By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
It is almost unfair. Bunnell-Stratford pitcher Rachel Babineau had a nine-inning shutout, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Masuk-Monoe junior pitcher Rachele Fico threw the 13th perfect game of her illustrious high school career to lead the Panthers to a 1-0, 10-inning win over the Bulldogs last week.
Fico struck out 25 of the 30 batters she faced and got support from battery-mate Caitlin Vicarri, who drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. Just to make dinner conversation in the Fico household interesting, Rachele’s brother, Nick, homered as the Masuk baseball team beat Bunnell, 9-2, the same day.
The Masuk girls, 15-0, continue to lead the New Haven Register media/coaches poll in softball with all 15 first-place votes.
Second is Bristol Eastern, 10-0, which got its eighth shutout of the year from Sara Plourde in a 5-0 win over cross-town rival Bristol Central. Lauralton Hall-Milford, 10-1 after being rained out all last week, is third with Trumbull, 14-0, fourth.
Cheshire survived two close calls to lift its record to 14-0 and remain fifth. The Rams beat Sheehan-Wallingford, 8-6 in eight innings and scored in the bottom of the seventh to edge West Haven, 2-1.
Amity Regional-Woodbridge, now 14-2, is sixth. After the poll came out the Spartans lost to Sheehan, 1-0. Amity and Cheshire play their rematch Thursday. Cheshire won the first one, 1-0.
Seventh is Seymour, 13-1, while Lyman Memorial-Lebanon, 9-2 is eighth. That will likely change because the Bulldogs lost to Hale-Ray of East Haddam, 5-1, after the poll came out. North Branford, 14-1, made its first appearance in the poll, ranked ninth while Woodland-Beacon Falls, remains tenth despite a 4-0 loss to Seymour.
Norwich Free Academy, which had been ninth, fell to 11th with Fitch-Groton 12th. Southington, North Haven, Naugatuck, Manchester and Rockville also received votes.
More Softball
Also of note in softball was the 500th career win for East Lyme coach Judy Deeb. The Vikings beat Waterford (coached by former East Lyme all-stater Liz Sutman), 3-1, Monday.
Deeb, who has coached at East Lyme for 37 years, became the second softball coach in Connecticut history with 500 wins, joining the retired Lou Milardo of Hale-Ray in East Haddam, who finished with 533.
When Deeb was inducted into the Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame earlier this year, Sutman was her presenter.
Baseball
Seymour, now the state’s lone undefeated team, leads the New Haven Register media/coaches poll in baseball. The Wildcats, 14-0, won three games last week by a combined 42-5.
Berlin was 11-0 and second when the poll came out, and, after a win over 10-1 Simsbury, lost to 10-4 St. Bernard-Uncasville, 11-5, in a non-league game Tuesday. The Redcoats still have a tough week ahead with Northwest Conference rival Plainville on tap Friday. Plainville, 10-1, is ranked sixth in the Register poll.
Guilford, 13-2, is third but has a very tough road test Wednesday at Xavier-Middletown. The Indians have won eight straight since a loss to Branford. Xavier, 11-3, is fourth. The Falcons lost their rematch with seventh-ranked Amity Regional-Woodbridge, 5-1, Tuesday.
Stamford, 13-1, is fifth after winning three times last week by a combined 34-5. Sixth is Plainville and seventh is Amity with Fairfield-Ludowe eighth. The Falcons, 13-1, have won all their games since an opening-day loss to Notre Dame-Fairfield.
Ninth is Bunnell-Stratford, which fell three spots after a 1-0, extra-inning loss to Bethel, but is still 11-3 overall. Tenth is Wethersfield, 12-1.
Simsbury and Montville dropped out of the top 10, but were among others receiving votes along with Newington, Branford, Masuk-Monroe, Trumbull, Westhill-Stamford, Bristol Central, Brien McMahon-Norwalk, Shelton, Jonathan Law-Milford and Bristol Eastern.
