Eye On The CIAC

It has been awhile since Eye on the CIAC provided a glimpse at the action taking place across the state. Spring sports officially kicked off with competition on Wednesday April 3, and at times the weather almost felt spring-like the past few days. The Eye will focus a bit more on key match-ups as the seasons progress, but for this first edition, the primary factor was games with narrow margins of victory. There is four days worth of action to cover, so let the bullet points begin.

Baseball:

• By a very unofficial count there were 15 one-run games in baseball over the first four days of competition, including a pair of extra-inning affairs. Maloney knocked off Wethersfield by a 10-9 score in eight innings to move to 2-0, with both of its victories coming by a single run.
• Platt claimed a 11-10 win over Wilcox Tech in a battle of local opponents that also carried into the eighth inning. The extra innings were necessary after a seven-run rally in the seventh for Platt which stormed back to eventually earn the win.
• In the ultimate pitching duel score, Weston captured a 1-0 victory over Westhill to improve to 2-1 on the year. It appeared to be the only 1-0 game of the opening week of action.
  Simsbury pulled out a narrow 7-6 win over Daniel Hand to get its season off to a strong start.

Girls Lacrosse:

• North Branford and Haddam-Killingworth engaged in a high-scoring affair, with the Cougars capturing an 18-17 win  despite being outscored 11-7 in the second half.

Boys Lacrosse:

• Hall held off Ledyard by a 10-9 score to notch its first victory of the season.
• As discussed in last week’s Linked Up, St. Paul played its first varsity lacrosse match, and pushed Canton to the brink before the Warriors earned a 7-5 win.

Softball:

• Windsor and Conard battled to extra innings in softball late last week, with the home team Windsor prevailing by a 7-6 score in nine innings.
• One-run games by a 2-1 score were a popular softball result in the first week. Amity defeated Hall by that score, East Haven topped Foran 2-1, Mercy got past Cheshire 2-1, and Oxford stopped Joel Barlow 2-1.

Girls Tennis:

• In action to begin the season, Naugatuck pulled out a narrow 4-3 victory over Torrington.
• New Milford and Bethel also had a very tight competition with New Milford earning the 4-3 win.
• Four-to-three was also the result in a match-up between Branford and Cheshire, with Cheshire pulling out the narrow win.

Boys Tennis:

• Killingly and New London went the distance in their opener, with Killingly capturing the 4-3 triumph.
• There were a handful of other 4-3 decisions in week one, with Daniel Hand topping Fairfield, Manchester besting local rival Rocky Hill, Fairfield Ludlowe getting past Wilton, Masuk upending Bunnell, and Middletown defeating Bristol Central.
• Crosby and Torrington used the nine-point scoring in their match, which also came down to the final point, with Crosby capturing a 5-4 win.

Boys Volleyball:

• Cheshire’s win streak nearly came to a close in the season opener, before the team rallied to win the final set and claim a 3-2 win over Lewis Mills.

RANKINGS WATCH
Each Monday we take a look at any major movement in the top-10 of the CIAC Tournament Rankings for those sports where it is provided. For this first spring edition, because there has not been an opportunity for any changes, we will simply provide links to the rankings (link is to the largest class, where links to other classes can also be found).

Baseball, Boys Lacrosse, Girls Lacrosse, Softball, Girls Tennis, Boys Volleyball.