Local roundup: Mitchell, Avery Point baseball teams win tourney titles

The Day, New London, Conn.
·4 min read

May 9—HENNIKER, N.H. — Mitchell College knocked off top seed New England College twice on Sunday and win the New England Collegiate Conference baseball tournament.

No. 2 Mitchell (30-11) won 5-3 to force a deciding game and won that one 10-3 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament and secure its eight conference title, sixth under coach Travis Beausoleil.

The Mariners led 6-3 in the title game when former Montville standout Dougie DelaCruz hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh and Matt Falk added an RBI single for the final margin. Former East Lyme standout Owen Robbins had a two-run homer and and RBI single and New London's Lelo Martinez had a two-run single. Ryan Solimine pitched seven strong innings for the win.

In the first game, Dan Driscoll of Waterford (6-0) allowed three runs over 8.1 innings for the win with eight strikeouts and one walk. Montville's Kenny Heon struck out the two batters he faced for his second save. Martinez hit a two-run homer, Bo Yaworski had an RBI double and Robbins had an RBI single. Driscoll, Yaworski and Solimine were selected to the all-tournament team.

In other games:

— Avery Point beat Monroe Community College 15-4 to win the NJCAA Div. II best-of-three subdistrict series 2-0. The Pointers (22-11-1) scored four runs in the top of the sixth and seven in the eighth to put the game away.

Javon Hernandez hit for the cycle. He was 5-for-6 with two doubles, a triple and home run and eight RBI. Jaden Echevarria was 2-for-6 and NFA graduate Dominic Morabito scored three runs. Keegan Daigle (6-2) earned the win, allowing three hits and an unearned run over six innings with eight strikeouts and two walks.

The Pointers advance to the district tournament, which begins Friday at the Region 15 champion. The cycle by Hernandez was the first for the Pointers since Josh Yuhas did it in 1998.

H.S. girls' crew

— East Lyme's varsity eight finished second in the six-team Mahoney Cup at Glastonbury. The Vikings finished behind the hosts and were followed by Hotchkiss, Hingham (Mass.), Stonington and Farmington. East Lyme's boat was coxswain Mikayla Stahl, stroke Simone Cappon, Jennie Sherwood, Fiona Samuelson, Sandra Kirvelevicius, Anna Brown, Kristia King, Gabby Gottschall, and bow Ava Mauri.

East Lyme's 2nd boat won the five-team race and the novice team won its five-team race by an impressive 11 seconds over Glastonbury.

H.S. boys' crew

— Stonington's varsity eight came in second in the six-team Mahoney Cup at Glastonbury. Hingham (Mass.) won the race, Farmington was third followed by Hotchkiss, East Lyme and Glastonbury. East Lyme came in fourth in the varsity four race and won the novice race.

H.S. girls' lacrosse

— Griswold snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 15-7 win over St. Bernard in an Eastern Connecticut Division III game on Saturday. Emily Aviles and Kuranda Ruggiero scored five goals each and Alexis Emanuele made five saves for the Wolverines (3-9, 3-5), who avenged a 13-9 loss to the Saints on April 21.

H.S. boys' lacrosse

— Ledyard/Griswold lost to Law in a nonleague game on Saturday, 19-9. Roman Rich had five goals and two assists, Cameron Reynolds scored twice, Patrick Sully and Tyler Kazlauskas each had goals and Nick Johanson and Cortland Ruggiero had assists for Ledyard (2-9).

Benefit hockey

— The Ice Hockey Game to Benefit the People of Ukraine will be held on May 14 at the Rose Garden Ice Arena in Norwich, beginning at 7:30 p.m. A donation of $10 is suggested.

Youth soccer

— The Stonington Soccer Club U14 girls' team, which won the Connecticut Cup Championship last November, will compete in the U.S. Youth Soccer Eastern Presidents Cup June 17-21 in Barboursville, West Virginia. Stonington defeated Norwalk 1-0 in overtime for the state title.

Members of the team are Rebecca Bartinik, Ella Cochran, Leah Deperry, Quinn Higginbotham, Kate Holveck, Gianna Kennedy, Morgan Kuhn, Lily Loughlean, Kinsley Mansfield, Finn O'Keefe, Gwendolyn McGugan, Adilyn Risley, Payton Stone, Gianna Terranova, Camryn Williamson and Mason Zagol.