Baseball, Softball Both Go Extra Innings with Bethel; Plus: Tennis, Girls LAX

Baseball (7-1, 5-1):

On Tuesday, the Bobcats finally lost a game, taking one on the chin in Fairfield, losing to Notre Dame 10-2.  They returned home on Wednesday to face perennial power Bethel (4-3).  The game went extra innings and in the bottom of the ninth inning they found themselves down one-run with two outs and nobody on. Suddenly a two-game losing streak was staring them in the face.

Up stepped senior Ryan Berry, who had pitched eight innings, surrendering only two runs in the classic pitchers duel.  Berry delivered a clean single through the right side of the infield to make him three-for-four on the day.  He was followed by first baseman Austin Yusko, who promptly drove a ball up the middle to continue the two-out rally.

Bethel pitcher Andy Guercio, who was on the mound for the entire game, was finally starting to wear down.  Bobcats catcher Evan Mozingo smartly battled him and drew a walk to load the bases and set things up for shortstop Bryson Herr.  Herr took advantage of the big moment by scorching a single into center field that brought home the tying and winning runs in the dramatic 4-3 walk-off win for Brookfield.

"I just wanted to follow my hands back up the middle," Herr said of his approach at the plate.  "I was looking for middle-in, that's what I got."

Brookfield took a 1-0 in the second inning when Yusko delivered an RBI double that drove in Berry, who had hit a two-out triple.  After Bethel scored two off Berry in third, the Bobcats promptly tied things up in the bottom of the inning when second baseman Ryan Korb hit an RBI single that drove home Mozingo, who had led off the inning with a double.

From there both pitchers were lights out, shutting each team down until the dramatic final inning.  Berry, who had thrown 112 pitches, gave way to relief pitcher Dave Long, who was greeted by a leadoff single.  The Wildcats then executed a perfect bunt play that led to a throwing error by Long that was misplayed by the right fielder backing up on the play, which allowed Bethel to take a 3-2 lead and have a runner on third with nobody out.  Long came up big by stranding the runner there and keeping the Bobcat deficit at one run.

BETHEL            002 000 001—3 6 0

BROOKFIELD 011 000 002—4 10 3

BATTERIES: BE—Guercio (L) and Nick Spinella; BR—Berry, Long (9) and Mozingo. SO: Guercio 11, Berry 6, Long. BB: Guercio 3, Berry 2.

2B: BE—John Sorice, Zach Albin; BR—Yusko, Mozingo. 3B: BR—Berry. RBI: BE—Sorice, Albin, Spinella; BR—Herr 2, Yusko, Korb.

Softball (5-4, 3-3):

While the baseball game went long, the softball game went even longer.  The Lady Bobcats locked up with Bethel for a 14-inning affair that lasted over three hours.  Unfortunately for Brookfield, they could not come away with a dramatic win as they fell 4-1 to the Lady Wildcats.

Both pitchers gutted it out for the entire game, dueling through the first seven innings without surrendering a run.  Bethel took a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning off Brittany Fusek but Brookfield bounced back when Danielle DeMarco hit a two-out RBI single to extend the game.

Bethel took the lead for good in the 14th inning on a tough break for Brookfield.  With a runner on third and one-out, Rosie O'Neil hit a fly ball that Melissa Pierce made a great sliding catch on in foul territory down the right field line.  Pierce quickly flipped the ball to the second baseman that fired the ball into the catcher that was just a moment too late to get the tagging Yesenia Evaristo.  Bethel tagged on two more runs after that to get the win.

Evaristo scattered nine hits through the game and worked out of trouble for Bethel in large part because she struck out an incredible 27 batters in the game.

Bethel 000 000 010 000 03 — 4 9 2

Brookfield 000 000 010 000 00 — 1 9 1

BATTERIES: Be: Evaristo (W, 5-5) and Emily Defazio. Br: Fusek (L, 5-2) and Ashley Lamparelli. SO: Evaristo 27; Fusek 9. BB: Evaristo 5; Fusek 3.

