2026 FCIAC Preview

Last spring, the 2025 FCIAC season ended in spectacular fashion with the St. Joseph Cadets edging Darien in 14 innings to claim the league tournament championship.

Both starting pitchers—Katie Dzialo of St. Joseph and Vivian Knott of Darien—return from that game, but don't think both are guaranteed a repeat appearance this spring.

In fact, the two other semifinalists that St. Joe's and Darien defeated—Trumbull and New Canaan—both return their starting pitchers, as well. Maddie Pippa will pace the Eagles once again this season while Lauren Fico and Marissa Delcarmine are both back in the circle for the Rams.

Still, as you will hear, the FCIAC is as deep and as open as ever, according to those in the know.

In this episode, Fairfield Ludlowe head coach Adam Laliberte opens the podcast with a general look at the league and his own Falcons.

In segment two, the two-headed pitching-slash-shortstop duo of Fico and Delcarmine will talks to us to talk about both the league and New Canaan's hopes this season.

Then we close with a chat with Jeff Babineau, the head coach of the defending champ St. Joseph Cadets, to get this thoughts on the 2026 season.

On Friday, we will post the SCC preview.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Hi everyone, welcome to the Inside Corner Connecticut Softball Podcast with John Nash. I'm Rob Adams. John, there are some conferences that need limited introduction. And for me, and I think for you as well, we both have quite a bit of experience with a little something called the FCAC.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

It's almost 20 years for me, dating back to the day that I moved to Connecticut from my native state of Maine. And uh it's the conference I absolutely know the best, and I know the the same for you. And we literally have the conference surrounded. You're down there in Greenwich, I'm up here in Stratford. Let's meet in between and talk some softball. And let's go to Fairfield Ludlow, as a matter of fact. Why not? Exactly. Our our guest uh to talk about the league is the Fairfield Ludlow head coach, Adam La Liberty. Adam, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Absolutely. Pleasure to be on with both of you. And thanks for doing this. And uh really just continue to give a voice across Connecticut softball all levels, including the high school game.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

We're trying so hard, that's for sure. Uh, you know, this year's FSIAC, I mean, boy, I I think back to last year's league final between St. Joseph and Darian, and God's honest truth, those two teams could be back there once again. What are your thoughts as you look at the league, you know, just a couple days into pitchers and catchers here?

SPEAKER_02 1:28

I mean, you name the year, the FCAC is deep, right? 2026 is honestly no exception. I mean, you know, you talk to anybody in the FCAC, I think the argument out there, it's the strongest conference across really all sports. And I think softball's right up there in that conversation. I think you, you know, you start where you finish last year, right? The four teams that were left in the FCAC semis and finals last year, New Cane and Trumbull, um, St. Joe's and Darien, all returning their pitcher. So you you start the conversation there. Um, you know, all four of those teams are probably um, you know, favorites to win the conference, but listen, you can't not talk about Richfield. You know, Richfield is the eight seed going into the conference tournament last year, takes St. Joe's to the brink, and then ends up making it all the way to the class double L championship game where they have a great game with Cheshire. And that was a team that really came on late. So that if they pick up where they left off, that's just another team to throw into the mix.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

And again, like you said, another pitcher back, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Because uh another sophomore pitcher back, right? So um it's just you know, obviously we we tend to go as our pitching goes, but the pitching in the FCAC is deep. And you know, we have to play our 15 conference games, then we have one additional game that we have to play. So 16 out of our 20 games are tough, and you've got to bring it on an everyday basis, or you know, it's really it's really challenging. And then you segue that into the you know, every team except for St. Joe's is in double L. So we just end up hurting ourselves come seeding time for the state tournament, right? You're taking wins from each other, and so sometimes you see in the class double L anyway, some wonky seedings. You'll see some FSIAC teams with, you know, quote unquote low seeds will make deep runs because you're so battle tested.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

How does that happen? How does the pitching depth get so deep in a conference like the FSIAC, which is what 15-16 teams, something like that? And again, you you talked about the four finalists last year, Darianne, Vivian Knock going to Stanford, St. Joe's has Katie. How does she say her last name?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Katie Diallo's going to Princeton, right? Not only that, like your two division one pitchers that are lefty on top of it.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Like exactly. Yeah. You know, throw that in. Maddie Pepper from Trumbull going to Wagner. I'm not sure where Lauren Fico's going yet, but I'm sure it's going to be somewhere. Right. Is it just pitch the pitching coaches in the state of Connecticut are really, really good right now?

