If incentive counts for anything in baseball, then Norwalk High, which needed to win its final game to qualify for the state tournament, should have had plenty of it Wednesday. Curto pitched a gem, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out 10. The senior left-hander retired 15 of 16 batters from the second through the sixth inning. Later, Kane delivered an RBI single. Stamford took a 4-1 lead on Docimo's two-run double in the second, and that would be all Curto needed. Whitehead's two-run double gave SHS a 6-1 lead in the fourth and the Knights added an unearned run in the seventh. Highlights: S--Travis Docimo had two hits and three RBI, Mike Whitehead had a two-run double, Chris DiPietro had a triple, Tyler Curto allowed three hits and struck out 10.

McMahon lacrosse finishes strong but loses to St. Joseph St. Joseph had figured itself out of the mix for the FCIAC boys lacrosse tournament. Beat McMahon on Tuesday at home, and the Cadets were in. Goalie Mike Braddick made a couple of big saves early, and McMahon turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter as the Cadets took a 6-0 lead 24 seconds into the second quarter. "A lot (of the turnovers) were unforced," McMahon coach Mike Epstein said. Some communication breakdowns, Mudre thought, allowed the Senators to score six goals, with Bartolo scoring two and assisting on two more.

Norwalk baseball coach Pete Tucci has seen his squad struggle down the stretch towards a possible absence of any postseason play for the second year and a row. The Bears showed fight Thursday, and, buoyed by the return of one of their best hitters, kept their state tournament aspirations alive with a solid performance in all three phases of the game. Tristan Opdahl marked his return to the starting lineup with a 3-for-3 performance that included a home run as Norwalk ended its six-game losing skid with a 6-0 win over Darien that put a serious dent in the Blue Wave's FCIAC playoff hopes. Opdahl, who missed most of the last month due to injury, drilled the second pitch he saw from Darien's Andrew Nault far over the left field fence to give the Bears a 2-0, first-inning lead. Norwalk put the game away in the fifth with five straight singles to open the inning. Darien tried to answer in the top half of the sixth, but Nick Pettit hit the ball hard into a double play and the Blue Wave were caught on a double steal attempt to end the threat. The Bears must win their final three games in order to qualify for the state tournament.

[...] he and his New Canaan teammates were minutes away from wrapping up a 12-1 FCIAC baseball victory over Norwalk, so why not? Casali struck out six and walked none, allowing only a sixth-inning RBI double to Ricky Liscio (two hits). In the second inning (after a leadoff single) the first two balls should have been outs. Two Norwalk errors led to a seven-run (all unearned) second inning that gave New Canaan a 10-0 lead. Run- scoring hits by Casali and Nick Cascione (three hits) gave the Rams a 3-0 lead after one inning. Casali had an RBI triple in the third and the run-scoring double in the fifth. NC—Andrew Casali had a single, two double and triple and three RBI, and allowed one run in six innings while striking out six and walking none, Nick Cascione had three hits, Alex Curto had two hits, Brian Moran and Erik Jager had two RBI.

Westhill sent 16 batters to the plate in the fifth inning against McMahon, with 12 of them scoring, as the Vikings routed the Senators 15-2 on Monday. Senior designated Andrew Pucceila led the onslaught for Westhill with three doubles and five runs batted in, with freshman John Spoto -- a double and two singles -- and senior Ryan Duggan -- two doubles and one single -- contributing heavily, too. The Vikings jumped on McMahon started Alex Scallion for two runs in the first inning. Scallion kept the Vikings in check for the next two innings, but then Westhill exploded for a dozen runs in the bottom of fifth inning, helped in large part by four McMahon errors. Westhill catcher Joey DePreta opened the inning by reaching on an infield error. McMahon had an opportunity to get on the board first, with catcher Mike Giordano hitting a one-out triple in the first inning. [...] Scallion popped up to the pitcher to end the threat.

Going into Tuesday's match against McMahon, Greenwich knew the visiting Senators were playing without two of their top scorers in Zach Bartolo (concussion) and Drew D'Antonio (hamstring). With the scored tied 1-1, McMahon claimed its only lead of the game when junior attack Justin Macintyre put one past Greenwich Goalie Will Waesche (11 saves) with 6:44 left in the first quarter. Greenwich added two more goals in the quarter ---- with 1:20 left and 52 seconds remaining -- by Moeser, a senior midfielder, and senior attack Will Gibian, respectively. McMahon had to make due without Bartolo, who suffered a concussion in the recent game against Norwalk, and D'Antonio, who has been nursing a hamstring injury. Bartolo is playing lacrosse for the University of Notre Dame next year, and D'Antonio will play for Bryant University -- is a tall task, McMahon coach Mike Epstein said. Four McMahon players who'd been suspended one game for their role in a brawl with Norwalk players during a recent match were available to play after missing the game against Darien. Finneran opened the scoring in the second quarter with a shot past McMahon goalie Josh Miller (11 saves) with 9:20 left to make it 5-2.

