New Haven Register jinxing state's top baseball teams?; Masuk, Lauralton Hall square off in battle of softball top fives.
By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
Being No. 1 in the New Haven Register’s coaches/media poll in baseball is not necessarily a good thing.
Amity Regional-Woodbridge, the state’s two-time defending CIAC Class LL state champ, started out the season in the top spot and held it after a cold-and-wild, 15-10 win over second-place Guilford to open the season.
But the Spartans ran into Xavier-Middletown and lost a home game, 5-2, their first regular-season loss in three years.
So Xavier became No. 1 in the first weekly poll after running off five straight wins. But between the time the poll votes were counted and the results were published, Xavier played at Guilford. The Indians had not lost since the opening Amity game and didn’t lose this one either, taking an 8-4 decision on Monday behind home runs by Matt Anthonis, Mike Yates and winning pitcher Eric Schlitter.
Guilford had a 3-0 lead before the Falcons tied the game in the fourth inning. Guilford coach Pete Civitello gambled that Schlitter had something left.
“I wanted him to pitch out of a big spot,” Civitello said.
Wishing made it so as Schlitter got a bouncer to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Guilford scored five to put the game away. The key hit, said Xavier coach Rich Magner, was a blooped, opposite-field double by Sam Greenberg to drive in a run and keep the rally alive. Greenberg had missed the first four games of the season with the lingering effects of a basketball injury.
Guilford got Greenberg back, but lost top pitcher Will Jolin to a mild case of shoulder tendinitis.
“If we have everyone healthy, we should be okay by the second half of the season,” Civitello said.
Guilford, by the way, also got an unexpected pitching gem from Ricky Mclain. The senior lefty, making his first-ever varsity start, threw a perfect game at Hillhouse-New Haven in a 14-0 win. Mclain threw 88 pitches and struck out seven.
With Xavier first, Amity second and Guilford fourth in the poll, the Southern Connecticut Conference is well represented. But for now, it looks like Seymour, currently ranked third, will probably take over the top spot next week. The 5-0 Wildcats, led by two-sport star Rob Muir, have yet to give up more than two runs in a game.
Berlin (4-0) is fifth in the current poll with Plainville (3-0) sixth. Those two teams will meet twice in regular-season Northwest Conference play. Stamford is seventh, Bunnell-Stratford is eighth, Montville is ninth and Brien McMahon-Norwalk is 10th. Bunnell defeated Montville, 8-1, in a non-league game Monday.
Newington (which is 4-0 and has yet to give up a run) and Southington, also 4-0, are the next two teams in line.
Softball
The softball game of the week was the battle between top-ranked Masuk-Monroe and fifth-ranked Lauralton Hall-Milford.
Masuk got a 1-0 win in 11 innings on a home run by junior Sam Barbessi, the No. 9 hitter, whose liner to left rolled well into the open outfield.
The homer broke up a pitching battle between Masuk’s Rachele Fico and Lauralton’s Bridget Gates. The LSU-bound Fico struck out 25 and allowed one hit and no walks in 11 innings. Gates got the lone hit, a seventh-inning single, to stop the otherwise perfect game. Gates fanned 14 and walked three while allowing 11 hits.
The New Haven Register’s media and coaches’ poll is led by Masuk, 6-0, with 14 first-place votes. Second is Amity Regional-Woodbridge, 5-0, followed by Bristol Eastern, 4-0, Lauralton Hall, 3-1, and Trumbull, 5-0.
The second five includes Norwich Free Academy (4-0), Seymour (5-1), Cheshire (5-0), Lyman Memorial-Lebanon (4-0) and North Haven (5-0).
Fitch-Groton, Southington, Coginchaug-Durham, Rockville, RHAM-Hebron and Woodland-Beacon Falls were other receiving votes.
Awards
When it honors area scholar-athletes at its annual dinner April 29, the New Haven Tap-Off Club also will make special presentations.
Katie Lynch of Southern Connecticut State University and DeMario Anderson of Quinnipiac University are the college female and male players of the year. In addition, the Dr. Lester Joseph Distinguished Service Award will go to long-time Sacred Heart University coach Dave Bike. The Tap-Off Club will honor 27 high school scholar-athletes as the centerpiece of the dinner.