SPEAKER_02 3:49

And yeah, I mean, uh listen, the pitching coaches are really good. There's a a lot of them. Some of the kids will leave and go into New York to get their pitching. Some kids drive all the way up to Rhode Island to get their pitching lessons. Like it's something that the pitchers that achieve at a very high level, they take it seriously. They're throwing a lot of pitchers, they're working nearly every day of the week. They're attending their their lessons, you know, weekly, bi-weekly. It's it's it's a serious endeavor, and and these kids put the work in. How do you see this year playing out? Um, it's gonna be deep as always. Um, it's gonna be a challenge on an everyday basis. Sometimes you'll see teams move up and down um, you know, based on the pitching they have. But again, I think you you we have to begin where we finished last year with those four teams. You add Ridgefield into the mix. Norwalk's got a really good feeder program. Obviously, Matty Collins graduating is gonna, you know, impact them a little bit. Um, you know, I think Emily Dowd graduating from Fairfield Ward is gonna impact them a little bit. We were a very young team last year at Ludlow, so now we've gained more experience out of our pitching, so maybe we're a team that could be, you know, on the rise. We also have a lot of coaching changes across the FCAC. So I think a factor is going to be how do us returning coaches begin to adapt and understand what the new coaches are doing with their teams. A lot of times you can study and pick up tendencies. Like I had a pretty good feel for what Jackie Chef said Trumble was going to do in most situations. Well, now you got Tom Pia moving from West Hill to Trumbull. So that's gonna have an impact on how all of those games are gonna go. And sometimes you have to be real patient because when you have a coaching change, a lot of those teams will make surges later in the season as the kids begin to acclimate to whatever the coaches are you know doing. I think that that happened a lot at Ridgefield last year. They they made a coaching change and they really surged later in the year, which is a credit to what Rita Jagazinski was doing, was doing there. So I think that that's gonna be a huge factor in how this year plays out.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Do you see the finals depending on the seedings in a way?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Like yeah, I mean a lot of it just is like the seedings are sometimes in the FCAC honestly inconsequential, other than getting that home game because you know we saw Norwalk take out St. Joe's two years ago, eight over a one. Um, but that happens when you have a great pitcher like Matt Collins, just goes in there and has a great day, and and you can see those kinds of things happening. Um, sometimes it's matchup driven too. Um, some teams just have a tendency to match up slightly better with other teams based on the makeup of their team. Like if you've got a great rise ball pitcher, but you've got a very disciplined offense they're playing, sometimes that rise ball isn't quite as effective. So sometimes the match matchups will dictate what ends up happening.

SPEAKER_03 6:25

Very good point. Yeah, and I know uh there's a pitcher in my life who's just learning a rise ball, and she's all excited about that right now. So um, but that's something I've I've never considered, you know, even as a coach, and then that that is a very, very good point. Who are the sleeper teams this year? Who who do you think could uh sneak in the back or make the top eight?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

I really don't want to call Richfield a sleeper team. You don't make the class double L finals, and like they're not sleep, where nobody's gonna be sleeping on that team anymore. Um, I think some of the teams it like Danbury doesn't get talked off, talked about enough. They had a great year last year. That team really hits the ball, and any team that can put up a lot of runs is scary because you know, pitching to a it, it's it's very difficult for a high school level pitcher to pitch to a lineup that can go one to nine. If you know that you've got some outs from six, seven, eight, nine batters and you can kind of coast through that part of the lineup, it makes a big difference. But with that team hits one to nine, and you know, I don't know what it is about that field in Dan Burr. It's like playing in a bandbox. And so the ball, you it's a pop-up going to the left field, and boom, it goes over the fence. So to me, that's that's a team that nobody should be sleeping on. They have two very good pitchers, a freshman pitcher that's coming in, it's very strong. Uh, so that's a team that I don't want to sleep on. They've got a, you know, a it's a large school. I mean, they got a ton of kids that they can pull from. So I think that that's a team that's on the rise. I think Stanford Quietly is a team that's on the rise too. They'd been kind of laying in the weeds the last couple of years. And I know they've got that beautiful brand new turf field that they're that they're using over there, which is nice. And like I'll give a little love to the school I actually work at. I I teach at Wilton High School, and they were a really young team last year, and they they they beat us in the regular season. So um they've got a program that I think could could sneak up on some people.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

You know, we we've talked a lot about the pitchers in the league, but there are some pretty good field players too.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Uh just talk about some of them. Who do you think are some of the the top field players in the uh to give like a little love in my own program?

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Uh my third baseman, Lauren Santa Barbara, is absolutely phenomenal. Um, she was first team all FCAC last year. She was uh Ludlow's recent winter scholar athlete, just to you know show what a well-rounded kid she is. Um I love the new Canaan combination that they have going at pitcher shortstop. So Marissa Del Carmine is a phenomenal defensive shortstop and a great hitter. And she's a very good pitcher, too. So they've got a great ability just to flip-flop her and Lauren Fico. So when one's not pitching, the other one's playing shortstop, and that's a great dynamic um for them to have. Um I mentioned Dan Barry earlier, but they've got some great um, they have a left-handed batter last year who burst onto the scene as a um as a freshman playing third base, Sophia O'Connell. I mean, what a scary hitter. And they had Chloe Tremandis who graduated who's at Fordham now, but I mean, what a scary hitter she is. She she changes the whole um dynamic of that lineup. And um I think obviously St. Joe's, like one of the things when you play St. Joe's is if you don't have keep Mackie KOet, who is their leadoff hitter in their shortstop under control, and she gets on base, it's all sorts of havoc on the base pass, and they score a lot of runs when she gets on. I mean, those are some of the names that pop into mind where like those are kids where you're constructing a game plan. If you don't control those kids in the lineup, you you're gonna have a tough day.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

And one of my favorite shortstops in the league is is right across town from you, Sadie Strauser over.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Oh, Sadie's an unbelievable player, whether she bats first or third in that lineup. I mean, she's an extremely scary hitter, very good fielder, and she just continues to get stronger and stronger and stronger. Like she can put the ball out in a hurry. And if you're not aware of you know her in the lineup, you're gonna run into some problems.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

All right, so you got the weekend off, you're going to Vegas. Who are you putting your money on uh to win the Epsi Act this year?

