Little League Day

The Ludlowe team with the FALL players postgame (Stacey Scruggs Photo)

It was the second annual Fairfield American Little League (FALL) Day at Kiwanis Field in Fairfield on Wednesday as the Ludlowe baseball team hosted Stamford. 

Prior to the game, the little leaguers joined the Ludlowe team on the field for the National Anthem. Additionally, Seamus O'Neill of the Fairfield American's Red Storm Challenger Division threw out the ceremonial first pitch, caught by Ludlowe's Ben Crawford. 

Seamus O'Neill throwing out the first pitch (Art Cockerham Photo)

Following the game, the little leaguers came onto the field and were able to run the bases and get autographs from the Ludlowe players. 

In addition, the little leaguers, along with the Ludlowe players, were given t-shirts. Multiple designs of "Future Falcon" and a co-branded FALL/Ludlowe Baseball shirt. 

Thank you to everyone who was involved making the day happen. From Phil Veas, who is both a Ludlowe parent and FALL parent and board member, to Ludlowe parents Amy Crawford, Stacey Scruggs, and Jennifer Gibson. Thank you to Brian Markham from FALL Red Storm as well. 

Shoutout as well to Ludlowe head coach Ken Geriak for all his involvement and thank you to Stuart Kagel on the PA announcing. Sorry if I am leaving anyone out. 

There was also the Fire Engine Food Truck which was enjoyed by many. 

On the field, Ludlowe picked up a 5-1 win behind solid pitching from Spencer Bradley and Cooper Seek. At the plate, Gavin McGuire had the game-tying hit in a five-run fifth. The aforementioned Ben Crawford was 2-2 including the go-ahead two-run single. Liam Grady also had a two-run double to give the Falcons some breathing room. 

A great day all around and a special community day! 

Fairfield Baseball Showdown 2024 (One Town Classic)

This is rivalry week in the FCIAC for a lot of sports, including baseball. 

Well, Warde and Ludlowe faced off on Wednesday afternoon at Warde in their annual rivalry game. 

This rivalry has seen some great games the last couple of years and both teams came into the game in the midst of strong seasons. 

Warde came in with a record of 11-2, 6-2 in the FCIAC. Ludlowe was at 10-3, 5-3 in the league. 

Warde came away with a 4-0 victory in a game that was closer than that. 

Solid pitching from Austin Howard (6 1/3 shoutout innings with 10 strikeouts) and Grady Sshopps (2/3 of an inning) for the Mustangs. The Ludlowe pitching was strong as well with Luke Stasko allowing four runs, but only two earned, over 5.1 and Joe Calabro coming in for the final 2/3 of the sixth. 

Offensively for Warde, Schopps and Carson Swaim had RBI singles while Carson Dodder and Kyle Justo had RBI doubles. 

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I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I can't wait for it, but when it's here, I can't wait for it to be over. Every Ludlowe/Warde game is tough working at both schools. Baseball is different than any other sport for me (including boys' basketball) since I'm part of the Ludlowe coaching staff and I always consider baseball my number one sport. Lots of great kids on both sides and that's the most important thing. 

Credit to Warde on the win. Proud of how our guys battled. Lots of great baseball in the town. 

Maybe we see each other again (possibly more than once) in the playoffs. 

I'll always bleed Ludlowe and everyone knows where my heart is, but I work at Warde too and have tons of respect for that program and what they have done these past few years. 

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Nice job by Warde baseball honoring the 10-year anniversary of 2014 FCIAC Championship team prior to the game. Having those players and coaches come back and be recognized is very cool. I love it when teams honor their past and I wish more did. 

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Ludlowe and Warde also faced each other in softball this afternoon. Ludlowe came away with the 4-3 victory at Dougiello Field.

The two schools play in lacrosse on Saturday at Ludlowe. The girls' game is set for 3:30pm and the boys' game for 5:30pm 

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It was also the spring pep rally at Ludlowe today. Nice work by all the teams and a great job by the Nest leaders running/organizing another event. Their final big event as Nest leaders with the school year winding down. Still many games to go, but the last big non-game event for The Nest. 

They have done a very good job this year with different events.