The NVL baseball and softball tournament quarterfinals were played Saturday, and several area teams moved on to Monday’s semifinal round.
Holy Cross baseball and softball both picked up wins at Holy Cross High School. The Crusader baseball team took down Ansonia 6-1 while the softball team blew out St. Paul 10-1. Wolcott baseball also moved on, defeating St. Paul 4-3 on the road in Bristol.
Holy Cross baseball
The second-seeded Crusaders trailed 1-0 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, then erupted for six runs to take the game from the seventh-seeded Chargers.
Connor Goggin singled to lead off, then Adam Razza drew a walk. A bunt single by Fran Phelan loaded the bases, then Matt Bonvicini singled to right field to drive in Goggin and Razza. Don Mangini singled to make it 3-1, then Tim Zupkus reached on an error to up the lead to 4-1. A William Marshall single brought in two more runs for the 6-1 advantage.
Phelan was terrific on the mound for Holy Cross. He pitched a complete game and gave up one run on four hits while compiling nine strikeouts. Phelan threw a ridiculous 61 of his 79 pitches for strikes and didn’t walk a batter.
The Crusaders move on to play Wolcott. The semifinals are Tuesday at Naugatuck, according to The Zone (Waterbury Republican-American). Holy Cross and Wolcott play at 4 p.m., followed by Oxford and Watertown at 6:30 p.m.
Wolcott vs. St. Paul baseball
The No. 6 Eagles managed just three hits off of Connor Crean, but Matt Warren came up with a huge one when he smacked a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Warren’s blast to right field scored himself and Steve Urbanski and gave Wolcott a 3-1 lead. A Ray Bartoli sac fly in the seventh scored Urbanski and made it 4-1.
No. 3 St. Paul rallied for two runs in the last of the seventh, one on a Nick Morrell single and another on a Jackson Hines sacrifice fly. Bobby White got a fly out and pop out to pick up the save and preserve the win for Isaiah Negretti and Wolcott.
Holy Cross vs. St. Paul softball
The second-seeded Crusaders scored four runs in both the first and second innings of their way to victory over the seventh-seeded Falcons.
Hannah Brown, Sarah Lawton and Aubrey Defoe (double) each had two hits. Allie Brown and Lawton scored two runs each while Alexandra Lombardo had two RBI. Hannah Brown, Lawton, Val Nobrega (triple), Nicole Strielkauskas and Defoe each had one RBI.
In the circle, Lawton gave up a single run on eight hits and struck out 11.
For St. Paul, Brigid Johndrow and Jessica Persechino each had two hits. Persechino had the lone RBI for the Falcons, who scored in the top of the fourth inning. Alessandra Milardo, Brooke Perez, Corinne Johndrow and Katelynn Oullette had one hit each.
Holy Cross plays No. 3 Torrington in a NVL semifinal matchup on Monday at Naugatuck High School. That game is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Information compiled from GameChanger (Holy Cross baseball, Wolcott baseball, Holy Cross softball).
