Rivalry Renewed In The Playoffs and Looking Ahead

Drew Buckley scores the winning run in Ludlowe’s 5-4 quarterfinal victory over Warde. #ctbase pic.twitter.com/ty33YEZ9zJ

— Dave Ruden (@DaveRuden) May 18, 2019

Ludlowe and Warde softball and baseball faced off in the quarterfinals of their respective FCIAC tournaments.

In softball on Friday, Warde came away with the 4-3 victory on the strength of Olivia Vadas' bat and arm. The Mustangs came away victorious in both meetings with the Falcons this season. Read Emery Filmer's game story in The Ruden Report for more. Warde will face Trumbull in the FCIAC semifinals on Monday at 5pm at Sacred Heart University's Pioneer Park.

Now to baseball on Saturday. It was one of the craziest games I have seen and been a part of. I'll write a little about this game since it appears there was no print media coverage of the game, which I find sad and surprising.

The game was tied at one, until the fifth when Warde took a 3-1 lead. A Jack Vogel RBI single cut the deficit to 3-2.

That remained the score until the seventh. The first two Falcons were retired before Tom Stasko doubled to deep left-center field. Blake Benway followed up with a single to right to score Nick Parisi, who was pinch running for Stasko, to tie the game.

Neither team would score in the eighth and we would head to the ninth with the score tied at 3. Declan O'Hara started the Mustangs top of the ninth off with a single to left field. He moved to second on a stolen base and went to third as the throw went into the outfield. Four batters later with runners now on second and third and two outs, Austin Stewart singled to left to bring in O'Hara and give Warde a 4-3 lead. The second runner was cut down at the plate on a great throw from left-fielder Jamie Flink and a nice tag by Benway.

In the bottom of the inning, Stasko reached on an error to lead off the inning. Benway followed up with a double to put runners on second and third and nobody out. Vogel then lined a ball off the glove of a diving Stewart to bring home Stasko with the tying run. After an intentional walk to Derek Tallman loaded the bases, Brian Howell stepped up to the plate. He took the first pitch for a strike. The next pitch went to the backstop and Drew Buckley, who was pinch-running for Benway, raced home to score the winning run.

Fantastic job by Ludlowe relief pitcher Connor O'Neill who threw 4.2 innings of one run baseball to help the Falcons fight back and pick up the win.

I am extremely proud of the Ludlowe team for continuing to battle and coming away with the win. Working at both schools though, as I talked about in the last blog post*, does make me a bit conflicted, and I felt for the Warde players and coaches. That was a hard-fought game that nobody deserved to lose.

*I do continue to get yelled at, from both sides, for my "One Town" motto.

Ludlowe will face Darien in the FCIAC semifinals on Monday at 7:30 at Cubeta Stadium in Stamford.

You can watch the baseball semifinals and championship on Local Live and their FCIAC branch, Fairfield.Live. The great Rob Adams will be on the call.

Also, both Warde softball and Ludlowe baseball are nominees for The Ruden Report Team of the Week. Vote wisely!

One Town By Day, Falcon Pride By Night (Afternoon)

Working in the Warde and Ludlowe Athletic Departments, my slogan, or what I use as a hashtag on Twitter and Instagram is "One Town." It's basically saying that even though we have two schools, we are one town and should support one another and how great it would be if we were one school, at least for sports. It's also my way of not getting yelled at (too much) since everyone knows I am a Ludlowe guy, having gone there and been around the school and sports teams for the past 10 years.

That being said, I have enjoyed working at Warde and getting to know people there, both staff, including coaches, and students.

Now that I am coaching baseball at Ludlowe, that's where the "Falcon Pride by night" comes in. I just came up with this two part slogan this week as we played Warde in baseball on Friday afternoon.

We came in with a 15-2 record, while Warde came in with a 7-10 record. Warde played a fantastic game and won 8-0 and clinched a state tournament berth in the process. It was personally very interesting to me as I deal with the coaches and student-athletes at both schools. I am obviously friendly with the Ludlowe coaches and players but am also very friendly with Brett Conner, John Galucci and Tony Catapano on the Warde staff. I've also gotten to know a few of the players.

Since graduating from high school, even before starting this job, I have said that I root for Warde unless they are playing Ludlowe, or if it impacts Ludlowe. Other Ludlowe/Warde sports have been tough this year, especially basketball since that's the other sport I was and am still very involved with. There have been some Ludlowe/Warde games where I even felt somewhat up in the air or didn't care as much who won and maybe this is good so I can be impartial and not show favoritism. Today had to me the most interesting and the toughest for a few reasons (this is not to say that basketball was not tough, it was, THREE times). First of all, baseball is my number one sport. Second, being of the coaching staff and working with the team day in and day out, and finally, due to the season we are having and the fact that it was senior day for our seniors.

I am obviously disappointed we lost but happy for Warde as they clinched a state tournament berth, I just wish it wasn't against us (I am sure I will take heat for this comment). I have already gotten comments from Warde people about the game and I am sure it will continue Monday morning when I am there. I was getting them before the game and most definitely after the game. It's the nature of the position I am in and it's all in good fun.

I hope both teams do well and maybe we meet in the playoffs. I would love that and dread that at once.

One Town! Falcon Pride!