Lots of (Local) Sports

Greenwich/Newtown football

It has been a fun, busy weekend of local sports. These are the days that used to be more common for me but haven't been as common recently. 

Two football games, neither being Fairfield games, along with working a field hockey game. 

Yes, I ventured out of Fairfield. Somewhat of a rarity, although I do it more than people think. 

On Friday night, due to a commitment, I knew I couldn't make it up to West Haven for the Ludlowe game or Amity for Warde game. 

That said, I ended up going to Trumbull as the Eagles played Shelton. I've been saying I wanted to get to some Trumbull games to watch and support my guys who are playing there. I might even see them several more times this year. 

As for Friday's game, Shelton defeated Trumbull 28-14. 

The Eagles scores came on a Cade Volpicelli 43-yard run with 10:54 to play in the first half and a 62-yard run from quarterback Brayden Jagoe with 2:42 left in the third quarter. 

It was nice to see a few of my Trumbull friends, but overall, just good to watch a different game and support just by being there. It was different to just hang by myself, for the most part, rather than at least talking to people, but it was nice to be able to focus and watch the game. 

Then to today. 

First, I was on scoreboard duties for Ludlowe's field hockey game with Greenwich. I was tasked with filling in for Art Cockerham, who does 99.9% of the games at Ludlowe, but had to miss this one. 

Not knowing much of the field hockey rules made me nervous, but thanks to Art, and the coaches, for letting me know what I needed to know. 

This was a new sport for me to work, but it's good for me to expand my knowledge and learn different sports rules and information. I have watched several field hockey games over the years, but there is a difference between watching and having to know the rules. 

It was a clean game, which made it easier, and Ludlowe came away with a 7-0 victory. Lily McClay led the Falcons offense with three goals (stats courtesy of the Ludlowe field hockey Instagram.)

After field hockey, it was down to Greenwich to watch the Cardinals take on Newtown in football. 

I usually try to get to at least one Greenwich game a year to hang out with Rob Adams and Dan Murphy and company as they call the game on WGCH Radio. This week worked because it allowed me to watch Newtown, coached by good friends Dan Farina and Chris Bugyi, among others. 

Greenwich shut out Newtown 24-0 behind three Justin Carroll rushing touchdowns. Carroll had touchdowns of 25 and 20 yards in the second quarter and then punched in the final score from two yards out with 8:47 to play. 

Michael Galano also added a field goal for the Cardinals. I want to shout that out, not only to give credit, but more so to highlight how Galano is raising money for Alex's Lemonade Stand, which supports those fighting Childhood Cancer. You can read more here on what Michael is doing. 

Now it's listening to Rob call Brunswick's game at Suffield Academy and watch football and baseball the rest of the weekend. 

A fun weekend supporting good people and learning new things. 

We will see what next week and the rest of the fall season brings. 

Hopefully more games. Whether that be a Fairfield game or otherwise. 

Summer Ball 2026

It was another summer of sports, mostly baseball, and some basketball. 

It was baseball with the Bridgeport Barnums in my communications role and broadcasting Babe Ruth baseball with Rob Adams. 

Let's start with the Barnums. 

It's always enjoyable to watch the great baseball and a pleasure to chat with everyone there. From the staff and coaches to the players and some families. There are too many people to name without leaving someone out. Most importantly, I hope in my role of scorekeeping and doing whatever else, I am helpful. 

It was another strong season for the Barnums, who went 17-3 in the regular season and earned the two seed in the playoffs. Unfortunately, things did not go as the team would have liked, dropping two in a row to start the double-elimination playoffs. 

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Broadcasting Babe Ruth baseball, or baseball of some type, with Rob Adams has become a summer tradition. We have spent summers in Trumbull, Stamford, Milford, and Norwalk, to name a few. 

This year, it was three different tournaments at Cubeta Stadium in Stamford. We broadcasted a 13U State Tournament, and New England Regionals at both the 16U and 18U levels. 

Congrats to the Champions: 

13U - Bethel Connecticut 

16U - Warwick, Rhode Island

18U - Milford, Connecticut 

It's always a blast to call the games. We get to watch and promote good baseball. Along the way, we meet great people, or get to be around people we have met from prior tournaments, etc. 

Always grateful to Rob for allowing me to be around and often ride shotgun for these tournaments. 

A tip of the cap to Ken Smith and Jim Serafino, along with the rest of the people who were a part of running the tournaments. 

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The basketball was coaching summer league. I love the coaching. Sure, I wish they got better X's and O's coaching from me, but I know enough. I love them competitiveness of coaching (often too much) and more so, enjoy the relationships with and the supporting of the players. See a theme here. 

A great job by the players for a successful summer. In reality, though, it's more about getting them reps and getting them to play together. It will be Fall league soon, before the season gets going in December. 

