​Branford Hornets Win the 2016 Fall-Ball Championship

From Thomas Cofrancesco, Branford Hornets Coach:

Congratulations to the Branford Hornets on winning the 2016 Shoreline Sting regular season division and playoff championship. The Hornets finished with an 11-1 record over-all after defeating the CT Impact, a travel team, on their final weekend of play. Both games were intense but the girls held on to win game one 4-2 and game two 6-4. Marzia Johnson was the anchor in game one pitching a no hitter setting the tone for game two where Jillian Cofrancesco only gave up three hits through 5 innings of work. Gabriella Lucertini was responsible for three runs going 2-4, scoring once herself and driving in two RBI’s. Paige Richardson drove in two runs for the Hornets with some very timely hitting. Kaitlyn Dugan did her part hitting a triple late in the game that pushed a run across for the Hornets and Eva Mathis made an incredible, on the run catch in center field saving at least one run from scoring. Team captain Sophia Esposito was a rock behind the plate for her team; she ended the season leading her team in batting average and was third on the team with her on base percentage.

“It was a total team win; everyone did a little something to contribute to this successful season and championship. I think the awesome thing about this team is that everyone knew their role, they worked hard all summer long, they showed up for practices, they put the team first above their own needs, no one complained about playing this position or that position or sitting on bench when it was their time, they did whatever the coaches asked them to do and they all bought into the system and what the game plan was each week, the coaches and I are over the top proud of this group”.

The Branford Hornets:

Front row left to right:

• Caroline Johnson
• Jillian Cofrancesco – Game Ball
• Hailey Seay
• Marzia Johnson – MVP
• Paige Kelly

Back row left to right:

• Paige Richardson – Game Ball
• Gabriella Lucertini – Game Ball
• Kaitlyn Dugan
• Sophia Esposito – MVP
• Eva Mathis – Game Ball
• Leila Czekaj

Coaches:

• Rocco Esposito
• Mark Johnson
• Tom Cofrancesco

Not pictured:

• Rick Kelly – Batting Coach
• Renee Holzhauser – Pitching Coach
• Shane Dugan – Book Keeper

Image via Thomas Cofrancesco, Branford Hornets Coach