Blogs > High School Sports

Welcome to the New Haven Register high school sports blog where our talented staff of Chris Hunn, Joe Morelli, Dan Nowak and Mike Pucci will keep you up to date on everything to do with high school sports in Connecticut. Mike Pucci's Gridiron Glory blog for high school football remains. We hope you enjoy and feel free to join in the conversation.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Athletes of Year Wednesday

There will not be an All-Area page in Wednesday's paper.

However be sure to check out the Register as we present our 2008-09 High School Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Thanks,

Sean

Monday, June 29, 2009

All-Area Girls Track Tuesday

The All-Area girls track page will appear in Tuesday, June 30th editions of the Register.

Please check back on this blog for more updates of when other All-Area and All-State pages will run.

Thank you,

Sean

Sunday, June 28, 2009

No All-Area page Monday, June 29

We apologize, but there will not be an All-Area page in Monday's editions.

Boys track, girls track and girls lacrosse are each ready to go and we hope to print them this week.

Please check back with this blog each night as we will post what teams will be presented the following day.

Thanks.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

All-State Softball Sunday

Look for the Register's All-State softball team in Sunday's editions.

The Register high school staff will update this blog each night by 7 to let you know if an All-Area team will be released the following day in print.

Thank you for your patience.

Monday, June 22, 2009

All-Star Softball Game now July 13

The Federation Softball Umpires of Greater New Haven All-Star Softball Game will now be played July 13 after being rained out twice.

Game time is 6:40pm at Biondi Field in West Haven.
Pre-Order tickets are $5. Tickets will be $7 at the gate the night of the game.
This event will offer $4,000 dollars in scholarships.
For more information, visit www.fsugnhallstarclassic.com.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Beck gets Hamden job

Jared Beck, 36, was named the boys' basketball coach at Hamden on Friday, replacing Clem Batchelder. Beck had coached under Batchelder the past six seasons and played for Clem as well, graduating in 1990.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Brakettes to host CT All-Stars

The Brakettes softball team will host the Connecticut High School All-Stars in a nine-inning game beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at DeLuca Field in Stratford.

Masuk senior pitcher Rachele Fico will make her debut for the Brakettes. However, that won’t take place until she pitches the first three innings for the scholastic stars. Fico will pitch the final three innings for the Brakettes.

Area standouts also on the scholastic team are: pitchers Katie Hobson (Guilford) and Jenn Cruver (North Haven), and infielders Kate Hoffman (Amity) and Kim Silva (Cheshire).

Masuk’s Jacquelin Sheftz, ex-Brakette Sally Maher of North Haven, and Scott Aresco and Curt Hawkes of Maloney are the all-star coaching staff.

Gates to DeLuca Field will open at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Buckley Headed to Quinnipiac

Fairfield Prep senior Ray Buckley will play baseball at Quinnipiac next season.
Buckley, an outfielder and pitcher, recently committed to play for the Bobcats after hitting .386 with 16 RBIs and three home runs, while finishing with three saves for the Jesuits.

Monday, June 15, 2009

BOYS' LACROSSE: US LACROSSE HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS ANNOUNCED

The Connecticut High School Coaches Association, through U.S. Lacrosse Connecticut representative Frank Barron of Branford, released the following press release at noon today

BRANFORD, CONN., June 15, 2009 -- The Connecticut High School Lacrosse Coaches Association (CHSLCA) in conjunction with the Connecticut High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) is pleased to announce the 2009 US Lacrosse All-America and Academic All-America players from Connecticut. The players were selected by the CHSLCA All-America Committee and included head lacrosse coaches from every CIAC Class L M S division, every Connecticut high school lacrosse league, as well as representative coaches from independent high schools who play lacrosse.

The All-America Committee was selected by all the lacrosse coaches from the entire state and was responsible for the selection of the 2009 United States Marine Corps Connecticut High School Team of the Year, the 2009 Connecticut High School Player of the Year, and the 2009 Connecticut High School Scholar Athlete of the Year. All of the players selected as US Lacrosse All Americans will be honored along with the Class L, Class M, and Class S All-State First and Second Teams, as well as the 2009 US Lacrosse Man of the Year, the 2009 US Lacrosse Coach of the Year, the 2009 US Lacrosse Assistant Coach of the Year, and the 2009 Class L M S Coaches and Assistant Coaches of the Year at the CHSCA annual All State Lacrosse Banquet on Tuesday, June 16 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington, Connecticut.

