The third time was the charm for the West Haven softball team. Needing one, more win to qualify for postseason play, the Westies dropped the first, two games of the week but, made sure in the third with an exciting, comeback walk-off win to clinch. On Monday evening, the Blue Devils took a tough loss to the 9th-ranked Hand Tigers. The Tigers had a 2-0 lead in the third inning when they put up four more runs on their way to a 14-0 defeat of West Haven. The Westies got hits from Makenna White, Ashlynn O’Keefe and Veronica Lynn.
On Tuesday evening, the Westie bats continued to struggle in a 5-0 loss to the North Haven Indians. Makenna White picked up two of the hits while Morgan Peryer and Ashlynn O’Keefe each had a hit in the loss.
On Thursday evening, the Blue Devils battled the East Haven Yellow Jackets at Biondi Field. West Haven took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Makenna White doubled to center, Michelle Madar became a courtesy runner for White and advanced to third on Morgan Peryer’s ground out and scored on Ivy Santos’ ground out. The Easties responded the next inning with a two-run homer to take the lead.
The Blue Devils got even in the bottom of the third when Ashlynn O’Keefe singled and came in to score after Veronica Lynn and Kailey Carrano both singled. The Yellow Jackets took a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning forcing the Westies to make a comeback if they wanted to qualify on this night.
West Haven scratched out a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 4-3 when Brianna Sebastian walked, was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a single by Lynn before scoring on a East Haven miscue.
After Ivy Santos and the Westies were able to escape the top of the seventh inning that saw the Yellow Jackets load the bases with no outs but were unable to plate a run, the Blue Devils staged a rally to secure a postseason berth. Ashlynn O’Keefe dropped down a perfect bunt and beat it out by a half step to lead off the inning. Veronica Lynn then drove a ball to the wall in right for a triple scoring O’Keefe to tie the game 4-4. East Haven chose to intentionally walk Kailey Carrano and Makenna White for the third time of the game to load the bases with nobody out. Morgan Peryer stepped to the plate and laced a line drive to right center to score Lynn and send the Westies into a frenzy and the postseason.
Santos pitched a complete game in the circle allowing two earned runs on nine hits while striking out five Yellow Jackets. With the playoffs secured, the Westies will look to improve their position this week. Monday night the girls took on the Branford Hornets, they hosted the Hillhouse Academics on Wednesday and will conclude their regular season schedule on Monday at 6 against the Darien Blue Wave at Biondi Field.
The baseball team needed wins to have a shot at the postseason and the Blue Devils have been playing better but not getting the results they were looking for. On Monday afternoon, the Westies traveled across town to face the Notre Dame Green Knights at Quigley Stadium. The Westies could manage to get three hits from JC Contreras, Dennis Gamester and Brett Gradoia in a 4-1 loss. Gamester scored the Westies only run after singling and coming around to score on a Mike Tonnucci ground out in the fifth inning.
Nick Flammia did a nice job on the mound, pitching a complete game, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out four Knights.
On Wednesday evening, the Blue Devils bats struggled again in a 5-0 loss to the Cheshire Rams at Piurek Field. Singles by Mike Vitolo and Chris Cavallaro were the only Blue Devil hits in the contest. Vitolo went the distance on the mound for West Haven allowing two earned runs on four hits while taking the loss.
The Westies traveled to Wallingford on Friday evening to take on the Lyman Hall Trojans hoping keep their playoff hopes alive. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils’ hopes came to an end with a 5-4 loss to the Trojans. The Westies took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Nick Flammia singled and came around to score to a single by Dennis Gamester. Lyman Hall scored one in the bottom of the inning and tacked on another two runs in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. The Blue Devils responded with two runs to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning. Mike Tonucci reached base on an error, Mark Basta singled, and both were advanced on a Diego Mahecha ground out. Tonucci scored when Mike Vitolo grounded out and Basta came around to score on a Nick Flammia triple.
The Trojans once again rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to retake a two run lead at 5-3. The Westies tried to rally one, more time in the top of the seventh. Dennis Gamester singled, a wild pitch put him at second, and Chris Cavallaro followed with a single to put runners at first and third. Hunter Axelrod then reached on an error to plate Gamester but that is where rally and the Westie postseason hopes ended in the 5-4 loss.
Nick Flammia pitched five innings, allowing three runs on six hits before giving away to JC Contreras, who went an inning, allowing two runs on two hits.
