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BRAKETTES OPPOSE HIGH SCHOOL ALL-STARS THURSDAY AT DELUCA FIELD
June 13 - The Stratford Brakettes begin an extended home stand Thursday night at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field when they take on the Connecticut High School all-stars in a 6:30 p.m. nine-inning game.
The Ridgefield Rebels, an 18 Gold team, is a newcomer on the schedule Friday in another nine-inning game at 6:30 followed by a Saturday doubleheader against Team Connecticut, beginning at 7 p.m.
“It's always a fun time playing against the top high school players in the state,” said veteran Manager John Stratton. “As a matter of fact, some of them have ended up playing for the Brakettes the next year.” Last year's two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, Abby Abramson of Cheshire High is now one of the six pitchers in the Brakettes rotation, while UConn starting shortstop Briana Marcelino of 2017 state champ Barlow played in last year's game. She will make her season debut for Stratton Thursday night. Another recent all-star to make it big with the Brakettes was Masuk's Tatum Buckley, who is now playing professionally in Europe.
Shelton's Brittany Lampert will also see her first action after missing the first two weeks because of work commitments. This will also be the first appearance for assistant coach Amber Radomski, who retired after her 13-year player career, and associate head coach Kristine 'Botto' Drust, the ex-Brakettes outfield flash and current Cheshire High head coach.
The Brakettes will enter Thursday with a 6-1 overall record. They reached the championship game of last week's Cornfield Classic in Lyons, PA, but when it was rained out, The Pegasus of Lancaster, PA, was declared champion based on its higher seed and a 3-0 pool play with over the Brakettes Saturday.
Stratton will utilize the pitching talents of Ansonia's Nicole Williams, who was 11-1 last year, Shelton's Kaysee Talcik (6-1 in 2017), and newcomer Ali Dubois, the Patriot League Pitcher and Rookie of the Year at Boston University.
Coaching the all-stars will be veteran Westhill coach Tom Pia. The team will feature several former area standouts, including Erica Pullen and Alexa Bacoulis of Class L champion Masuk, recently voted the No. 1 team in Connecticut. Trumbull's Deliha DeStefano, Norwalk's Katie Sciglimpaglia and Dina DiBlasio, Emma Larke of Lauralton Hall, Nicole Koshes and Brooke Matyasovsky of LL champion Amity, Lucy Grant of Notre Dame, and St. Joseph hit machine Hannah Hutchinson are the other local standouts.
The remainder of the all-star team includes Natalie Amato and Sara Mulligan of Cheshire, Shea Gendron of NFA, Gianna Gonzalez of New Britain, Ashley Veillette of Killingly, North Branford's Olivia Hemstock and Sydney Senerchia, the East Haven duo of Jessica Stettinger and Julia SanGiovanni, Kari Marks of Granby, Rachel Roncaioli of Rocky Hill and Sydney Oatway of East Hartford.
Gates to DeLuca Field will open at 5:45 p.m. Season passes will be on sale in addition to tickets for the Brakettes Battle of the Sexes V against the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League, July 15 at New Britain Stadium. The first four exhibitions were against the Bridgeport Bluefish, who went out of business last year.
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