BRAKETTES IN HOME STRETCH; NATIONALS OPEN THURSDAY

July 31 - The finish line is in eye sight for both the Stratford and Junior Brakettes who begin their final regular season weekend at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field. The Juniors get the action going with a 4 p.m. Saturday twin-bill against the CT Eliminators Women.

Both teams will play Sunday with the Juniors hosting the Cheshire 23U team at 12 noon in a twin-bill and the Stratford Brakettes playing the Eliminator Women in a 5 p.m. doubleheader.

Manager John Stratton, the 26-year Stratford Brakettes manager, surpassed another milestone in the team's last outing July 25 when they swept the Newton, MA, Panthers. He now has a career record of 1,401 wins against just 134 defeats. That averages out to over 53 wins a year.

Stratton has been associated with the organization for 43 years. He won't reach that victory total this year, but his 26-2 squad is the favorite to capture the Women's Major Softball National Championship August 6-9 at both DeLuca Field and the Short Beach Rec Complex.

"It's been an unusual season," said Stratton, who is very grateful they were able to even have one. "We've only been playing for 40 days so it's gone by pretty fast."

All five of his pitchers have at least four wins, led by Waterbury's Sarah Lawton (8-1, 0.93 ERA), who has 122 strikeouts in 60 innings. Lawton and Ali DuBois (4-0, 0.70) figure to get the ball against the Eliminators, who are led by St. Anselm All-America Morgan Perry, who was 12-0 this spring before the virus shut down the college season.

While Emma Larke (.492) leads the offense, Val Suto (.484) is in line to pick up her third title should Larke falter. UConn standout Briana Marcelino (.477) and Seymour's Rebecca Johnson (.466) are next.

The Junior Brakettes are 16-8 and come off a sweep over DiamondZone of East Haven Thursday night at DeLuca as Sam Schiebe and Olivia Vadas picked up wins.

Coach Mary Sciglimpaglia's team flexed their muscle with six home runs in the two victories Thursday. Barlow High junior Abby Ota leads the team in hitting and recently went 6-for-7. She also has 25 stolen bases.

Prior to the start of WMS the Stratford Brakettes will play their annual benefit against the Stratford Fire Department. The Firemen will have the Brakettes pitchers playing for them, while Junior pitchers take the mound for Stratton's team. All proceeds benefit the Sterling House Community Center's Food Bank.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Camperlengo is asking all patrons to bring non-perishable food items to the game so they may be donated to Sterling House to help feed the many needy families in town. It will be one, nine-inning game starting at 6:30 p.m.

WMS tournament passes will be on sale this weekend and Tuesday night at DeLuca Field.