In a hard-fought battle between two great teams, Darien was able to pick up more timely hits, and picked up a 5-1 win over Fairfield Warde in the opening round of the FCIAC softball tournament. The fourth-seeded Blue Wave was bolstered by a fine pitching performance by Jessica DeMaio, who out-dueled Mustang ace Gina Treglia to pick up the win at home.
Darien opened up the game with a two-run first inning, and behind DeMaio and the rest of the Blue Wave defense that would be all they needed. Still, they picked up three insurance runs with a rally in the bottom of the fourth. Olivia Gozdz and Kelly Fahey hit a pair of RBI doubles to push the score to 4-0. DeMaio followed with a slicing single down the right field line, scoring Fahey to give the Blue Wave a five-run lead.
Warde answered in the top of the fifth with a major threat of its own. A pair of walks surrounding an infield single loaded the bases for the Mustangs with no outs. But DeMaio worked two shallow fly balls to leave the Mustangs with one out to go in the inning. Treglia grounded the ball to short, but was ruled safe when DeMaio tossed the ball to the mound prematurely, scoring Nikki Schettino on the play. Darien coach Nick DeMaio came out to argue the play, but the score would stand at 5-1 for the rest of the game.
[Jessica] got into a couple jams. One really had me sweating, Coach DeMaio said. She bends a little, but she doesnt break. Theres been not one instance where we have fallen apart. The coach credited his whole teams complete performance for the win. You could play well, and when the other team is as good as Warde is, you could still lose, he said. Thats why Im so happy with todays win. They did what they had to do.
Mustangs Coach Gary Quiricone had nothing but praise for his defense, especially Treglias ability to settle down despite giving up two- and three-run rallies. The problem, he said, was the teams lack of timely hits. We had runners on base, but we just couldnt get that one hit to drive them in, Quiricone said. Thats been the story of our season for success, driving runners on base in, and we didnt do that today.
With the victory, Darien will go on to play the winner of No. 1 seed Westhill Tuesday at Sacred Heart University. Although DeMaio said either team could present a challenge, his team has a score to settle with the undefeated Vikings. Westhill knocked the Blue Wave out of the FCIAC tournament in last years semifinals, and won a tight 1-0 contest in Stamford just a week ago. Quiricone said he will give his team a few days to rest, and then will begin preparation for the Class L tournament.
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