Sports

Former New Canaan Pitcher Ali Reilly Stars for Babson Softball

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Ali Reilly had a busy opening weekend for the Babson College softball team, appearing in five of the Beavers’ first six games of the season. The 2014 New Canaan High School grad and current Babson sophomore struck out 11 batters in an opening day loss against Amherst in Winter Garden, Fla. on Saturday but bounced back on Sunday, earning wins against Plymouth State and Rutgers-Newark at the National Training Center in Clermount, Fla. Reilly pitched a total of nine innings in those games while giving up just four hits and zero earned runs as Babson topped the Panthers 8-0 and took a 6-2 decision against the Scarlet Raiders. After taking the loss against the University of New England in the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader, Reilly pitched 2 innings of relief against Western New England and earned the save in Babson’s 8-4 win.

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.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The video embedded above is the widely discussed panel on opioid abuse, including heroin, in New Canaan. Produced by Channel 79, the video is a great way for those who were unable to attend the packed-house event at Town Hall to catch up. ***

We’re told that the Board of Education on Monday night voted to request an $87,030,631 operating budget for next fiscal year—some $1.5 million less than the superintendent’s original proposed operating budget (as the town will replenish health insurance reserves for this year). The spending plan requires review and approval from the Boards of Selectmen and Finance, and the Town Council. The school board added $35,000 for club sports financial support.

News

Taller Backstops Planned for Softball Field at Waveny

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Town officials have approved a $6,400 contract with a Cross Street company to install new, taller backstops designed to control flying foul balls at the main softball field in Waveny. Known as the “Orchard Field”—on the right as you climb toward the crest of the hill on the main road, off of South Avenue (with the new ingress to the parking lot)—the softball diamond plays host to home varsity games as well as youth competition. The 10-foot-high backstop now in place—first installed in 1988—isn’t high enough to contain the girls’ foul balls, according to Recreation Director Steve Benko. Plans call for the center section to be raised to 18 feet, and the wings to be raised to 10 feet, Benko told the Board of Selectmen at the group’s regular meeting on Dec. 15.

Sports

New Canaan Softball’s Keshin Sisters Commit to University of Virginia

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New Canaan High School softball stars Molly and Rachel Keshin committed to play for the University of Virginia, NewCanaanite.com learned on Tuesday. The twin sisters, currently juniors at NCHS, project to be the first Division 1 softball players in program history provided the commitment—a verbal agreement between school and player—holds up. Given the on and off-field performance of the twins, there’s no reason to believe that it won’t. Molly Keshin, New Canaan’s starting catcher for the past two season, led New Canaan with a .491 batting average as a sophomore in 2015 with team highs in both runs batted in (20) and runs scored (24). She also hit seven triples, tying former New Canaan great Cydney Ventura’s school record, set back in 2012. Keshin played fantastic defense for the Rams at catcher, committing just two errors en route to a .986 fielding percentage.