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Oh man, whatever I pick, the answer is gonna be wrong. Yeah, like that, like that's that that's such a hard question. I think you probably have to go with the team that won it last year. Um, I I I do think, and especially this is something I've learned over time, especially my time at Ludlow. I think that there's really something to be said for the battle-tested team that has experience winning and knows what to do. I think we could probably agree that no matter what happens at the end, it's gonna be some sort of a tight game. It's gonna come down to some pitch, some play, some hit, some defensive miscue, something along those lines. And my money's always gonna be with the team that's been there, done that, and experienced success in tight moments. And right now that's St. Joe's. Um, I know obviously they they lost a real heartbreaker in a masoch in the Class L tournament, but they did win the FCAC tournament. And I think having success in they played three one or two run games, you know, I think it was one to zero, two to nothing, and one, whatever two to one in in three games. I mean, that's having to win tight. And so when you got a left-handed pitcher going to Princeton, um, and they got really good fielders, they're they're very well coached. If you had to ask me today, that would be my pick.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Of course, they you know, they lost their catcher, they lost their center fielder. You know, both of those kids are playing at college now. So, but St. Joe's has always been a program that just kind of reloads and throws somebody else in there as well. So uh the team the team that intrigues me a little bit is Trumbull. No seniors last year, they made the run to the Final Four. You know, you mentioned you know, uh Tom Pia from West Hill coming in, but again, Tom's a veteran coach, he's been around you know forever. Uh is that a team that now that they're all seniors, they got four kids going to college, a lot of really good young freshmen coming in as well that are fighting for spots. But could could they surprise a few teams and take that next step?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

I love the Trumbull program. Like Jackie Chefs and I have known each other for a really long time, and I was very excited to see. I mean, everybody loves Tom Pia. Like, that's the guy. Like, you just get a big smile on your face when you run across Tom Pia. Um, very engaging guy, and I was glad to see him get that job because I think he'll do a great job with that Trumble program. Um, we have to play them twice this year. That's uh that's our extra FCAT game. Um, one of the like, and I and I say this lovingly, they are it's a nice group of kids. Like it's actually fun to play them because they play so respectfully to the game. Um, they're really good and they're really deep. Like when you, you know, you mentioned early, and I'm trying to think as many kids off the top of my head. They've got, other than Matty Pippa, they've got three kids that are seniors in that lineup that really scare you, which is Kylie Lucia. I mean, that is a kid you've got to be very careful with. Should the ball will go out of the field in a hurry. Um, one of the nicest kids in in the league is a kid that moved from catcher to short stuff from then Bree Potok, and she's a you know a really good player too. And then I know you had Jones, their first baseman on, who's committed to Albertus Magnus. Like, what a nice kid and a great, a great story, too. But she's a really good lefty bat and a great first baseman. They're deep. I know they've got a big fresh in class to the point where there's some conversation on the league. They may have two JV teams, um, where some of us struggle to have one JV team. So like they're gonna have options and their strength in numbers too. And and that's a program where, like, you know, there they're gonna be a problem.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

Coach uh John alluded to it. Seven teams last year, 10 wins or more uh in the FCAC. Is there a dividing line between kind of I don't want to use this term, but I'm gonna use it. Lack of a better term, haves and have nots. Is there is there a dividing line and what's the reason?

SPEAKER_02 13:32

I think that there is. Um I I think there's a few you know answers to your question, Rob, which is a really good one. Usually when you look at as a coach, nine and six is the marker. You say, if I hit nine and six, I think I can get into the tournament. If you hit 10, you you're gonna get in. If you're in that eight and seven mark, you're probably not gonna get in. But if you look, like last year we went in six and nine. We're all where are our six wins from? Well, they're the from the six teams that were below us, right? So that kind of just falls into line with what you were saying. I think you have a few things at play here. You've got, like, when you have when you coach at a high school where you have two high schools in the same town, you're dividing the talent in half. And so that's automatically gonna put the Fairfield schools, the Stanford schools, and the Norwal schools at somewhat of a disadvantage. Um, in Fairfield, the talent seems to get spread fairly in a balanced way. It could, you know, vary from year to year. It seems that Stanford will sometimes get be getting the stronger players in West Hill and then Norwal versus Brian McMahon, which I think can create some imbalance. You also have some size issues too. Like you have a school like Wilton that might be pushing like 1,100 kids, and then you have a school like Greenwich pushing, you know, whatever, 4,000 kids or Danbury, the same thing. So I think sometimes those side, the size balances create a difference. I think really it has mostly to do with what kind of what kind of effort and care does that town or community put into their softball when the kids are young, right? Like we know that Fairfield, for instance, really values their softball and baseball programs. So it's no secret that the baseball and softball programs at Ludlow and Ward are are parentally strong, right? Where other communities maybe it's more on the lacrosse end, or whatever the case may be, whatever the sport may be. But the communities that really value the sport of softball at in the youth level begin to reap the benefits when those kids are in high school.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

It's always the feeder program, no doubt.

