Printer Friendly Version - East Haven Baseball Earns a Share of the Quinnipiac Title; Coward Wins Shot Put at Sectionals

Ryan Spano had some timely hits for the East Haven baseball team last week. The Yellowjackets went 12-8 overall for the regular season and won the Quinnipiac Division title with a record of 4-2. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

The East Haven baseball team wrapped up the 2017 regular season by winning a share of the Quinnipiac Division title behind a record of 4-2 in divisional action. The Yellowjackets shared the title with North Haven, but earned the higher seed in the SCC Tournament based on a better record against non-common opponents. The Easties own an overall record of 12-8 entering the postseason.

East Haven took a 5-3 loss to Branford on May 15. Ryan Spano had three hits and Tyler Leone hit a home run for the Yellowjackets.

The next day, East Haven took on Coginchaug and prevailed by a 4-1 score. Nick Kraszewski earned the win on the mound as he allowed one run on four hits. Spano, Nate Furino, and Leone each had an RBI, while as Leone added two hits in the victory.

The Easties closed out the regular season with a 10-6 loss to Hand. Dom Delbasso had a double, triple, and two RBI; Leone homered and drove in a pair, plus Furino and Jake Ferrara had one RBI apiece.

In the SCC Tournament, East Haven earned the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 North Haven on Monday, May 22 at 4 p.m. Should the Yellowjackets win that game, they’ll play the winner of No. 1 Amity and No. 8 Hamden in the semifinal on Tuesday, May 23. The final is slated for Thursday, May 25 at 6:30 p.m. at West Haven.

East Haven finished the regular season at 13-7 overall with a record of 6-2 in SCC Quinnipiac play. The Yellowjackets had a chance to clinch a share of the division title with Hand, but took a loss to the Tigers on May 18. Three days before that, the Easties beat Lauralton Hall 5-4.

Prior to the Lauralton game, East Haven honored its lone senior Fallon Speers in the Senior Night festivities. As for the game, both pitchers dominated as the Yellowjackets’ Taylor Myers allowed just four hits and no earned runs through her seven innings. East Haven’s offense only mustered four hits, but the Yellowjackets took advantage of the 10 walks they drew as a team. Julia SanGiovanni had two walks, while Jess Stettinger walked three times. Brianna Carrano finished with a hit and two RBI, Speers drove home with a bases-loaded walk, and Megan Roberts had an RBI triple.

Against Hand, East Haven lost a 10-6 contest to the Tigers. Despite outhitting Hand 14-9, the Yellowjackets struggled defensively and made four costly errors that led to half of Hand’s runs being unearned. At the plate, Stettinger was 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored, SanGiovanni had two hits and two runs, Mauro had two hits with a run, plus Diana Kalman had three hits, including a double and a triple, with three RBI.

In the upcoming SCC Tournament, the Yellowjackets claimed the No. 6 seed and will visit No. 3 Guilford on Wednesday, May 24 at 3:45 p.m. Should the Easties win that game, they will play the winner of No. 2 North Haven and No. 7 West Haven on Thursday, May 25 at West Haven at either 5 or 7 p.m. The final is slated for Saturday, May 27 at West Haven at noon.

Niam Coward took first place in the shot put with a throw of 45 feet-1.25 inches for the Yellowjackets at the SCC West Sectional Championship. Coward edged Xavier’s Griffin Saks by two inches to claim the crown. Coward’s stellar performance didn’t stop there as he also finished in second in the discus with a toss of 120 feet-6 inches. With those two performances, Coward finished with 18 of East Haven’s 54 points as the Yellowjackets placed seventh as a team.

Also scoring points in multiple events for East Haven were Jordan Ingram and Reinaldo Martinez. Ingram took third in the 200 and was fourth in the 100 to score 11 points. In the 100, he finished at 11.26 in the preliminary heat for fifth place. Ingram then bettered his time to 11.18 in the final to move up a spot. In the 200, Ingram finished with a time of 22.92. Martinez placed second in the 300 intermediate hurdles at 42.46 and was fourth in the 100 high hurdles to score 13 points. Martinez finished fifth with a 16.74 for the first heat of the 100 hurdles, but then improved to 16.34 in the final to jump up to fourth. East Haven’s other individual points were scored in the javelin. Dominic Manna scored five as he placed fourth with a throw of 123 feet-8 inches, plus Josh Rao posted a pair of points with his seventh-place performance at 115 feet-6 inches. The Yellowjackets’ other points were scored by the 4x100 relay of Mike Castellano, Ingram, Manna, and McClay Marshall, who took fourth at 45.72 to score five points.

