West Haven athletic director Jon Capone will receive a merit award from the CIAC at its annual dedication ceremony Friday at the Convention Center at the Mohegan Sun Casino at 4 p.m.
Capone has been the athletic director at West Haven since 1999. The school has hosted numerous
CIAC events at its various facilities. Capone was previously a recipient of the CIAC Unified Sports Service Award.
Paul Hoey, the assistant executive director of the CIAC, is receiving the Dedication Award for over 35 years of service as a school administrator and contributor to high school athletics.
Other merit award winners include: officials Lou Filippetti and Robert Bernier, who have 50 and 37 years of service to the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO), respectively, and girls basketball coaches Jackie DiNardo (over 400 career wins) and Gregg Hunt (over 340 wins).

There has been quite a battle raging between the Orange, Branford, Milford and East Haven American Legion baseball teams for the top spot in Zone II.

Nick Fusco led Orange to a state tournament-qualifying 2-0 victory over Stratford on Wednesday night to improve Post 127's record to 14-3. Branford is right behind at 14-4 while Milford and East Haven both were at 13-5 entering Thursday's games.

Milford's Cody Hadden fired a complete-game one-hitter with 10 strikeouts to lead Post 196 past Hamden on Tuesday night.

In another recent game, Orange ace Mike Concato shut down North Haven Post 76 and East Haven closed in on a tournament berth with a 7-2 win over West Haven.

For more American Legion Zone II coverage, visit ctbulletin.com/sports and ctpostchronicle.com/sports and follow us at twitter.com/ElmCitySports

Ten student-athletes from five high schools have been named The SportsCenter of Connecticut/Southern Connecticut Conference Scholar Athletes of the Month for March.
Student athletes who are selected must be a varsity letterwinner and have a 3.0/B average while demonstrating leadership qualities such as: being a positive role model; helping teammates overcome adversity; showing a commitment to self-improvement; or putting the needs of the team before themselves.
The student-athletes are: Chris Stachurski of Fairfield Prep (track and field), Ben Morrison of Fairfield Prep (golf), Mark Beretta of West Haven (cross country and outdoor track and field), Alyssa Perez of West Haven (volleyball, swimming and tennis), Jacquelin Ferraiolo of Amity (softball), Alex Marieb of Amity (golf), Rick Spencer of Hand (basketball and baseball), Will Crisco of Hand (wrestling), Valerie Hiller of Law (cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field) and Matt Ferraiolo of Law (baseball).