News

Bats Silenced: NC Baseball Loses to Rival Darien, 8-0

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It started out as an opportunity for New Canaan Baseball to hand its rival, the Darien Blue Wave, its first loss of the season. But behind a complete-game shutout from starting pitcher Andrew Winsch, and back-to-back homers from shortstop Richard Brereton and first baseman Casey Brown in the sixth inning, Darien (6-0, 3-0 FCIAC) was able to put the Rams (2-4, 1-2 FCIAC) away quietly, 8-0, and claim bragging rights for the rivalry in 2016. “I think Darien came out and did a great job,” Rams Head Coach Mitch Hoffman told NewCanaanite.com. “He [Winsch] pitched well. We did not swing the bats like we were supposed to but it was a good, hard fought game until the end when it just got away from us.” Coming off a win on Wednesday afternoon over Brien McMahon, New Canaan got an early baserunner when Robby Jones laced a single to right field, and stole second during the next at-bat.

Sports

Same Bases, New Faces: 2016 New Canaan Rams Baseball Preview

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In 2015, New Canaan Rams Baseball had a crop of senior talent that could be argued as the best in the program’s past decade, with the possible exception of 2007’s class headlined by now Tampa Bay Rays catcher, Curt Casali and the 2013 state championship-winning team led by Andrew Casali and Casey Ouellette. 11 seniors suited up for the Rams last year (15-5, 14-4 FCIAC; made FCIAC and CIAC Class L Playoffs), including regular starters Alex LaPolice (OF/P), David Giusti (P/OF), Brandon Abate (SS), Zack Smith (C), Kyle Levasseur (3B), and Kane Curtin (RF), as well as the oft-called-upon-pitcher, Clark Newlove. And having that amount of veteran leadership allowed the Rams to erase late-game deficits on several occasions, pulling out classic win after classic win — certainly making the 2015 squad one of the more thrilling baseball teams of recent memory. Even so, the byproduct of having such a large, vital senior class one year is that it means the next year will be filled with a lot of fresh faces. Enter the 2016 Rams of New Canaan Baseball.

Government

Girls’ Softball Fields To Get Same Dugout Canopies Enjoyed By New Canaan Baseball Players

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Parks officials have voiced unanimous support for a plan that will see the main girls’ softball field get the same canopies over players’ benches that already grace boys’ youth and varsity baseball fields at Mead Park and Saxe Middle School. New Canaan Baseball Softball Inc. will pay the approximately $15,000 cost to purchase the canopies and have them installed by a contractor, New Canaan Softball President Rob Moore told members of the Park & Recreation Commission at their Feb. 10 meeting. “When you are talking about June, July and August, you’ve got 90 degree heat,” Moore said at the meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. “When it’s raining, why shouldn’t we be able to give the girls the same shade and comfort from the elements that the boys get?”

The “Orchard Field” at Waveny—the first one on the right as cars climb the crest of the hill coming from the South Avenue side—is home to the New Canaan High School girls’ varsity softball team, as well as youth and travel teams in town.

Sports

‘It’s All About the Program’: MLB’s Curt Casali Headlines New Canaan Baseball Clinic

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Many high school coaches would consider winning a state championship the ultimate goal, a culmination of hard work, development and sacrifice. But for New Canaan baseball coach Mitch Hoffman, winning the 2013 Class L baseball title was only the first building block of a program that is becoming one of the best in Connecticut, both in terms of winning games and helping players move on to the next level—college baseball—and maybe even beyond to the pros. Perhaps nowhere was that program better illustrated from top to bottom than at Tuesday’s New Canaan Baseball alumni clinic at Bobby Valentine’s Sports Academy in Stamford. Dozens of future Rams from New Canaan’s growing youth baseball program attended the session run by Hoffman and several Rams stars of the past and present, including current players Robbie Jones, Mike Pelli and Troy Dunnam, collegiate players Casey Ouellette (University of Bridgeport), David Giusti (Lafayette), Dan Rajkowski (UCONN), Zack Smith (Salve Regina), J.R. Anderson (Amherst) Matt Toth (Trinity) and perhaps most notably, New Canaan’s first MLB player, Curt Casali of the Tampa Bay Rays. “It’s all about the program,” Hoffman told NewCanaanite.com.

News

NC Baseball Eyes Summer 2016 for Re-Grading, Drainage Improvements at Mead Park’s Little League Fields

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The private nonprofit group that oversees youth baseball in New Canaan is talking with engineering and architectural firms in anticipation of a major capital project at Mead Park that recreation officials say hasn’t been done in 42 years. New Canaan Baseball has offered to pay for the estimated $1 million re-grading of the two little league fields at Mead, and has set a target date for the starting the work next summer, according to the organization’s president. “The critical path is ultimately finding one or two people that are going to be chiefs of the project,” Jim Higgins told the Park & Recreation Commission at its regular meeting Wednesday night, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. “It is significant project. The board has a desire to do it.