Longtime current and past head coaches, assistant coaches, and fans of FCIAC softball would know best regarding their respective opinions on the best pitching performances they may recall from conference pitchers past or present.
Whatever the case may be, one sure thing is that one of the best-pitched games ever by the combination of both teams’ starting pitchers occurred in the championship game of the 2025 FCIAC Softball Tournament.
That magnificent conference championship pitchers’ duel involving St. Joseph junior Katie Dzialo and Darien sophomore Vivian Knott was the major highlight of a successful season for FCIAC softball.
Way back in the day, a particular day 62 years ago, there was a Major Leagues Baseball pitchers’ duel that has been dubbed “the greatest game ever pitched” by baseball historians.
Juan Marichal of the San Franciso Giants and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves were the starting pitchers at Candlestick Park on that day of July 2, 1963.
They both pitched 15 shutout innings and went back out to the mound the next inning. Marichal again shut out the Braves in the top of the 16th inning, and the great Willie Mays ended the game with a home run off the 42-year-old Spahn with one out in the bottom of the 16th inning to give the Giants the 1-0 victory.
It wouldn’t be much of an embellishment to suggest the pitching gems delivered by Dzialo and Knott on the night of May 29, 2025, at Trumbull High School, were somewhat analogous to that Marichal-Spahn epic duel.
St. Joseph and Darien each scored one run to make it a 1-1 game going into extra innings.
It was still a 1-1 game through 13 innings until St. Joseph’s sophomore Gina Coppola came through in the clutch with a two-out base hit to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 14thinning for the 2-1 victory and the FCIAC championship for the Cadets.
Dzialo and Knott combined to strike out 51 batters. Dzialo ended the top of the 14th inning with her 28th strikeout, and Knott struck out 23 Cadets. And if Coppola does not come through in the clutch as she did, who knows how many more shutout innings the two pitchers would continue to throw?
So, it stood to reason that multiple postseason all-conference and all-state honors would be coming to Dzialo and Knott.
Dzialo, Knott and Sophie O’Connell, Danbury’s freshman phenom third baseman, were all recipients of the three highest categories of postseason awards possible.
Those three were all selected to the 2025 All-FCIAC Softball First Team, the GametimeCT All-State Softball First Team, and to their respective Connecticut High School Coaches Association All-State Team.
O’Connell and Knott made the CHSCA Class LL All-State Team and Dzialo was on the Class L All-State Team. The CHSCA picks four all-state teams classified by the state tournaments each respective team would play in if they were to qualify for a state tourney.
O’Connell had such an awesome freshman year that it makes one wonder about the potential of the amazing career statistics she may eventually accumulate. She got off to quite a start this year with a .516 batting average, 10 home runs, 32 RBIs, 27 runs scored, and she drew 20 walks.
Knott averaged very close to two strikeouts per inning while striking 206 batters in 105.1 innings pitched. The sophomore lefty had an 11-2 record, a 0.27 ERA, and she limited opposing batters to a combined .104 batting average. Knott was very good in the batter’s box as well with a .490 batting average, four homers and 15 RBIs.
Dzialo was one of the two repeat selections to the All-FCIAC First Team along with Lauren Fico of New Canaan. Dzialo had a 21-4 record, an ERA of 0.75, and 293 strikeouts in 167.2 innings on the mound; and she was a key contributor at the plate with a .395 batting average, 25 runs scored and 30 RBIs.
Fico, New Canaan’s junior pitcher, made the All-FCIAC First Team for the third consecutive year, was also picked to the CHSCA Class LL All-State Team, and was GametimeCT Honorable Mention.
There were 13 more players along with O’Connell, Knott, Dzialo and Fico on the All-FCIAC First Team which consisted of 11 fielders, four pitchers, and two catchers.