SPEAKER_03 15:21

That's been a you know, Rob and I have done a bunch of these previews this week, and then and Rob, that's been a common theme, is those successful programs do have that feeder system. Uh Coach Fairfield Ludlow, just you know, it wasn't that long ago. You guys won, was it three straight FCAC championships? Yeah, four more. Sorry, my bad. Um one of which was yours because you're an assistant with Lou, who was also you know on the podcast a few weeks ago. Um how are you guys gonna be this year? You talked about being young last year, you know, just tell us a little bit about the Falcons.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

You know, I very truthfully was like dreading going into last year because as a coach who's gone through this in multiple programs, the the the school that I coached at in Rhode Island, we had a very similar ascension that Ludlow had. And it's the climbing towards the part, the top of the mountain is the I find the most enjoyable part of the journey, right? Trying not to get knocked off is exceptionally challenging. We were able to do that for a year. Back-to-back championships and double O is very difficult to do. When you get knocked off and you tumble down, that's the worst, right? So we're at the part where we're we are, I don't like to rebuild, but we're like working our way back up. And I'm very excited about this team going into this year. We've got some very exciting uh pitching prospects. We've got six kids working in this week, which is the most that we've ever had. Um, and we've got some really nice young talent. Um, you know, the Fairfield Little League has made deep runs each of the last two years. And luckily for us, most of those kids are falling on the Ludlow side of town. So, you know, our numbers for tryouts this year are the highest they've been in quite a long time. So I'm excited about that young group. And we've got another group that's in the eighth grade right now that's ascending towards that level as well. So I think that, you know, we're on a rebound year for us. I think we are going to do better a lot better than we did last year, even though we did make the quarterfinals of the state tournament, which was a good run for us at the end. Um, but I think, you know, another year or two we're gonna be we're gonna be probably be a big problem again um in a good way for us and maybe in a bad way for other people. But yeah, we're we're we are we are we are on our way back, and so I'm excited about what the future holds.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

You know, one of the questions I've been asking on all these preview podcasts is uh and I don't think the FCAC really does one, they may, but player of the year. Again, all this talent. If you have who who's the preseason player of the year, do you think coming in if you could award one?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Yeah, it's it's probably in that, you know, Lauren Fico, Katie Ziallo, Vivian Knott thing. I mean, the player of the year is probably 99 times out of a hundred gonna go to the pitcher, right? Um, just the way people default. So what I would say is, and the reason why I bring those three kids up is because of what they bring on the offensive side of the ball, right? Like Katie has turned herself into a really good hitter. Uh Vivian is an exceptional hitter, and Lauren under the radar is just a dynamite offensive threat from the right hand side. So those are kids that are like two-way threats. And so I think when you can carry your team on the offensive side, but then you you know get it done in the pitching circle. I think you you have to start the conversation there.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

Rob, got anything else? It's the FCAC. I mean, you you know me, I've got the experience of all these years, uh, over a quarter of a century covering it, and it's it's just it's so much fun year in and year out, coach, to watch what every team can do. But you know, when it comes to softball, I'm fascinated by St. Joe's, Ludlow, Darien briefly, those are the champions going all the way back over a decade. That's it. Those three programs that speaks to some big talent and uh probably some good coaching as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

I what's really interesting is as I mentioned earlier, I came from Rhode Island. And so when I I moved to this part of the state and I knew very little about the FSIAC, I thought, and and Lou asked me to come in and coach with him, I thought, oh, we're in lacrosse country. The softball here must be bad. So I just expected to come in and just like find it really easy. And then like after a couple, I was like, oh no, okay, actually, this is this is good. This is this is a challenge. I like this. And I think, you know, what is I think, you know, in Lula, we won four in a row. And I think it was the first program to do it since like 81 through 84. I think it was Norwalk did it. Um, so winning four in a row was, you know, we got the first one, and I was like, oh, you know, I didn't think anything of it. I was like, oh, you won an FCAC championship. This is pretty easy, right? And then all of a sudden we won the fourth one, and then I realized how difficult it is, right? You go into a year like last year, I was like, no, this is this is really hard. Like, you know, winning an FCAC championship is really something special. It's not easy. I mean, there's people that will coach forever and they they don't, you know, even get to a championship game. And so it's it the conference is just so good and it's so deep and it's so well coached, and there's so many good athletes that it's really like if you can do it, it's a pretty special accomplishment.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

I will tell you this. It wasn't it was Norwalk, you're right. It was 1978 to 81. That's a long time. So that's pretty impressive. Yep. We wish you all the best this year uh and and have fun with whatever your program brings, whether it's you know, whether, as you said, not rebuilding but reloading or whatever the case may be, just go get them this year and have some fun, coach. And we really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

No, thank you guys for having us on. And again, like I mentioned earlier, I think uh how much you've I mean, John, your first article might have been Us Against Greenwich two years ago. Like I don't know, that might have been your first high school article for the CT softball blog, and I've just watched it, you know, explode, explode from there. But you fit everything from Little League all the way up to the college ranks and everything in the middle in between, and I just think I've gotten so many good so much good feedback from the kids, the parents, like everybody run across is you know, reading it, and I just think it's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

