pitcher Kelli Connors said after the Lancers shut out Griswold, 1-0, for their fourth straight win.
Waterford coach Liz Sutman was not exactly in agreement with that statement about the latest New Haven Register poll which has Waterford ranked third in the state.
“I was joking with my Athletic Director (Dave Sousa) that when you see that in the paper, you get the target on your back,” Sutman said. “I kind of like the team flying under the radar and surprise teams with our good fundamental play.”
Forget it, the secret’s out.
Not that the Sutman and the Lancers didn’t expect it anyway. They’re off to a 4-0 start, have their No. 1 pitcher back and have beat some respected programs in Bacon Academy, Southington and Griswold.
“Surprised? I wouldn’t say that,” Waterford shortstop Katelyn Sykora said of the early respect. “It’s a good feeling, though, we’re playing strong, we’re playing well.”
“It’s a nice feeling, a little unexpected too and it gave us some extra motivation (Tuesday),” Waterford sophomore pitcher Kelli Connors said after the Lancers shut out Griswold, 1-0, for their fourth straight win.
Waterford coach Liz Sutman was not exactly in agreement with that statement about the latest New Haven Register poll which has Waterford ranked third in the state.
“I was joking with my Athletic Director (Dave Sousa) that when you see that in the paper, you get the target on your back,” Sutman said. “I kind of like the team flying under the radar and surprise teams with our good fundamental play.”
Forget it, the secret’s out.
Not that the Sutman and the Lancers didn’t expect it anyway. They’re off to a 4-0 start, have their No. 1 pitcher back and have beat some respected programs in Bacon Academy, Southington and Griswold.
“Surprised? I wouldn’t say that,” Waterford shortstop Katelyn Sykora said of the early respect. “It’s a good feeling, though, we’re playing strong, we’re playing well.”
Monday, April 19, 2010
HS Baseball: New London struggling early
New London baseball coach Mike Wheeler wasn’t all that happy on Monday afternoon.
In the midst of a game that his Whalers would eventually lose to Montville, 10-3, his Whalers weren’t executing even the most basic of plays.
Montville had Kyle Holland on first base and Casey Zalagens on third with two out in the fifth inning when Montville coach Phil Orbe called for Holland to attempt a delayed steal.
The object was to draw the throw to first and have Zalagens score before Holland was thrown out. The ploy worked as Zalagens scored, but what made it worse was the New London couldn’t execute the rundown properly and Holland was safe at second. It was part of a four-run fifth inning that guaranteed Montville the win.
“We’re working on all these things in practice that we made mistakes on (Monday) and a lot of these mistakes are mental,” a frustrated Wheeler said after the loss. “I would say we had five or six mental mistakes in addition to the three errors we had; taking bad angles to the ball, not knowing what we’re doing and we work on these things every day.”
Wheeler said he wasn’t sure if it was fallout from last year’s state title game that has helped New London lose three of its first four games.
It hasn’t helped that Yohendy Gonzalez – counted on to be a key player this season – has a hamstring injury which kept him out of the first two games and even limited his play against Montville on Monday when he was noticeably limping.
The Whalers will try to turn things around on Wednesday when they send Gonzalez to the hill against Bacon Academy.
In the midst of a game that his Whalers would eventually lose to Montville, 10-3, his Whalers weren’t executing even the most basic of plays.
Montville had Kyle Holland on first base and Casey Zalagens on third with two out in the fifth inning when Montville coach Phil Orbe called for Holland to attempt a delayed steal.
The object was to draw the throw to first and have Zalagens score before Holland was thrown out. The ploy worked as Zalagens scored, but what made it worse was the New London couldn’t execute the rundown properly and Holland was safe at second. It was part of a four-run fifth inning that guaranteed Montville the win.
“We’re working on all these things in practice that we made mistakes on (Monday) and a lot of these mistakes are mental,” a frustrated Wheeler said after the loss. “I would say we had five or six mental mistakes in addition to the three errors we had; taking bad angles to the ball, not knowing what we’re doing and we work on these things every day.”
Wheeler said he wasn’t sure if it was fallout from last year’s state title game that has helped New London lose three of its first four games.
It hasn’t helped that Yohendy Gonzalez – counted on to be a key player this season – has a hamstring injury which kept him out of the first two games and even limited his play against Montville on Monday when he was noticeably limping.
The Whalers will try to turn things around on Wednesday when they send Gonzalez to the hill against Bacon Academy.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
HS boys lacrosse: Growing pains hurt East Lyme
East Lyme is not as explosive as it has been in the past.
“Not at this point,” East Lyme coach Gary Wight agreed after his Vikings downed Norwich Free Academy, 10-5, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Large division match Thursday night.
But can it become just as explosive as it was last season when it made it all the way to the Class M semifinals?
“I’m optimistic, but I think we definitely can,” Wight said.
The Vikings had to overcome not only losses from graduation, but early injuries and that cost them in their first two games against Guilford and Ledyard.
Now, it’s just a case of working together to get better.
“We have to get on the field and practice more, but things are starting to come together,” Wight said. “We need to get our timing down.”
The two losses, although they certainly won’t help come seeding time for the state tournament, weren’t all that detrimental. Ledyard was a non-divisional league matchup and Guilford was a non-league game.
“A lot of it has just been a learning curve and both Guilford and Ledyard are good teams, give them credit,” East Lyme senior captain Mickey Fiorillo said. “We’re working really hard in practice, especially on moving the ball, so we’re looking forward to seeing where things go.”
“Not at this point,” East Lyme coach Gary Wight agreed after his Vikings downed Norwich Free Academy, 10-5, in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Large division match Thursday night.
But can it become just as explosive as it was last season when it made it all the way to the Class M semifinals?
“I’m optimistic, but I think we definitely can,” Wight said.
The Vikings had to overcome not only losses from graduation, but early injuries and that cost them in their first two games against Guilford and Ledyard.
Now, it’s just a case of working together to get better.
“We have to get on the field and practice more, but things are starting to come together,” Wight said. “We need to get our timing down.”
The two losses, although they certainly won’t help come seeding time for the state tournament, weren’t all that detrimental. Ledyard was a non-divisional league matchup and Guilford was a non-league game.
“A lot of it has just been a learning curve and both Guilford and Ledyard are good teams, give them credit,” East Lyme senior captain Mickey Fiorillo said. “We’re working really hard in practice, especially on moving the ball, so we’re looking forward to seeing where things go.”
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
HS Baseball: Large Division title up in the air
Woodstock surprised a lot of people last year when it came from just about out of nowhere to capture a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division title.
After a close, 5-4, loss to Fitch on Wednesday in Groton, Woodstock coach Dave Austin wasn’t about to rule out another run at the title in 2010.
“I would like to say we’ll be competitive,” Austin said. “They’re a good team and we proved a lot to ourselves and (his team) proved a lot to me and I’m very happy with them. We will show up to play and compete. I would like to say we would like to defend our share of the title and that we’re more than capable of doing that.”
The coach in the other dugout, Fitch’s Marc Peluso, wouldn’t be surprised if that that happened. In fact, he feels just about anything can happen in the Large Division this season.
“It’s wide open and it’s been like that since I started three years ago,” Peluso said of the battle for the title in 2010.
It certainly appears to be that way considering the team that many thought was the team to beat, Waterford, lost with its ace on the mound on Monday. Colin O’Keefe pitched a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but tired and the Lancers fell to East Lyme, 7-4.
All I can say is, stay tuned.
After a close, 5-4, loss to Fitch on Wednesday in Groton, Woodstock coach Dave Austin wasn’t about to rule out another run at the title in 2010.
“I would like to say we’ll be competitive,” Austin said. “They’re a good team and we proved a lot to ourselves and (his team) proved a lot to me and I’m very happy with them. We will show up to play and compete. I would like to say we would like to defend our share of the title and that we’re more than capable of doing that.”
The coach in the other dugout, Fitch’s Marc Peluso, wouldn’t be surprised if that that happened. In fact, he feels just about anything can happen in the Large Division this season.
“It’s wide open and it’s been like that since I started three years ago,” Peluso said of the battle for the title in 2010.
It certainly appears to be that way considering the team that many thought was the team to beat, Waterford, lost with its ace on the mound on Monday. Colin O’Keefe pitched a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but tired and the Lancers fell to East Lyme, 7-4.
All I can say is, stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
HS Baseball: Montville gains from loss to Fitch
There are times when a loss may not be all that bad a thing.
Not that any coach, player or team likes to lose, but sometimes it can be a learning experience.
That’s what Montville coach Phil Orbe qualified his Indians’ 15-2 loss to Fitch on Monday after his team came back on Tuesday to down Norwich Free Academy, 4-3.
“I thought the kids learned from it, really came on (Tuesday) and put it behind us,” Orbe said.
