SportsCITIZEN’S NEWS Friday, May 21, 201010

GREYHOUNDS GAMESMay 24 3:30 p.m. B Tennis vs. Holy CrossVisit www.mycitizensnews.com for NVLtournament schedules

HAWKS HIGHLIGHTSMay 24 2:30 p.m. Golf vs. St. PaulVisit www.mycitizensnews.com for NVLtournament schedules

SEYMOUR —Last Thursday’sNaugatuck-Seymoursoftball game turned

out to be just the latest classic in a long lineof seat-grabbers. The Wildcats haveenjoyed their share of one-run victoriesover the Greyhounds, winning sevenstraight regular-season games over the pastfour years, including three 1-0 nail-biters,highlighted by last season’s 16-inningmarathon victory.

Naugatuck, meanwhile, beat Seymourto win the 2008 Naugatuck Valley Leaguetournament title.

The intense rivalry continued last weekin Seymour, as the Wildcats celebrated sen-ior night with a 4-3 victory in nine innings.

The Greyhounds ended the week witha tough, 3-1 loss to Ansonia Saturday, thefirst back-to-back losses by Naugatuck (13-5) all season. Alexa Marucci tossed a five-hitter at Ansonia, but the Chargers exploit-ed two Naugatuck errors by plating threeruns in the second inning.

Marucci drove in Alexis Granahan withthe Greyhounds’ only run in the fifth, andJulia Longo had a double and a single at the

plate for the Hounds.Naugatuck and Seymour both staged

first-inning threats on Thursday, but thegame remained scoreless entering the sec-ond inning. Stephanie Burt scattered fivehits for the Wildcats and struck out 13 bat-ters to earn the complete-game victory.

“We had our chances, but we justcouldn’t get the bunt down when we hadto,” Naugatuck head coach Kevin Wesche

said. “Alexa did a great job for us, and weplayed well defensively, but we couldn’tcapitalize on the offensive opportunitiesthat we had.

“Hats off to Seymour; they executedthe bunt and moved the runners into scor-ing position in the ninth. That was the keyto the game.”

Burt struck out the side in theNaugatuck second but not before LianneWallace sent a drive over the fence in rightfor a home run that put the Greyhounds ontop, 1-0.

Seymour wasted no time getting itback, as Emily Coyne drew a leadoff walk inthe bottom of the frame. BriannaDonnarummo sliced a run-scoring singledown the line in right, with two outs, tyingthe game at 1-1.

The Wildcats plated two more in thethird, and that appeared to be enough,based on the rivalry’s recent history.Amanda Willette reached on an infield sin-gle, and Kim Ferris added a bunt single toput the Cats in business.

A sacrifice fly from Carissa Wasikowskiand an RBI single by Kelly Mitchell stakedSeymour to a 3-1 advantage. Marucci gotout of a bases-loaded jam by inducing agroundout to Andrea Granahan at third,

and the throw to Skye Stella cut off anotherrun at the plate.

Naugatuck had an opportunity to getback in the game, with runners at secondand third and two outs in the fourth.Melissa Kirschbaum unloaded blast up themiddle that Burt was able to reach downand snare to thwart the threat.

The Greyhounds finally put it togetherin the fifth. Marucci drew a walk, andStephanie Chandler laid down a perfectsacrifice bunt to move the runner into scor-ing position. Melissa Labonte reached on abunt single before Longo unleashed a two-run double to the fence in center that tiedthe game at 3-3.

Seymour was looking to close it out inthe sixth but couldn’t get anything going, asDaniella Stoehrer crashed into the fence tohaul in a foul pop, one of the dozen sensa-tional plays she made covering first base.

The game went into extra innings, andthe Wildcats finally got the break they need-ed when Willette reached on a bunt single tolead off the ninth. A passed ball sent her tosecond, and Kim Ferris put down a bunt tosend the go-ahead run to third.

Wasikowski drilled a hit over the sec-ond-base bag to give Seymour the 4-3,walk-off win over Naugatuck.