Well, appreciate it, and yeah, I kind of you know fell into the coaching gig at GFA, fell in love with the sport, uh decided to retire for for a bunch of different reasons, got sent to a Trumble St. Joe's game of all things for the Rudin report, uh, which covers sports here, you know, in the FCAC, and just realized I missed being at the field and didn't want to coach anymore, but what else could I do? I can write, I can shoot, I can talk. So here we are.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

Well, coach, we're grateful, and again, best of luck. Thank you very much. Thanks, guys. Take care. You got it. We will take a quick break and we will continue in just a moment.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

Hi, this is John Nash, publisher of the CT Softball Blog. For the past two years, we have been bringing you stories from softball fields throughout the state, from the little league ranks to those summer days of travel softball to the high school level and even college. In a day and age where many websites are hiding their content. behind paywalls, we've given it all to you for free. As we head into year three, we are looking to expand. That includes this, the Insight Corner podcast, as well as other ideas we have and are ready to implement for the new season. This month before the first pitch is thrown, the CT Softball blog has started a GoFundMe fundraiser as we crowdsource to come up with the funding to expand and grow. To do this, we need your help. Please visit www.ctsoftballblog.com and click on the Donate to Us button or click on the GoFundMe ad at the very top of our home page. The game has grown again folks there are so many more stories to tell and we need your help. Thank you. And we're back with the Inside Corner Connecticut Sports Blog Podcast. It's the FCAC Preview edition and for our second segment we are being joined by two Epsiac players two really really good FSIAC players who happen to play for the same team from the New Canaan Rams that is Marissa Del Carmine and Lauren Fico. Girls welcome thanks for having us thank you my pleasure the neat thing about you guys is if one of you is in the circle the other one's at shortstop and just talk about that relationship in terms of you know obviously I'm sure you guys are each each other's number one supporter because you know what it's like to be in position in each position. But Marissa let me start with you. You know when Lauren's you know in the circle on the rubber throwing and you're playing shortstop what's that like and you know does she have your back as much as I think she does when you're in the circle yeah Lauren well we've been playing together since we were really young.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

So it's been like really fun to grow up and like play together and I definitely think that like she supports me when I'm in the circle and when she's at shortstop or like when I'm at shortstop and she's in the circle like I try and support her my best. So yeah I do think that we really like communicate well together and if one of us like get frustrated I think that we like look at each other or talk to each other and yeah I think we have a really good relationship in that aspect.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

And Lauren does that help you that you know if if you're struggling with something or something's going wrong that you have a pitcher right behind you who can kind of step in and say you know hey insert advice here and and and then get you throwing again better?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

I mean yeah it's definitely like reassuring knowing that I have somebody that like you know plays the same position as me like knows exactly what I go through when it's like I'm not my best. So like having her right behind me like it just helps a lot knowing like I can just rely on her even if like well if I'm pitching or if she's pitching like it's nice for it to go both ways.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

And Lauren tell me about the difference between you guys as pitchers. I mean you know are you both similar? Are you both both vastly different? So like if you split a game does it you know uh upset the timing of other other batters what's that like between the two of you?

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah I mean I think we're like we're kind of different I would say like I I mean I think I rely on different pitches than she relies on and I think like that helps like if she needs to go in or if I need to go in then it's like a different view on like pitches and like the batters like face throughout the game. So I think that honestly helps when it comes into like relieving and and Marissa what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_03 25:15

I mean do you feel like you complement each other or or are you so vastly different that you have different styles of pitches and like Lauren said different pitches.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yeah I definitely I do think that we're very different pitchers. So I think that like Lauren said like it could be hard for batters to like face both of us in like the same inning because we both have like different pitches and like movement on our pitches and speeds. Lauren is very fast. Um so yeah I do think that it's good together because when we're like next to each other like when we have to switch between batters it's harder for them because we're so different. But yeah I do think that we are different.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

You know I I've been talking with we talked with Adam Laliberty to start the podcast off. He's the Fairfield Ludlow coach of course and and we were talking about how this year the the league seems so even and there are so many good top of the front line pitchers and anybody in the top eight you know two years ago we saw number eight Norwalk knock off number one St. Joe's in the FCAC tournament didn't quite happen that way last year St.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Joe's went on to win the tournament and we'll hear from um uh their coach here in a little bit but what do you guys feel and either one of you can answer what do you feel new Canaan's hopes are this season because you've been competitive since you guys have been part of the program but I mean do you guys want to go out as FC Act champs is that is that like the ultimate goal for the Rams this year yeah I mean I think up for like I mean we've this is our senior year so we've been working at it our past three years and I really think that we have like a really solid team to like make it all the way this year. We're all committed I know we all want to make it so far and I think we have like the mix of like the pitching we have good fielding and what like we have a bunch of hitters in our lineup that will help too. So I think I think we really think it's our year this year.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah. And all of us like I said earlier like we've all been playing for a really long time together. So we all compliment each other and like know how to help each other on the field. So that's definitely one of our goals this year. So I definitely think that we can work towards that this year.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

And and Marissa, who do you think are some of the other tougher teams in the league this year? I mean, you know usually in the FCX it's it's the status quo and and both of the pitchers from last year's championship game, you know, Katie Dezalo from St. Joe's and Vivian Knott from Darianne they're both back so you know they're gonna want to get their teams back there. But but who do you guys think of the is the toughest this year?

