The beauty and curse of weekday afternoons this time of year? A lot goes down in a short window of time on the scholastic front, and bright skies can darken on the turn of a breeze.
Whether you get wet or stay in the sun depends on where you’re standing.
On Wednesday, the Cheshire lacrosse teams rode the winds of fortune to the SCC Tournament championships down in Milford.
About the same time, Wilcox Tech was seeing conference hopes in the CTC come to a close in both baseball and softball.
The Wildcats also came away 0-for-2 at the Meriden City Championship at Hunter Golf Course. Maloney repeated as city team champion and Maloney senior Dylan Miller repeated as city individual champion, but not until getting past Platt’s Tyler Cessario in a playoff.
Also Wednesday, the Cheshire boys volleyball team remained in SCC contention with a 3-0 semifinal sweep of Amity. The Rams will host the conference final on Friday night.
Here’s the breakdown.
Boys lacrosse Cheshire 8, Fairfield Prep 7: There’s a reason Matt Jeffery will be heading to Notre Dame in the fall of 2024. The Cheshire junior scored with 3:16 left in overtime to lift the No. 2 Rams over the No. 1 Jesuits on the neutral turf of Foran High School.
It was Cheshire’s first win over Prep and the program’s first SCC championship since 2010. Both teams head to the state tournament at 15-3.
Girls lacrosse Cheshire 14, Guilford 7: The top-seeded Rams dethroned Guilford and claimed the SCC crown by outscoring the No. 3 Grizzlies 9-4 in the second half at Foran High School.
Cheshire (15-3) was led by the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, Ava Matikowski, who scored four goals and set up three.
Lauren Samela had a team-high five goals, while Stella Tessier torched the twine with three. Sophia Surato and Alex Lucas added one strike apiece.
Payton Root’s three goals led Guilford (12-7).
Cheshire out-shot Guilford 33-23. Rams’ netminder Audrey Bronson collected nine saves.
Wednesday’s result was a reversal of last year’s SCC final in which Guilford beat Cheshire 12-6 to extend its title reign to three seasons.
Golf City Championship: After matching each other with 4-over-par rounds of 39 on the front nine at Hunter, Maloney’s Dylan Miller and Platt’s Tyler Cessario went to a playoff hole on No. 9, where Miller drained a 21-foot birdie putt for the victory.
Maloney also earned the Meriden team crown by four strokes, out-shooting Platt 183-187. Wilcox came in with a 216.
The Spartans (13-2 overall, 9-2 CCC South) got additional scoring from Brady Camire (45), Nate Camire (48) and Quinn Lovig (51).
Platt (6-8, 4-8 CCC South) got rounds of 44 from Will Berthiaume, 47 from Gabe Handley and 57 from Hunter McMahon, along with Cessario’s 39.
Wilcox Tech (15-10 14-3 CTC) was again led by the guy who’s come on strong late in the season, Jeremiah Soto. The junior shot a 49. Brandon More (51), Connor Wright (52) and Jacob Long (64) completed the card.
Boys volleyball Cheshire 3, Amity 0: The Rams swept the rival Spartans 25-11, 25-14, 25-19 in a SCC semifinal in Cheshire.
Cheshire (17-4) rode 35 assists from Matt Irizarry, who fed Connor Hayes (13 kills), Matti Lilback (12) and Will Allen (10).
Cheshire will host the winner of Shelton/Xavier in the championship match on Friday at 6 p.m.
Softball Norwich Tech 10, Wilcox Tech 3: Seven errors undermined the No. 3 Wildcats in their CTC Tournament semifinal matchup with the No. 2 Warriors in Norwich.
Wilcox ace Chloe Enger struck out 13, but the Warriors were able to rap out 10 hits, all singles.
Norwich Tech built a 4-0 lead by the end of the third inning, then answered Wilcox runs in the fourth and fifth before sealing it with a three-run sixth.
Of the 10 runs Norwich Tech scored, only four were earned.
Wilcox connected for six hits, also all singles. First baseman Ashley Stimpson was 2-for-4 with one RBI. Enger (1-for-3) also drove in a run.
Norwich Tech improved to 19-3 and advances to Friday’s CTC final at Albertus Magnus College. Wilcox, now 17-5, gets ready for the Class M state tournament. The Wildcats project as the No. 4 seed.
North Haven 5, Cheshire 3: Jordan McCue homered to pull the No. 5 Rams even at 3-all in the fourth, but one inning later the top-seeded and undefeated Nighthawks reclaimed the lead with two runs to capture Tuesday night’s SCC Tournament semifinal in North Haven.
North Haven (22-0) will face No. 6 Amity (17-5) in Thursday’s SCC championship game at Biondi Field in West Haven at 7 p.m. Cheshire (16-6) prepares for the CIAC state tournament.
Tai Byrd added a two-run HR for the Rams against North Haven. Alyssa Ferriouolo and Alexandra Anquillare homered for the Nighthawks.
Boys tennis Plainville 6, Wilcox Tech 1: The No. 1 doubles team of Markese Wright and Chase Baez had the victory for the Wildcats in their non-league match with the Blue Devils in Meriden.
Wright and Baez split 6-4 sets with Evan Giannini and Jordan Torres of Plainville before taking the super-tiebreaker 10-4.