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Congrats to a handful of guys I have gotten to know who made their college commitments for baseball this summer. Those include Ludlowe's Dylan Davis (Trinity) and Tyler Geriak (Trinity) and Trumbull's Brayden Jagoe (Hofstra), Ryan DeMelo (Endicott) and JJ Scavone (Central Connecticut). Great players who are better people. Excited to continue to watch them in high school for another year and then follow their journeys after that. 

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Best of luck to everyone headed off to college this month. Go do great things. 

Additionally, good luck to all those with the high school school year and sports year. 

Saturday at The Sun

Greenwich celebrates their championship 

Saturday was a day and an experience I will never forget. 

It was Championship Saturday for winter sports for the CIAC in Connecticut. 

I was fortunate enough to be asked by Rob Adams if I wanted to join him, Dan Murphy and Sean Adams for the Division I basketball championships they were calling at Mohegan Sun. 

I helped out with social media and tried to help out "producing" in any other way I could. Thanks to Rob for having me along for the ride. 

We saw the Greenwich Cardinals girls' basketball team defeat Northwest Catholic 51-46. It's the first championship for the Lady Cardinals. 

Greenwich was led by Zuri Faison who had 16 points and 14 rebounds and Madi Utzinger with 16 points of her own. Utzinger's layup with 26 seconds to play was the difference. 

Congrats to all the players and coaches on the championship. 

In the boys' championship, the West Haven Blue Devils* defeated the Staples Wreckers 79-72 in triple overtime in a tremendous game that we are going to talk about for a while. 

*Apologies for initially calling West Haven the Blue Knights in my Tweet. 

West Haven was led by Aaron Johnson's 27 points and Loshon Roman's 20. Mason Tobias led Staples with 21 and Dihlan Lowman had 17. 

It was a tremendous season for Staples, who finishes at 26-1. Congrats to great friends and people, Wreckers Head Coach David Goldshore and assistants Jake Sullivan and Joe Black. A program that had had a ton of success over the past few years, including winning back-to-back FCIAC Championships in 2024 and this season. 

There were also Unified games played throughout the day, including games at halftime of the Greenwich game. It's awesome to have these kids have this cool opportunity. 

As for our experience, it was nice to get up to Mohegan Sun early, walk around and hang out with friends. 

We were able to get some food. We had donuts from Krispy Kreme. I think this was my first time having Krispy Kreme and it was pretty good. Then, we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Pepe's Pizza. 

There's likely no reason to tell you this but as much as the day is about the games, it's also about the experience for everyone. 

Great job by everyone involved with the CIAC, including Dave Schulz and John Holt, among others. 

A tremendous day 

Rob, Dan, me and Sean (Photo courtesy of John Holt)

Fairfield Rivalry Basketball

Sacred Heart vs Fairfield University Men's Basketball

This blog post is not completely what you think it is about by reading the headline. Maybe you figured that out by the photo. 

Yes, we will talk about Ludlowe vs Warde basketball from Friday night. 

However, first we go back to Thursday when Sacred Heart hosted Fairfield University in men's basketball at the William H. Pitt Center on the SHU campus. 

The Pitt Center was renovated prior to the 2024-2025 season. We know I do not like change, and I enjoy nostalgia, but it was cool to see the new arena. Different than the old one, but very nice. 

There were also plenty of Town of Fairfield people there, including Triple Double Basketball, who played at halftime. There were fans of both schools, and students from both Universities at well. It felt like a community event and that's what a town rivalry game, even at the college level, should be. 

Fairfield came away with a 92-87 victory. The Stags had a double-digit lead, but the Pioneers cut into the deficit late in the fourth quarter, but could never get the game tied, or take the lead. 

The game getting completive made for a fun atmosphere. I see a lot of basketball, but mostly at the high school level. It was fun to watch some good local college basketball. 

You can read Chase Coburn's recap of the game here. 

Now we get to Friday. 

The annual Ludlowe vs Warde basketball doubleheader took place at Ludlowe High School. 

The girls' game was first up. Warde came away with a 50-38 victory. Sofia Hardiman led the Mustangs with 13 points. Ivy and Ava Feay had 10 points apiece for Warde as well. (H/T to @WardeGBB on X for the stats.)

Ludlowe and Warde girls' basketball action. 

The boys' game was back and forth and close throughout with Ludlowe coming away with a 60-57 victory. The Falcons were led by 25 points from Carlo Noecker and 13 points from Lorenzo Stabilini. Warde was led by Ryan Tully's 25 points. 

The doubleheader was used as Coaches vs Cancer games to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Players wear Coaches vs Cancer T-Shirts, players and coaches get donations and fill out Coaches vs Cancer cards in honor of who they are playing for. Additionally, funds were raised though other activities during the games. 

It's an important cause that I am happy we recognize and support. 

It was another wild, fun night. In fact, two fun nights of basketball. 

**This blog post, and this blog, is my personal blog and does not represent my job in the Fairfield Schools Athletic Department and do not represent anyone other than myself. 

Support the Bridgeport Barnums!

Barnums 2024 Championship (Barnums Media/Contributed Photo)

As many of you know, as I've written about it here and on social media, I have been doing some summer media work for the Bridgeport Barnums of the Connecticut College Baseball League the last few summers. 

I handle their scorekeeping via the GameChanger scorekeeping app, and I write game recaps on another Blogger website. 

In doing both of these things, I am promoting the league, team and the players. 

What I am getting at is, we need sponsors to allow us to keep doing what we are doing. We want to provide the best coverage we can, but there is a business aspect to it. 

We would also love to be able to expand the coverage we provide. We have ideas but those ideas cost money to execute, for staffing and equipment. 

It's also about so much more than what we do from a media perspective. It's about the business operations of running a baseball program, holding community events

If you are interested in sponsoring the blog or the GameChanger (the work I do), or the Bridgeport Barnums baseball program in general, please reach out. 

SPONSOR LETTER

You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @ShawnSailer or via email at sailer0416@gmail.com and I can send you further information and/or put you in contact with the correct people in the organization. 

Fairfield and Trumbull and Greenwich (and more), Oh My

Trumbull/Waterford Babe Ruth Baseball 2023 

People ask why I post about other towns and people when I'm such a Fairfield person. 

Sure, that's my home base and where I spend most of my time. That said, I root for and support good people. Whether that's people in Fairfield (Ludlowe or Warde, or other groups, youth, etc.) Greenwich, Trumbull, Newtown or Waterford just to name a few. There are others. 

These friendships develop in large part because of sports but go beyond that. I'll support these people always. It's about supporting them in life. And for life. 

It's work, coaching, working games, and covering games where these friendships happen. You meet so many people doing what we do. 

I'm not going to name names, because I'll probably leave people out, but those who I'm talking about know.  

That's why I talk about my Trumbull guys, or my Waterford guys, for example, or post about things from some of these towns and people who play sports in these towns. 

Even with the Fairfield and Ludlowe guys. It's not because of their school/town affiliation. It's just how I get to know them. The relationships go way beyond that. 

In addition, I am more involved with certain sports and programs. That doesn't mean if you aren't a part of that program, I don't care. In fact, in some ways, I can be more supportive of certain people if they aren't involved directly in a program I am involved in. 

There's also the case where I get to know people because of a sport they are involved in, then they are no longer involved in that program, but I am still always there to support, in whatever their endeavors are. 

There are also cases where I get to know people because of one sport but get to watch them in other sports also. 

It's more than just the student-athletes/young people. It's coaches, teachers, staff, parents, and other friends. It's more than just school involved people. It's "media friends" who are so much more than that. And many others. 

And most importantly, family, and those who are close like family. 

It's people in life. The above are just the people I deal with often. 

It's about supporting good people, in good times and bad. And just in everyday life. 

It's about being there for them. Even if that's just being if they need to talk or giving them words of encouragement. 

Being there for them in person and being accessible for them to reach out to online. It's showing that you are acknowledging them and that you care about what they are going through or what they are saying. 

In some cases, it's people we may not see often, but follow-on social media. It's wishing them good luck and congratulations and just following what they do in life. 

It's also about not cherry-picking who you support. Especially when you support an industry or a brand. You should be inclusive, not exclusive. 

Overall, where people are from doesn't really matter. Character of the people do. 

Support good people. 

Just Remembering

We all have dates on the calendar that impact us. 

Good dates. 

Bad dates. 

And everything in between. 

Dates where we remember people we have lost. 

I know I've written about this date multiple times. 

It's a date that always brings up memories and reflection. 

We remember Uncle David who passed away on this day in 2005 and my Grandma Bea who passed away on this day in 2011. 

Top: Me, Grandma, Michael
Bottom: Dad, Uncle Bobby, Uncle Dave (top), Uncle Tommy (bottom), Uncle Gary

Memories of the day. How we found out. What happened after. 

Memories of the prior days. Memories of the days following, including the services. 

Memories of holidays, family parties, vacations and special events that they were a part of. And ones since where we are missing them. 

Memories of bad days, good days and great days. 

Memories of average days.

We think about them every day, but especially on significant days like today, the anniversary of their deaths, their birthdays, and on holidays where they are deeply missed. 

We think about the other family members who are impacted by these loses. 

We all have different stories from different perspectives. As family, extended family and friends. 

I know I am generalizing, which I don't always like. I could tell stories, but for several reasons, I won't. We still have the stories and the memories. 

It's how you honor them in the way in which you live your life. 

Miss you both. Always in our hearts. 

My Ornament on Uncle David's tree (written Christmas Eve 2005)