May 16, 2008
Blue Wave trickles past New Canaan in extra innings
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The New Canaan Rams have had more than their fair share of hard-luck losses on the softball diamond the past couple of years.
Tuesday’s 4-1, eight-inning loss to the Darien Blue Wave could fall into that category, but in its aftermath, the Rams weren’t about to rue their misfortune after such a great contest between rivals.
In fact, senior co-captain Sarah Freeman was quick in pinpointing the source of the Rams’ positive energy that day.
“I attribute this game to Duff,” Freeman said. “She pitched one amazing game. It was so good and it was just awesome. We fed off that energy.”
“Duff” of course, is senior co-captain Caitlin Duffy, a four-year starter, who delivered one of her best performances Tuesday in Waveny Park.
Duffy struck out 12, walked four and allowed three earned runs on six hits in eight innings. Only three of those hits came during the first seven innings and the Ram captain was dominant in the early going, striking out the side in the second inning as part of a run of six straight Ks.
“I was pretty confident today,” Duffy said. “I’m not sure if it was the New Canaan versus Darien thing, but I felt good. Everything just kind of game out — I’m not sure where it came from. Paulina (Rodriguez) was calling all the right pitches and they were swinging at the wrong stuff.”
Darien scored one unearned run in the top of the sixth to tie the score, and put the game away with one out in the eighth when Olivia Vegliante hit a three-run triple to right-center.
Duffy stranded Vegliante at third with a popout and a groundout, but New Canaan was only able to muster one hit in the bottom of the eighth — a single by Katie Cody with two outs — and fell by three.
Darien pitcher Christina DeMaio was also impressive, allowing just five hits and one run in eight inning to get the victory.
The loss dropped New Canaan to 4-13 heading into the final two games of the season. The Rams played Norwalk in their final home game yesterday and will play at Stamford today to close out the season.
Darien, meanwhile, climbed to 11-7 overall and 9-7 in the FCIAC as it battles for a conference tournament bid.
Despite the disparities in records, the two teams were on a par on Tuesday.
“They’re a good team, but somehow we always come out to play against Darien,” Freeman said. “We haven’t had this solid a game in a while, so it felt good to me just to be playing and feeling that energy.”
“Everybody always knows when it’s Darien,” Duffy said. “It’s such an old thing that you don’t even need to talk about it, it’s just something you can see in other people’s faces.”
With Duffy firing Ks at the Wave, New Canaan was able to grab the early lead. Brianna Valente led off the third with a walk, went to second on a groundout by Freeman and scored when Michelle Tomaselli ripped a double to right-center.
While that was the only run the Rams would plate, Duffy and the defense did their best to make it stand up as New Canaan made several strong plays in the field.
Darien’s Carly Dudzik led off the fourth with a blast to centerfield, but Cody made a running catch for the out.
In the fifth, Lauren Duwan chopped a ball to the third base side of the plate, Duffy raced in, made a strong throw and first baseman Sarah Dalia made a nice grab to beat Duwan by a step.
With two on and two out in the sixth, leftfielder Lindsay Schmid made a nice catch on a hard-hit ball to end the inning.
And in the seventh, Duwan hit a fly ball to right and Katie Hogan battled a glaring sun to make the catch.
“That definitely boosted the confidence,” Duffy said. “The strikeouts were nice, but when you know that your infield and outfield are there to back you up, you’re ready to keep going.”
New Canaan had a shot at extending the lead to two runs in the fifth when Dalia led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Dalia.
Freeman nailed a DeMaio pitch to the right side, but first baseman Cristina Tarantino made the catch and Tomaselli then grounded out to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Darien’s Nicole Buch led off with a walk and stole two bases to reach third. Duffy struck out Tarantino, but Dudzik’s grounder up the middle went off shortstop Freeman’s glove for an error as Buch scored.
Reilly Horan followed with an infield single, but after the runners moved up with steals, Duffy got a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning.
Schmid led off the seventh with a single, but a bunt attempt by Rodriguez was popped up for the first out. DeMaio then got the next two batters on groundouts to end the threat.
Tarantino started the decisive frame with a double and Dudzik followed with a single and move to second on the throw to the infield. Duffy struck out Horan, but walked Mallory Kahn to load the bases, and Vegliante followed with her triple.
New Canaan picked up its fourth win Monday with an 11-1 decision over Harding in Bridgeport.
Duffy went seven innings and allowed one unearned run on four hits and three walks while striking out 11.
Freeman was 3-for-4 and scored four runs, Hogan was 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored, and Dalia doubled and scored a run.
For the seniors, the final week isn’t about hanging heads, it’s about finishing strong.
“This year has definitely been tough,” Freeman said. “Games haven’t gone our way and so to have this at the end of the season, we’re all realizing it’s our last few games and we want to finish strong. We’re not giving up at the end of the season just because it hasn’t gone our way.
“The seniors have been playing together for 10 years, so this is the final push to finish our final year together.”
“This last week is very big for us,” Duffy said. “I plan on knocking out any team that we can from their standings in States or FCIACs. Hopefully, the rest of the week will go as plan and we’ll give everyone some competition.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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