Sports

Wild Wednesday: New Canaan Baseball, Softball Notch Dramatic Wins

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Video by SportsFairfield, New Canaan High School junior Alex LaPolice walk off home run May 21, 2014
[Editor’s Note: The video above is courtesy of SportsFairfield—follow them here on Twitter, covering Fairfield, Trumbull Westport and Wilton.]

In one of the most dramatic days on the diamond in recent memory, the New Canaan Rams baseball and softball teams each pulled off improbable–and important–victories over Trumbull High School Wednesday night. Alex LaPolice’s walkoff grand slam capped off an amazing comeback for New Canaan, who entered the 7th and final inning down 4-0. The Rams seemingly had no answers for Trumbull starter Avery Santos, who went into the seventh inning looking to close out the game having given up just five runs through the first six innings. Santos, however, seemed to suddenly tire in the seventh and lose command of his pitches. Two New Canaan hits, a fielder’s choice, and a hit batter closed the gap to 4-1, loaded the bases and brought the potential winning run to the plate.

Sports

New Canaan Softball Shocks Darien, Solidifies Position in FCIAC

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What a difference a day makes. 24 hours after Tuesday’s potentially devastating 7-5 loss to a sub-.500 Trinity Catholic squad, the New Canaan Rams softball team came back and stunned the FCIAC world Wednesday afternoon at Waveny’s Orchard Field with a dramatic 2-1 upset win over #2 ranked Darien. “That’s softball,” New Canaan head coach Danielle Simoneau told NewCanaanite.com. “That’s why it’s so frustrating when you make careless mistakes because you know you’re better at the game than what we showed. But they came back today and proved we are better than what we showed.”

The game featured two of the best pitchers in the FCIAC and more than lived up to its billing.

Sports

2 Days, 3 Wins for New Canaan Softball

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Playing three games and 25 innings over two days had New Canaan’s head coach Danielle Simoneau feeling like she was in the summer tournament circuit as opposed to FCIAC play. Scheduling conflicts and rainouts made the logjam a somewhat unwelcome necessity. That said, when all was said and done, all that mattered to Simoneau were the three games the Rams added to the win column. After an 11-inning 4-3 marathon win over Danbury on Friday, the Rams swept a doubleheader on Saturday–beating Norwalk 15-9, and McMahon 4-3. “It feels great anytime you win,” Simoneau told NewCanaanite.com.

Sports

New Canaan Softball Wallops Wilton for First Win of 2014

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Freshman Molly Keshin hit her second home run of the season and drove in three runs to lead the New Canaan Rams softball team to an 11-4 drubbing of Wilton High School. New Canaan also received a solid pitching performance from junior Jamie Schlim, who settled down after a shaky first inning to shut down the Warriors. Schlim struck out 9 batters while giving up 4 hits and 4 walks to earn the complete game victory for the visiting Rams.

The win was the first of the season for the defending FCIAC champs, who came into this afternoon’s action having dropped their first 3 games of the season. “I’m very proud of how they stayed focused the entire game,” New Canaan head coach Danielle Simoneau said. “They adjusted at the plate when they needed to and made all the plays they needed to.”

New Canaan jumped out to a quick start.

Sports

Despite Dropping First Two Games, Plenty of Bright Spots for New Canaan Rams Softball

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Over the first two games of the 2014 season, the New Canaan Rams softball team saw some great pitching, solid hitting and adept fielding. The only issue was…they couldn’t put it all together in one game. On Thursday the Rams lost the season opener at Fairfield Ludlowe 1-0, as they could only muster 4 hits for hard-luck starter Ali Reilly. And in the home opener the following afternoon, the Rams dropped a 9-5 decision to Greenwich in a game that saw its fair share of hits–including a home run by freshman Molly Keshin–but also its fair share of errors. “You expect things like this,” Rams head coach Danielle Simoneau said following the Greenwich game.