The West Haven softball team visited the Hillhouse Academics on Tuesday afternoon and improved to 15-0 with a 15-0 victory. Ivy Santos and Neve Krajcir combined to throw a perfect game, mercy-rule shortened, 5-inning win. Santos struck out eight while Krajcir struck out all three batters she faced. The Westies were slow out of the gate, leading 1-0 after one inning and 4-0 after two innings but pulled away with nine runs in the fifth inning. Morgan Peryer led the Blue Devils with three hits while Veronica Lynn had two hits and four RBIs.
On Wednesday evening at Biondi Field, the streak came to an end with a 4-1 loss to the Hand Tigers. Hand took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added another in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. The Westies got a run back in the third when Veronica Lynn drove in Morgan Peryer, who led off with a single, to cut the lead in half but, the Tigers responded with a run in the fourth and another in the seventh to seal the Blue Devils fate and hand them their first loss of the season. Ivy Santos went the distance in the circle, allowing two, earned runs on eight hits while striking out nine Tigers.
On Friday evening, the girls were looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season when they hosted the East Haven Yellow Jackets. Ivy Santos pitched a complete game, allowing two, earned runs on four hits while striking out nine and also helped her own cause when she crushed a home run in the 6-3 victory. Santos got things going with a line-drive homer over the leftfield fence for a 1-0 lead in the second inning. After two walks and a Kasey Marron single, Morgan Peryer singled to bring in two runs for a 3-0 lead. The Easties responded with two runs in the top of the third to cut the lead to 3-2. The Blue Devils put up three, more runs in the fourth to put this one away.
This week, the Westies wrap up their regular season schedule and prepare for the postseason. The girls were scheduled to finish the season with home games against Amity on Monday, Guilford on Wednesday and Hillhouse on Friday at 6.
Needing to win three of its final six games, the West Haven baseball team has battled every game to get a chance to play in the postseason. On Monday evening, the Westies visited the Shelton Gaels and came up on the short end of a 9-5 decision. Down 4-0 in the third inning, the Blue Devils put up five runs to take the lead. Chris Cavallaro and Lorenzo Espinal opened the third with walks and Tyler Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Dom Cambino doubled to clear the bases cutting the lead to 4-3, J.C. Contreras followed with another double to tie the game and then a Gianni Gambardella singled to score Contreras and give West Haven a 5-4 lead. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils that would be all the offense they could muster on the night and the Gaels rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning and an insurance run in the sixth to defeat the Westies.
On Wednesday evening, the Westies hosted the Xavier Falcons and pushed the Falcons to extra innings but, Xavier pushed across four runs in the 8th inning to defeat the Blue Devils, 8-4.
On Friday afternoon, the Westies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Notre Dame when Mike Boni hit a sacrifice fly to score Tyler Jones, who had singled earlier. Unfortunately for West Haven that would be the extent of its offense and the Green Knights pushed across two runs in the bottom of the second inning in the 2-1 defeat of the Blue Devils. Lorenzo Espinal did his best to keep the Knights off the board, allowing six hits.
The boys need to win three of their last four games to qualify for the postseason. They hosted Sheehan on Tuesday, O’Brien Tech on Wednesday and will host Wilbur Cross on Friday at 6:30 and East Haven on Monday at 6:30.
The boys’ lacrosse team was riding a seven-game, unbeaten streak coming into its game with the Branford Hornets on Wednesday evening at Ken Strong Stadium but, the Hornet offense was more than the Blue Devils could handle in a 16-2 defeat of the Westies. Branford scored six, first quarter goals to put West Haven away early. The Hornets added two, more in the second quarter before Justin Rivera got the boys on the board, assisted by Niko Kyle with 3:26 left in the half. Rivera got his second goal of the game with 41 seconds left in the third quarter and Kevin Moriarty did his best between the pipes, making 22 saves in the loss.
