Blue Wave Baseball Defeats Westhill in Scrimmage

This morning, Saturday, March 29, the Darien High School Baseball team participated in its first game of the season, a preseason scrimmage against Westhill, at home on the turf baseball field. Although the score was not kept, the Blue Wave dominated in many aspects and all players made significant contributions to the team's success.

Senior Andrew Nault started on the mound for Coach Mike Scott's team, commanding the strike zone and using his off-speed pitches to keep the opposition off balance at the plate. Ground balls to the middle of the field were routinely swallowed up by the dynamic senior tandem of shortstop Bobby Fitzpatrick and reigning All-FCIAC East second baseman Brendan Donohue.

In the bottom of the first, Darien set the tone for the remainder of the game by taking an early 4-0 lead. The Blue Wave capitalized on walks, stealing bases and slapping hits into the gap to bring runners home. From there on out, it was all DHS, with little resistance from Westhill. In the hitting department, no one for Darien struck out, and the juniors specifically dominated : Mike O'Malley had two RBIs, Mikey Maccarone had a triple to the fence, Jack O'Neill had two singles, and Danny Siemers had a clutch double on the first pitch he saw.

Succeeding Nault on the mound were senior Ames Murray and junior Stephen Barston. Consistent fielding play from numerous individuals ensured that any contact made by Westhill against these two pitchers was insignificant in the end.

O'Malley was very impressed by the team's overall performance. "I thought we looked fantastic. We were aggressive at the plate and on the bases, and our defense was spot on. There was a lot of energy in the dugout and that contributed to how well we played."

Come see the Blue Wave take on Wilton in a scrimmage on Tuesday, April 1 at Wilton High School at 4 pm.

Senior Luke Mangan pitches during a 2013 game against New Fairfield