KEN MORSE

Naugy’s Julia Longo rounds first andheads for second, as her fifth-inningblast plates two runs to tie Seymour, 3-3. The Wildcats won, 4-3, in extras.

By Ken MorseCitizen’s News

Seymour 4

Naugatuck 3

Another 1-run loss to Seymour the first of back-to-back NHS defeats

DISARMED

Woodland’s Katie Alfiere, an almost unhittable force in

the pitcher’s circle (left), may have to

watch the rest of the season

from the dugout

(inset).

Alfiere’s, Hawks’seasons in doubtafter appendectomy

BEACON FALLS — It’s essentially useless, but itprobably just cost Katie Alfiere and the Woodland soft-ball team a heck of a lot.

In just a few fell swoops of the surgeon’s knife toremove Alfiere’s infected appendix last Wednesdaymorning, much more was taken away from both thestar senior and the Hawks—the undefeated seasonthey were working on went by the wayside last week with an 8-2 loss at Wolcott in Alfiere’s first game out, and now the Naugatuck Valley League and Class M champio-nships are highly in doubt.

Two weeks ago, Alfiere exp-

By Kyle BrennanCitizen’s News

See ALFIERE, page 17

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CITIZEN’S NEWS

SportsFriday, May 21, 2010 17

erienced the first pains in her stomach butsimply “ignored it” and proceeded to throwa 4-0 shutout against St. Paul forWoodland’s 14th win of the season. Hercondition worsened throughout the week-

was only the flu and continued to ignorethe stomach pain.

“I went to school [Monday] becausewe had a game against Watertown, and Ipitched,” Alfiere says. “I was in extremepain, but I pitched because I had to pitch.”

And pitch she did, leading the Hawksto a 10-4 comeback victory on what we atCitizen’s News called an “off day.” Little didwe know she pitched the game with aninfected, leaking appendix.

Alfiere, always known as a tough com-petitor, went to school again Tuesday asthe pain worsened.

my stomach was swelled up but I ignoredit,” Alfiere says. “I watched practice andwent home and ate a bowl of chicken noo-dle soup because I couldn’t eat anythingelse.”

That was the last meal Alfiere wouldingest for four days; she went to the emer-gency room Tuesday evening, and after alate-night CAT scan, Alfiere received thediagnosis—appendicitis.

Alfiere had surgery to remove theappendix—which luckily had not burstafter at least four days of swelling—Wednesday morning and left the hospitalThursday afternoon. Before she left, doc-tors told her the news she dreaded: Shecouldn’t play softball for three to fourweeks, until after the end of the state tour-nament.

“I was upset, but it’s not like there wasreally anything I could do about it,” Alfieresays. “The surgery had to happen.Obviously, I was upset, but I couldn’t reallydo anything.”

Not even five hours after leaving thehospital, Alfiere made with her parents thetrip to Wolcott to watch her undefeatedHawks play their first game without her.

“At first I was OK with it,” Alfiere saysof watching from the dugout. “I couldn’treally wait to go and watch because I had-n’t been at a softball field in four days. Itdidn’t really sink in [that I was out] untilWolcott gave me a card after the gamebecause it showed they cared.”

It was an 8-2 loss for the Hawks,

“When we lost, it made me realizemore that I was out,” Alfiere says. “I could-n’t fix it, I couldn’t do anything about it.The season meant a lot. I wanted to do

because I think as a team we all deservedit, but I guess it didn’t really work out thatway.”

Coaches from throughout the NVL andthe state have sent cards and e-mails relay-ing well wishes to Alfiere for a speedyrecovery. The future Quinnipiac Bobcathopes to not only be ready for summersoftball with her Xtreme Chaos club butalso to return for the state tournament,

“I want to be back for states,” Alfieresays. “I really do. I have my doctor’sappointment Thursday. I’m going to try.But it looks like I’m going to be watchingthe rest of the season, unfortunately.”