On Saturday morning, the Westies traveled to Stamford to take on the Westhill Vikings. Niko Kyle gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead with goals at 7:37 of the first quarter and again 22 seconds later, both assisted by Tyler Moscato. The Vikings responded with two goals before the end of the quarter to knot the game at 2-2. The Westies took a 5-2 lead on goals by Justin Rivera assisted by Moscato with 9:05 left in the second quarter, followed by Moscato assisted by Kyle 2:05 later and the Connor Fowler 1:24 after that assisted by Rivera. But, Westhill had an answer again scoring two goals before the half ended and then a goal with 8:32 left in the third quarter and another with 7:09 left in the game to take a 6-5 lead. Conner Fowler got his second of the game with 3:44 left, assisted by Charlie Miller but the Vikings scored 25 seconds later to seal the 7-6 defeat of West Haven. Kevin Moriarty made 28 saves between the pipes for West Haven.
This week, the boys wrapped up their regular season schedule with a road game at Amity on Monday and a home game versus the Sheehan Titans on Wednesday.
The girls’ lacrosse team hosted the Sheehan Titans on Monday evening at Ken Strong Stadium and the Titans had their way with the Westies in a 15-3 final. Sheehan scored the first seven goals and held a 7-0 with 12:54 left in the first half. Keegan Riccio finally got the Blue Devils on the board when she scored with 6:07 left in the half. The Westies got goals in the second half from Gianna Sliby and Nicole McKinney but it was not enough to overcome the Titans. Nicole Gaston made 17 saves in goal for West Haven.
On Thursday evening, the Westies hosted the Lauralton Hall Crusaders and fell by a score of 12-7. After the Crusaders had taken a 2-0 lead, CC Condon scored to cut the lead in half with 17:10 left in the first half. Lauralton responded scoring the next four goals to take a 6-1 lead. The Blue Devils rallied late in the half when Keegan Riccio scored with 4:17 left and then again with 1:58 left and then Nicole Gaston hit Mackenzie Gardner with a long pass and Gardner buried the shot to get the girls to within 6-4 with 57.6 seconds left in the half. Riccio added her third goal and Gardner added her second along with a goal by Taylor Nowak as the Blue Devils fell short. Gaston made 18 saves in net for the Westies.
The girls finish their season this week. They hosted the Lyman Hall Trojans on Monday and travel to Foran to face the Lions in their final game on Thursday at 6.
The boys’ tennis team opened its week with a trip to North Haven to face the Indians. The Westies could only manage to secure a win from Joseph Delgado, who was victorious by a score of 8-6, in a 6-1 loss.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Westies were defeated by the Shelton Gaels, 4-2. Delgado won in the one-seeded match, 8-7, 6-4, and Zach Kerzner won, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. On Wednesday afternoon at the Painter Park Courts, the boys were swept, 7-0, by the undefeated Hand Tigers. On Thursday, the boys were swept by the Branford Hornets, 7-0.
This week, the boys finish their regular season schedule with three, home matches against Guilford on Monday, Platt Tech on Wednesday and Fairfield Prep on Thursday at 3:45.
The girls’ tennis opened its week with a 7-0 loss to Jonathan Law at Painter Park. On Wednesday afternoon, the Westies defeated the Yellow Jackets in East Haven, 6-1. Sofia Lora won, 6-1, 6-1, Skylar Serenson won, 6-1, 6-1, Kiara Walker won, 6-4, 6-3, and Savannah Lopez won, 6-3, 6-4, in singles action. In doubles play, Shea Clark/Ariana Nguyen won, 6-1, 6-0, and Maryn Lovallo/Megan Mendoza won, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.
On Thursday afternoon, the Blue Devils hosted the Lyman Hall Trojans on their Senior Day but fell, 4-3. In singles play, Kiara Walker was victorious 6-3, 6-3, Skylar Serenson won, 6-0, 6-2, and the doubles team of Jennylee Malpica/Jasmine Brown won by forfeit after an injury to a Lyman Hall player.
This week, the girls wrapped up their regular season when they played at Branford on Monday and at Sacred Heart Academy on Wednesday.