Simsbury Sports Digest for April 8

The baseball team opened its season in fine fashion, with back-to-back wins Wednesday and Thursday. Matt Quintana struck out 6 over 6 innings in an 8-4 victory over Fitch yesterday. Dylan Sullivan and Josh Holihan each had 2 hits and 2 runs batted in. Simsbury roared past Weaver 18-0 on Wednesday as Andrew Hannau dominated the Beavers, not allowing a hit.

The boys track team meanwhile beat up on Northwest Catholic 101-46 Wednesday as five athletes qualified for the state meet. Three pole vaulters had jumps over 11 feet, including Shane Arena--11', Dominic Gerardi--11', and Levi Lilly--11' 6". Kevin Stanko ran a blistering 800 meters at 2 minutes flat. Joel Kirk was equally impressive in the 1600 meters at 4:38. Brian Eilers broke the school record in the javelin with a throw of 187' 8".

The boys lacrosse team could not follow suit, however, as they fell to Joel Barlow 7-4 in a non-conference game. The Trojans hope to bounce back Saturday when they visit Xavier at 11 a.m.

The girls meanwhile face a stiff challenge right off the bat with back-to-back road games this weekend. Friday, Simsbury travels to Conard for a 5:15 p.m. start, and Saturday they'll make the trek to East Lyme for a 5 p.m. face-off . The Trojans are a blend of old and new, as 11 players return from last year's squad that finished up 10-6. Simsbury will be led by team captains Lizzy Galici on defense and mid-fielder Sam Arnold (who was a mainstay for the girls ice hockey team that won their conference tournament). Grace McCann makes her debut as the starting goalie. Also returning from last year are Kylee Lowndes at midfield, Colby Lohrey at attack, and Grace Hazelwood on defense.

Also on today's schedule ... the softball team hosts Bristol Eastern at 3:45 p.m. and the girls tennis team visits E.O. Smith, also at 3:45 p.m.