SPEAKER_00 27:33

I think like you said like St. Joe's and Darianne are definitely going to be hard competition. Same with Trumbull they have really good team um trying to think of like who else that we've like troubled um but yeah those teams a lot of the FCAC teams are really solid so I think that every game is going to be like a hard game to do but yeah I think those teams like stick out a lot for me just because of their pitching and like overall how we've had like games in the past those will probably be our like hardest competitors.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Lauren who's the one player when you see him step into the batter's box you're like oh crap I don't want to face this kid in this situation. Is there one player in the league that kind of has your number um I I honestly don't think of it that way.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

I mean whenever I'm pitching I try and just like see the batter as it is and not what they've done in the past. So kind of just facing them like I don't know like in the moment um I I wouldn't say there's one that really like owns me. So I think that's a good thing going into the season.

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Well the good news is both of you most of the time own the other player. So you know but every so often there's that one player that gets you. What about you Marissa do you have one that that just might frustrate you from time to time or or is the pitcher always at the advantage because more often than not the hitter fails.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Well I think that like for a lot of the times like when we've grown up like playing um club sports like you play with girls that you've been on teams with so it's like harder to face them and like last year for me um Griffin Palladino she was really good at like figuring out like what I was trying to throw or like stuff like that. So like those players are definitely I would say like harder to throw against because they just like know you're pitching. But like Lauren said like I try to like think of it as in that moment and go there and try and work around the batter in that moment.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

So and of course Griffin's up at Quinnipia now so she's not a division one player. So I mean it makes sense that that uh she would have that what's it gonna take this year for New Canaan to have the type of season that you guys want?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Marissa we'll start with you um I think that like just working together having good communication and really like working in practice on our hitting and our fielding and just like overall improving everything in that aspect that we can do so that when we face those hard teams that have really good pitchers we can get like our bats around and get good hits or like when we have a team like St.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Joe's where they constantly are hitting our fielding is really sharp and like we're just doing everything we need to to support the pitcher or and just get the win in general one of the neat things about New Cane and uh softball Lauren is that I think you might be the only team in the league that have co-head coaches with Daniel Simeneau and Joel Jariak. What's that like I mean you know to hear two different voices uh you know I know Joel's the Wilton High basketball coach so you know two vastly different backgrounds.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

What's it like for you guys to have two quote unquote co-head coaches um I think it's kind of nice honestly because I feel like that kind of transfers into our game like we don't have one solid like captain and stuff like that. Like everybody kind of works together and we're all in the same playing field.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

So I think like that kind of coaching like transfers into our like gameplay and I honestly think it helps us be a better like team as like a whole would you agree Marissa depending on what is needed in a given time Joel will step up to handle something obviously Danielle you know has been a pitching coach before and and knows what's going on in the circle do they handle different parts of the team differently in a way yeah definitely I think that sometimes like we can go to each coach for different aspects of like what we're trying to get information on or like if we want support like sometimes for like pitching we'll obviously go to Danielle or just if we need like quick advice like we could go to Joel so I think it's good that we have like the do like duality between them so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Okay last question for both of you guys I always find it fascinating how certain girls slash players gravitate to the circle because it is such a high pressure position.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Marissa let's start with you what's your story in terms of how you found the softball field and what made you want to become a pitcher um well I just like got put into softball for my parents when I was really young so I just like stuck with it because it was a sport that I like became good at and I just like really loved playing it. I liked the team aspect um and I just started pitching with Danielle when I was probably like 10 or 12 and yeah I just stayed with it. I I tend to like go in the field more. I feel like Lauren is probably our like main pitcher. I'm more like short to stop but yeah I do really like pitching sometimes so it's definitely a really like fun when you're on and like when you're hot like have a good day it's a really like fun spot to be in because you have like a lot of control and it's like a very like high intensity position. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

But when you're having a bad day it's get me the hell out of there and back to shortstop right yeah it's not fun. How about you Lauren?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

How'd you find your way uh into the middle of the field like that um I think kind of the same for Marissa my parents put me in when I was younger. So I think I was like probably like second or third grade so whatever age that was um and I started pitching like younger so probably like eight or nine ish something like that. And I guess I just kind of stuck with it. I think I liked being able to like be in control of the game and to know like that people are behind me when it comes to like helping that but like I feel like me um personally I like being able to like I I don't really know. I think just like being able to pitch and like know knowing people are behind me. So it's kind of like working together in a game. But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

And again the the pressure that you guys are under so much you know if you're struggling or whatever or or even worse if the team's making errors behind you and you feel you got to step up and suddenly strike everybody out. It's it's just it's such a mental position and and all that that that I admire the heck out of you guys for stepping in there and dealing with it all. So uh it's very impressive on both of you especially for you to rise up the way you have so congrats on that and uh you know best of luck to New Canon Marissa del Carmine senior pitcher slash shortstop Lauren Fico senior pitcher slash slash shortstop thank you both for joining us thank you for having us we'll be right back after this message with Jeff Babano the def head coach of the defending champion uh St. Joseph Cadets right after this message here on the inside corner of the CT Softball blog podcast.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

