Baseball

The Indians played three games last week and lost two of them to stand at 4-5. North Haven opened the week by taking a 10-9 defeat in eight innings at North Branford on April 19. The following day, the Indians prevailed at Oronoque Division foe Cross 6-1. Then on April 22, North Haven faced another division adversary with a game at East Haven and lost 4-1. In the previous week’s action, the Indians won at Career 7-2, took a 5-4 home loss to Branford, beat Lyman Hall 4-2 at home, and won at Torrington 5-4.

Brendan Clark picked up his first win on the mound by allowing just one run and three hits in six innings of relief in the Career victory. Sophomore center fielder Peyton Farina led the offense by getting two hits and scoring two runs.

Against Branford, North Haven led 4-1 entering the fifth before the Hornets scored a run in that inning, two in the sixth, and plated the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Preston Young pitched a complete game for the Indians, who were aided by a hit, two walks, three runs, and two stolen bases from leadoff hitter Giovanni Torres, as well as two hits and an RBI from junior Chris Stevens.

In the Lyman Hall win, junior Tom Myjak worked five innings and earned the victory by giving up just two runs and three hits. Clark pitched two scoreless innings of relief and got the save. The game was tied at 1 before the Indians scored two runs in the second. Torres had three more hits with a run and a stolen base, while Farina singled and doubled with two RBI.

Closing that week up in Torrington, North Haven fell behind 3-0, but tied the game when senior Joe Ireland blasted a solo homer in the fourth inning. Torrington retook the lead in the fifth and North Haven came back to tie it again in the sixth. In the seventh, Torres led off with a hit and took second on Stevens’s sacrifice bunt. Clark followed with a walk, DeRosa flied out, and Farina got a hit to load the bases. Ireland then came through with a base hit that brought home Torres with the go-ahead run and a 5-4 lead. Ireland also had a triple to complement his homer and clutch single. Torres, Farina, and Dominic Onofrio all had two hits and DeRosa added a double. Clark was the winning pitcher with two solid innings out of the bullpen and Young also worked four effective frames in relief.

Opening last week’s slate in North Branford, North Haven went up 3-0 in the first inning of a game that turned into a slugfest. The Indians trailed 9-8 entering the seventh, when Clark and DeRosa struck for back-to-back doubles that tied the game. The Thunderbirds ultimately won the game on a home run in the bottom of the eighth. Chris Tullo had a big day with three hits and three RBI. Farina had two hits, three walks, scored three runs, and had two RBI; DeRosa singled, doubled, and drove in two; Clark had a single and a double to go with two runs and an RBI; plus Stevens had two hits and scored two runs.

Senior pitcher Joe Balzano earned his first victory when the Indians defeated Cross 6-1. Balzano escaped a few jams in his six innings and allowed four hits before Clark shut the door in the seventh. Farina had two hits and DeRosa had a single and a double.

The Indians completed the week with a game at Oronoque opponent East Haven and took a 4-1 defeat. Ireland doubled and scored in the second for North Haven’s only run. Young pitched into the fifth and Clark came in for relief as the Yellowjackets scored three times in the inning.

At the halfway mark of the season, North Haven owns a record of 2-2 in the Oronoque Division to complement its overall mark of 4-5.

“It’s a challenge to the coaches and the kids to see if we can put anything together consistently and play two, three, four games in a row where we can get the wins,” Head Coach Bob DeMayo said. “The kids work hard. I just have to get them more intense and get that kind of North Haven push that we’ve had over all these years. They seem to be too content to play close games and we stress that you have to be sharp for seven innings and, if you don’t, then you’ll end up with a loss. I’m still positive that we can do this.”

Softball

The Indians dropped their first two games at home last week, but rebounded to post a home victory over Cross on April 22. The Indians are now 4-4. North Haven’s first game last week saw the team host Foran and take a 9-6 loss on April 19. Then on April 20, North Haven was shut out at home by Law, 5-0. Two days later, the Indians hosted an Oronoque showdown with Cross and defeated the Governors 17-1 in five innings to move to 3-0 in division play.

Against Foran, North Haven trailed 9-1 entering the seventh and rallied for five runs before the Lions got the last out. Freshman Peyton Davis and seniors Rachel Card and Antonia Barbiero all had two hits apiece.

In the Law game, Davis doubled, but North Haven was unable to score a run.

Then facing Cross, junior lefty Ava Mattei pitched all five innings and only allowed one run in the top of the fifth. Leading 7-1, the Indians scored 10 runs in the bottom half and won via the mercy rule. Mattei helped her cause with a single, two doubles, and three RBI; sophomore Olivia Affinito blasted a grand slam; and Davis, junior Anna Stowe, and sophomore Caroline Gabrielle all had two hits with Gabrielle also driving home three runs.

Boys’ Outdoor Track

North Haven stayed unbeaten by sweeping a quad-meet in Shelton on April 19. Steve Celmer’s team toppled the host Gaels 85-65, defeated Hamden 100-49, and earned a 116-34 victory against Law to improve to 6-0.

