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NEW CANAAN, Conn. The New Canaan Cannons are fighting to earn a berth in the four-team championship series of the Fairfield County Men's Senior Baseball League. They still need help but took an important step Sunday by sweeping the Westport Cardinals, 4-1 and 5-0, at Mead Park.
"Absolutely, we had to take two today,'' said pitcher Scott Carew, who threw six innings of scoreless baseball to win the nightcap. "We need have to hope for a little bit of luck and hope somebody can knock off the (Stamford) Phillies."
Monroe (13-2), Fairfield (11-3) and the Bridgeport Brewers (9-6) appear to have playoff berths locked. New Canaan improved to 8-9 with the doubleheader sweep. The Phillies entered Sunday with a 7-7 record. The Phillies also own the tiebreaker advantage over the Cannons after sweeping them in a doubleheader in June.
The Cannons stretched their winning streak to four behind the pitching of Pat Chieffalo and Carew. Chieffalo went five innings in the opener, surrendering six hits and allowing one run. Carew was even better in the second game, yielding four hits and striking out seven. He walked one. Tom Dunnam closed out the opener, and James Schettino finished up in the second game.
The Cannons put together three-run innings in both games to take control. In the opener, Mike Souzzi's one-out double started a three-run second that also featured an RBI single by Nick Ventrella. In Game 2, the Cannons erupted for three in the first as the first five batters Brian Valentine, Steve Benko, Matt Grossman, Wally Hurd and Mario Lopez all reached safely. Lopez's two-run single capped the rally. Grossman (two hits) and Robert Jones also singled during a two-run fifth.
"We had a little lull in the middle of the season,'' manager Dave Prutting said. "We lost to some teams that are fighting us for the playoffs. We're starting to come together now. I think we're playing as well as we have all year."
If New Canaan does not make the top playoff tier, it will certainly be in the running for President's Cup playoffs, which include the teams in fifth through eighth place. Playoffs begin Sept. 11.
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