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SPEAKER_03 34:20

Get on deck for live play by play coverage have your team heard on Robcasting via the Mixler app and Robcasting.com this is Rob Adams I'll call the play by play with the same excitement I've delivered for over a quarter of a century email me at robcastingradio at gmail.com sponsorship opportunities are available let's bring your team to the world and we're back with the Inside Corner podcast FCAc Preview edition and joining us on our last segment today is the head coach of the defending FCAC champion Saint Joseph Cadets Jeff Babineau Jeff thanks for joining us thank you John thanks for having me you know you hear those words defending champs and you know you've had that hung around your neck a few times in your career I I don't know how many yet I haven't looked that up I'm sure you know you probably remember but is there anything harder than starting a season with that moniker above your head or do you does it excite you because it's a challenge knowing that you're gonna have a uh a bullseye on your back every time you take the field I you know John I don't think um I I sort of put it out as a history thing you know that's last year's news um you know when we start with the kids right away um we have a whole new challenge this year so I try not to even think about that uh they're nice to have uh we have six of them uh for the FCAX so um it's a new challenge this year and this year's team you know I have I have your returning rust or that the CAC leaves up there you know some of the kids may not come back you know who knows but but I see only two seniors this year uh uh Katie uh how does she pronounce her last name DeZalo De Zalo okay and Olivia Petroselli and of course you know I'm a Sox fan so Rico Petroselli that's an easy pronunciation but only two seniors so this is a little bit is is it going to be a younger team for you do you think or or does that junior class have a lot of experience and a lot of leadership that should even go yeah the yeah the junior class has a lot of leadership actually our uh second captain is a junior this year Mackie uh Kuet so uh yeah that's a big class uh we have a very good class of freshmen that came in so it'll be young in some sense but I think we're have a good core uh who's returning for us so it's gonna be interesting what what are your thoughts on the league in general I mean the FCAC you know it's always the FCAC it's it's a gauntlet I I have to tell you I've had more people ask me about it uh probably in the last month I I believe this year is probably gonna be the most challenging year I've for the whole league and there's probably I mean off the top of my head there's probably eight teams that could vie for the championship with they all have top pitching um yeah I mean it's it's a lot of senior laden teams and New Cain is all seniors Trumble's all seniors uh yeah they got a lot of experience so not an easy road to repeat at all and do you enjoy that you know as a veteran coach I mean you've been doing this a while would you rather have a season like this or or would you rather just coast and nah nah I you gotta play you know and you laugh you look at you know every year somebody new comes up and it's always something different uh I don't mind having you know the bullseye in her back um that's part of it as part of coaching part of running a program but you know it other teams are gonna vie for it and we have to do our job to you know prepare for them and of course it's always nice to have your pitcher returning especially in your case your pitcher you know we talked about her Katie DiZalio uh headed to Princeton uh outdueled uh Vivian Knott the Darianne pitcher in an absolutely thrilling 14 inning uh victory in last year's league title game how much better is she from last year um she's better um you know I think maturity wise uh strength uh she put uh I gotta tell you she put a lot of work into herself over the winter and then the fall so uh she's prepared I mean she knows and she's a competitor I don't care you know what you had to do for her she's gonna win when she goes out there and and and last year I think if I remember right in the state tournament you guys lost the heartbreaker and was it quarterfinals or semifinals? Semifinals the semifinals does that loss drive these kids throughout their summer travel season and you know you talked about you know Katie you know I'm sure she's training to become a division one athlete too so she's sure shaping herself but what did that loss do to you guys and how does it help you going into this season well you know it leaves a sour taste um but you know we try to use it as a lesson uh there was a couple of mistakes we made a couple of mistakes I made uh you have to you know look at yourself internally and I think you know our coaching staff has done that and our kids have done that so uh they're hungry and they're still hungry so that's a good thing. You know you talked about eight teams could win this thing just just tell us you know New Canaan um obviously uh you know Darianne's gonna be in it just because of Vivian's left arm.

SPEAKER_05 39:32

Trumbull's gonna be very strong yeah Richfield you know semi or runner up in the class double uh you can't you know sleep on them at all they're young but they're very talented um you know Ludlow's always gonna bring you a game um they have a young pitcher that's coming up but that's gonna be uh that's gonna be a challenge uh Danbury look at Danbury they have the very young team last year and again they're gonna be a little bit more mature experience is uh something you can't teach um then you always got Ward Stanford they're gonna sneak around um you know a couple teams like Wilton you never know I mean you know Brian does a great job up there so I'm sure he's you know chomping at the bit to get into the playoffs and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

So a lot of new coaches in the FC Act this year too. Does that make it a little bit tougher to prepare for some of the teams that normally you know you you kind of know the coaches so you know what a little bit I mean we actually have there's seven new changes of coaches but Tom Pia just switched schools.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

