Fico, Connecticut’s 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year, compiled a perfect 27-0 record for Masuk, which won its second straight CIAC Class LL championship with a 1-0 victory over Naugatuck at DeLuca Field on June 8. During the recently concluded season Fico fashioned 12 no-hitters, seven perfect games and she struck out 486 batters in 195 innings. She allowed only 21 hits and walked just seven batters and she had a 0.07 ERA.

Speaking of dominant pitchers, Leslie Malerich (7-0) will pitch the opener of Saturday night’s doubleheader with the Topton, PA, VIPs at DeLuca Field. Malerich has a string of 23 consecutive perfect innings, and three straight perfect games.

She also has pitched four no-hitters in a row with 25 straight innings without allowing a hit at DeLuca Field. Another perfecto will put in her in the record books for most consecutive, while another gem ties Kathy Arendsen’s 1980 mark of five straight no-hitters.

And while she has every right to talk in third person – and all about herself – she’s rather talk about her teammates and their accomplishments.

“I really don’t think about all the hype people make about me,” Fico said Friday at Deluca Field after the Panthers edged Bunnell 1-0 in the SWC semifinals. “I just want to go out there and play with my team and win some games, and so far that’s what we’re doing.”

And Masuk coach Jacqui Sheftz says that’s what Fico is – a modest superstar who puts team first and records second. As Sheftz puts it, they don’t make kids like her anymore.

“The best attribute is her character. She’s extremely humble, the credit goes to her teammates first, and it’s never to her,” Sheftz said. “No matter how many hits she gets, no matter how many batters she strikes out, she only cares about the W.”

And win is something that the Panthers have done a lot. This season alone, Masuk is 23-0 and heads into the Class LL playoffs as the top seed. And they’ve won primarily because of the junior Fico’s right arm.

Fico has thrown seven perfect games this season, one shy of the national record. And six of those came over a seven game stretch, including five straight, which tied a 19-year-old national record.
So as nice as she is off the field, and as much as she enjoys being around her teammates, the opposition is still in awe of Fico’s presence.

Just ask Bunnell head coach Heather Pullen, whose team has now lost twice this season by 1-0 scores. She says the thought of facing Fico can be stressful.

“When you face the best pitcher in the state of Connecticut, there is going to be a little bit of intimidation,” Pullen said. “You go in there afraid, but you have to constantly reiterate that anybody can be hitable, anyone can be off.”

On Friday, Bunnell was only able to manage a bunt single. When Masuk and Bunnell met a few weeks back, Fico threw a 10-inning perfect game.

“Rachele brings a totally different game of softball to the state of Connecticut, with her ability to through a variety of different pitches at this level,” Sheftz said. “I think any time there’s a 68 mile-per-hour fastball coming at you there’s going to be some level of intimidation.”

That gives Fico a big advantage, Sheftz said, even if her teammates are more important to her than seeing her name in the record books.

“It’s been so much fun,” Fico said of the season. “Our team has such great chemistry together. We love being at practice, we just love being together. It just shows we have so much fun and get along, and that’s why we’re so successful.”

Fico will play this summer with the U18 Gold Coast Hurricanes down in Florida. And when she returns – before her senior season begins at Masuk – she will get a chance to pitch for the world renown Stratford Brakettes. And starting in the fall of 2009, she will be at LSU, where she has already given a verbal commitment.

It’s the second mini-season of Elite Passing Academy spring passing league at Trumbull Sports Zone. Not every high school football player is here, mind you. But of the 18 teams in the league, 10 are from Fairfield County.

And it’s sort of a lineman-free zone. Yes, that’s a center snapping the ball, but the rest of the offenses consist of the quarterback, receivers and running backs. But if you are a team that is committed to passing the ball, leagues and tournaments like Elite Passing Academy’s have become a necessary offseason evil.

In short, it’s 7 on 7 football.

“It’s great repetition for all the skill athletes,” says Buff Bowen, co-founder of Elite Passing Academy. “It’s a great opportunity for all the teams to run their spread offenses and give plenty of kids reps, the starters and the back-ups.”

So who is there? Fairfield Ludlowe is still without a head coach, but New Canaan did double duty in Week one, this past Sunday, and played its scheduled game, too. Fairfield Warde is in, so is Darien, McMahon, Trumbull, Fairfield Prep, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Masuk, and Barlow.

