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04/19/2015 12:00 AMConfidence is on the rise for the East Haven softball team following blowout wins over two SCC Oronoque division foes last week, as well as a big victory over non-conference rival North Branford.
The Yellowjackets started the season 0-2, losing to both Foran and Mercy, but have evened their record back to 3-3. The biggest adjustment Head Coach Ed Crisafi has needed to make this season is not having Talia Loda going to the mound every game.
“This is life without Tal,” he said. “We have two junior pitchers, one sophomore, one freshman, plus the senior Casey Smith. I have a lot to choose from and they’re all going to get better. We have good young pitching coming up through the system in the middle school. The future is bright, but we don’t have someone to get nine strikeouts a game. Now, we need to make the plays in the field. When we do, we’re fine.”
East Haven started the week on April 13 with a 24-0 shellacking of division foe Wilbur Cross. The Yellowjackets scored two runs in the first, five in the second, and 17 in the third. Smith went the distance on the hill, striking out six in a complete game three-hit shutout. As a team, East Haven had 23 hits and walked seven times. Laura Anderson led the offense with four hits and four other girls had three hits each. Allison Luzzi and Chelsea Brandt both had three RBI.
“We had our hitting shoes,” Crisafi said. “That’s a bright spot this year. We’re hitting the ball.”
Unfortunately, the Yellowjackets couldn’t quite muster enough offense to defeat Sheehan in their subsequent contest, taking a tough 4-3 loss at the Titans on April 15. It was 3-3 entering the seventh, but in the bottom of the inning, Sheehan scored on an error for the walk-off win.
“Instead of going to extras, we get beat 4-3. It was a tough game. Laura Anderson pitched a nice game. She had them off stride,” Crisafi said. “First and third one out in the sixth and couldn’t score. After we scored in the fourth, we had bases loaded with two outs and couldn’t score. First and third in the fifth and couldn’t get the hit. In our losses, we haven’t been able to get the big two-out hit.”
Following the Sheehan game, East Haven put together back-to-back wins over Career and North Branford. Against Career on April 16, the Yellowjackets won 15-5 and Crisafi got his whole team in the game. Nineteen different girls had at least one at-bat as East Haven put the game away early, scoring 11 runs in the first two innings. Freshman Selena Mauro earned her first win of the season, allowing four runs (three earned) with four strikeouts in four innings. The win moved defending division champion East Haven to 2-0 in SCC Oronoque play.
Then on April 18, East Haven defeated North Branford 6-4 to even its overall record at 3-3. Freshman catcher Jessica Settinger hit a three-run home run in the second inning to give East Haven an early lead. Settinger and fellow freshman Julia SanGiovanni have made a big impact on the club early in the season. Settinger is hitting .667 with a team-high seven RBI and Sangiovanni has a .421 average through six games.
“She’s doing a great job catching. She has a great arm, so nobody steals. It’s going to be great to have her for as a backstop for four years. Coming into the year, catcher was going to be one of our worrying points. We didn’t know who was going to catch, but she stepped right up,” Crisafi said of Settinger. “Jules has been a pleasant surprise. We knew she could hit, but we can put her anywhere on the field. She would be one of my best defensive players no matter where I put her.”
East Haven’s other runs against North Branford were scored in the fifth, when Kara Hanson and Anderson hit back-to-back RBI singles to put East Haven ahead 5-3. In the sixth, with the score 5-4, Luzzi hit a two-out RBI single to increase the lead. East Haven made in interesting in the top of the seventh. North Branford loaded the bases with two errors, but sophomore Brianna Ruggerio got a strikeout and induced a groundout to finish off the game.
It hasn’t been the fastest start to the 2015 season for the Yellowjackets, but Crisafi has been down this road before and is emphasizing that to his players.
“Last year we were 5-4, so we didn’t start out fast last year, so we’re stressing that,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent. We just have to tighten it up.”