Baseball, Softball Enjoy Strong Opening Day; LAX, Tennis Suffer Tough Starts

Spring was in the air, at least for a little while at Brookfield High School on Wednesday. Although the sun gave way to clouds, the wind picked up and a light drizzle began to fall by the time the baseball and softball teams were finishing off their strong opening day victories against New Milford, nobody seemed to mind that it felt more like fall than spring. Both teams had strong starts to their years and the hope and optimism of a new season was in full bloom.

Unfortunately for the girls lacrosse team, the light drizzle turned into a steady rain and the play of rival Newtown put a damper on the start to their season, as they suffered a disappointing opening season loss.

The tennis team escaped the rain but couldn't hold on for an opening day win, as they were edged by Berlin.

Baseball (1-0, 1-0):

The Bobcats got a strong outing from opening day starter, senior Harlan Zeerip, who registered his first varsity victory by pitching a complete game.  Backed by solid run support, Zeerip pounded the strike zone all day, racking up 11 strikeouts in the 8-4 victory over SWC foe New Milford (0-1, 0-1).

Zeerip attacked the Green Wave hitters throughout the game by throwing 19 first pitch strikes.  He didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning and didn't allow a run until the sixth.  He punched out two batters each in the first, second and fourth innings before striking out the side in the fifth.

Senior Ryan Berry did most of the damage for the Bobcat offense as the DH. After being hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, Berry drove in four runs with a double and two singles in his next three at-bats.  He drove in senior Janco Cornelius for the game's first run in the third inning.

The Bobcats got two runs in the fourth inning when Berry followed a single by senior captain Austin Yusko and a double by sophomore Matt Gernert.  Brookfield broke the game open by scoring five runs in the fifth inning.  Back-to-back singles to open the inning by sophomore Ryan Korb and Gernert set up the rally that was aided by two errors and two wild pitches by New Milford.

"This is the best team I've had," Brookfield head coach Dan McKee said of how the team looked heading into the season.  "They are in the best shape, they have the best attitude, they all pick each other up."

NEW MILFORD 000 002 2—4 5 2

BROOKFIELD     001 250 X—8 10 3

BATTERIES: NM—Derik Brady (L, 0-1) and Austin Kisling. B—Zeerip (W, 1-0) and Evan Mozingo. SO: Brady 5, Zeerip 11. BB: Brady 5, Zeerip.

2B: B—Berry, Gernert HR: NM—John Bernardi. RBI: NM—Bernardi 2; B—Berry 4, Yusko, Gernert, Mozingo, Dave Long.

Softball (1-0, 1-0):

The Lady Bobcats, who only lost one regular game a season ago, got off to a fast start with a dominating 8-1 win over New Milford (0-1, 0-1).  

Last year's team was a combination of senior leaders and up-and-coming underclassman. Brookfield's new leaders were on display yesterday as junior Jessie Angelo paced the team with three hits and two stolen bases and sophomore Felicia Lennon had two hits while driving in two runs.

The Lady Bobcats wore down the New Milford pitching staff, scoring two runs in the third and two runs in fourth before breaking the game open with four runs in the fifth.

Junior Brittany Fusek took the mound for Brookfield and showed that there could be life after Kayla Berardi.  She registered the win, holding New Milford to only one run while striking out eight batters.

NEW MILFORD 000 001 0—1 4 3

BROOKFIELD     002 240 x—8 10 0

Batteries: NM—Brianna Celio (L, 0-1) and Kelsey Fuchs. B—Fusek (W, 1-0) and Ashley Lamparelli. SO: Celio 6; Fusek 8. BB: Celio 2; Fusek 1.

RBI: NM—Fuchs. B—Felicia Lennon 2, Guiliana Darcangelo, Wendy Westmark, Fusek.

Highlights: B—Lennon 2-for-4, Jessie Angelo 3-for-4 2 stolen bases, Fusek 2-for-4. NM—Celio 2-for-3.

Girls Lacrosse (0-1, 0-1):

The Lady Bobcats were handed a tough test to start the year, playing six-time defending SWC Champion Newtown at home.  Brookfield, which lost nine players to graduation from a year ago, were unable to keep up with the Lady Nighthawks who didn't seem to miss a beat as they continued their incredible 47 game SWC winning streak with a solid 16-7 win.

Newtown was in full control from the beginning as they jumped out to an early 3-1 lead.  Through the first half they held leads of 5-1 and 7-2 before settling for an 8-3 halftime advantage.  They peppered Brookfield's goalie, sophomore Kelly Grady with 17 shots on goal in the opening frame.

Any thoughts of a comeback for Brookfield were short lived as Newtown came out and scored two more goals in the opening two and half minutes of the second half. The Lady Nighthawks would build a 12-3 lead before Brookfield scored back-to-back goals to cut the lead to 12-5 at the 19:00 minute mark.

The teams traded goals over the next five minutes before Newtown salted the game away with three more goals.

Mere Bridges led Newtown with five goals while Kaitlyn Brophy added four goals. Brooke Sands led Brookfield with three goals while the dynamic scoring duo of Emily Leonard and Kathryn Marron were held to two goals apiece. 

Grady wound up making 18 saves as she faced 34 shots from the Newtown attack. Brookfield was only able to register 12 shots on goal against the stifling Lady Nighthawk defense.

Boys Tennis (0-1):

The Bobcats got strong efforts from Kyle Tolle, Stephen Vulcano and Adam Claxton, who won their singles matches in straight sets, but the team wasn't able to come up with the win as they were defeated by non-conference opponent Berlin (1-0) 5-4.

BERLIN 5, BROOKFIELD 4 

Singles:

Alex Chyra (Bln) def. Max Robbins (Brk) 7-5, 6-0;Dan Rombola (Bln) def. Tyler Goldstein (Brk) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Kyle Tolle (Brk) def. Nick Gurrieri (Bln) 6-2, 6-1; Stephen Vulcano (Brk) def. Matt Trevethan (Bln) 6-2, 6-2; Adam Claxton (Brk) def. Mike Gurrieri (Bln) 6-3, 6-4; Peter Hogan (Bln) def. Liam Fitton (Brk) 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles:

Adam Salwocki/Mike Voelpel (Bln) def. Jeff Magin/Jason Schwartz (Brk) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; David Balfore/Kevin Stritch (Bln) def. Shai Wallman/Joseph Whalen (Brk) 6-1, 6-1; Christian Ball/Sam Brady (Brk) def. Ethan Cope/Jaydip Patel (Bln) 6-2, 6-1. Records: Berlin 1-0; Brookfield 0-1.