US Lacrosse All-Americans


Name High School Position Grade Will Attend
Matthew White Ridgefield Attack 12 Virginia
Colin Scott Ridgefield Attack 12 Denver
Chase Bailey Fairfield Prep Attack 12 Bucknell
Brendan Walsh Ridgefield Midfield 12 Fairfield
Harley Brown Fairfield Prep Defense 12 Deerfield Academy/PG
Peter McMahon Wilton Attack 12 Bryant
Andrew Fiamengo New Fairfield Attack 12 Tufts
John Bolton Darien Midfield 12 Lafayette
Joseph LaSala Wilton Defense 12 Washington & Lee
Matt Gorski Darien Defense 12 Ohio State
Ryan Hollenbaugh Glastonbury Defense 12 Massachusetts
Kyle Feeney Greenwich Goal 12 Bucknell
Kyle McNamara Newtown Defense 12 Delaware
Tyler Foley Darien Attack 12 Loyola
Todd Heritage Cheshire Attack 11 Cheshire High School

Connecticut High School Player of the Year: Matthew White, Ridgefield
United States Marine Corps CT High School Team of the Year: Darien

* * * *

US Lacrosse Academic All-Americans


Name High School Position Grade Will Attend
Scott Berges Branford Midfield 12 Bucknell
Michael Horne Brien McMahon Attack 12 Connecticut
Thomas Lynch Conard Defense 12 Middlebury
Harrison Fuchs Fairfield Ludlowe Defense 12 Connecticut
Erich Pfeffer Glastonbury Attack 12 Middlebury
Craig Smith Simsbury Midfield 12 Tufts
Christopher Lescinsky St. Joseph LS Midfield 12 Georgetown

CHSLCA Scholar Athlete of the Year: Erich Pfeffer, Glastonbury

* * * *

US Lacrosse Man of the Year: Randy McCue, Norwalk
US Lacrosse Coach of the Year: Brian Micena, Newtown
US Lacrosse Assistant Coach of the Year: Eric Bailey, Cheshire

Class L Coach of the Year: Brian Micena, Newtown
Class L Asst. Coach of the Year: Eric Bailey, Cheshire

Class M Coach of the Year: Brian White, Guilford
Class M Asst. Coach of the Year: Justin Epstein, Fairfield Ludlowe

Class S Coach of the Year: Brendan Carney, Weston
Class S Asst. Coach of the Year: Aaron Dieckerhoff, Waterford

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Seymour No. 1

The Seymour softball team finishes at No. 1 in the final Register Top 10 Poll.

The Wildcats were the state's only unbeaten team (26-0). Seymour won the Class M title with a 1-0 victory over St. Joseph.

Fitch, the Class LL champ, was second, while Masuk, which had its 77-game winning streak snapped with a 1-0 loss to Fitch, was third.

See the complete poll in Monday's Register.

Gillen Earns All-American Honor

Shelton wrestler Pat Gillen was one of 13 sophomores in the country to earn National High School Coaches Association All-Academic Team honors.
Gillen, who wrestles in the 215-pound class, is a two-time Class AA state runnerup and posted a 49-7 record last season. He finished fourth in the NHSCA Sophomore National Championships. Gillen has a 3.85 GPA.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

West Haven Wins

West Haven edged McMahon 1-0 to win the Class LL title at Palmer Field in Middletown.

Class LL Baseball Update

Heading into the seventh inning, Kevin Croce's solo home run has held up as West Haven leads McMahon 1-0.

Fitch 1, Masuk 0

Fitch has defeated Masuk to win the Class LL state softball title.

The loss snaps Masuk's 77-game winning streak. Seymour holds the state record for consecutive wins, after winning 78 straight from 2005-2007.

The loss likely means there will be a No. 1 team in the final Register Top 10 softball poll when it is released Monday.

Class L Baseball

After throwing 117 pitches Wednesday and taking the mound in all but four innings during the state tournament, pitcher Tommy Lawrence started for No. 4 West Haven against No. 27 McMahon in the Class LL championship at Palmer Field tonight.
Kevin Croce's home run has given the Westies a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

Seymour tops St. Joseph

Alyssa Downs hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to lift top-seeded, and unbeaten, Seymour to a 1-0 win over No. 2 St. Joseph to win the Class M state softball championship.

It was the Wildcats' (26-0) eighth title, and first since 2006.

