Printer Friendly Version - Valley Baseball Advances to Conference Final with 2-1 Win Over Morgan

Brett Camilleri and the Valley Regional baseball team will play for the Shoreline Conference championship after squeaking out a 2-1 victory versus Morgan in the semifinals.Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

The No. 3 seed Valley Regional baseball team defeated No. 6 Old Lyme 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Shoreline Conference Tournament, after which the Warriors won at Morgan by a 2-1 score in the semifinals on May 25. Valley Regional (16-6) moves on to face No. 8 Cromwell in the Shoreline Conference championship game on Friday, May 27.

Senior pitcher Arik Sypher was masterful in going the distance against Old Lyme, allowing just three hits, while striking out 12 for the shutout victory. Sypher also contributed at the plate with an RBI double. Derek Hill and Brett Camilleri each had RBI doubles and Matt Robida had two hits for the Warriors.

"I said early this season that we have great pitching and today Sypher showed it and now we get to come back with Eppard tomorrow," Head Coach Gary Marineau said after the win. "We feel pretty good about that!"

Coach Marineau was right to feel good as Valley went to Clinton and edged the No. 2 seed Huskies (17-5) by the score of 2-1. Valley was led by senior captain Nash Eppard, who threw a complete game and struck out seven for the win. Sypher doubled and scored, Brett Camilleri had an RBI on fielder's choice, Derek Hill had a hit and scored a run, and Jacob Meketa had a single and also a great sacrifice bunt that led to a Warriors' run.

"I am so proud of my kids. We have been working really hard and it is paying off," Marineau said. "Assistant coach Ryan Fuller has been awesome for us, as well. We are looking forward to this great opportunity on Friday."

Valley lost both ots its games this week versus Branford and Cromwell to end its season at 6-14.

First up was a contest versus Branford and Valley hung tough, yet their comeback came up just short in the 3-2 loss. Branford jumped on the Warriors early for three runs in the bottom of the first, after which pitcher Hannah Clark settled in to throw shutout ball the rest of the way. On offense, Valley chipped away at the lead and closed to 3-2, but was unable to push the game-tying run across the plate in the late innings. Clark took the hard-luck loss on the mound and went 2-for-3 at the dish, while senior captain Kaleigh Caulfield was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk and Morgan Bakoledis also went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The Valley girls’ lacrosse team lost its final game of the season to non-conference foe St. Bernard, 13-10. Goalie Rhyan Nedobity finished with 11 saves for the Warriors.

On May 23, Valley was shut out 7-0 against Old Lyme in their its match of the week. The loss dropped the Warriors to 9-9 on the year.

“[We] only had one match this week [and] we lost badly, 7-0,” said Head Coach Bunny Logan. “They are a good team. We tried, but couldn’t quite pull it out.”

The Valley golf team lost its final match of the regular season to Portland on May 25. The contest was played on the Warriors' home turf at the Fox Hopyard Golf Club and Valley lost 162-213 to the Highlanders.