The West Haven softball team picked up its ninth victory of the season with a convincing 10-1 win over the Branford Hornets at Biondi Field on Monday night. Ivy Santos pitched a complete game allowing one unearned run on three hits while striking out seven Hornets for the victory in the circle. Santos also had two of the Westies five hits on the night which saw the girls take advantage of seven Branford errors to cruise to the win. Kasey Marron had a single and two RBIs while Makenna White and Morgan Peryer each had a hit and an RBI.
The Westies wrapped up their regular season with home games against the Darien Blue Wave on Monday and the Hillhouse Academics on Tuesday as they prepare for the CIAC Tournament.
The baseball team hosted the Hamden Green Dragons on Monday evening at Piurek Field and couldn’t generate any offense in a 6-0 loss to the Dragons. Hamden got four runs in the third and tacked on two more in the sixth for the victory. The Blue Devils got a double from Dennis Gamester and singles from Chris Cavallaro and Diego Mahecha for their only offense. Mike Vitolo pitched 6 1/3 innings allowing six runs on ten hits while striking out three batters.
On Friday afternoon, the Westies hosted the Platt Tech Panthers. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Blue Devils rallied for a run in the third inning, one in the fourth and two in the fifth on their way to a 4-2 victory. In the third, Diego Mahecha dropped down a bunt single, moved to third base on a Mike Vitolo single and scored on a Nick Flammia sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
In the fourth inning Brett Gradoia was hit by a pitch, was advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Chris Cavallaro, went to third when Ty Reeves reached on an error and scored when pinch runner Derek Baker drew a throw heading to second allowing Gradoia to scamper home with the go-ahead run.
The Westies extended the lead in the fifth inning when Mehecha dropped down another bunt that was mishandled allowing him to reach base. He moved to third and scored when Vitolo reached on an error to make it 3-1. Vitolo came in to score when Flammia tripled over the head of the Panther’s centerfielder to make it 4-1.
Platt Tech scored when Joe Santos, a West Haven native, reached on a passed ball on a third strike and eventually came around to score to cut the lead to 4-2. That’s where it would stay with Flammia finishing off his complete game victory, allowing one earned run on five hits while striking out six Panthers.
The boys concluded their season with their Senior Night on Monday against the Hand Tigers.
The boys lacrosse team celebrated Senior Night when they hosted the Jonathan Law Eagles on Monday evening. The Blue Devils got goals from Nick Massaro, Rich Wadeka, Niko Kyle with two, followed by Justin Rivera in the first quarter and then Matt Dowd ripped a shot from twenty yards out to put the boys in good shape. Unfortunately for the Westies, the Eagles rallied in the second half to defeat the Blue Devils, 11-10.
The boys finished their regular season this week with road games at Branford and Lyman Hall, hoping to improve their position in the CIAC Tournament.
The girls lacrosse team wrapped up its season last week. On Thursday evening, the Westies traveled to Milford to face the Foran Lions. The Lions jumped out to an early lead before Emily Mendes got the Westies on the board in the first half. In the second half, Keegan Riccio scored 1:39 into the half to cut the lead to 5-2 but the Lions responded 1:46 later to reestablish a four goal lead. Mackenzie Holy scored 1:52 later to make it 6-3 but that was all the Westie offense for the day and Foran went on to the 7-3 victory. Nicole Gaston made six saves in goal for West Haven.
On Friday evening, the girls celebrated their Senior Night and took on the Shelton Gaels. The Blue Devils held a 4-3 halftime lead in this hard-fought contest before the Gaels grabbed an 8-6 victory. Shelton took an early 2-0 lead before the Westies rallied. Annalise Depino scored with 16:12 left in the first half to cut the lead to 2-1. Mackenzie Holy evened the score with 11:09 left in the half and then Keegan Riccio put the Blue Devils in the lead 2:33 later. Shelton wasted little time getting the goal back with a tally 23 seconds later to make it 3-3. Emily Mendes scored with 6:49 to give the Westies a 4-3 halftime lead.
The second half saw the Gaels score the first, two goals to take a 5-4 lead with 14:21 remaining. Amani Cayo had one of her patented end-to-end rushes to make it a 5-5 game with 9:21 left. The Gaels got the next, two goals to put them ahead 7-5 with 8:03 left in the game. Taylor Nowak scored with 5:54 left to cut the lead to 7-6 and give the Westies some hope. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the Gaels scored with 3:43 left and were able to run out the clock in an 8-6 win. Nicole Gaston stopped 16 Shelton shots between the pipes for the Westies.
The boys tennis team opened last week with a 5-2 loss to crosstown rival Notre Dame on Monday afternoon. The Westies got one win in singles play when Kent Dimaisip won, 6-4, 6-4. Their other win came from the doubles pair of Zach Kerzner and Jason Ramirez, who were victorious, 6-0, 7-6 (10-8).
The boys bounced back with a 4-3 victory over the Shelton Gaels on Friday afternoon and finished their regular season schedule with matches against Hamden on Monday and Law on Tuesday.
The girls tennis team lost, 6-1, to the Foran Lions on Monday afternoon at the Painter Park Courts. Top-seeded Jovanna Gaetano picked up the Blue Devils only victory with a 6-0, 6-2 win. The girls concluded their regular season schedule this week with matches on Monday against Career and Wednesday versus Lyman Hall.