There were times the Indians certainly could have done that, like in the fifth inning when the Wildcats scored all three of their runs.
Zach Beckwith’s two-run triple was a solid hit, but the two batters who preceded the NFA shortstop got on with a little help from Montville. An infield error allowed Dan Simoneau to reach and a good throw could have got Kevin Kneer who reached on an infield single.
“We gave them those three runs on the six outs we gave them and the one mental error, we could have hung our heads,” Orbe said.
The Indians, instead, rallied when Tyler Contillo doubled and scored in the fifth and sophomore Max Hart (2-3, 1 run scored) started the game-winning, two-run rally with a double to lead off the sixth inning.
“Max really put a great at-bat on hitting the ball the other way and used his legs from there,” Orbe said.
Not that any coach, player or team likes to lose, but sometimes it can be a learning experience.
That’s what Montville coach Phil Orbe qualified his Indians’ 15-2 loss to Fitch on Monday after his team came back on Tuesday to down Norwich Free Academy, 4-3.
“I thought the kids learned from it, really came on (Tuesday) and put it behind us,” Orbe said.
There were times the Indians certainly could have done that, like in the fifth inning when the Wildcats scored all three of their runs.
Zach Beckwith’s two-run triple was a solid hit, but the two batters who preceded the NFA shortstop got on with a little help from Montville. An infield error allowed Dan Simoneau to reach and a good throw could have got Kevin Kneer who reached on an infield single.
“We gave them those three runs on the six outs we gave them and the one mental error, we could have hung our heads,” Orbe said.
The Indians, instead, rallied when Tyler Contillo doubled and scored in the fifth and sophomore Max Hart (2-3, 1 run scored) started the game-winning, two-run rally with a double to lead off the sixth inning.
“Max really put a great at-bat on hitting the ball the other way and used his legs from there,” Orbe said.
Monday, April 12, 2010
HS Baseball: Bobcats looking for mound help
Bacon Academy will be tough to reckon with when UConn-bound senior Dave Mahoney takes to the mound.
But as Waterford proved on Monday, the Bobcats are vulnerable when he’s not.
“We have to find a No. 2 and a No. 3 pitcher,” Bobcats coach Dave Shea said. “We’re going to put some other guys out there on Wednesday (at home against Griswold) and see what they can do.”
Bacon Academy lost their second and third pitcher from last season to graduation and “have to keep experimenting” according to Shea.
The Bobcats found themselves in trouble early against the Lancers, the No. 5 ranked team in the state in the New Haven Register’s preseason media poll.
Waterford scored three runs in the first inning without a hit and added three more prior to the fifth inning. That’s when they put nine batters to the plate without making an out , getting help from four Bacon errors which broke open a close game.
But as Waterford proved on Monday, the Bobcats are vulnerable when he’s not.
“We have to find a No. 2 and a No. 3 pitcher,” Bobcats coach Dave Shea said. “We’re going to put some other guys out there on Wednesday (at home against Griswold) and see what they can do.”
Bacon Academy lost their second and third pitcher from last season to graduation and “have to keep experimenting” according to Shea.
The Bobcats found themselves in trouble early against the Lancers, the No. 5 ranked team in the state in the New Haven Register’s preseason media poll.
Waterford scored three runs in the first inning without a hit and added three more prior to the fifth inning. That’s when they put nine batters to the plate without making an out , getting help from four Bacon errors which broke open a close game.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
HS Baseball: Plainfield struggling early
The issue for the Plainfield Panthers is pretty simple; they don't have the arms they would like to have.
That's not an easy problem to overcome when you are playing in the Medium Division of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Panthers lost their second straight game Saturday as Griswold beat them, 11-4. Plainfield also took it on the chin earlier in the week when they lost to Montville, 8-2.
"We have to learn how to pitch backwards a little bit more," Plainfield coach John Schiffner said. "We can't afford to walk anybody, we can't afford to make any errors, we need to rely on our defense."
It doesn't make it any easier that Plainfield, due to its school enrollment, has been bumped up to the Medium Division.
"Well, what are you going to do," Schiffner said of the bump up. "Baseball is baseball. In other sports, it might be a bigger factor, but we'll play with anybody and try to keep getting better."
If there's any consolation, it's just a one-year engagement as the Panthers - thanks to Putnam's departure from the ECC - will drop back into the Small Division next season.
"We're working hard, we have a really good group of kids, so we'll see what happens," Schiffner said.