With seemingly the entire Darien roster showing up on the score sheet, the Blue Wave boys lacrosse team cruised to its third straight win, a lopsided 19-2 home victory over Norwalk on Tuesday. After spotting Norwalk an early 1-0 lead, the Blue Wave attack began firing on all cylinders en route to eight first period goals. Kevin Seiler bookended the quarter by pulling Darien (7-4, 7-1) even at 1-1 and scoring again with 13 seconds remaining for the 8-1 lead. Norwalk's Danny Jakab scored on an early wraparound goal to give the Bears their only lead of the contest at 1-0, but Darien dominated possession and rarely allowed Norwalk to get on the attack, especially in the first half. With an enormous early-game lead, Darien coach Jeff Brameier pulled most of his starters near the start of the second quarter, including goalie Phil Huffard, who didn't even have to make a save. Lindley scored the first three goals of the second quarter to give him five on the day, but at that point, most of the Blue Wave starters sat for the rest of the afternoon.

Ridgefield shutout Norwalk through four and a half innings on Friday, holding a three-run advantage, but the lead felt much bigger to Tigers' coach Paul Fabbri. [...] when Norwalk scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull within a run, Fabbri and his players were worried they might lose a game that seemed well in hand earlier. Ridgefield went on to win 8-2, powered by eight extra-base hits, including a mammoth opposite field home run by senior shortstop Bryce Maher. In the fourth, senior left fielder Jason Marra scored from third on a double steal when the throw from the Norwalk catcher failed to nab Maher for the third out as he swiped second. Norwalk made it a one-run game in the bottom of the fifth by finally stringing some hits together against Ridgefield starter Joe Malley. Malley struck out eight Norwalk batters in the first four innings, but Norwalk pieced together back to back doubles from third baseman Sean Welch and left fielder Brendan Hanzlik to lead off the inning. Catcher Ryan Evans followed with an infield single to put runners on the corners. [...] Norwalk second baseman Dave Balunek lined out to second for the second out, and first baseman Tristan Opdahl flew out to deep right center to end the inning. Maher didn't miss his pitch in the top half of the next inning, crushing a Butler offering over the right center field fence to bring in Marra, who had walked ahead of him.

The New Canaan baseball team’s clutch hitting proved to be the difference in a 10-3 triumph over visiting Brien McMahon on Friday afternoon at Mead Park. The timely hitting — combined with starting pitcher Andrew Casali’s complete game — paved the way for the streaking Rams to win their fourth straight while improving to 8-1 on the season. Oullette, New Canaan’s catcher, opened the bottom of the first by drawing a walk against McMahon starter Mark Ballard. After Ballard rebounded to retire the next two, Brian Moran notched his first of three singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. Moran stole second base, and the throw sailed into center field, allowing Oullette to score. Erik Jager reached on an error, Alex Curto walked and Nick Cascione hit an RBI double to help the Rams build a 3-0 first inning lead. Ballard was removed in favor of reliever Andrew Seiden, who pitched the final 5ÿ1D3 innings while giving up just one run. Casali didn’t allow the Senators a hit until Edwin Owolo roped an RBI double down the left field line in the top of the fourth, but the New Canaan hurler was unaware of his brief no-hit bid. Casali scattered four hits, struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. The Rams added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Curto and pinch hitter CJ Altman led off the inning with consecutive doubles.

For the second time this season, Grace and the Hatters were clinging to a two-run lead -- on April 5 against Norwalk, Tuesday against McMahon -- when Grace quashed a potential rally by picking off a runner at second. Whenever we get a (runner) on second, it's an instant thing and everybody starts working together. Because if we get the guy at second, there's no more runners in scoring position. The game was scoreless in the top of the second inning when Danbury touched up McMahon starter RJ Serrano for three runs on four hits. [...] baseman Eric Cerno followed with a single to score Goetz and took second on a throw to the plate. Right fielder Drew Pace hit a two-out double and scored on an RBI single from catcher Mike Giordano. In McMahon's next turn at bat, Valenzano hit a one-out single and took second on a line-drive single off the bat of Matt Downey. After Valenzano was picked off, Serrano grounded into a force out to end the inning.