RBI: Be: Defazio; Rosie O'Neil; Jenna Mango; Jordan Smith. Br: Demarco. 2B: Rachel Barton (Be); Demarco (Br); Smith (Be).

Girls Lacrosse (4-3, 3-3):

The Lady Bobcats won a shoot-out on the road against non-conference foe Trumbull (2-5) on Wednesday to move their overall record to above .500 for the first time this season.  Brookfield was led by Kathryn Marron who scored five goals and had three assists.  Jenna Bellano backed up Marron's performance with four goals in the game.

BROOKFIELD 9 5—14

TRUMBULL    6 7—13

Scoring: B—Marron (5g, 3a), Bellano (4g), Emily Leonard (2g, 5a), Katie Serio (2g), Ellie Calcavecchio (1g), Brooke Sands (1a), Shannon Gruda (1a); T--Natalie Crowe (5g), Lisa Pulie (4g), Mary Rose Rappa (3g, 4a), Marissa Mongillo (1g, 1a), Camille Bova (1a), Carly Goroff (1a).

Goalies: B—Lorraine Piccorelli (5 saves); T—Ari Matz (6). Shots: B—28; T—18.

Tennis:

Both the boys and girls tennis teams dropped decisions to Weston on Wednesday with the boys team losing at home 7-0 and the girls losing on the road 6-1.  

The Lady Bobcats defeated Bethel 5-2 on the road in a rescheduled match on Tuesday as their overall record now stands at 5-3.  In the match against Bethel Christina Marconi received the Sportsmanship Award and in the match on Monday against Masuk, Mary Petruska was given the award.

Boys Results:

Weston 7, Brookfield 0

Singles: Cameron Hagen (W) def. Max Robbins (B) 6-3, 6-2; David Freeman (W) def. Tyler Goldstein (B) 6-1, 6-2; Oscar Morris (W) def. Kyle Tolle (B) 6-0, 6-2; Nick Richter (W) def. Stephen Vulcano (B) 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Ben Smith/Jack Lawless (W) def. Jeff Magin/Jason Schwartz (B) 6-0, 6-0; John Lipsitz/Josh Weiss (W) def. Christian Ball/Sam Brady (B) 6-0, 6-0; Kyle Guerin/Josh Simon (W) def. Shai Wallman/Joe Whalen (B) 6-0, 6-1.

Girls Results:

Brookfield 5, Bethel 2

Singles: Rebecca Vulcano (Bk) def. Melissa Osorio (Be) 6-1, 6-3; Kayla Carlucci (Bk) def. Ally Cafferty (Be) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Mary Petruska (Bk) def. Katie Struth (Be) 6-0, 6-2; Jess Becker (Bk) def. Sara Islam (Be) 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles: Kristie Pino/Kerri Lalli (Bk) def. Cassidy Gentile/Karin Tse (Be) 6-0, 6-3; Aiden Ford/Daniella Wong (Be) def. Mackenzie Morehouse/Kayla Beazer (Bk) 5-7, 7-6, 6-2; Carina Leggio/Katelynn Gesit (Be) def. Lauren Pelczar/Christina Marconi (Bk) 6-4, 6-2.

Weston 6, Brookfield 1

Singles: Kimmy Guerin (W) def. Rebecca Vulcano (B) 6-0, 6-0; Zoe Valella (W) def. Kayla Carlucci (B) 6-3, 6-3; Morgan Muray (W) def. Mary Petruska (B) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Catherine Krauchenko (W) def. Jess Becker (B) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles: Emma Samson/Aly Ashmore (W) def. Kristie Pino/Kerri Lalli (B) 6-0, 6-3; Carolina Tautoungi/Jessy Gersh (W) def. Shelja Patel/Mackenzie Morehouse (B) 6-1, 6-1; Lauren Pelczar/Christina Marconi (B) def. Dixie Glaser/Madison Groening 7-6 (10-8), 6-2.