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06/06/2021 12:00 AMAfter losing to Jonathan Law in the opening round of the SCC Tournament, the East Haven softball team entered the second phase of the playoffs by competing in the Class L State Tournament last week. Bolstered by solid pitching and some late-game heroics, the Yellowjackets won their first two games in the tourney to move into the semifinal round.
As the No. 5 in the Class L State Tournament, East Haven had a first-round bye and then claimed a 6-2 win over Killingly in a second-round matchup. The Yellowjackets went on to notch a 1-0, nine-victory versus Waterford in the quarterfinals to advance to face Masuk in the semifinals, improving their overall record to 18-3.
East Haven had taken a 5-2 defeat to Law in the SCC quarterfinals prior to playing in states. While the Yellowjackets were disappointed with the loss, Head Coach Ed Crisafi knew that his team would refocus and be ready to compete in the Class L bracket.
“We always stress to them that the SCC is nice to play in, but in 5, 10 years from now, you’ll never remember how you did. You make a run in the State Tournament, that’s the one you’ll always remember,” Coach Crisafi said. “While the SCC Tournament was going on, we scrimmaged North Haven and Seymour. [Junior Emilee Bishop] was dominating in both scrimmages, which is why we decided to go with her in states.”
Following their first-round bye, the 5th-seeded Easties hosted No. 12 Killingly for a second-round game on June 2 and won the contest by a 6-2 score. East Haven scored a run in the second inning, two runs in the fourth, and three more in the fifth before Killingly scored its two runs in the sixth. Bishop got the start on the mound and pitched five innings for the Yellowjackets, striking out eight batters. Senior captain Tori Heaphy threw the final two innings and struck out three.
Heaphy and fellow senior captains Sammie Franceschi and Kayla Goodrich each hit a home run for the Easties in the victory. Goodrich, Franceschi, and junior Magdalena Barthel all had two hits.
Coach Crisafi thought that East Haven would put a few more runs on the board versus Killingly, but in the end, he was pleased to see his team get the win and move on to the quarterfinals.
“We didn’t hit like we thought we would hit. Their pitcher was a junk-ball pitcher, but she threw strikes, and they had a good defense,” said Crisafi. But Emilee was dominating. She had 11 strikeouts. We had two days to prepare for what we knew was going to be a battle against Waterford.”
On June 4, East Haven hit the road to face No. 4 seed Waterford in the Class L quarterfinals. The Yellowjackets claimed a 1-0 victory in nine innings in what Coach Crisafi called one of the greatest games that he’s ever seen in his 28 years as the Easties’ head coach.
East Haven and Waterford were locked in a scoreless tie heading into extra innings. In the top of the ninth, Clancy came up to the plate and blasted a ball over the fence for a solo homer to give East Haven a 1-0 lead. Waterford loaded the bases with just one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Bishop struck out the next two batters to secure a 1-0 victory for the Yellowjackets. Bishop gave up just five hits and struck out 11 in her complete-game shutout performance.
“The bench emptied. We had a lot of fans there—parents and relatives. The place just went nuts,” Crisafi said of the reaction after Clancy’s homer. “The way Emilee was pitching, it just jacked us up. She took the wind out of Waterford’s sails just a little bit. It was euphoria.”
The last time that East Haven was in the Class L State Tournament was in 2019, when the team made a run to the final and took a 2-0 loss to Masuk. Clancy, Bishop, Goodrich, Franceschi, Heaphy, Barthel, and senior captains Kayla Rosario and Carly Cordova were all on that year’s team, many of them in starting roles. As his club makes another deep postseason run, Coach Crisafi said that having a roster filled with players who have so much playoff experience is proving crucial for the Easties in 2021.
“It means a lot. They’re not afraid of anything, especially after that run,” said Crisafi. “They come to practice, they work every day. They know what is facing them, and they aren’t phased by anything.”
East Haven is facing a familiar foe in top-seeded Masuk in the Class L semifinals at West Haven High School at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8. With a win, the Yellowjackets would face the winner of No. 2 seed St. Joseph and No. 6 Ledyard in the state final on either Friday, June 11 or Saturday, June 12.
Coach Crisafi said that East Haven has made great progress throughout the spring season and is peaking at the right time. Crisafi knows that the Easties will need to bring the same type of fight and intensity that they displayed against Waterford in order to go all the way.
“I would imagine it will be the same type of game that the Waterford game was. Emilee will have to be at her best, which I’m sure she will,” Crisafi said of the Masuk game. “Other teams from other leagues don’t see the type of pitching that the top of the SCC has. They don’t have the competition that the SCC has. We were loading the bus and said that Masuk beat Foran [in the quarterfinals], and the first word out of their mouth was, ‘Redemption.’ We’ll be ready.”