Connecticut plot lines as CIAC baseball, softball, lacrosse tournaments start

The qualifying rounds began for the CIAC baseball, softball, and boys and girls' lacrosse tournaments over the weekend, but the real fun begins Monday. Maybe — rain is in the forecast both Monday and Tuesday. Regardless, here are five plot lines to follow:

Free-For-A(LL)
The Class LL baseball tournament has the deepest — and daffiest — field of the four divisions. Norwich Free Academy is the top seed, but it wasn't even the best team in the Eastern Connecticut Conference. No. 4 Staples (Westport) beat No. 5 Darien, and Darien beat No. 9 Wilton during the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference regular season. Wilton, however, knocked off Darien in the FCIAC semifinals and beat Staples in both the regular season and the FCIAC final.

No. 7 Southington has been the LL runner-up the last two years. No. 12 Warde (Fairfield) is just one of two teams that beat ECC champion Montville (Oakdale). No. 2 Fairfield Prep was the best regular-season team in the uber-competitive Southern Connecticut Conference. No. 6 Shelton beat two-time LL champion Amity Regional (Woodbridge) twice during the SCC season. And Amity, which won last year seeded 17th out of 31, is seeded 14th this year. It also routed Prep on Saturday to win the SCC title (14-6).

The Fab Four
The Class M baseball tournament is top-heavy thanks to four powerhouses — top-seeded East Catholic (Manchester), No. 2 Montville (Oakdale), No. 3 Waterford and No. 4 Sheehan (Wallingford). East Catholic (19-1) has been ranked No. 1 for several weeks in the New Haven Register Top 10 poll. Montville, ranked second in the poll, has beaten third-seeded Waterford three times. That includes last Friday's walk-off, 3-2 win in the ECC final. Sheehan has played the toughest schedule of the four, beating Amity twice and splitting with Shelton. Other teams to watch out for are No. 6 Wolcott, the Naugatuck Valley League champion, and No. 7 Oxford, which beat NVL runner-up St. Paul Catholic (Bristol) and Wolcott during the regular season. And keep an eye on No. 19 St. Joseph (Trumbull) (11-9). It got knocked around a bit in the large-school FCIAC, but it boasts wins over Darien and Fairfield Warde, and lost one-run games to Staples, Wilton and New Canaan.

66 and Counting
Southington has won successive Class LL softball titles and is the state's top-ranked team. It's also won 66 straight games and could push that streak to 70 if it can three-peat. Ace Kendra Friedt (13-0) has allowed just 17 hits, four earned runs and seven walks. She's struck out 189 and pitched nine shutouts. Infielders Kaitlin Paterson (.622, 49 runs, 26 RBIs) and Lauren Zazzaro (.543, 39 runs, 55 RBIs) have been the top hitters for the Blue Knights (20-0). No. 2 Cheshire, No. 3 Darien and No. 5 Stamford (the FCIAC runner-up) are among the top seeds. And No. 12 Amity Regional (Woodbridge) is getting hot at the right time. Last season's LL runner-up outscored heavyweights Mercy (Middletown), Cheshire and Lauralton Hall (Milford) by a combined score of 13-0 to win last week's SCC title. The Spartans got a brutal draw, though, as they'll likely play at Stamford in the second round, and could face No. 13 Mercy in the quarters (the two split their regular-season meetings).

Clash of the Titans
There are three divisions in boys lacrosse, but Class L is the most ridiculous, as it features eight of the state's top 10 teams in laxpower.com's computer rankings. Here's how stocked Class L is — Darien is seeded third, but it's ranked No. 1 by laxpower.com and just won its 14th FCIAC title. Simsbury is the top seed, but was blitzed by No. 2 Glastonbury to end the regular season (12-4, May 22). And neither went through the grind like No. 5 Greenwich, No. 7 Ludlowe (Fairfield), No. 9 Ridgefield, No. 10 Staples (Westport) and Darien did playing in the FCIAC, the state's lacrosse heartland. Greenwich is the defending champion and beat Ridgefield, Staples and Darien during the regular season.

Blue Crush
This is the ninth season that the CIAC has held a girls lacrosse tournament. Darien has dominated the sport, as it has won six state titles and hopes to win its third-straight Class L title. The Blue Wave are unbeaten in state play this year, but they're ranked third, having lost out-of-state games to the likes of national powers Manhasset and Garden City of New York. Darien (16-3) has already beaten five of the top contenders during FCIAC play — No. 6 Staples (Westport), No. 7 Ludlowe (Fairfield), No. 8 Ridgefield, No. 9 Wilton and No. 10 Greenwich. Glastonbury is the top seed and has beaten No. 2 Conard (West Hartford) (16-5, April 30) and Greenwich (12-11). One of its losses was to FCIAC runner-up New Canaan (11-10, April 27).