ESPN

There are perfect games, and then there are games like the one Stonington's Andrea Chiaradio pitched against Norwich Free Academy on April 21.

Chiaradio faced 21 batters in Stonington's 3-0 triumph, and struck out all 21.

"We threw a lot of drop curves and rise balls," Chiaradio told TheDay.com. "I was trying not to think about [a perfect game]. I was just focused on getting the outs."

Chiaradio, a junior, is pitching at the varsity level for the first time this season. She was the starting center fielder for the Bears last season.

The victory improved Chiaradio's record to 3-1 this season. Julie Royer caught the perfect game.

“She seemed like she just had confidence,” Stonington coach Ann-Marie Houle told TheDay.com. “I don't know what the heck was going on in her mind. I'm superstitious, so people were sitting on the same buckets for seven innings.

“She played center field all last year and she never complained. When the coach gives you that moment and you take it … good for her.”

Former Masuk standout Rachele Fico also struck out 21 batters in a game. Fico, a junior on the LSU softball team, set the national record for perfect games during her high school career with 26.

ESPNHS HONORS MONTELLI
ESPNHS selected St. Joseph's Vito Montelli as its National Coach of the Year for the 2011-12 season.

Montelli, 79, has been St. Joseph's head coach for 50 seasons, and is the only coach in the program's history. He led the Cadets to a 25-1 record and the Class LL state championship last season.

Montelli has guided St. Joseph's to 11 state titles and six runner-up finishes. He has an 878-328 career record. No New England high school basketball coach has won more games.

“It's really a humbling honor and I'm thrilled to be selected because [there are] so many deserving coaches out there,” Montelli said. “This is special for our school, our players and our coaching staff.”

(Read full post)

Paula Hagopian's talent on the soccer field is so obvious she was named Connecticut's Gatorade Player of the Year even though her Kingswood Oxford team finished with a record below .500 last season.

Hagopian, a senior forward, collected 13 goals and 10 assists as a senior, when Kingswood Oxford went 5-7-2. She was also the 2011 Connecticut Soccer Coaches' Association Player of the Year, and has twice been selected as an All-American by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America.

“Paula is so strong that defenders bounce off her,” said Matt Micros, a club coach with Connecticut FC. “She can hold the ball up well and also spin defenders with ease. What she lacks in technique she more than makes up for with power and pace.”

Hagopian led Kingswood Oxford to the 2010 New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class B championship and completed her career with 56 goals and 35 assists. She will continue her soccer career at Yale next fall.

Past winners of the award include Riley Houle (2010–11, Windham), Kate McCarthy, (2009-10, Loomis Chaffee), Jessica Schloth (2008–09, St. Joseph), Alex Uscilla (2007-08, St. Joseph), and Bianca D’Agostino (2006-07, Loomis Chaffee).

(Read full post)

Losses don’t come much tougher than the one the Southington High School baseball team suffered against Newington in the Class LL championship game.

Southington thought it had won the title when Matt Spruill scored on Sal Romano’s double in the eighth inning Monday, but the teams played on after home plate umpire Dave Bindas ruled that Spruill never touched home plate and Spruill was called out on an appeal play.

Newington went on to claim the championship by posting a 3-2 victory in 10 innings.

“I heard the crowd and it was their side cheering,” Southington coach Charlie Lembo told WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford. “Then I found out the umpire ruled that he missed home plate. I didn’t see it, but Dave’s a good umpire so I’ll have to go with that call.”

Pat Meucci reached on a single in the 10th and scored the game-winning run from second base on an infield throwing error.

That gave 17th-seeded Newington (17-8) the program’s first state championship.

Newington’s Cole Bryant pitched all 10 innings to earn the win. He threw 176 pitches, struck out 16 and held Southington to six hits.

Romano also pitched a complete game (146 pitches). All three Newington runs were unearned.

(Read full post)

Xavier was sloppy and at times, even sloppier. But arguably the state’s most fearsome defense combined with Mike Mastroianni’s 240 yards rushing was enough to keep the state’s top-ranked team and ESPNBoston.com’s No. 3 team in New England unbeaten with a 9-6 win over Cheshire on Friday.

Mastroianni had two touchdown runs called back on holding penalties before scoring from six yards out in the fourth quarter. The teams were locked in a scoreless tie at the half, helped by Xavier’s five turnovers in a matchup of two likely Class LL playoff teams.

Xavier (3-0) has allowed 21 points through three games.

In other games:

• Aaron Berardino turned one of Windsor’s two interceptions into a 32-yard return for a touchdown, and Windsor (3-0) stayed perfect with a 12-8 victory over CCC foe Southington. Southington starting quarterback Connor Butkiewicz (appendicitis) didn’t play, according to The Hartford Courant.
• Staples first big test proved to be anything but by the fourth quarter. Leading just 17-14 entering the final frame, Staples forced Ridgefield into three turnovers to blow open a 34-14 victory. The Wreckers, the No. 3 team in the state in the New Haven Register Top 10 poll, essentially kept the Tigers from the playoffs last year by handing them their only loss.

• New London’s defense made sure Wilton didn’t take down another giant. A week after upsetting defending Class SS champ St. Joseph, Wilton held a fourth-quarter lead before the Whalers hit a last-minute field goal attempt, scored two plays into a shootout-style overtime and stopped the Warriors on fourth down to seal a 16-9 victory. New London (2-1), unbeaten a year ago during the regular season, held Wilton to two first downs in the first half and 225 yards of total offense. “It all just came from the heart,” said New London linebacker Stephan Dance, who also scored the winning touchdown on a seven-yard run.The loss was part of Wilton’s traditionally brutal schedule between FCIAC and non-conference play.
  
  “We’ve made five trips up (Interstate) 95 in a month,” Wilton coach Bruce Cunningham said. “Our preseason game was up 95. We had to go to Trumbull twice because we got up there and as we were going to kick the ball off, it rained out. We had to go back the next day. We went to St. Joe’s last week. And we’re here.
  
  “We haven’t been home yet. I think we’ll be looking forward to putting the blue jerseys on.”

• In the state’s biggest upset, Fitch rallied by Montville, No. 9 in the state media poll, in a 24-14 victory. Fitch quarterback Derrick Baldoz scored twice within a span of 4:02 in the third quarter to give the Falcons the lead. Just 2-9 two years ago in coach Mike Emery’s first season back in Groton, Fitch finished 7-3 last season and at 3-0 this year, is one of three unbeaten teams left in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
• And in perhaps the state’s wildest game, Bacon Academy scored 29 fourth-quarter points to stun Windham, 48-47, in Colchester on Saturday. ECC scoring leader Brennden Cullen threw for 301 yards, rushed for 93 more and had a hand in all seven of the Bobcats’ (2-1) touchdowns, rushing for five and throwing two to Alex Couture (15 receptions, 167 yards).
• Tirrell Young-Williams had two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, to help Notre Dame-West Haven, No. 7 in ESPNBoston.com’s New England poll, to a 31-10 victory over Shelton.
• Meanwhile, Masuk-Monroe, ESPNBoston.com’s No. 6 team, trounced New Fairfield, 47-0, and for once, quarterback Casey Cochran wasn’t the only star. Colin Markus rushed for three touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass for Cochran, who finished with three of them.