WEST HAVEN—The game had been over for nearly 30 minutes when Vivian Knott walked up to Jenica Matos behind the Cheshire dugout.
The two pitchers—probably the state’s best two pitchers in this 2026 season—embraced, competitors turning back into friends.
Earlier, the two had taken turns standing on the same patch of land at Frank Biondi Field, the pitcher’s circle, to be exact, each putting up zero after zero for 10-plus innings in Tuesday’s Class LL semifinal showdown.
When all was said and done, with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, it was Cheshire’s Ava Pearson who delivered a ground ball that found a hole between first and second base, giving the top-seeded Rams a 1-0 win over No. 4 Darien.
Cheshire advances to Saturday’s state championship game where the Rams will defend their title against No. 2 Southington, a 7-3 winner over No. 11 New Canaan later that night.
For Matos and Knott, who are also travel teammates with the Empire State Huskies, the first game of the state’s big school semifinal doubleheader was everything it was billed to be.
“It was exciting. It was definitely hard,” said Matos, the St. John’s-bound senior who pitched all 12 innings, throwing a 173-pitch two-hitter with 26 strikeouts and seven walks. “I mean, we knew it was going to be a pitcher’s duel, a hard game and (Vivian) did an amazing job at keeping our hitters off-balance. I mean, we did that in return with their hitters. So, I feel like just trusting our process and our preparation was just all there for us.”
Following the 10th inning, Darien made the decision to pull Knott, swapping her out with first baseman Claire Willing, who likely would be the starting pitcher for 90 percent of the state if not for being on the same team as Gatorade’s Connecticut Player of the Year.
Blue Wave coach Nick Demaio said the move was strictly a pitch-count decision.
Knott threw 137 pitches in the game, 99 for strikes.
“We don’t want to hurt Viv,” Demaio said. “She’s the one that got us here. We’re not going to hurt her. So that was the decision that we made.”
In 2025’s FCIAC championship game, Knott threw 200 pitches and developed tendonitis, missing the state tournament.
This spring, the Darien coaching staff has kept a much closer eye on her pitch count, oftening turning to Claire Willing as they did in the state tournament opener against Crosby.
It was Willing that took to the mound in the 11th. She got through that inning, but Cheshire opened the 12th with Olivia Rydzy walking on four straight pitches.
Blake Hall sacrificed Rydzy to second for the first out.
With two outs, Avery Miramant walked and Demaio opted to intentionally walk Cheshire’s lead-off hitter, UConn-bound Jordan McCue, to load the bases with slap-hitter Ava Pearson headed to the plate.
With the defense shifted slight to the left side of the field, Pearson pulled a ground ball single between first and second base, sending Cheshire back to the state championship game for the third straight year.
“I saw their shift on me,” Pearson said. “A lot of teams will shift that way, so I saw an opening and I took it.”
Cheshire coach Kristine Drust had heard the Knott wasn’t beating treated like the workhorse she was a year ago and she noticed Willing warming up in the ninth inning.
“I don’t know what the thought process is and whatnot but seeing (Knott) come out gave us an added energy,” Drust said. “I mean, she’s unbelievable. She’s the Gatorade Player of the Year. She’s who we needed to beat.”
Jordan McCue doubled, one of just four hits of Knott/Willing on the night. In addition to Pearson’s game-winner, Lyla Blair and Addy Coffey also had singles.
Knott, who walked four times and was on base in all five plate appearances, had one hit while Camden Comfort had the other.
Comfort, who as a freshman has built a reputation as batter who performs in the clutch, was intentionally walked twice.
The second time came in the top of the 11th after Knott had walked and moved up to second on a passed ball.
Unfortunately for the Blue Wave, the umpires in the game did not enforce the rules correctly. Had Comfort batted out of order, she would have been ruled out. But Comfort had been replaced with a pinch runner in her previous plate appearance and was never re-entered into the game, so Drust brought the transgression to the umpire’s attention.
Instead of issuing the warning, Comfort was called out for the second out of the inning.
One out later, the threat was over.
One inning later, so was the game.
“I’m not sure. We just seemed tight, which is surprising after playing in the FCIAC championship game and all that, but we just seemed like not all of us, but a good number of us were just tight and you can see it up there,” Demaio said. “We’re swinging, but the swings looked mechanical. They looked slow. The hands were slow. So maybe it was just a little bit of nervousness, I guess.”
SOUTHINGTON 7, NEW CANAAN 3
In the nightcap, if all the sitting around waiting for the 12-inning game to end made New Canaan and Southington nervous, it didn’t show.
Both teams came out swinging.
New Canaan scored first to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Lauren Fico opened the game with a single and moved to third on a Southington error. With one out, Lisa Mallozzi grounded out, but got the RBI when Fico scored giving the FCIAC Rams a 1-0 lead.
Southington answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, however, and added three more second inning to take control of the game, 6-1.
It was the bottom of the Southington line-up doing most of the damage, as well. The Lady Knight’s 6-through-9 hitters went a combined 6-for-12 with 5 RBIs.
“That is such a bonus for us because we rely so much on the top of our order, but they really came alive today because they believe in themselves,” said Southington head coach Michelle Boisvert. “They don’t think, ‘Oh, I’m the eighth batter.’ I always say, ‘You’re in the lineup because you can hit and I want all of you to hit.’ And I said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re batting one or nine, you all matter and you’re all here and you’re all here to hit.”
The big blow in the bottom of the second inning was Addie Wanner’s two-run home to left field.
“I think we were just really confident in ourselves today and we just had a lot of power today. I think it was just great,” Wanner said. “Off the bat, yeah, I knew it was going. I just felt so smooth and clean.”
Wanner was also behind the plate for Southington pitcher Angie Insogna, who gave up two earned runs and scattered six hits. She struck out seven and didn’t walk a single batter.
“She did so good today,” said the junior catcher. “She was hitting everything, every spot that I called. There wasn’t many balls today, which was great. She pitched mainly strikes, which is awesome.”
Wanner also doubled in the game while Maddie Riopelle (1 run, 1 RBI); Savanna Eliasson (2 RBIs) and Aubrey Perugini (2 runs) all had two hits. Eliasson and Olivia Gombotz added doubles, as well.
Fico and the Rams settled down after that second inning, giving up just one more run, but New Canaan could only score two more runs the rest of the way against the Lady Knights.
In the third inning, Maya Aquino (2-for-3, 2 runs, 1 RBI) and Sofia Mallozzi opened things up with back-to-back singles. Aquino would later score when Fico ripped a line drive to center field for an RBI.
In the top of the seventh, Aquino blasted a solo home run to left field to complete the scoring.
Fico was 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in her final game as a New Canaan athlete. In the circle, she also struck out five and walked one.
Fico, along with Marissa Delcarmine, Lisa Mallozzi and Julia Fittipaldi, wrapped up their New Canaan careers after four straight years as starters for the Rams.
“They can’t be replaced,” Simoneau said. “So we’ll hurt a little bit next year and rebuild, and they’ll go on to do great things, but we won’t be the same.”
CLASS LL SEMIFINALS: A SLIDE SHOW
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