That's not an easy problem to overcome when you are playing in the Medium Division of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Panthers lost their second straight game Saturday as Griswold beat them, 11-4. Plainfield also took it on the chin earlier in the week when they lost to Montville, 8-2.
"We have to learn how to pitch backwards a little bit more," Plainfield coach John Schiffner said. "We can't afford to walk anybody, we can't afford to make any errors, we need to rely on our defense."
It doesn't make it any easier that Plainfield, due to its school enrollment, has been bumped up to the Medium Division.
"Well, what are you going to do," Schiffner said of the bump up. "Baseball is baseball. In other sports, it might be a bigger factor, but we'll play with anybody and try to keep getting better."
If there's any consolation, it's just a one-year engagement as the Panthers - thanks to Putnam's departure from the ECC - will drop back into the Small Division next season.
"We're working hard, we have a really good group of kids, so we'll see what happens," Schiffner said.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Woodstock sophomore perseveres in debut
Woodstock Academy sophomore Gen Cohen had a little baptism of fire on Wednesday in the season opener for the Centaurs in Waterford.
Cohen, who was named All-Norwich Bulletin as a freshman doubles player for the Academy last season, is now the No. 2 singles player for Woodstock. In the season opener, she matched up with Emily Qian of the Lancers and it took more than a little while to decide, like 3 ½ hours.
“It’s an honor to play singles, but it’s just so much harder,” Cohen said. “I could never even imagine playing 3 ½ hours.”
Fortunately for Cohen, it was 3 ½ hours that turned out to be time well spent. She beat Qian 6-7, 7-4, 6-2, 7-5 to help her teammates down Waterford, 5-2.
“You don’t even realize how long that is,” Cohen said. “Even when the professionals play, it rarely goes to that unless its (Roger) Federer and (Rafael) Nadal playing. It came down to who was going to get the volley.”
You can read more about the Woodstock Centaurs girls tennis program in this Sunday’s Norwich Bulletin.
Cohen, who was named All-Norwich Bulletin as a freshman doubles player for the Academy last season, is now the No. 2 singles player for Woodstock. In the season opener, she matched up with Emily Qian of the Lancers and it took more than a little while to decide, like 3 ½ hours.
“It’s an honor to play singles, but it’s just so much harder,” Cohen said. “I could never even imagine playing 3 ½ hours.”
Fortunately for Cohen, it was 3 ½ hours that turned out to be time well spent. She beat Qian 6-7, 7-4, 6-2, 7-5 to help her teammates down Waterford, 5-2.
“You don’t even realize how long that is,” Cohen said. “Even when the professionals play, it rarely goes to that unless its (Roger) Federer and (Rafael) Nadal playing. It came down to who was going to get the volley.”
You can read more about the Woodstock Centaurs girls tennis program in this Sunday’s Norwich Bulletin.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
All-Norwich Bulletin selections revealed Sunday
For the many who are wondering when the all- Norwich Bulletin section is coming out, the wait is almost over.
The full-color, 16-page section complete with the best athletes who competed in basketball, indoor track, wrestling, hockey, gymnastics and swimming, will be on your doorstep and on the newsstand this coming Sunday.
How do we choose the all-Norwich Bulletin athletes?
The Bulletin sports staff has seen just about every team play this past winter and we use that information, statistics, and input from coaches (when we feel we need even more information) to make the choices.
There may be a few surprises and I will be able to write more about some of the selections after we reveal them on Sunday.
In the meantime, the high school spring sports season begins today, but our spring sports previews continue. In today’s edition, check out the girl’s lacrosse preview including a story about the new coaching staff at East Lyme.
On Thursday, we preview the boy’s tennis season as well as give you all the results from the first day of spring competition.
The full-color, 16-page section complete with the best athletes who competed in basketball, indoor track, wrestling, hockey, gymnastics and swimming, will be on your doorstep and on the newsstand this coming Sunday.
How do we choose the all-Norwich Bulletin athletes?
The Bulletin sports staff has seen just about every team play this past winter and we use that information, statistics, and input from coaches (when we feel we need even more information) to make the choices.
There may be a few surprises and I will be able to write more about some of the selections after we reveal them on Sunday.
In the meantime, the high school spring sports season begins today, but our spring sports previews continue. In today’s edition, check out the girl’s lacrosse preview including a story about the new coaching staff at East Lyme.
On Thursday, we preview the boy’s tennis season as well as give you all the results from the first day of spring competition.
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