Here’s a look at this week’s mailbag:
Former Amity star Allie Horwitz wrapped up an amazing career at Amherst College.



Allie Horwitz



 She was a two-sport All-American earning the honors in both soccer and lacrosse.

Ian Remington

Washington College sophomore outfielder Ian Remington, of Guilford, batted .264 with 12 RBIs on the season.

He scored a career-high 22 runs and stole 10 bases, a personal-best. He had four two-hit games.

In 60 career games, 50 starts, he is batting .335 with 25 RBI. He has scored 42 runs on 56 hits and stolen 16 bases.

SCSU softball

The honors keep rolling in for SCSU softball star Brittany Bucko and coach Lisa Barbaro.

The Owls reached the College World Series for the first time this year and five Owls received ECAC honors.

Bucko was also named as the ECAC Player of the Year, while Barbaro earned the nod as Coach of the Year.


Bucko produced one of the finest offensive seasons in program history in 2012. On the field, she was named an All-American by both Daktronics (First-Team) and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (Third-Team). Bucko was also named the Regional Player of the Year by Daktronics and was the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year. She closed the year batting .394 with 19 home runs, 38 RBI and 69 runs scored. She also recorded 17 stolen bases, a .466 on-base percentage and a .772 slugging percentage.

Earning All-ECAC honors were Kristin Whitley, Alyssa Downs, Kate Hoffman and pitcher Jayme Larson.



Larson went 26-5 with one save and a 1.79 earned run average. Her 26 wins, 36 appearances and 152 strikeouts were all single-season records. During the regular season, Larson led the league in ERA and was third in wins, while also ranking No. 10 in strikeouts. She is the SCSU single-season and career leader in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, saves and innings pitched.



Mike Callaghan



Former Hand-Madison standout Michael Callaghan has been named one of the captains for the Wesleyan basketball team for the 2012-2013 season. Mike earned All NESCAC (New England Small Athletic Conference) second team as well as NESCAC and D3 Hoops.Com player of the week honors during this past season. Wesleyan finished the season 20-6 breaking the school record for victories in a season.

This is from Wednesday's NH Register:


It has been the most successful season in Southern Connecticut State softball history.

But the Owls have been thrown a curve ball, as they gear up for the program’s first trip to a Super Regional.

A source said Wednesday that Southern assistant coach Paul Raccio received a letter from school officials on Monday that the university would not renew his contract after this season. The source said the letter had to be sent out on Monday, but Raccio’s contract runs through June 15.

The source and players said Raccio will coach for the remainder of this season.

It’s a case of bad timing for No. 1 Southern (40-10), who needs two wins on the weekend to earn its first College World Series berth. The Owls will face No. 2 Molloy in the Super Regional on Friday at Yale’s DeWitt Family Field.

Raccio, who is his eighth season under head coach Lisa Barbaro, had no comment on the issue other than to say that it was in the hands of the union. Raccio is also an assistant to Barbaro on the volleyball team.

Barbaro also would not comment. She said she still has a year left on her contract.

The players are backing Raccio.

“It’s devastating to the team,” senior Alyssa Downs said. “He puts so much into this and he’s such a big part of this. He helped build the program to where it is today. It makes us want to do well for him.”

“All I can say is that Paul and Lisa are two of the most impactful people in my life,” Owls senior Jessica Rosa said. “He doesn’t deserve to lose his job. We’d never be where we are without him.”

The Southern team went to meet with school president Mary Papazian on Wednesday, but was told she was out of the office for the remainder of the day. The team then went to meet with athletic director Pat Nicol, but was refused a meeting.

Nicol could not be reached for comment.

Mike Kobylanski, Southern Connecticut State’s Assistant Athletic Director, said the school wouldn’t comment because it does not comment on “personnel” issues. Kobylanski did say that coaches at Southern are treated as if they are faculty.

“They belong to a union and there is a process that the school has to follow,” he said.

There was no word on a timetable for the union’s involvement in the matter.

Both Rosa and Downs said Raccio’s coaching style could have led to the situation. Rosa described his coaching style as aggressive.

“He could rub people the wrong way,” Rosa said. “But I wouldn’t be the player I am today he didn’t get in my face one time or another.”

Downs added that the administration doesn’t like his coaching style and that “they’ve made comments about it” in the past.

Raccio has worked in the educational system for nearly two decades. He is the former athletic director and head baseball coach of the Hyde High School and serves as an instructor and coach at the Batters Box. He coached the Hamden American Legion team and was an assistant football coach at Hyde.

The Owls vow this won’t be a distraction, as they look to make a run to the College World Series.

“This adds more fuel to the fire,” Rosa said. “We’ve worked well under pressure before and this will just make us stronger.”

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Southern Connecticut State’s Stacy Pouliot was the hero on Saturday driving in the game-winning run with a two-out single in the top of the seventh and then tagged out the potential tying runner at the plate to end the game, lifting the Owls to a 5-4 win over UMass-Lowell on Saturday.

With the win Southern enters Sunday’s final round (noon vs. TBA) needing just one win to advance to the East Regional finals.

“The sky’s the limit for this team,” SCSU coach Lisa Barbaro said. “So far we’re battling and doing really well. It’s going to be really tough for anyone to come out and beat us two games, but I’m hoping we win the first one.”


Pouliot finished with two hits and two RBIs for No. 1 seed Southern (39-10). Brittany Bucko led off the game with a homer, and Jessica Rosa added two hits and an RBI. Jayme Larson (22-3) picked up the win in relief of effective starter Kelsey Cockrill.

No. 5 UMass-Lowell (34-17) got a three-run double by Caelyn Ford and two hits and an RBI from Krista MacKenzie. Elyssa Boris (20-9) took the loss allowing 11 hits in the complete game.