The Derby and Shelton baseball teams advanced to the state championships in their respective divisions Tuesday after wins against Westbrook and East Hartford.
The Oxford High School volleyball team also advanced to a state championship Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Seymour softball team, a perennial powerhouse and the top-ranked team, lost 1 – 0 to Rocky Hill in the Class M semifinals.
Derby Baseball
The Derby 3 – 2 victory over Westbrook marked Coach Sumner Sochrin his 500th career win.
The New Haven Register’s story on the Derby win leads with the emotional, game-winning reaction of Zach Volo, a junior.
“I don’t know if it was tears of joy or tears of pain knowing it was my run crossing the plate but I have never felt anything like this,” Volo said.
Click here for the full report from the Register’s Jim Fuller.
Here is Register video from the Derby game.
Volo also leads the Connecticut Post’s Derby game wrap up:
No matter what Zach Volo’s knee was telling him, he was making it to second base.
“I wasn’t stopping,” he said later as he limped to the bus Tuesday, headed for this weekend’s Class S state baseball final. “I didn’t care if I was crawling, swimming, I was getting there.”
Click here to read the rest from the Post.
Derby will play Cromwell in a state championship game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Palmer Field in Middletown.
It’s Derby’s first appearance in a baseball state championship since 1996.
Shelton Baseball
The Shelton baseball team advanced to the Class LL state championship with a 7 – 1 victory over East Hartford.
The Register’s Henry Chisholm leads his story this morning with Gaels pitcher Ryan Daiss.
“The senior struck out eight in a complete game and had a two-run double to send the No. 4 Gaels to the Class LL title game with a 7 – 1 victory over No. 8 East Hartford at Muzzy Field,” Chisolm reports.
Click here for the Register story.
Here is video from the game:
Next up for Shelton — the championship game against South Windsor 7 p.m. Saturday at Palmer Field.
Oxford Volleyball
The Oxford High School boys volleyball team completed quite the comeback to defeat Fermi in order to advance to the Class M state championship.
That game will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at a location to be announced, according to our pals at Oxford Patch.
“I told them to be more aggressive, and they started being more aggressive in that third game,” Oxford coach Jeff Giovacchino told Patch. “That’s when things started turning around for us.”
Seymour Softball
The Seymour Wildcats, always one of the best softball teams in Connecticut, were upset Tuesday by Rocky Hill 1 – 0.
Here’s how the Register’s Mike Pucci introduces his game story:
“With one out in the bottom of the 11th inning and Rocky Hill up by a run, Seymour reached on an infield error.
That didn’t seem to faze Terriers’ pitcher Megan Ruonavaara, who seemed to only get stronger the longer this Class M state softball semifinal contest lasted.
Fittingly, Ruonavaara recorded the final outs to send Rocky Hill to the championship game.”
Click here to read the rest or Pucci’s story.
The Wildcats came into the game undefeated.