The boys wrapped up their regular season with home games against the Hamden Green Dragons on Monday, the Platt Tech Panthers on Tuesday and the Hand Tigers on Wednesday.
The boys lacrosse team picked up a huge 10-9 over the Hamden Green Dragons on Monday evening at Ken Strong Stadium to clinch a postseason berth with its seventh victory. Down 1-0 in the first quarter, the Blue Devils rallied for three goals by Nick Massaro, Tyler Moscato and Massaro again with .3 seconds left in the quarter for a 3-1 lead. After the Dragons tied the game 3-3, Niko Kyle put the Westies back up 4-3 with 4:33 reaming in the half. Hamden responded with two goals to take a 5-4 lead at halftime.
Matt Dowd opened up the third quarter with a goal 1:25 into the second half. Hamden retook the lead in this back-and-forth contest before Massaro pulled the Blue Devils even again with 7:44 left in the third quarter. Massaro gave the Westies a lead 51 seconds later and then goals by Logan Cole and Niko Kyle extended the West Haven lead to 9-6. Hamden made things interesting with two goals in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 9-8 but, Kyle got the eventual game winner with 5:41 left. Kevin Moriarty made sure that stood up making 15 saves between the pipes for West Haven.
This week, the boys took on Jonathan Law on Monday, travel to Lyman Hall on Thursday at 7 and head to Branford for a matchup with the Hornets on Monday at 7.
The girls lacrosse team traveled to Middletown to face the Mercy Tigers on Monday afternoon. The Tigers had too much for the Westies in a 12-4 win. The Blue Devils got goals from Madisyn Crotta, Mackenzie Holy, Emily Mendes and Keegan Riccio in the loss. Nicole Gaston made six saves in goal for West Haven.
The girls finished the week with a game at Hamden on Saturday morning. In a driving rain, the girls fell behind early but when Amani Cayo scored with 9.5 seconds left in the first half, the Westies took a 4-3 lead. The Blue Devils extended their lead in the second half when they scored the next four goals to take an 8-3 lead. Taylor Balzano scored 1:15 into the second half and Annalise Depino added a goal 2:58 later to make it 6-3. Thirty-two seconds later it was Mackenzie Holy to increase the lead to 7-3 and then CC Condon scored 26 seconds later to put the Blue Devils up by five. The Green Dragons would not go quietly and closed the gap to 8-7 before Mackenzie Holy scored to give the Westies an insurance goal that they would need because the Dragons would get one more to make it 9-8. Nicole Gaston made 16 saves between the pipes to preserve the lead and the girls held on for a 9-8 victory.
This week, the Westies wrap up their season. They played the Shelton Gaels on Tuesday and finish with a game at Foran on Thursday at 6.
The boys tennis team lost 7-0 to the Hand Tigers on Tuesday afternoon at the Painter Park Courts. The closest of the day was a 2-6, 6-2, 10-4 loss by fourth-seeded Corey Smith.
On Wednesday afternoon, the boys battled with the Amity Spartans before losing a 4-3 decision. James Delgado won, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, Joseph Delgado was victorious, 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 and Corey Smith won, 6-4, 6-2 in singles action. The Spartans swept doubles play to grab the victory.
The Blue Devils bounced back with a 7-0 victory over the Platt Tech Panthers on Thursday afternoon at Eisenhower Park in Milford. Joseph and James Delgado as well as Corey Smith and Jason Ramirez all swept their matches 8-0 while Zach Kerzner won 8-1 in singles play. In doubles action, Nash Noble/Ehsan Sumra won, 8-0, and Anthony Sihaphong/Jonathan Saier won, 8-1.
On Friday afternoon, the boys traveled to Guilford and fell 7-0 to the Indians.
This week, the boys wrap up their regular season schedule. The Westies took on the Notre Dame Green Knights on Monday, the Shelton Gaels on Tuesday on the road, faced Hamden on Wednesday at home and finish the week at Jonathan Law on Friday at 3:45.
The girls tennis team dropped its three matches last week. On Monday afternoon, the Westies fell to Jonathan Law 6-1. The only victory came off the racket of top-seeded Jovanna Gaetano, who won, 6-1, 6-1. The Westies lost to the Branford Hornets 6-1 on Tuesday and to the Shelton Gaels 4-3 on Wednesday.
This week, the girls finish their regular season with home matches on Monday against Foran, Tuesday against Career and then host the Lyman Hall Trojans on Thursday at 3:45.