The 13 other all-conference first-teamers were Norwalk pitcher Maddie Collins, catchers Chloe Trimandilis of Danbury and Griffin Paladino of Fairfield Warde, and the 10 other fielders were Mackie Caouette and Kelsea Flanagan of St. Joseph, Maren Jones and Kylie Lucia of Trumbull, Sadey Strauser and Emily Dowd of Fairfield Warde, New Canaan’s Marissa DelCarmine, Darien’s Callie McCloskey, Norwalk’s Emily Restaino, and Fairfield Ludlowe’s Lauren Santa Barbara.
Trimandilis and Strauser were both selected to the CHSCA Class LL All-State Team and GametimeCT All-State Second Team. McCloskey, Paladino and DelCarmine also made the CHSCA Class LL All-State Team. Flanagan joined Dzialo as the two St. Joseph Cadets on the CHSCA Class L All-State Team.
The 2025 All-FCIAC Softball Second Team consisted of two pitchers, two catchers and 11 fielders.
The two pitchers were Madison Pippa of Trumbull and Caitlin McGratty of Ridgefield. The two catchers were Allie Tournas of Fairfield Ludlowe and Marlie Noto of Stamford.
The 11 fielders included Sonia Gaughran and Sophia Cappiello of Ridgefield, Wilton’s Emma van Heyst, Stamford’s Kaitlyn Fox, Greenwich’s Cameron Clark, Darien’s Emma Hamilton, Staples’ Mia Ferrigno, Westhill’s Sadie Wilde, St. Joseph’s Sophia Rodriguez, Norwalk’s Ally Lanzarotto, and New Canaan’s Sofia Mallozzi.
St. Joseph and Norwalk both tied for first place in the FCIAC with their identical 13-2 records and it was St. Joseph’s 3-2 victory at home over Norwalk on April 28 which earned coach Jeff Babineau’s Cadets the No. 1 seed via the first tiebreaker of the result of their conference game against each other.
Quality pitching was prevalent in most of the FCIAC tournament games. St. Joseph opened with a 1-0 victory over eighth-seeded Ridgefield and advanced to the championship with a 2-1 victory over New Canaan.
Darien nipped No. 6 seed Danbury, 3-2, in the quarterfinals and shut out No. 7 seed Trumbull, 1-0, in the semifinals.
Trumbull defeated Norwalk, 5-2, and No. 5 seed New Canaan shut out No. 4 seed Fairfield Warde, 4-0, in the opening quarterfinal round.
The St. Joseph Cadets gave Babineau his sixth FCIAC championship on May 29 and 21 days later he was inducted into the FCIAC Hall of Fame on June 19.
That epic FCIAC final was undoubtedly the most memorable highlight of the season among several other achievements, which included Ridgefield, Fairfield Warde and St. Joseph making deep runs in their respective state tournaments.
Coach Rita Jagodzinski’s Ridgefield Tigers gave another example of the strength, balance and depth of the FCIAC.
They snatched the last FCIAC tourney berth with their 9-6 conference record and their 11-9 overall record had them seeded 18th in the 2025 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Softball Tournament.
The Tigers won four games, beating three higher-seeded teams along the way, and were playing for a state championship on June 15. They hung tough in that game against No. 1 seed Cheshire, which won the Class LL state crown with a 2-0 victory.
Ridgefield advanced to the championship with a 4-3 semifinal victory over No. 6 seed Fairfield Warde. The FCIAC was represented with half of the field in the Class LL semifinals and half of the field in the quarterfinals as New Canaan and Fairfield Ludlowe joined Ridgefield and Warde in the quarterfinals.
Coach Babineau’s St. Joseph Cadets advanced to the Class L semifinals and finished their season with 23-4 record after their 2-1 loss to No. 1 seed Masuk, which won an incredible seventh consecutive Class L state championship.
Nine of the 15 voters voted Masuk No. 1 and that’s where the 26-1 Panthers were ranked in the Final 2025 GametimeCT Top 10 Softball Poll.
Unbeaten Foran (28-0) won the Class M state championship and received the other six first-place votes.
Cheshire was ranked No. 3 and St. Joseph was the only FCIAC team in the Top 10 at No. 6.