New Canaan Sports Digest July 27

The New Canaan 11-Year-Old All Stars defeated Hebron 11-3 on Tuesday for the second time in the Cal Ripken state tournament and are now one win away from the finals.

Mikey Pelli pitched three scoreless innings for New Canaan as he continued his dominant pitching throughout the tournament. New Canaan only led 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Hebron mounted a rally.

Hebron loaded the bases with no outs and the heart of its order coming up. Dillon Abate entered the game to pitch for New Canaan and induced a groundball back to the mound.

Abate fielded the ball and threw to catcher Robby Jones, who fired to first baseman Matt Evans for a double play. Abate then got a popout to end the inning.

Evans had a great day at the bat as he went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and another ball that hit the fence.

NC scored five runs in the fifth inning to break the game open at 9-1. JD Sparks crushed a two-run homer in the inning. New Canaan added two runs n the sixth for the final margin.

Abate allowed no earned runs while Jones and Stemerman each finished 2-for-4. Trevor Donnelly and Luke Crawford added singles to New Canaan's attack.

NC plays Brookfield on Wednesday night at 5:30 pm in Newtown at Glander field, with the winner advancing to the championship game against Newtown.

Amateur David Pastore of Greenwich emerged as the leader after the first round of the 77th Connecticut Open at the Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield.

Pastore, who plays out of the eClub of Fairfield, stole the spotlight from 71 of the areas top professionals by shooting a sizzling 5-under par 66 Monday to grab a two-shot lead.

Pastore, the 2009 Connecticut Public Links chanpion,  had only one bogey on the day to go with four birdies and an eagle, which came on the uphill 463-yard par five eighth hole.  Pastore is looking to become the first amateur to win the Open since Jeff Hedden from Black Hall Club took home the trophy at Round Hill Club in 2008.

Hedden, who won the New England Amateur last week, is also in the field and is six shots back after an opening round 72.

Among local players, Wilton's Brian Murphy, who plays out of Brooklawn is tied for fourth after a 2-under 69.  At 71 are Redding's Jim St. Pierre, a former champion, and Norwalk's Gerry Courville.

Weston's Bernie D'Amato and Stamford's Mike Ballo Jr., who plays out of Woodway, are tied for 35th after carding 74s. Wilton's John Murphy is tied for 49th after a 75.

Danbury's Bensel and New Haven's Evan Beirne are tied for second at 68. Other former champs near the leaderboard include Kevin Giancola from Canton (71), Steve Sokol from Orange Hills Country Club (74) and defending champion Kyle Gallo (74).

In the last 14 years, Gallo has won the Connecticut Open a record-tying four times.

Play will resume on Tuesday at at 7 a.m. with tee times running until 2:20 pm.  Following the conclusion of the second round, the field will be cut to the low 40 players, including ties, for the final round on Wednesday.

New Canaan's Curt Casali Earns Promotion

It didn't take New Canaan's Curt Casali long to earn a promotion.

After less than a month with the Connecticut Tigers of the New York-Penn League, Casali was promoted to the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League.

While also a Class A league, the New York-Penn League plays a short season beginning in June. The Midwest Leagues plays a full minor league schedule on June.

After starting 1-for-17 in Norwich, Casali went on a 9-for-16 streak to raise his average to .278 before moving up.

Casali recorded his first hit with the Whitecaps on Monday.

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS

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