Senior pitcher Kim Bogen allowed two hits and struck out 12 for Seymour. She was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

St. Joseph finishes at 24-3.

Seymour, Canton wins softball state titles

Seymour, the top seed in Class M, defeated St. Joseph 1-0 to win that particular state championship Saturday afternoon at DeLuca Field in Stratford.

In the first game of the day, No. 10 seed Canton scored twice in the top of the seventh inning on a suicide squeeze to dethrone defending champion Coginchaug 4-2 in Class S. Coginchaug made an error on the play to help Canton win its first state title since 1991.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Branford Wins Class L Title

No. 14 Branford beat top-seeded Berlin 4-2 to win the Class L title.

Class M softball postponed

The Class M softball championship between Seymour and St. Joseph has been postponed. The game was scheduled to be played tonight at 7 at DeLuca Field in Stratford.

The game will now be played on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the same site.

The Class L game between Darien and Waterford was moved from DeLuca Field to West Haven High. First pitch is still scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Carasiti Drafted

Berlin senior pitcher Matt Carasiti was selected in the 36th round by the Texas Rangers, the 1,084th overall selection on the second day of the MLB Draft.
Carasiti, the state Gatorade Player of the Year, was projected to go as high as the fifth round.
Following a 13-strikeout performance in a 4-1 win over Sheehan in the Class L semifinals, the right-handed Carasiti said it was going to take a lot of money to pull him away from St. John's, the school which offered him a partial scholarship.
That's why his stock dropped.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Fico awarded Gatorade honor

Masuk senior pitcher Rachele Fico was named Thursday as the Gatorade State Softball Player of the Year.

Fico, who will pitch at Louisiana State in the fall, won the award for the second straight season.
She will attempt to win a third consecutive Class LL state title when the Panthers face Fitch on Saturday.

Fico is 26-0 with a 0.08 earned run average, and she has struck out 482 batters in 188 innings. She has tossed a national record 26 career perfect games in addition to 47 no-hitters.

Fico is also batting .590 with 27 RBIs, 23 runs and three home runs.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Seymour tops Lauralton Hall

Stephanie Burt scored on an infield error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Seymour softball team to a 1-0 Class M semifinal victory over Lauralton Hall.

Kim Bogen allowed just three hits for No. 1, and unbeaten, Seymour (25-0).

Bridget Gates allowed four hits and struck out 11 for the No.4 Crusaders (22-4).

Seymour will face No. 2 St. Joseph in a rematch of the 2006 Class M final that the Cadets won. The game is scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at DeLuca Field in Straford.

Ashley Peel hit a solo home run in the 10th inning for St. Joe's in a 1-0 win over Woodland in the other semifinal.

In Class L:

Waterford defeated Naugatuck 5-4 in eight innings.
Darien defeated Guilford 3-1.

Waterford vs. Darien, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. at DeLuca Field.

In Class S:
Coginchaug defeated Windsor Locks 1-0 in 13 innings.

Coginchaug vs. Canton, Saturday, noon, at DeLuca Field.

In Class LL
Fitch plays Masuk, Saturday at 7 p.m. at DeLuca Field.

Branford Advances to Championship

Anthony Pelligrino's two home runs and five RBIs propelled Branford to a 10-5 win over Darien to advance to the Class L championship.

Branford Trails...

After fallng behind 3-0 to Branford, Ryan MacDonald and Devin Burke hit back-to-back, two RBI singles to give Darien a 4-3 after four innings in the Class L semifinals at Beehive Stadium in New Britain.
Anthony Pelligrino had a two-run home run in the first inning for Branford, while Buddy Shea added a RBI double in the second.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

New Sites for Softball Semis

The Class L and Class M semifinals, which will now be played Wednesday after being postponed due to rain Tuesday, will be contested at different sites than orginally scheduled.

Class L
Naugatuck vs. Waterford is now at Moody Field in Middletown at 4 p.m.
Darien vs. Guliford is now at Plainville at 7 p.m.

Class M
Both are now at West Haven.
St. Joseph vs. Woodland is at 4 p.m.
Seymour vs. Lauralton Hall is at 7 p.m.

Baseball Postponed

All of today's state tournament baseball games are postponed until Wednesday. Here's a look at Wednesday's schedule...

Class LL
at Palmer Field, Middletown
South Windsor vs. McMahon, 3:30 p.m.
Shelton vs. West Haven, 7 p.m.

