Printer Friendly Version - East Haven Softball Loses in SCC Semis; Baseball Takes States Opener

Selena Mauro recorded her 100th career hit with the East Haven softball squad when the Yellowjackets notched a 9-4 win versus Hand in the SCC Tournament quarterfinals on May 23. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

The East Haven softball team recorded a Senior Night win versus Hand and then defeated the Tigers again in the quarterfinals of the SCC Tournament last week.

The Easties honored their five seniors prior to the start of their regular-season finale against Hand on May 21. It was also the team’s first game after the passing of East Haven coaching legend Frank Crisafi, the father of Yellowjackets’ Head Coach Ed Crisafi.

Seniors Brianna Carrano, Selena Mauro, Jessica Stettinger, Julia SanGiovanni, and Mariah DeCarlo were honored before the first pitch of the game. When the game began, the Yellowjackets delivered with a 7-1 victory to finish the regular season with a record of 12-8.

After that, East Haven opened play in the SCC Tournament as the No. 7 seed and visited No. 2 Hand for a quarterfinal contest on May 22. The Yellowjackets took an early 2-0 lead, before the rains game, causing the game to be postponed to May 23. After the game resumed, the Easties went on to get to a 9-4 victory and advance to the conference semifinals. Mauro collected her 100th career hit with the Yellowjackets in the win.

East Haven played at No. 3 seed North Haven in the SCC semis on May 25 and took a 5-0 defeat. With an overall record of 13-9, the 19th-seeded Yellowjackets will play at No. 14 seed Berlin (14-6) in the first round of the Class M State Tournament at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29.

The East Haven baseball team won its opening game in the Class L State Tournament by notching a 3-1 home win against No. 35 Law in the qualifying round on May 26. The No. 30 seed Yellowjackets (10-11) will play at 2nd-seeded Hand (18-5) in the first round at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29.

Senior Molly Mazzucco took second place in the high jump, while freshman Kisha Francois scored points in three events, including a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash, for the East Haven girls’ outdoor track team at the SCC Championship. The Yellowjackets posted a total of 21 points to finish in 11th place at Lyman Hall High School on May 23.

Francois scored eight of the Easties’ points on the day. Her best performance came in the 100 as she placed first in the qualifying heat with a time of 12.50 seconds and then bettered her time to 12.45 in the final, ultimately finishing in third place. Francois finished eighth for both the 200 and the long jump. In the 200, she posted a time of 27.18. Francois recorded a distance of 15 feet-8.5 inches in the long jump. Mazzucco finished second for the high jump with a height of 4-10 inches. She was two inches behind first-place finisher, Nyla Conaway of Cross.

The Yellowjackets scored five points in the javelin as Summer Onorato and Isabella Ragaini both placed in the event. Onorato finished sixth with a toss of 97 feet-6 inches, and Ragaini was right behind her in seventh with a throw of 95-11.

Other performances by the Easties included Haley Montesanto in the 100 hurdles (11th, 18.04) and 300 hurdles (13th, 51.25), Ragaini in the 300 hurdles (16th, 52.48), Natalia Gentile in the long jump (17th, 14-0), and Mazzucco in the triple jump (18th, 29-6.5).

The Yellowjackets finished in 17th place with 10 points scored at last week’s SCC Championship.

The best individual finish for the Easties came from senior Jay Donaldson, who scored four points by placing fifth in the 100-meter dash. Donaldson ended up in second place in the qualifying heat with a time of 10.84 seconds and then clocked in at 11.16 for fifth place in the final. Radames Figueroa and Evan Damian both scored both points in the 110 high hurdles. Damian finished in sixth place in the final heat with a time of 16.09 seconds, while Figueroa took eighth at 16.60. They qualified for the final heat with almost identical times as Figueroa was seventh at 16.25 and Damian was eighth at 16.31.

East Haven also saw its 4x100 relay team of Donaldson, Figueroa, Tom Myerholz, and Mike Castellano score two points with a seventh-place finish and a time of 44.99.

East Haven’s other competitors at the SCC Championship included Kaio Zanette in the 400 (17th, 53.78), Myerholz in the 110 hurdles (14th, 17.13) and 300 hurdles (16th, 44.94), Ian Loehmann in the 110 hurdles (17th, 17.83), Figueroa in the 300 hurdles (19th, 45.66), Damian in the 300 hurdles (22nd, 46.48), Nathan Santos in the long jump (11th, 18-6), plus Calvin Nelson in the shot put (17th, 38-11.25) and the discus (10th, 107-3).

The Yellowjackets took a 6-1 loss to Branford in their last match of the year and finished at 5-15 overall.

Jade Roberts won a 7-5, 6-4 decision at No. 3 singles for East Haven. Jenna Pane took a 7-5, 2-6, 6-0 defeat at No. 1 singles; Nhi Trinh lost 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles; and Carolyn Miller took a 6-1, 6-0 defeat at No. 4 singles. Autumn Hernandez and Emma Luden lost 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles; Riya Patel and Kayla Vernon dropped a 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 match at No. 2 doubles; and Sophia Angueira and Kelly Wysocki lost 7-6, 6-0 at No. 3 doubles.

East Haven’s top doubles team of Doug Comesanas and Seth Proto has qualified for the Class M State Championship. The duo is competing in the doubles tournament at the championship this week.

The Yellowjackets recently completed their regular season with an overall record of 6-15-1.

On May 21, East Haven took losses to Branford and Foran at Pine Orchard Country Club. Branford finished with a 162, Foran shot a 177, and East Haven ended the day with a 204. Logan Hamilton had East Haven’s top score with a 44, Mike Astorino shot a 45, Mike Moscato played to a 53, and Andrew Zito finished with a 62.

The next day, the Easties took on Law and Hillhouse at Alling Memorial Golf Club. East Haven took a 165-194 loss versus Law, but earned a 194-196 victory over Hillhouse.

To conclude its regular season, East Haven dropped a 177-194 home match to North Branford. Astorino finished with a 45, Mike Moscato and Hamilton each shot a 48, and Jon Moscato finished at 53.

Kisha Francois had a big day for East Haven at the SCC Championship by scoring points in three events. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier