Ludlowe had been one of the hottest teams in the state, having won 11 consecutive games since a loss to Westhill on April 22. Danbury (15-7) was on the board just three batters into the game and added three more in the second inning to nail down a berth in Saturday's championship game against defending champion Trumbull. Marquisse Marrero drew a leadoff walk against Ludlowe starter Patrick Gutierrez, stole second and scored on a Ricky Flannery's one-out single. Calitro then scored on Nick Goetz' long double to right, and the Hatters made it 4-0 when Corey Brosz delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single to right. "The two-out hits were the key," Ratchford said. Highlights: D--Corey Brosz had two-run single in the second, Ricky Flannery had two hits, JustinCalitro had two hits.

Mark Liguori's confidence in his jump serve was shaken as he stepped back to the service line facing game point in pivotal Game 3. Yet, Ridgefield's sophomore picked a stellar time to find his serve, and because of it, the Tigers are headed back to the FCIAC championship match. The second-seeded Tigers won the final two games, beating No. 3 Fairfield for the second time in a week, 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 26-24, 25-9) in Wednesday's FCIAC semifinals at Fairfield Ludlowe High School. Paul Cooke led Ridgefield with 39 assists, five digs and six service points, and middle hitter Griffin Jones had 10 kills and two blocks. Senior outside hitter Emilio Renzulli keyed Fairfield with 20 kills, 10 digs, six service points and three aces, as Fairfield fell to 15-4. [...] Tyler Chittenden's kill cut Ridgefield's deficit to 24-23, and Liguori -- who had twice committed errors while jump serving -- served the final three points, adding an ace, to give the Tigers the game 26-24. Highlights: F--Emilio Renzulli 20 kills, 10 digs, 7 service points, 3 aces; Alec Gropman 2 kills, 29 assists, 8 service points, 6 digs; Chris Sanfilippo 6 service points, 13 digs; R-- Paul Cooke 39 assists, 5 digs, 6 service points; Griffin Jones 10 kills, 2 blocks; Karl Liapunov 28 digs, 3 service points; Tyler Chittenden 14 kills; David Linder 8 kills, 5 service points, 2 blocks.

Greenwich blanks Ludlowe in FCIAC boys tennis semifinals With each Cardinal having to step up a level to fill the void, GHS knew it would need a complete team effort to advance to the championship match, and that is precisely what the top seed received as it disposed of the fourth-seeded Falcons by a 4-0 count. Losing Niklaus created a daunting challenge for Greenwich (18-0) coach E.J. Haskell's squad but one it rose to as a team. "To lose your top singles player and have everyone move up is the biggest challenge a team can face in match of this nature," Haskell said. "Throughout this season the team camaraderie and the influence of our coaching staff have really been a huge piece of our collective success," Cepelewicz said.

New Canaan softball edges Ludlowe to reach FCIAC final for first time The road started eight years ago, when six highly touted softball players became teammates for the first time on the New Canaan Storm 10-and-under squad. On Tuesday afternoon, with a little help -- some of it unexpected -- from their friends, the group carried their high school program to a new level. Ironically, it was a pair of juniors who assumed the headlining roles as New Canaan reached the FCIAC championship game for the first time following a 1-0 win over Fairfield Ludlowe at Sacred Heart University. Ali Reilly, who has shared the pitching duties this season with Cydney Ventura, threw a brilliant five-hit shutout, while Rachel Kortman, in her first start of the year, drove in the winning run with a fifth-inning single, one of just three hits by the No. 6 Rams. The seventh-seeded Falcons (15-7) were limited to five singles. "The No. 9 batter had four at-bats all season, which showed this was a team effort," said Simoneau, who altered her lineup for the postseason. The Rams (16-6) were flawless on defense, led by the seniors who have brought a sport that has taken a back seat to lacrosse, tennis, golf and baseball prominent in their town.

Pitching, defense and timely hitting led the Fairfield Prep baseball team against Notre Dame-West Haven, yet again. Kyle Mollo scattered nine hits over five-plus innings, and the third-seeded Jesuits hung on for a 4-3 win over the sixth-seeded Green Knights in Tuesday's SCC quarterfinals at Alumni Diamond. Chris Collins had two hits and scored two runs, and Kevin Stone's third-inning two-out, two-RBI double helped Prep (15-6) advance to Thursday's conference semifinals at West Haven's Quigley Stadium against Amity at 4. Notre Dame pitcher Greg Zullo scattered eight hits, struck out six and allowed four runs over six innings, despite dealing with a hamstring injury. Tied 2-2 with two outs in the third and Collins and Joe Ganim on, Stone roped a line drive to the gap in left, scoring the two and putting Prep ahead for good. After Mollo surrendered a leadoff single to Zach Ardito in the sixth, senior David Gerics came in and retired six of the seven batters he faced to pick up a save.