Right so it's really there's really six new coach new fate and actually Mary Beth uh is back at Greenwich again which is for a year yeah I'm working on that story as we speak yeah very good to hear uh I was glad to see that so you know you have some new people um again I it's not really our I don't really worry about what we're I'm looking at what we're gonna go up against um but some of the coaches uh you know they're all very very talented in our league and you lost how many seniors last year uh we lost four four and I I know two of them went to college I wrote stories about them how do you replace them which players you know need to step up well you have to I gotta replace catching uh which is a key spot center field third base those are three very vital things so uh we're working on that we're working on that starts you know all that work is uh with hopefully they've been doing their stuff in the winter and we'll see what happens on Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 41:29

Unfortunately this week has been pitchers and catchers not third base and outfield right exactly exactly um if you had to pick a surprise team who would it be this year do you think ooh that's a good question um surprise team I don't want to get and again like you said it can't really be Ridgefield because Ridgefield was the number eight yeah no actually semi finalist yeah you know I would think either a Ludlow Dan Barry somebody in in that sense um you know put some pieces together and you know you never know you never know that that's probably very good coaching you know so they're gonna get out of their kids a lot more yeah we you know at the top of the podcast uh we talked to Adam Laliberty you know and Adam has six pitchers this year his question mark is catching across town at Fairfield Ward they have a lot of catchers they have no idea who's gonna be their starting pitcher because McKenna Sherry of course transferred to Sutfield so that that's a lot of intriguing stories in the league this year.

SPEAKER_05 42:26

Sure oh absolutely yeah it's been a little carousel actually with the coaches and everything else happening sure how many years is this for you now at St. Joe's it's 17 17 what what keeps you coming back what what makes this fun for you you know I mean I I did it for almost a decade and I got worn out yeah you get um I I just love the game John I've always loved it um and I think it's something that if I if if the passion of the game for me to get it into the kids and show them you know the the real true side of passion of it and also playing it. And until that dies I'll I'll keep doing it. I enjoy it. I get recharged every uh you know about this time right now I'm getting really excited so it should be a good time.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

No for sure uh Jeff Babino the head coach of the St. Joseph Cadets the defending FCAC champions coach uh appreciate you joining us and I'm really looking forward to this season and and again thank you for that game two years ago between you and Trumbull that that ignited reignited my passion for softball and made me start this vlog. Uh you know it's all you and Jackie chefs I I blame you guys totally for making me want to do this and uh you know what I love is the kids appreciate it and and it gives them a voice and and uh I just I fell in love with the sport much in the same way you did. So we we appreciate you joining us and best of luck to you this season. All right thank you so much I appreciate all you do for the sport. Oh my pleasure and Rob and I will be right back after this message to wrap up the Inside Corner podcast FCAc preview edition right after this. Hi, this is John Nash, publisher of the CT Softball Blog. For the past two years, we have been bringing you stories from softball fields throughout the state. From the little league ranks to those summer days of travel softball to the high school level and even college. In a day and age where many websites are hiding their content behind paywalls, we've given it all to you for free. As we head into year three, we are looking to expand. That includes this, the Inside Corner podcast, as well as other ideas we have and are ready to implement for the new season. This month before the first pitch is thrown, the CT Softball blog has started a GoFundMe fundraiser as we crowdsource to come up with the funding to expand and grow. To do this, we need your help. Please visit www.ctsoftballblog.com and click on the Donate to Us button or click on the GoFundMe ad at the very top of our home page. The game is growing again, folks. There are so many more stories to tell, and we need your help. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

You know, one thing I keep thinking about, John, as we begin to wrap this one up. I don't want people to think we have this FCAC bias. That's certainly not what I'm trying to, you know, give to listeners. It's more that we know this conference inside and out. I've called how many FCAC championships you've covered it. I believe me, if if the SWC or the SCC wants to steal me, I can be stolen. It's just we know the background here.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

100%. Again, you know, I moved down here to to work at the Norwalk Hour, which covers the FC Act and a little bit of the SWC. You know, all the stuff that you've done with WGCH down there in Greenwich, it's been so much of it has been about the uh the the FC Act. Yeah, it has. So yeah, it's just it's where we live. That's what we know. That that's where our career paths have taken us. But since we have started this blog, again, I have that made I have made the trip to Ellington to see Camp Fisher pitch. I have made the trip to Moodus of all places to see the hail rain noises play. You know, I Connecticut is not a big state. I'm from the state of Maine. That's a big state. Connecticut, you can get anywhere in two hours, and uh, I'm a driver, so uh we cover the whole state. We just know this league the best, and it is a talented league, a lot of fun to cover, and uh it's gonna be a fun season for the FCAC once again. Wide open.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

Yeah, it's gonna be a fun year all around the state, and uh I I feel like as we have wrapped up each one of these previews, I come back to the same thought. Let's play ball.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Exactly. We're just days away now, and uh I'm excited, and hopefully the weather uh you know stays the course and uh allows us to play on opening day. We'll do it again soon, John. Absolutely. Every Wednesday, 6 a.m., we drop a new uh podcast, so excited to listen to them.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Absolutely. Please join us again for our next edition of The Inside Corner for John Nash. I'm Rob Adams. You've been listening to the Inside Corner, Connecticut Buffalo Podcast.