Class L
at Beehive Stadium, New Britain
Branford vs. Darien, 3:30 p.m.
Sheehan vs. Berlin, 7 p.m.

Class M
at Muzzy Field, Bristol
Holy Cross vs. Ellington, 3:30 p.m.
Waterford vs. New London, 7 p.m.

Class S
at Quigley Stadium, West Haven
Notre Dame-Fairfield vs. Shepaug Valley, 3:30 p.m.
Trinity Catholic vs. Stafford, 7 p.m.

For a complete look at state tournament brackets and for rosters click here

Softball Semifinals Postponed

Tuesday's state softball semifinals in Class L and Class M have been postponed. The games (Seymour vs. Lauralton Hall, St. Joseph vs. Woodland in Class M and Naugatuck vs. Waterford, Guilford vs. Darien in Class L) are tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

However, sites and times have yet to be determined.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Derby softball loses in Class S semifinals

No. 10 Canton scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning to emerge with a 4-3 victory over Derby in the Class S state softball semifinals.

Frances Klimczak had a RBI single, and Sarah Benedetti drove in the winning run with a triple for the Warriors (17-5).

Canton pitcher Monique Gauthier allowed five hits and struck out 11.

Derby pitcher Christina Gelardi allowed just six hits, and she added a two-run triple. The Red Raiders finish at 17-8.

In Class LL:

Masuk defeated Southington 1-0, and Fitch defeated Mercy 4-0.

Coginchaug softball postponed

The Class S state softball semifinal between Windsor Locks and Coginchaug, scheduled for today at 4 p.m. in West Haven, has been postponed.

The game has been re-scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Plainville.

Late this morning, Windsor Locks coach Mike Morhardt was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, according to Coginchaug athletic director Ted Lombardo. The CIAC made the decision to postpone to Wednesday, since the forecast calls for rain on Tuesday.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Final two weeks of the high school season

The final two weeks of the nine-month high school sports season is upon us. Plenty of area teams are still competing for state championships.
In baseball, Shelton and West Haven square off on Tuesday for a berth in the Class LL finals. That game will be played at Palmer Field in Middletown at 7 p.m. At Beehive Field in New Britain, Sheehan and Branford are playing in separate games Tuesday for the right to reach the Class L final this weekend.
DeLuca Field in Stratford and West Haven High are the sites for the softball semifinals. Area teams Mercy (Class LL), Naugatuck (Class L), Guilford (L), Derby (S) and Coginchaug (S) are all battling for spots in the finals while the Class M matchup between Seymour and Lauralton Hall at DeLuca Tuesday night should bring out plenty of people to watch Kim Bogen and Bridget Gates possibly duel into extra innings.
In lacrosse, Amity and Fairfield Prep square off tomorrow in the Class L boys' lacrosse quarterfinals in Woodbridge. Guilford (M) and Morgan (S) are also still alive.
Cheshire is the remaining boys' volleyball team in the area. The Rams come off a come-from-behind five-set win at Fairfield Ludlowe Friday night. Now Cheshire tries to take down another giant killer, Southington, in the semifinals Tuesday night.
The golf championships for Divisions II, III and IV will be contested Monday while Division I is on Tuesday. The girls' golf championship is also on Tuesday.
The finals for the boys' tennis individual division championships and the girls State Open is Wednesday. The State Open track meet is Monday at New Britain.

Next week, the State Open for boys' tennis and the heptathlon and the decathalon for track concludes the season.

See you out there.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

GIRLS LACROSSE: SCC SUFFERS POST-SEASON SHOCKER/LOCAL HOPE LIES WITH HK

The Southern Connecticut Conference has developed into one of the top leagues in the state and that includes girls' lacrosse. But it was an uncharacteristic dark day for the SCC on Saturday as SCC girls' lacrosse teams went 0-5 combined in the first round of the CIAC Division I and II tournaments.
In Division I, No. 13 Hamden lost to No. 4 Glastonbury 20-6, No. 14 Cheshire lost to No. 3 Avon 20-8 and No. 15 Hand lost to tournament favorite No. 2 Wilton 11-7.
In Division II, No. 9 West Haven lost to No. 8 Granby 10-4 and No. 12 Sacred Heart Academy lost to No. 5 New Milford 16-9.
The only New Haven Register local girls' lacrosse team that had first-round success was Shoreline Conference representative Haddam-Killingworth. No. 3 HK defeated No. 14 Fitch 10-4.
All season HK has used balanced scoring led by Emily Anderson, Emily Pollack, Lindsay Gorman and Michaela Litevich and a solid defense led by goalie Teagan Ferguson and so far the combo has been serving the Cougars well in the post season.