The Yellowjackets competed in the SCC West Sectional on May 15 and finished in seventh place with 40 points.

Six different athletes scored individual points for East Haven with Haley Montesanto and Molly Mazzucco faring the best. Montesanto took second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 50.28 seconds to score eight points, while Mazzucco finished second in the high jump at 4 feet-8 inches for eight points. Isabella Ragaini and Sydney Marquardt totaled seven points each as both athletes scored points in a pair of events. Ragaini scored six points with a third-place finish in the javelin behind a throw of 97 feet-9 inches to go with a point in the 300 hurdles as she placed eighth at 54.52. Marquardt’s leap of 15 feet-6 inches was good for a fifth-place finish in the long jump to score four points, and her vault of 7-6 in the pole vault put her in sixth place for three points. Summer Onorato scored five points in the javelin as she finished fourth with a throw of 94 feet-9 inches. Paige Maffeo earned a point in the 100 as her time in the final heat of 13.46 was good for eighth place. In the preliminary, Maffeo took seventh at 13.22. The other points for East Haven were scored by the 4x400 relay team of Montesanto, Ragaini, Paige Maffeo and Katie Maffeo. The group finished in fifth place at 4:30.68 to score four points.

East Haven finished its season with a 6-12 after winning one of its three matches last week.

North Haven defeated East Haven 6-1 on Senior Night on May 15. The next day, Branford topped the Easties 4-3. All of East Haven’s victories came at doubles as Rob Scalese and Jake Zito won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4; Brendan So and Doug Comesanas won 1-6, 7-6, 6-3; and Nick Kluth Anthony Petolla prevailed 3-6, 6-2, 11-9. In singles action, Tony Cofrancesco lost 6-3, 6-2; Spencer Goldberg lost 6-0, 6-0; Nick Vessicchio lost 6-1, 6-0; and Christian Ramirez took a 7-5, 6-1 defeat. To close out the year, the Yellowjackets defeated Career 5-2 on May 18.

The Yellowjackets took three defeats last week and finished with a record of 5-12 this year.

On May 15, Lyman Hall defeated East Haven 4-3. The Easties’ wins came from Jenna Pane at No. 1 singles by a 7-5, 6-2 final; Devyn Gargano at No. 2 singles with the score of 6-1, 6-0; and at No. 3 doubles as the team of Victoria Gaudio and Alexis Pendziwater prevailed 6-4, 6-0. Juliana Mikulski lost 6-1, 1-6, 6-4; Jade Roberts lost 6-2, 6-2; Autumn Hernandez and Sandy Nguyen took a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 defeat; and Mikayla Raffone and Nhi Trinh lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

The next day, Law defeated East Haven 6-1 on Senior Night. Karla Gonzalez won a 6-4, 6-1 decision in the No. 3 singles match. In other action, Pane lost 7-5, 6-3; Gargano lost 6-3, 6-1; Mikulski took a 6-1, 6-3 loss; Hernandez and Nguyen lost 6-2, 6-0; Raffone and Trinh lost 6-1, 6-2; and Gaudino and Pendziwater dropped a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision.

On May 16, the Easties shot a 180 to defeat both Career (208) and Hillhouse (210). Joe Aloi earned medalist honors with a 40, while Matt Latella shot a 43, Logan Hamilton had a 44, and Mike Moscato scored a 53.

The next day, East Haven split its round by posting a 177-191 victory over Wilbur Cross and taking a 152-177 loss to Branford. Aloi shot a 40 and was followed by Latella (41), Hamilton (44), and Moscato 52.

Niam Coward took first place in the shot put at the SCC West Sectional Championship with a throw of 45 feet-1.25 at Amity High School on May 15. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier