In the blink of an eye, the season has ended for the West Haven baseball team. Tied at one with the state’s top team, West Haven watched as Southington scored six times in the sixth inning to top No. 24 West Haven, 7-1, in the Class LL quarterfinals at Southington High School Saturday afternoon.
West Haven (12-11) had just evened the game in the top of the inning when Evan Jones led off with a double to right, moved to third on a sacrifice by Cam Cruz, and scored on a single to left by Jose Padilla. A double play grounder ended the inning, and Southington was ready to pounce in the bottom half.
A leadoff single and a walk ended the day for West Haven starter Hudson Axelrod, who was terrific through five, allowing just a second inning run. Connor Hume relieved and a 3-run home run, a triple, and a sacrifice fly gave Southington a 5-1 lead.
Jey Scanlon was hit by a pitch to start the seventh, but West Haven could not muster a rally.
The Westies had limited scoring chances in the game, the best being in the first inning when Cruz was hit by a pitch with one out and Padilla singled, before a wild pitch had a pair of runners in scoring position. West Haven did not capitalize.
Cruz had a two-out single in the third, but went no further, forcing the Westies to relay on Axelrod and their defense.
Brady Price and Mike Madera made running catches in the outfield and Padilla made a nice running grab in the third to keep West Haven down just a run. West Haven made numerous big plays, but none better than in the fourth when Price made a diving catch in center for the second out and Madera made a running catch into the fence deep in left to end the frame.
Behind a complete-game, 3-hit effort from Lucas Forgette, West Haven topped No. 25 Norwich Free Academy 2-1 in the second round of the Class LL state tournament Wednesday afternoon.
Forgette allowed just a first inning run, before he mixed his pitches well and used the stellar play of his defense to pick up the win. Jones was stellar in the field with eight assists, including starting a key double play in the sixth, while Price and Madera combined for five putouts in the outfield, several on the run.
After NFA took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, West Haven answered immediately in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs.
Jones led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Cruz, and scored on a single by Padilla. Ray Gilbert followed with a double to plate Padilla for a 2-1 lead.
That was all the offense on the day and Forgette made the runs hold up. With the bases loaded in the second, Forgette got a fly ball to Price in center to end the frame.
Forgette helped himself in the third with a pair of pickoffs, before Price, Jones, and Madera each made stellar plays in the fourth for a quick inning. Forgette got three ground ball outs to Jones in the fifth, before he ran into trouble in the sixth.
All season long, West Haven has battled to the end. West Haven’s Class LL first round contest at Newington was no different.
Scoring four times in the fifth inning to overcome a three-run deficit, West Haven upset No. 9 Newington, 7-5. in Newington. West Haven improved to 11-10 with the win.
Gilbert had three of his team’s eight hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in three runs and scored twice. Padilla had one hit, drove in a pair, and scored twice, Jones had one hit and scored twice, and Price had two hits and one run batted in.
On a night to honor the seniors, West Haven knew it was going to be in for a tough contest facing O’Brien Tech’s ace Ryan Sheehy.
Despite Sheehy’s complete-game two-hitter where he struck out 13, West Haven prevailed, 3-1.
Jones and Padilla picked up the lone West Haven hits, and Axelrod tossed a complete game, allowing one earned run on six hits, while walking one and striking out three.
Axelrod was impressive, retiring 11 in a row until a two-out single in the seventh inning.
A team which always fights to the end, the West Haven softball team again did so in the opening round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament. Unfortunately, for the Westies, they came up short.
Despite rallying in the seventh inning, No. 28 West Haven fell at No. 5 Enfield, 3-2. West Haven ends its season at 8-13.
Mia Rubirosa led the West Haven offense with three hits and two run scored, while Holly Waibel, Olivia McDonnell and Natalie Gallo each had one hit apiece. Rubirosa took the loss in the pitching circle, tossing six innings, allowing one earned run, while striking out seven and walking four.
Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, West Haven had one last rally in the season. Rubirosa led off with a triple and scored on Waibel’s single to left.
McDonnell singled with one out, but West Haven’s rally came to a close when Gallo’s line drive was turned into a game-ending double play.
West Haven inched closer to playing in the postseason with a 5-3 victory over East Haven on Senior Night at Biondi Field. With the win, West Haven improved to 7-12.
Taylor Alfano, Natalie Gallo, and Sarah Davey each had two hits in the contest. Davey drove in three runs, Gallo drove in two and scored twice, and Alfano scored twice in the victory.
Rubirosa picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle as she tossed a complete game, allowing six hits and three earned runs, while striking out 13 and walking three.
Behind a 16-hit attack, including five from Rubirosa, West Haven rallied twice to defeat Fitch, 13-7, at Biondi Field. West Haven improved to 8-12 on the year.
Rubirosa was the star of the game as she also drove in two runs and scored five, while striking out seven in the pitching circle to pick up the win.
McDonnell and Gallo each had three hits, drove in a run, and scored once, while Waibel, Alfano, and Alyvia Ginsberg each drove in a pair.
The West Haven boys lacrosse team won its first postseason game in the history of the program with a 14-7 victory over Platt-Maloney at Ken Strong Stadium. West Haven improved to 8-9 on the year.
Marcus Burrows led the offense with six goals and one assist, A.J. Iannotti scored four times, and Yousaf Ullah had three goals in the win. T.J. Levenduski made 10 saves as West Haven held a 47-21 shot advantage in the game.
West Haven scored four times in the opening quarter with Burrows wrapping a pair of unassisted goals around tallies from Brandon Doody and Iannotti.
The Westies scored six times in the second quarter as Ullah opened the scoring and Burrows followed with three more unassisted goals. Iannotti scored off an assist from Kaiden Powell and Burrows scored his fourth of the quarter with 11.2 seconds remaining.
Iannotti and Ullah scored in both the third and fourth quarters, with James Olsen assisting on Iannotti’s goal in the third, and Burrows assisted on Ullah goal in the third.
After winning its first postseason contest, the reward for West Haven was playing top-seeded Fairfield Prep. The Jesuits showed why they are the top team with a 21-3 victory in Fairfield.
Burrows scored all three West Haven goals, one in the first quarter and two more in the fourth. Ronnell Banks had an assist, Cole Hill won seven of 10 faceoffs, and Levenduski made 10 saves as West Haven was outshot 31-9.
The West Haven boys tennis team improved to 12-5 with a 4-3 road victory over Foran. The Westies won all three doubles matches to pull out the victory.
Top-seeded Ali Hamza and Caden Mateo defeated Patrick Butler and Karthkeya Lakogi, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, second-seeded, Javon Huang and Woobin Kim topped Liam Bancock and Devin Dai, 6-2, 6-4, and third-seeded David Guadarrama and Jordan Smith won over Travis Dub and Sully Riley, 9-7.
West Haven’s only victory on the singles side came when Miguel Torres defeated Ryan Puvarance, 6-3, 6-0.
Foran’s Arush Puri defeated Brandon Sihaphong, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second slot, while third-seeded Tristan Odorino defeated West Haven’s Eshwar Balakumar, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, and fourth-seeded Oscar Lin won over Johnny Chen 6-4.
West Haven defeated Career 7-0. With the victory, West Haven improved to 13-5 on the year.
In singles action, Torres defeated Jaylen Lopes, 6-1, 7-5, second-seeded Balakumar topped Abraham Perez, 6-0, 6-0, third-seeded Chen topped Sy’Air Shakurr, 6-0, 6-0, and fourth-seeded Kim won by default.
In doubles action, top-seeded Hamza and Mateo and second-seeded Guadarrama and Huang both won by default, while third-seeded Daniel Davis and Smith topped Abraham Perez and Sy’Air Shakurr, 8-1.
West Haven closed the regular season with a 7-0 loss at Branford High School
The stay for West Haven in the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament was a short one as the seventh-seeded Westies fell to second-seeded Amity, 7-0 in quarterfinal action at Amity High School Saturday morning.
In singles play, Thomas Sirincharto defeated Torres, 6-0, 6-0, second-seeded Ethan Hass topped Sihaphong, 6-1, 6-2, third-seeded Joey Kapel defeated Balakuma.r 6-2, 6-1, and fourth-seeded Rohan Hebbar topped Chen 6-0, 6-0.
In doubles play, top-seeded Ben Glassman and Harvel Koblentz topped Hamza and Mateo, 6-1, 6-0, second-seeded Alishay Balsara and Dariush Raissi defeated Guadarrama and Huang, 6-0, 6-0, and third-seeded Jordan Hass and Jacob Storeyard topped Davis and Smith. 6-0, 6-0.
For all your West Haven sporting news throughout the year, including game articles by Mike Madera, highlights, photos and more, visit www.westieblue.com.