By Tim Parry

Team USA softball had just completed its 9-0 win over the Stratford Brakettes on Sunday, and pitcher Rachele Fico was all smiles when she went to hug her high school teammates.

And on top of that, the 17-year-old Masuk prodigy graciously signed a few autographs for some young admirers.

Hard to believe that just a few minutes earlier, Fico had give up five earned runs on four hits and a walk in just one inning of work.

For those who have followed Fico’s near flawless high school career, the performance may have come as a shock. But there’s a big difference between your average CIAC player - or a regular opponent of the Brakettes - than Olympians like Caitlin Mendoza.

And for that matter, the batters Fico faced in the Canada Cup earlier this month as a member of the Florida-based Gold Coast Hurricanes - like Japan, Venezuela, and Chinese Taipei - were not too shabby.

“It’s been so much fun, I’ve had some awesome learning experience facing some of the best teams in the world,” Fico said about her Canada Cup experience. “I’m taking what I do in the game and learning from it and hopefully I’ll grow from it.”

And Fico fortunately has not let her softball growth and advancement go to her head. According to her friends and members of the Brakettes, she’s still the same Rachele Fico who would rather see her team win a game than get personal accolades.

In fact, her father, Ralph Fico, told reporters Sunday that his daughter’s reaction to being named a high school All-American this season was, “Oh, cool.”

So it’s no wonder Fico, who has already given a verbal agreement to Louisiana State University, wasn’t intimidated during her one inning against the USA Olympic team.

“I was just so excited to play against the number one team in the country, and I just went out there and had fun,” Fico said.

By Tim Parry

STRATFORD - There have been several spectacular pitching performances at DeLuca Field this summer. But for the first time, the dominant pitcher was in the visiting dugout.

That was Jennie Finch. The Team USA softball pitcher.

Finch fired a one-hitter, struck out 12, and walked just one to lead Team USA over the Stratford Brakettes 9-0 Sunday.

Finch did not allow a hit through seven innings, and gave up a one-out single to extra player Laura Trout with one out in the eighth. Brakettes shortstop Mandie Fishback, who took a bad hop to the head a night earlier and was sent to the hospital, played the game and walked in the first inning.

The Brakettes had been 40-0 prior to the game, but did not show any signs of anguish after the game, snapping photos of themselves and with members of Team USA prior to a post game autograph session.

“I’ve seen all the great players come through here, and just to have the opportunity to be on the field with them at the same time is truly an honor,” said Brakettes right fielder Amber Radomski, a Joel Barlow graduate who grew up as a bat girl for the 28-time ASA champions.

Current Masuk star Rachele Fico, who was charged with five earned runs which pitching the ninth inning, had the same feelings as Radomski after the game.

“It was just an awesome experience to throw against the greatest hitters in the world, and by far Team USA does have the greatest hitters in the world,” Fico said. “It was just awesome and so much fun to be out there.”

The game was a tune-up for Team USA, which is on the KFC Bound 4 Beijing Tour in preparation for the Olympics. The announced attendance at DeLuca was 3,300, which included fans seating in temporary bleachers set up behind the outfield fences.

In anticipation of early arriving spectators for the Stratford Brakettes’ game against Team USA Softball, portions of DeLuca Field will be open Sunday from 2-4:30 p.m. before fans will be asked to exit the park in preparation for the official opening.

The DeLuca Field refreshment stand, Brakettes and Team USA souvenir booths, and the rest rooms will be open. The bleachers will be partitioned off and no fans will be allowed in the seating area until the gates officially open at 5 p.m.

Fans with reserved seating will enter via the main entrance, adjacent to the ticket booth. General admission fans will enter via the back gate on the first base side of the field.

Four years ago fans attending the Team USA-Stratford Brakettes softball games arrived up to five hours before game time.

Why so early? Try merchandise.

One of the coveted souvenirs is the Team USA program book which is a must for the softball fan. The full color program has in-depth coverage of the entire Olympic Team roster and coaching staff, which includes former Brakettes Cat Osterman and Kelly Kretschman, along with USA alternate Lisa Fernandes, and Coach Karen (Sanchelli) Johns. This will be the last USA Olympic softball team until 2016 at the earliest.

The 9-inning affair is expected to begin at 7 p.m.

It could make for a long day for diehard softball fans. Following the game there will be a 20-minute cooling off and interview period for the players before they will sign autographs for 45 minutes.

By Tim Parry
Boy, did I miss out on a good thing Sunday. The chance to see Rachele Fico make her debut as a member of the 27-time ASA champion Stratford Brakettes. The recently-crowned Connecticut Post Athlete of the Year was brilliant against the Xtreme Chaos, striking out 16 batters in the back end of a double header.

So in case there were any doubters out there, hoping her Brakettes performance would expose some sort of weakness, something that would make her look like a 17-year-old-girl and not a stellar athlete who gave a verbal commitment to LSU as a Masuk High School junior…

Guess what? Rachele Fico is the real deal.

Fico 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. She threw 12 no-hitters, seven perfect games, and struck out 486 batters in 195 innings. She allowed only 21 hits and walked just seven batters and she had a 0.07 ERA.

And you can’t blame that on poor hitting in the CIAC. Not when you’re a one-person wrecking crew, and then proved it again on a higher stage.

Now the Brakettes could use some fans in the seats, and hopefully the presence of Fico will get some out there. Why not? Local girl makes good. Everyone loves a success story.

Here’s to hoping she gets to put in some work - even if just for one inning - against Team USA this July 20.