Numerous Indians’ athletes had monster meets by recording multiple first-place finishes against each one of the opposing teams. Omar Gebril did so in the 400 by running 50.2 seconds and he was also first in the long jump with a distance of 18 feet-7 inches, plus the triple jump at 39 feet. Ryan Brennan had a dominating meet in his running events as the senior placed first in the 800 (2:06.7), 1,600 (4:29.3), and the 3,200 (10:08.9). Fellow senior Shane O’Connor threw 126-8 in the discus to best all throwers from Hamden, Law, and Shelton, and he was also the top performer in the shot put with a first-place toss of 51-8. Anthony Valentino had the day’s best throw in the javelin (158-5.75) on his way to first, while Nick McCreven cleared 9-6 in the pole vault to defeat everyone in that competition. North Haven’s 4x400 relay of Michael Greene, Brian Daly, Jordan Tong, and Ryan Harvey was victorious (3:48.7) and so was its 4x800 of Jonathan Goodrich, Brad Schweickert, Forest King, and Tong, which ran an 8:53.7.

Girls’ Outdoor Track

After taking part in a quad-meet in Shelton, the Indians swept a tri-meet at Wilbur Cross three days later. That meet was on April 22 in New Haven and North Haven defeated both Foran (116-30) and division adversary Cross (103-38) with the latter victory marking team’s second Oronoque win in as many meets.

Girls’ Tennis

North Haven swept its three matches last week to improve to 4-2 with four-straight victories under its belt. The Indians blanked Foran 7-0 at home on April 18, prevailed at Mercy 6-1 the next day, and then capped the stretch with a 7-0 victory versus Sacred Heart Academy at home on April 22.

In the Foran win, Julia Migliorini won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles; Olivia Hoyt won 6-3, 6-2; Hillary Hoyt notched a 6-0, 6-1 victory; and Rachel Petry also won by the score of 6-0, 6-1. North Haven’s doubles lineup also swept the Lions as Julia Gill and Sejal Atluru won 6-1, 6-0; Sophie Bates and Nina Padro prevailed 6-0, 6-4; and Amber Jean-Guillaume and Katrina Nadolny earned a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

Facing Mercy, Migliorini was a 6-0, 6-0 winner, while Olivia Hoyt won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles with sister Hillary recording a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 3. For doubles play, Gill and Atluru won 6-3, 6-3; Bates and Padro won by the score of 6-1, 6-2; and Jean-Guillaume and April Chen triumphed 6-4, 6-1.

Then against Sacred Heart Academy, Migliorini (6-0, 6-0); Olivia Hoyt (6-3, 6-0); Hillary Hoyt (6-3, 6-3); and Petry (6-0, 6-1) were all victorious in their singles matchups. The Indians’ doubles duos continued their solid play, too, by winning all three contests. Gill and Atluru won 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot; while Bates and Padro claimed a 6-3, 6-1 victory; and Jean-Guillaume and Chen won 6-1, 6-1.

Boys’ Tennis

North Haven had a full plate with four matches last week and came away with a victory in one of them to put its record at 3-3. The Indians opened with a 7-0 loss at Hand on April 18, after which they picked up a 5-2 home win over Lyman Hall the following afternoon. On April 21, North Haven hosted Guilford and took a 5-2 loss. The team then closed the week with a match in West Haven on April 22 and lost 5-2.

Girls’ Lacrosse

The Indians took their first defeat of the season last week, but shook it off by netting their fifth victory two days later. North Haven’s first loss came at West Haven on April 18, when the Indians were edged by the Blue Devils 12-11. On April 20, North Haven quickly got back to its winning ways by beating Hamden 12-7 at home to move to 5-1.

North Haven held a 6-4 halftime lead against West Haven, but was outscored 8-5 during the second half. Kylie Brandt scored four goals and had two assists, while Samantha Kweiraga recorded three goals with three assists. Mandy Brock had a goal and two assists, Morgan Heyl scored two goals, Catherine Babbidge had two assists, and Erica Salvo scored a goal. Samantha Langner made 12 saves.

Then at home against Hamden, the Indians held a slim 5-4 advantage at the break before outscoring the Green Dragons 7-4 for the second half. Kweiraga continued finding the back of the net by scoring four goals and she also had an assist. Babbidge scored a pair of goals and handed out an assist, Brandt had a goal with two assists, and Mandy Brock and Annie Uyeki both scored two goals. Also, Heyl contributed two assists, Clara Pellegrino had an assist, and Erica Salvo scored a goal. North Haven outshot Hamden 40-27 and received 19 saves from goalie Deja Spearman.

Boys’ Lacrosse

North Haven took a 7-3 defeat at Hand on April 19 and lost by a 6-2 final at home versus Guilford on April 21 last week.

In the Hand game, the Indians were down 2-1 after one quarter and trailed 4-2 at halftime before scoring the lone goal of the third to draw within 4-3. However, the Tigers scored all three goals in the fourth and came away with the win. Bowen Brennan, PJ Saracino, and Max Sullivan scored the goals for the Indians, while Korbin Pecora had an assist. Josh Back made 10 saves in net.

Versus Guilford, North Haven was down 2-0 after one and the score stayed that way until the third, when the visiting Indians scored four goals. North Haven then scored the game’s final two goals in the fourth period. Brennan scored one of the goals and he assisted on the other that was scored by Nick Campanelli. Back had seven saves for North Haven.