New London Sports Roundup: Baseball, Softball Teams Compete In Florida

High school

The New London boys upset the order of things on the basketball court on Monday when the 21st ranked team eked out a 59-58 win against Glastonbury (number 12) in the first round of the Class LL CIAC Tournament on Monday. But the Whalers’ luck ran out on Wednesday when East Hartford, ranked fifth, racked up an 86-65 win to knock New London out in the tournament’s second round. The Whalers finish at 17-8 for the season.

Spring competitions at New London High School won’t start until early April. The Whalers field teams in baseball, golf, softball, track and field, and tennis.

College

The Coast Guard Academy and Mitchell College sent their baseball and softball teams to Florida for spring action. The Coast Guard baseball team opened the Gene Cusic Classic by splitting a pair of games with the Merchant Marine, winning the first one 11-9 and losing the second 6-0 on Friday. The Bears went on to defeat Skidmore 5-1 on Saturday, but lost to Salve Regina 14-7 on Sunday. The softball team competed in the Rebel Games, sweeping Skidmore 11-0 on Sunday but falling to Washington State 13-0 the same day.

Mitchell also split its opening baseball games, defeating Kenyon 2-1 on Friday and dropping the second game 9-1. The Mariners also lost their third game, with Rockford prevailing 6-4 on Saturday. Swarthmore swept Mitchell’s softball team 12-0 on Saturday, but the Mariners returned to defeat Norwich Academy 4-3 in the opening games of the Snowbird Tournament on Sunday. The men’s lacrosse team improved to 3-1 with an 8-4 win against SUNYIT on Thursday and a 9-6 win against Wells on Saturday.

At Connecticut College, the men’s lacrosse team had a narrow 13-12 win against Bowdoin on Saturday, while the women’s team lost to Bowdoin 8-5 on Sunday. The Camels hosted the Woods Trophy sailing competition on Sunday, taking first place in a field of 16. The coed sailing team won six of 10 races at the John Jackson Memorial Team Race Intersectional Regatta on the same day to finish third out of eight teams.

Standout athletes

• Curt Barrett and Nate Toll: Coast Guard pitchers who each had four strikeouts in the Bears’ win against Skidmore
• Peter Eshenfelder: had six saves for Mitchell in the lacrosse win over SUNYIT
• Andrew Freedman: had three goals and four assists for Connecticut College in the lacrosse win against Bowdoin
• Nolan Gallagher: batted in five runs in the Coast Guard’s win over Merchant Marine, including a three-run double in the sixth inning
• David Klapp: scored four of Mitchell’s goals and had an assist in the win against SUNYIT
• Demetre Lyras: had three goals for Mitchell in the lacrosse win against Wells
• Chad Sawyer: scored three goals for Connecticut College in the lacrosse game against Bowdoin, including the game winning shot with eight seconds remaining
• Collin Sawyer: helped propel the Whalers to the second round of the CIAC Tournament with 11 points in the final quarter of the game against Glastonbury, according to The Bulletin
• Adam Scalesse: earned All-America honors and broke his own school record with a time of 8.11 in the 60 meter hurdles at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships
• Tyler Shamas: pitched a complete game and only allowed three hits in Mitchell’s first game against Kenyon
• Tricia Tomaselli: Mitchell softball pitcher, struck out three batters in the game against Norwich University
• Sammy Yuknat: Coast Guard softball pitcher, had a shutout for the Coast Guard in her first college game

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