LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO
10 YEARS AGO
Local golfer Jerry Courville Jr. of Shorehaven, who turned 50 this year, played in his first U.S. Senior Open and fired a 3under 69 final round to finish in a fourway tie for 28th place with a 1under 287 in Carmel, Ind.
The Norwalk Babe Ruth 14 and 15 yearold allstars were eliminated from the New England Regionals in Rhode Island with both local teams going 12. The Norwalk 14s followed their openinground win with two straight losses, falling to Cranston, R.I., 94 and Leominster, Mass., 54. Against Cranston, an RBI double by Steve Curran
and runscoring singles by Richie Henderson, Dennis Warfield and Mike Hughes gave Norwalk a 42 lead. But Cranston rallied for six runs in the fourth for the win.
That dropped the Norwalkers into the losers’ bracket and they were eliminated the next day by the Western Massachusetts state champ, which scored all five runs in the first two innings. A tworun single by Mike Giordano in the third cut the lead to 54 and Norwalk loaded the bases with two out in the last of the seventh, but couldn’t push the tying run across. Mike Parlanti kept the locals in the game with five innings of scoreless relief.
The Norwalk 15s, most of whom won the Babe Ruth 14 yearold World Series a year ago, were eliminated by Westfield, Mass., 43 in the losers’ bracket semis. In the top of the third, a leadoff double by Matt Cranston and RBI single by Aleko Petridis gave Norwalk a 10 lead, but Westfield answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning. In the sixth, a sac fly by Brandon Davis and RBI single by Cranston, who went 3for3, made it 43. Norwalk had the tying run on second with one out in the seventh, but a strikeout and fly out ended the locals’ run.
25 YEARS AGO
The West Norwalk Bambino League 10 yearold allstars, fresh off winning the state championship, won their first two games at the New England Regionals in Milford, Mass. They opened with an impressive 111 fourinning mercyrule victory over Vermont as
Keith Bellantoni (threerun double), Brian Torok (tworun single) and Frank Machinello (two hits, one RBI) led the offense.
The local Bambinos then beat Warwick, RI, 62, to advance to the winners’ bracket finals. They broke the game open with four runs in the fifth as Joey Cossuto delivered a basesloaded tworun single, while Kyle O’Brien and
Garth Langrin added RBI singles.
The Norwalk American Legion, which finished second in Zone IV, joined the other seven zone runnersup in a twoday playin tournament with the two finalists advancing to the doubleelimination state tournament with the eight zone champions. Needing two wins to qualify, Post 12 blanked North Haven 90 as Todd Incantalupo fired a threehit shutout while Kevin Murray had three hits and three RBIs. Willie Mercado and Glenn Katz added two hits and two RBIs apiece.
But Norwalk’s outstanding season came to an abrupt end the next day with a 32 loss to Middletown in 12 innings. Katz tripled in the first run and scored the second on an RBI groundout by Billy DiStefano. Post 12, which had won 15 of its previous 16 games, finished 247.
The Norwalk Jr. Mariners girls softball team had its best offensive output of the season, crushing West Haven PAL 223. Stacy Morrell pitched a fivehitter, while Jeanette Grey, Kellee George, Lori Petropoulos and Kerry Kuran all collected two hits.
50 YEARS AGO
It was an intracity showdown when Norwalk’s two Babe Ruth baseball programs met in the opening round of the 13 yearold District I tournament at Stamford’s Scalzi Park. With Jim Desmond pitching a nohitter and Tom Connolly collecting four hits and five RBIs, the Brien McMahon Babe Ruth League allstars posted a convincing 160 win over the Norwalk BR League allstars. Desmond also had three hits, three RBIs and four stolen bases. The winners stole 31 bases in all with Connolly swiping seven ... Connolly had three more hits, including two doubles, and struck out nine as the McMahon 13s beat New Canaan 86 to advance to the district finals.
In the Norwalk City League, Joe Liberatore belted a grand slam in the top of the seventh to highlight a fiverun rally as the Generals beat the American Legion 73 at Veterans’ Memorial Park. Dave Fontaine homered and had an RBI single for the Legion ... The Bears scored twice in the fifth inning to edge Wilton 32. Tom Thomas,
who doubled in the Bears’ first run, singled leading off, John Guimond tripled to tie it and Jim Horne
singled in the goahead run ... The Laurels beat New Canaan PAL 52, scoring all five of their runs in the third inning. Fred DeFinis
had the big blow with a threerun insidethepark HR, while Lee Johnson
doubled in a run and Bill Granata hit a sac fly.
Norwalk’s Don Lajoie
won his second feature of the season at the Danbury Fair Speedway Racearena, beating out Chick Stockwell of Southbury and fellow Norwalker Jimmy Smith for the checkered flag.