Derby softball reaches semifinals

Senior pitcher Christina Gelardi pitched a one-hitter and struck out eight to lead Derby to a 3-1 win over Hale-Ray in the Class S quarterfinals.

Gelardi also had two hits, including a run-scoring double. Senior third baseman Ashley Bartone had an RBI single, and junior catcher Shela Cavagnuolo had an RBI sacrifice fly for the No. 11 Red Raiders (17-7).

Sophomore third baseman Morgan Humble had the only hit for the No. 19 Little Noises (12-11).

Derby will face No. 10 Canton in the semifinals.

In other tournament games:
Class LL
Masuk 1, Cheshire 0 (10): With the bases loaded and no one out, Cheshire’s Linda Amarante hit Jessica Bulan with a pitch, scoring Nikki Brice from third for the winning run.

The No. 8-seeded Rams finish 18-7; Masuk improved to 25-0 and ran its winning streak up to 76 games.
Masuk’s Rachel Fico struck out 27 batters and allowed just two hits over 10 frames. Amarante (15-7) struck out three.

Class L
Naugatuck 1, Maloney 0: Pitcher Alana Wesche helped her cause with an RBI double with one out in the fourth inning, scoring Alexis Granahan from first base to lead the host and No. 1 seed Greyhounds to their quarterfinal win.

Waterford 2, Lyman Hall 0: Waterford took advantage of five Lyman Hall errors and plated both its runs in the second inning en route to a quarterfinal win at Wallingford.

Class M
Seymour 1, Griswold 0:
Kim Bogen did a little of everything for the Wildcats in their quarterfinal win, hurling eight innings of three-hit, shutout ball and driving in the game’s only run.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Softball Tournament Games Postponed

All 15 CIAC softball state tournament quarterfinal games scheduled for today have been postponed due to rain.

Guilford defeated Hand, 3-0, in a Class L quarterfinal game on Thursday.

The games are rescheduled for Saturday.

Click here to go to the CIAC softball main page, where you can browse the brackets.

CIAC softball games postponed

All of Friday's quarterfinal games, including area teams Lauralton Hall, Seymour, Lyman Hall, Cheshire and Derby, will now be played Saturday.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

GIRLS' LACROSSE: POTENTIAL MILESTONES FOR CHESHIRE

Several milestones are within reach for the Cheshire girls’ lacrosse team as we enter the CIAC Division I tournament.

Offense has been the Rams’ strength and they enter the tournament with 250 goals. The school record is 259 goals in a season set in 2000. The Rams have scored nine or more goals in every game this season and are averaging 13.9 goals a game.

The Cheshire girls’ lacrosse program is in its 14th year and this season Katharine Eddy became the fourth player in the program to have 70-plus goals in a season (she has 77 goals and 35 assists). Others to accomplish the feat were Tracy Kennedy (77 goals in 1999), Jen Martha (single-season school record 82 goals in 2001) and Dana Heritage (81 goals in 2005).
Kailey Farrell has a shot to be the fifth member of the 70-plus goal club. She has 64goals and eight assists.

Amity, Hand girls tennis matches suspended

Amity and Hand will resume its respective state tournament semifinal-round matches Thursday at Yale University at 1 p.m.

Amity will finish its match against Glastonbury in Class L with the winner getting Greenwich. New Canaan and Hand will finish its Class M match with Wilton awaiting the winner. The finals are slated to begin at 3.

Also, the Guilford-Hand Class L quarterfinal-round softball game has been moved up from Friday to Thursday at 4 p.m. in Madison.

Monday, June 1, 2009

SCC LACROSSE TOURNAMENT: CLARIFICATION ON STARTING TIME FOR GIRLS' FINAL TONIGHT (MONDAY)

On Friday, Branford High officials said the Southern Connecticut Conference girls' lacrosse championship would start at 7:30 p.m. due to extra ceremonies following the boys' final. However, SCC commissioner Al Carbone said that wasn't accurate.
The SCC boys' lacrosse final will start at 5 p.m. and the girls game will start right after the trophy ceremony for the boys' champion at approximately 7 p.m.