By Tim Parry
You think it’s easy reaching 20-0? Tell that to the Stratford Brakettes. It trailed in both ends of its Friday doubleheader against the pesky Stratford Seahawks before pulling away for 4-1 and 6-2 wins.

The Seahawks went up 1-0 in the third inning of the opener after a double by Sarah Gates, who was sacrificed to third on a bunt by Jen Michaels, and scored on a double up the middle by Christine Bourdeau.

The Brakettes got the runs back in the bottom of the inning. Mandie Fischback bunted her way to first, and Whitney Mollica followed with a homer to left center. Jessica Mouse made it back-to-back shots with a homer off Seahawks starter Bren Gleason.

Brandice Balschmiter got her seventh win on the mound with a 13 strikeout performance.

In game two, the Seahawks grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning Michelle Libby doubled and scored on Kim Church’s sacrifice bunt and a Mollica throwing error. Jenn Rickel’s sac bunt, a comebacker by Michaels, and Lindsay Kinnel’s RBI single accounted for the second run off Brakettes starter Bailey Sanders.

But Mollica led off the home half of the second with a homer to left. And with two outs, Ashley Waters drilled a double to right center, and scored on Amber Radomski’s single to center for a 2-2 tie.

The last time the Brakettes trailed in both games of a doubleheader? According to the record books, it was July 1, 2006.

By Tim Parry
It’s true, the summertime is a busy season in Fairfield County. If you’re not hitting a movie or a dining (or drinking) establishment, it’s a Bluefish game. And the malls, the summer concert series’ can get in the way, as do the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox, whether live or on the screen.

And they all are fighting for your hard-earned dollar. Or to keep that paycheck in your bank account.

But one of the oldest sports traditions in Fairfield County is also one of the most obscure to those who aren’t softball purists. That would be the 61-year-old Stratford Brakettes.

The days of when thousands of fans would circle either Raybestos Memorial Field or Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field on a nightly basis have passed. But if you want to see some of the most talented fast-pitch players take the field, then there’s no reason to pass the 27-time ASA champion Brakettes by.

Here’s 10 reasons to catch a Brakettes game (or two) this summer:

1. Double-headers (almost) every night: Where else can you get twice the bang for your buck these days?
2. Free parking: And on top of that, an easy shot off I-95 once you reach the Lordship and Sikorski areas. Traffic is not a problem.
3. Don Zimmer’s granddaughter: Really, she’s a Brakette. Whitney Mollica, number 23 on your scorecard. And the first baseman is batting well over .500 with five homers on the season. In the Tampa Bay area, though, Zimmer is known as Whitney’s grampa.
4. A local connection: Amber Radomski once dominated the field at Joel Barlow, now she is living her lifelong dream of being a Brakette. She’s a role model local kids can look up to, and proof that any goal can be achieved with hard work.
5. Your new local hero: Rachele Fico, the Oxford resident and Masuk pitching star, will make her Brakettes debut on Sunday. Last time I talked with her she was heading to Florida to play for a premiere U18 team, so skip Sunday dinner and check her out.
6. Fico’s future teammate: Third baseman Jessica Mouse just completed her freshman year at Louisiana State University, where Fico will be starting in the fall of 2009. And she’s proven why LSU attracts some of the best players in the nation.
7. Olympians: OK, two current Brakettes just missed out on making it to the last-ever Olympic competition. Leslie Malerich, who is riding a hot streak on the mound right now, is a member of the Italy national team, and Jenna Lopez’s Puerto Rico team missed qualifying for Bejing, losing to Venezuela in the qualification round finals.
8. And more Olympians: Sunday, July 20, Team USA comes to town for a one-game match-up with the Brakettes. We’re talking Jennie Finch and Lisa Fernandez, folks, right here in our backyard.
9. Legendary coach John Stratton: For those keeping score at home, the Friday night sweep against the Stratford Seahawks gave Stratton a 654-89 career record. This is his 30th season as a coach with the Brakettes, and his 12th as the manager.
10. Good eats: What’s a ballgame without a good concession stand? A horrible experience, that’s what. Best fries in Stratford, plus no need to break the bank to feed a family of four.

So there you have it. If you don’t believe me, here’s a link to the Brakettes schedule. Come on out and give me more reasons to hit the field.

Rachel Fico mowed down the competition this spring for Masuk. Can she do the same against the XTreme Chaos? Thant answer will come Sunday, when Fico makes her debut for the Stratford Brakettes in a 6 p.m. doubleheader at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field.

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.

The death of the Stratford Brakettes has been highly exaggerated. In fact, the Brakettes are again on top of the ASA world, off to an 18-0 start thanks to a weekend sweep over the Outten (PA) Trailblazers.

Even more impressive - the Brakettes have given up just five runs this season, and no more than one per game.

In the second game of the Sunday doubleheader, Leslie Malerich put her name in the storied franchise’s record book. She threw her third straight perfect game, and now has a streak of 23-plus perfect innings. The three-game perfect streak ties the Brakettes’ all-time record of consecutive perfect games, as she matches the mark set by Kathy Arendsen, Lisa Fernandez, and Michelle Collins.

And Malerich, who pitches for the Italian national leam, doesn’t even have the best ERA on the staff. Here’s the 2008 team pitching stats to date:

And the hitting isn’t too shabby either: Whitney Mollica is leading the way with a .551 batting average and has three homers and 14 RBIs.

The Brakettes host the Stratford Seahawks for a double-header 7 p.m. Friday at DeLuca Field.