Local roundup: NFA rallies from 11-4 deficit for softball win over Montville

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

May 16—NORWICH — Norwich Free Academy overcame an 11-4 deficit to outlast Montville 16-13 in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I softball game on Saturday.

The Wildcats (6-7, 5-6), who erupted for 17 hits, scored six runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth to pull out the victory.

Morgan Tainter was 4-for-6 with two doubles for NFA while Leah Manke was 3-for-4 with a double, Madison Waltke and Brenna Comeau each went 2-for-4 with a double and Hannah Daniewicz was 2-for-2 and scored three runs.

Jill Murallo went 3-for-4 to lead the Indians (6-7, 6-7) while Christyna Winstead was 2-for-4 with a double and Taryn Feragne added two hits.

In other games:

— Charlotte Cabral pitched a three hitter and struck out six as Fitch defeated Bacon Academy 12-0 in an ECC Division I game. Grace Jenkins went 3-for-4 with three triples and three runs scored for the Falcons (9-5, 9-5) while Allyson Cabral had three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs. Bacon is 3-10, 3-10.

— Amanda Williams' RBI single in the bottom of the seventh game Plainfield a 12-11 win over St. Bernard in an ECC Division II game. Angelica Tompkins went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and three runs for the Saints (1-13, 1-13) while Ariana Guinassi was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

College baseball

— Avery Point split a pair of games to reach Sunday's championship round of the NJCAA Division II Subdistrict tournament in Rochester, N.Y. After losing to host Monroe Community College 9-1 in the winners' bracket final, the Pointers (6-9) bounced back to beat SUNY-Orange 10-0 in five innings in the losers' bracket final.

Avery Point will have to beat Monroe (26-10) twice to win the tournament. The first game is at 11 a.m. In the win over SUNY-Orange, Chris Oliwa pitched a four-hitter with nine strikeouts in his first start of the year. He also had two hits while Javon Hernandez, Mystic's Tyler Cady and Bobby Arent also had two hits apiece.

H.S. girls' lacrosse

— Emily Gates scored four goals as Waterford outlasted Montville 9-7. Madison Gates added two goals for the Lancers (4-7) while Aidan Swansen had a goal and an assist, Payton Smith and Marin Mahoney each scored goals and Carly Holdridge and Annie Seltzer each had assists. Lily Tomczik scored four goals for Montville (9-3) while Maddie Gould added two and Katie Bowman one.

— Skylar Gustavsen had four goals and two assists to highlight Bacon Academy's 21-2 win over St. Bernard in an ECC Division II game. Megan Swanke added three goals and two assists for the Bobcats (9-3, 7-0) while Joely Stella scored three goals, Katie Graham and Anna LeGault had two goals and two assists apiece, Shannon Hickey scored twice, Maddox Burton had a goal and two assists and Sarah Newton one goal and one assist. Lindsay Clement and Sophia Videll scored for the Saints (2-6, 2-6).

— No. 7 Guilford was too much for Old Lyme, topping the Wildcats 11-0 in a non-conference game. Goalie Hayden Saunders made a career-high 27 saves for Old Lyme (6-6).

H.S. boys' track and field

— Josh Mooney won four individual events for the second time this week as Stonington remained unbeaten with a 96-54 win over Waterford in an ECC Division I meet. Mooney won the 110-meter hurdles (15.2 seconds), 100 dash (11.1), 300 hurdles (41.4) and javelin (160 feet, 8 inches) for the Bears (5-0, 4-0). Not to be outdone was Waterford's Sam Menders, who capture the long jump (20-6.25), triple jump (46-10.25), high jump (6-3) and pole vault (9-10) for the Lancers (1-5, 0-4).

— Griswold's Daniel Sims won the shot put and teammate Logan Benoit the javelin at the Plainfield Throws Meet. Sims had a winning throw of 41 feet, 11 inches in the shot while Benoit won the javelin with a throw of 91-3. The Wolverines' Anthony Gaeta was second in the shot (40-11.5) and second in the discus (93-4).

H.S. girls' track and field

— Stonington had three athletes win two events apiece during its 100-43 win over Waterford in an ECC Division I meet. Teagan O'Brien won the 100 hurdles (18.2) and long jump (15-9.25) for the Bears (4-1, 3-1) while Nancy Inthasit added wins in the 100 (12.8) and 200 (27.1) and Olivia Habarek captured the shot put (29-9) and discus (84-2). Avery Pepin won the 1,600 (6:24.4) and Sophie Marcille the 3,200 (14:53.3) for the Lancers (1-4-1, 0-3-1).

— St. Bernard's Lindsey Reilly won the shot put (29-6.5) and discus (85-11) at the Plainfield Throws Meet. The Saints' Olivia Massad and Sophia Boras went 1-2 in the javelin, Massad winning with a throw of 87-11 and Boras placing second at 78-11.

— Nadia Helme and Natalie Poulton were multi-event winners as Ledyard defeated Bacon Academy 87-63. Helme won the 100-meter dash (12.6 seconds), long jump (15-10) and triple jump (32-6) for the Colonels (4-3) while Poulton captured the shot put (33-10.5) and discus (100-7). Ledyard's other individual winners were Kira Kassim in the javelin (95-6), Teia Lee in the 200 (27.1), Ella Stephenson in the 400 (1:03.2), Tori Schweitzer in the 800 (2:36.1) and Alanna DeGaetano in the pole vault (6-0). Bacon is 4-4.

College track & field

— Maeve Roach earned All-New England honors for the second straight day to close out the All-New England Championships at Central Connecticut. Roach finished fifth in the women's 1,500-meter race in 4:34.59 in a meet featuring athletes from Divisions I, II and III. She finished second in the 5,000 a day earlier in 17:07.41.

In addition, the Bears' Josiah Davis was sixth in the 800 (1:52.49) to also earn All-New England honors. Also for the Bears, Emma Sims placed 11th in the 10,000 meters with a career-best time of 39:06.60 while Mia Huncharek ran a career-best 18:10.41 in the 5,000 meters to place 13th, Leilani Salang was tenth in the hammer with a throw of 150 feet, 3 inches and Madison Garrigus was 19th in the pole vault (10 feet, 2 inches).

H.S. boys' tennis

— David Baukus, Brendan Duhamel, Ethan Thomas and AJ Hintz swept the singles matches as Montville defeated St. Bernard 7-0 in an ECC Division II match on Friday. The Indians (8-1, 6-1) won both doubles matches by forfeit. St. Bernard is 3-4-1, 3-3-1.

H.S. girls' tennis

— Ledyard defeated New London 7-0 on Friday, getting singles wins from Abby Dirico, Bianca Planeta, Hannah Jones and Jill Rezendes, while winning all three doubles matches by forfeit.