With an opportunity to catapult Fairfield Ludlowe into the FCIAC finals for the first time, Colleen Fitzpatrick wasn't going to let a second set slip away. Fitzpatrick and Boyle responded to win No. 1 doubles 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), clinching second-seeded Ludlowe's 5-2 win over third-seeded Staples in Monday's FCIAC semifinal at home. Ludlowe will face fourth-seeded New Canaan in the conference championship on Wednesday at Wilton High School at 4 p.m. The Rams, last season's conference runner-up, beat top-ranked Greenwich 4-3 on Monday. The Falcons, who edged Staples 4-3 in their previous meeting on April 11, captured three of the four singles matches on Monday. At No. 3 singles, Ludlowe's Cami Adajian improved her personal record to 17-0 this year with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kelsey Shockey. After Staples picked up its first win at No. 4 singles, with Julia Bartimer topping Kyra Adajian 6-1, 6-2, the Falcons notched the match-clinching fourth victory at top doubles. Given Ludlowe's strength at the singles positions, Fabian believed his team needed to make an impact at doubles.

Westhill had to delay its FCIAC quarterfinal softball game against Fairfield Ludlowe on Monday by 90 minutes to get a soaked Allyson Rioux Field into playing condition. Led by Brenna Martini's two RBI triples, the seventh-seeded Falcons took an early lead and held off a late rally to defeat No. 2 Westhill 6-4. Nicki Tygesen had two hits and an RBI, Aliza Guerrero added two hits, Emily Nelson drove in two runs and Colleen Lambert had a run-scoring hit for the Falcons. Westhill (16-5), which had flourished behind a potent offense, was held to just three singles before putting three together in the seventh inning to score twice and bring the tying run to the plate. [...] Brigette Anderson, who pitched 4 1/3 innings of strong relief, worked out of the jam to get the win. Martini set the tone in the opening inning with a long triple to left field to drive in Guerrero, who had singled. Westhill tied the score in the bottom of the second on Jess Ruffels' run-scoring single.

As the FCIAC tournament and state's No. 1 ranked team, the Ridgefield boys lacrosse team aimed for a fast start in its conference quarterfinal Saturday against Fairfield Ludlowe. [...] thanks to their defense and the 1-2 offensive punch of Brett Baker and Simon Mathias, a fast start is exactly what the Tigers got. The top-seeded Tigers scored eight first-half goals en route to a 15-4 win over No. 8 Ludlowe at Lancaster Field. When Ludlowe had the ball, the Tigers' aggressive zone defense pressed the Falcons, limiting them to just three first-half shots. [...] the Tigers scored the frame's final three goals, carrying a 12-1 lead after three.

[...] for the second straight year, all four Fairfield high school teams reached their respective state tournaments, three reached their conference tournaments and three finished their seasons above .500. Ludlowe, despite its 15-4 loss to Ridgefield in the FCIAC quarterfinals, held the distinction as the FCIAC tournament's only school from a split-high school town in what is universally considered the state's toughest conference tournament. The Falcons edged out their rival, Fairfield Warde by one game for the final conference-playoff spot. A lot of that progression has been the result of a commitment to the program, and those players -- who have started playing lacrosse earlier thanks to the youth program at the Wakeman Boys and Girls Club -- improve with that experience. ND athletic director Rob Bleggi's has seen lacrosse at Notre Dame develop and credits Skawinski's passion with its rising. The state has seen parity dominate lacrosse this year -- save Prep and Ridgefield -- and as the lower-tier clubs improve, so too does the quality of Connecticut high school lacrosse.

Hickey drove in four runs, and Andrew Salveson scattered nine hits over five innings, as sixth-seeded Ludlowe beat No. 3 St. Joseph 10-2 in Monday's FCIAC quarterfinals at St. Joseph High School. Right fielder Tommy Howell was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Charlie Meder had two hits and scored three runs, guiding the Falcons (14-7) to their 11th straight win and 13th in their last 14 games. Hickey, who batted .237 and had driven in only two runs in 15 games this season, contributed key hits in Ludlowe's two big innings. With the score tied at 2 and the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth, the lefty scalded a ground ball inside the third-base bag, driving home Meder and Salveson. Hickey's fifth-inning, two-out bloop single scored Meder and Mikey Arman, making it 9-2. Olayos singled and scored on Jake Amoroso's RBI single, one of five Cadets hits in the frame.