Printer Friendly Version - Hand Baseball Stuns Guilford, Edged by Amity in SCCs; Girls’ Lacrosse Takes States Opener

Kevin Tracy had the game-winning sacrifice fly to help the Hand baseball team beat Guilford by a 4-3 score in an 11-innign thriller in the SCC Tournament quarterfinals on May 20. The Tigers took a 7-6 loss to Amity in the semifinals two days later. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Source

The Hand baseball team started off the SCC Tournament by earning an exciting win versus Guilford, before taking a defeat against Amity in the semifinal round. The Tigers, who have an overall record of 16-6, are playing in the Class L State Tournament this week.

The 3rd-seeded Tigers rallied for a 4-3 walk-off victory in 11 innings over No. 6 Guilford in the SCC quarterfinals on May 20. Hand was trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the 10th inning, but pushed three runs across to get the victory, winning it on a sacrifice RBI by Kevin Tracy. Austin Doyle had three hits on the afternoon for the Tigers.

Two days later, Hand lost a 7-6 contest to Amity in the SCC semifinals at West Haven. Julian Banerji had an RBI single, Anthony DePino hit an RBI double, and Colin Telford also drove in a run to give Hand a 3-1 lead after the top of the fourth inning. Amity came back with five runs in the bottom half to take a 6-3 advantage.

The Spartans extended the lead to 7-3 entering the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh, the Tigers got a rally going and cut it to 7-6 on an RBI by DePino, a sacrifice fly from Kevin Girardi, and an RBI from Will Kleinhenz. However, the Spartans were able prevent Hand from scoring the tying run and held on for the victory.

The No. 7 seed Tigers traveled to No. 2 Cheshire for an SCC Tournament quarterfinal contest on May 20. Hand dropped a 2-0 decision in a game that was shortened to five innings due to weather. Next up for the Tigers (11-10) is the Class L State Tournament that gets underway this week.

The Tigers lost a contest in the SCC semifinals last week, but came back to start off the state tourney with a win.

No. 4 seed Hand took a 19-7 road loss to No. 1 seed Cheshire in SCC semifinals on May 21. As the No. 17 seed in the Class M State Tournament, the Tigers played at No. 16 Branford in the qualifying round and triumphed by the final score of 16-6 on May 24. Hand advanced to face top-seeded Guilford (15-3) for a first-round game at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28.

The 4th-seeded Tigers were on the road to face No. 1 seed Fairfield Prep in the SCC semis and took a 14-5 defeat on May 21. Hand, which is now 11-7 overall, opens play in the Class M State Tournament this week.

Hand tallied a score of 148 to defeat Cheshire (174) and Amity (188) on May 23 and finish the regular season at 14-3. Matthew Doyle shot a two-under-par 33 to earn match medalist honors. Jake Bennett (36), Conner Quinn (38), and Aidan Stuart (41) rounded out the scoring for the Tigers.

Hand will compete in the SCC Championship Race Brook Country Club at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 2.

Hand finished the regular season with a mark of 8-6 after winning two of three last week.

Hand lost a 191-221 contest versus Amity on May 20, but bounced back with a 201-204 victory over Suffield the following day. On May 23, Hand defeated Mercy 197-221.

The Tigers will compete at the SCC Championship at Hawk’s Landing Country Club on Wednesday, May 29 at 8 a.m.

Hand placed eighth with 45 points scored at the SCC Championship at Lyman Hall on May 20.

John Genther finished second in the shot put with a toss of 45 feet-7.5 inches, while Colin McCabe placed seventh at 41-4.25 for the Tigers. Russ Powell finished third in the triple jump (40-5.5), and Ameen Parks took fourth for the 400 in 50.28 seconds. Greyson McGeary finished sixth for the 100 high hurdles (16.29) and Powell came in eighth (16.69). McGeary took third place for the 300 intermediate hurdles (41.99), and Corey Duncanson finished in sixth (43.00).

Hand’s 4x800 relay Drew Carone, Paul Odyniec, Besufekad Opstrup, and Conner Parthasarthy finished fifth (8:24.41). Powell tied for sixth in the high jump (6-0), and Isaiah McNeilly followed in eighth (6-0). Jon Mader finished in a tie for fifth in the pole vault with a height of 11-6.

Chloe Thompson claimed second place in the 800 with a time of 2:22.10. Hand’s 4x400 relay of Morgan Combs, Thompson, Meryl Sullivan, and Chanelle Dortch finished fourth (4:20.10), while the 4x800 relay of Thompson, Combs, Dortch, and Keelin Virgulto also came in fourth place by recording a time of 10:20.84.

Greyson McGeary had a solid showing in the hurdles to help the Hand boys’ outdoor track team finished eighth at the SCC Championship on May 20. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Source