As she watches, she continues to fulfill

admirably her role as captain, attendingevery game and practice and cheering onher teammates. They’ll be the ones todetermine the fate of this season forWoodland.

“I don’t think the team needs to reallychange,” Alfiere said. “Obviously, me not

being there is a huge impact. But they’revery good defensively, so it shouldn’t be aproblem there, but mentally it hurts. I justtold them to play their game.”

Luckily, Alfiere can live without herappendix. We’ll find out whether the Hawkscan live without her.

Woodland drops 2 of 3 gamesALFIEREFrom page 10

SPECIAL TO CITIZEN’S NEWS

Greyhounds cruise on senior day

games. Toth beat Emily Sanchez, 8-0, andYacavone defeated Anays Cruz, by the samescore. Jang topped Candice Henry, 8-1, andKaitlyn Carter took Briana Nyari, at love.Young and Bottinick bested StephanieLumbra and Jessie Collado, 8-2, Charetteand Mitchell beat Sherry Husaine andRaven Archer, 8-0, and Kaitlyn Dana andJess Buckley won against Temina Kusi andShareza Jalaludin, 8-2.

Naugatuck was scheduled to visit HolyCross Tuesday, but the contest was post-poned to Thursday because of rain. Naugywas also slated to take on the Chargers inAnsonia Wednesday.

The first round of the inauguralNaugatuck Valley League team tournamentwill be either Friday or Saturday, dependingon the weather, and the semifinals andfinals will be Monday. Woodland will host alltournament matches.

The Hawks were to entertain SeymourWednesday. If both local squads won out,Woodland would be the No. 1 seed, andNaugatuck would be No. 2.

“We are enjoying [the season],” Rucciosaid. “It’s a really nice group of girls. And theparents—we’ve been pretty much havingthe whole entire area [around the homecourts] filled with parents, which has beenreally nice. You don’t see that. We came tosome other matches in some other places,and there’s nobody.”

NAUGY TENNISFrom page 11

Diurno: Hawks ‘the team to beat’

But the jubilation was short-lived, as theHawks suffered a 5-1 loss to Crosby Saturdaymorning—conveniently the morning afterWoodland’s senior prom. Crosby ace KodyKerski shut down the Hawks, allowing onerun on seven hits while striking out eight.

Tom Arsenault threw well for Woodland,allowing two earned runs in five innings ofwork. But it was the Hawks’ seemingly lethar-gic offense and sleepy defense that costWoodland a run at a top seed in the NVL tour-ney.

“We were unfocused,” Diurno said. “Wehad our minds on other things.”

That focus didn’t return for Monday’sdivisional game at Derby, where Woodlandsquandered a 5-1 lead in the fifth and sufferedan 8-5 loss.

With the score tied at one in the third, the

Hawks exploded for four runs, highlighted byHardy’s two-run homer to left-center field.

Derby waited until the fifth and sixthinnings to do its damage, taking the lead inthe fifth on a grand slam by Ryan Skelly andadding a pair of unearned insurance runs inthe sixth.

Georgia was scheduled to start, but armsoreness in his pregame bullpen sessionforced him off the mound. Mike Masulli hitthe hill for just the second time this seasonand pitched very well on short notice, going 41/3 innings, allowing two earned runs andtwo hits.

Still, the Hawks are confident the two-game skid is just a bump in the road.

“Teams have just been making plays,”Diurno said. “Everyone’s making contact, andwe just need to jump on teams. That’s whenwe’re at our best. ... We’ve got our mindsetsright now, and this is the team to beat wheneverything’s working well.”

WOODLAND BASEBALLFrom page 12

end but even then she says she thought it

“I couldn’t really stand up straight and

who were unable to shut down Wolcott’soffense and incapable of producing muchthemselves. With that, the undefeatedseason Alfiere dreamed of was lost.

well. I wanted to be the undefeated team

despite doctors’ prognoses.

Senior Amanda Gomez has stepped in for Alfiere and is 1-2 in three starts.