New Canaan Sports Digest Aug 9

New Canaan faces Newtown in the winner's bracket final on Tuesday in the 11-year-old Cal Ripken New England Regionals in New Milford.

It is a rematch of the Connecticut state finals, won by Newtown, although both teams qualified for the regionals.

On Sunday, New Canaan defeated Exeter, N.H, 5-2 to improve to 2-0 in the tournament.

Mikey Pelli pitched four innings, allowing only two hits and one unearned run. Robby Jones pitched the final two innings, giving up one run.

Jones hit a monster three-run home run to centerfield that cleared the 245-foot fence by at least 30 feet. Dillon Abate and Pelli scored on the blast that put New Canaan ahead 3-0 in the third inning.

Exeter answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the third as the catcher's throw on a steal of third went into left field and the runner scored.

Justin Stemerman had a big two-run single in the fifth inning to put New Canaan ahead, 5-1. Exeter scored a run in the sixth, but New Canaan got a great defensive play by Justin Greco, who threw out a runner at second base on a hit to right field.

Trevor Donnelly also made a great play on a short hop throw at second in the inning.

Pelli was named player of the game as he had a single, two walks and was hit by a pitch. Matt Evans was 2-for-3 with a double.

New Canaan YMCA swimmers in junior nationals

The New Canaan YMCA is well-represented at this week's world junior swimming championships with five participants taking part.

On Monday, Kaylin Moss finished second in the women's 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:30:95. Moss bettered her qualifying time of 2:32.72, which also was the second-fastest of the day.

John Santoro finished 85th in the men's 200-meter breast (2:25.68) and Maddie Rush was 144th in the 200 fly (2:26.55)

The junior national championships, taking place in Palo Alto, Calif, continue through Friday.

Gold medal for U.S. rowing

Southport's Lucy Grinalds won a silver medal in the women's four at last year’s world junior rowing championships. A year later, she did even better than that.

The team of veterans Chandler Lally (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Grinalds and Jessica Eiffert (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and rookie Mia Croonquist (Vashon, Wash) led wire-to-wire Saturday in winning the goal medal in the women's four in Eton, England.

It marked the first time the United States has won gold in the event since 2000.

“I’m ecstatic right now. I can’t believe it all came together. I’ve been nervous about it for the past month, but I’ve been visualizing it every day,” Grinalds, a four-time junior national team member, told USrowing.org

"When we started, I was like, ‘Is this actually starting.’ After we crossed the first 500 and saw that we were up, we were so happy. We just kept pushing it and pushing it, and we had open water going into the last 500. It just feels like my four years have paid off.”

In the heat, the crew used a strong first 250 meters to establish its lead, and Saturday’s race was no different. Once again, the U.S. grabbed an early lead on the field and continued to build on its margin through the 1,500-meter mark.

Holding nearly a three-second advantage going into the final 500 meters, the U.S. watched both Great Britain and New Zealand try to mount challenges down the stretch, but the crew was able to maintain a safe lead and came home with a 1.76-second victory over the host nation.

In the end, the U.S. finished with a time of 6:48.77, with Great Britain taking silver in a 6:50.53. New Zealand won bronze in a 6:51.36.

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS

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