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05/20/2019 12:00 AMThe East Haven softball team split its final four games of the regular season to post a record of 11-9 and narrowly miss out on a berth in the SCC Tournament. Despite that, the Yellowjackets will gear up for a first-round home game in the Class L State Tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday, May 28. Last week, East Haven took defeats versus Lyman Hall (6-4) and Cheshire (3-0), before finishing the regular season with wins against North Branford (15-3) and Amity (6-5 in 10 innings).
On May 14, East Haven hosted Lyman Hall on Senior Night. Before the game, the eight members of the Yellowjackets’ senior class were honored in a ceremony. East Haven’s seniors are captains Taylor Myers, Jenna Esposito, and Megan Roberts, along with Jaime Gallo, Selena DeFelice, Christina Fowler, Erica Colacino, and Angeliss Perez.
“The juniors and sophomore walk out the parents of the seniors, and then the individual seniors come out to meet their parents, get flowers, and then we get the group shot. It’s nice,” Head Coach Ed Crisafi said. “I like to do the intros, because it shows the seniors that they’ve been a part of a program and that the coach cares about them. I want to be a part of the pregame celebration.”
East Haven wound up losing a 6-4 decision against Lyman Hall. Freshman Emilee Bishop only allowed two earned runs in the defeat. Sophomore Tori Heaphy hit a pair of home runs and had three RBI for the Yellowjackets. Colacino had a memorable Senior Night by getting a base hit in the game.
The following afternoon, East Haven held another pregame ceremony prior to its home game against Cheshire. The ceremony commemorated the donation of a new scoreboard for the field that was donated by the family of Michael “Diesel” DeAngelo. DeAngelo was a captain for East Haven’s football, boys’ basketball, and baseball teams who passed away in 2016.
Coach Crisafi felt proud that his athletes participated in the effort to help raise money for the scoreboard. Now, there are two scoreboards at East Haven High School that are named in memory of DeAngelo.
“Diesel was a great kid. I taught him at the middle school, he worked at my camp, and coached him for boys’ basketball with Ricky [Narracci],” Crisafi said. “He was a vibrant, exuberant, fantastic kid. The father bought all the girls shirts that said ‘Powered by Diesel,’ and we wore those as our warmup shirts during the pregame.”
The Yellowjackets took a 3-0 loss to Cheshire in the game. Heaphy turned in a solid performance on the mound by allowing just four hits to go with 10 strikeouts. It was a 1-0 game going into the seventh inning, when Cheshire added a pair of insurance runs.
On May 16, East Haven was on the road to face North Branford and posted a commanding 15-3 victory versus the Thunderbirds. Heaphy threw a six-hitter and struck out nine, while helping herself at the plate by getting four hits in the win.
Junior Becky Flynn had four hits with three RBI and three runs scored for the Yellowjackets. Gallo had four hits, including a home run, and also scored three runs. Sophomore Kayla Rosario had two hits, as did fellow sophomore Brooke Clancy, who also drove in three runs.
East Haven closed out the week by rallying a 6-5 walk-off win over Amity in 10 innings on May 18. Amity took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 10th, but in the bottom half of the frame, Flynn led off with a hit and then freshman Magdalena Barthel doubled to put runners on second and third. With one out, Gallo stuck out on a pitch that got away, allowing her to take off for first base. Amity’s catcher threw out Gallo, but Flynn advanced home on the throw to tie the game at 5. With two outs, Rosario dropped down a bunt that brought home pinch runner DeFelice to win it for the Easties.
Heaphy pitched another great game by scattering eight hits over 10 innings to go with 10 punchouts. Barthel had three hits, one of which was a home run, with a pair of RBI. Freshman Jilien Ayala had three hits, while Clancy and Flynn added two hits apiece to help the Yellowjackets post a winning record for the regular season.
With states on the way, Coach Crisafi feels confident that East Haven can make some waves in the tourney. Crisafi believes that the Yellowjackets’ rough schedule has the club prepared for postseason play.
“We played Cheshire tough twice, beat North Haven, beat NFA, played with West Haven, and beat Amity,” said Crisafi. “We had the toughest schedule in the SCC, and we think we can do some serious damage in the State Tournament. I think we’re flying under the radar.”