And notables from outside the county include Foran, led by hot prospect quarterback Jake White, Woodland, Ansonia (yes, they’re throwing the ball in the Valley!), and Jack Cochran’s Whalers of New London. The Whalers are led by soon-to-be-senior quarterback Jordan Reed, who is being as heavily recruited as White.

Have passing leagues proven to help develop offenses? You can ask New Canaan. Head coach Lou Marinelli’s son, Trinity College player John Marinelli, was not there Sunday due to school commitments, but has tutored the Rams offense during the offseason.

“What 7 on 7 does is take the throwing with your quarterback and receivers to another level,” John Marinelli says. “It’s all about competition and putting the kids in a lot of different situations and see how they react.”

And it certainly helped Rams quarterback Charlie Westfal in the second half of the CIAC Class MM championship game against Hand. Westfal threw for 375 yards as New Canaan came back from a 30-13 deficit late in the third quarter to win 34-30.

The younger Marinelli was on the sidelines for that game, and says he didn’t have much to say to Westfal during the comeback.

“But what I told him was that he’s been in these situations before. Don’t panic, go through your reads and go out and let the ball fly. Just like in 7 on 7, slow down and pick them a part,” Marinelli says. “For a quarterback 7 on 7 slows down the game and gives him the ability to read defenses and pick up coverage’s. Charlie will be the first to tell you that he learned more from that experience than any film session.”

And it’s also helped develop defenses. Will Tom Brockett’s Ansonia Chargers really run the spread offense this season? Maybe not, but by doing the 7 on 7s, Marinelli says it will help prepare Ansonia for its games against Woodland and other NVL teams with vertical offenses.

Ansonia did show it’s got great cover men on defense, leading all teams with 5 “sacks” in the first week. A sack is registered when the opposing offense cannot find an open receiver in a set amount of seconds.

One warning though: Passing league success does not always translate into on-the-field championships. Last spring, Harding was one of the more dominant offenses in the Elita Passing Academy’s league, but went 0-10 in FCIAC play.

Simply put, Harding’s line and skill players did not mesh together in the regular season.

“It’s not a guarantee of success, but it does definitely benefit offenses,” Bowen says. “For teams who throw the ball, it’s a must.”

The league runs Sundays through May 18.

Three players received $500 scholarships to be used towards their college education as well: William Bass (Bassick), Richard Holmes (Danbury), and Chris Payne (Wilton).

Wilton’s Tim Eagen was introduced as the FCIAC’s coach of the year by his mentor, Tom Fujitani, who he served under as an assistant coach for several years, and thanked his assistant coaches and the Warriors’ booster club for its efforts in helping to build a top-notch program. Ridgefield’s Kevin Callahan introduced one of his former players, New Fairfield’s Andy Buchsbaum, as the SWC’s coach of the year.

Carl Cairo (Greenwich) and John Pereira (Pomperaug) received their league’s respective assistant coach of the year awards.

The scholar-athletes honered were:

• William Bass, Bassick
• Nick Verderosa, Bethel
• Chris Green, Brien McMahon
• Kenneth Cobb, Bridgeport Central
• Steven Moss, Brookfield
• Jeffrey Farrell, Bunnell
• Greg Passineau, Canterbury
• Richard Holmes, Danbury
• George Rhein, Darien
• Matthew O’Laughlin, Fairfield Ludlowe
• Thomas Marx Jr., Fairfield Warde
• Jonathan Meyers, Greenwich
• Scott Hickling, Joel Barlow
• Victor Ciancetta, Masuk
• Chris Lemoine, New Canaan
• Patrick Cassidy, New Fairfield
• Jonathan Henion, New Milford
• Eric Puffer, Newtown
• Cyprian Oyomba, Norwalk
• Patrick Purrell, Notre Dame-Fairfield
• Stephen Barton, Pomperaug
• Tyler Strittmatter, Ridgefield
• Michael Dinihanien, St. Joseph
• Jason Zins, Staples
• Justin Shumyhora, Stratford
• John O’Leary, Trinity Catholic
• Jameson Cherilus, Trumbull
• John Midy, Westhill
• Dylan Hannum, Weston
• Chris Payne, Wilton

Also honored were a few unsung heroes of the game, the referees. Without them, of course, the games wouldn’t count in the standings. Bob Seirup, who has been working with the Fairfield County Football Association for 54 seasons, was honored as its official of the year. Bill Vasutro was the Colonial Football Association’s honoree.