Just thought I’d empty out my reporter’s notebook while wishing all of our local scholastic sports teams the best of luck as the spring season gets underway this week.
Preseason polls
It’s always an honor to be a part of the media from across the state that votes in the various sports polls conducted by the good folks at GameTimeCT. (Even though I get some nasty letters for voting much-deserved Killingly No. 1 in recent football polls).
The preseason polls are always a guessing game. We have an idea of what players have graduated and who is returning but it always takes a few games to really assess a team’s fortunes.
Here is what I submitted this week for GameTime CT’s preseason baseball and softball polls.
Baseball
- Woodstock Academy
- Fairfield Warde
- Staples
- Trumbull
- Hand
- Fairfield Prep
- Darien
- Greenwich
- Joel Barlow
- Southington
- Wethersfield
- Norwalk
- RHAM
- Woodland
- Killingly
Softball
- Masuk
- Cheshire
- Woodland
- St. Joseph
- North Haven
- Coventry
- Fairfield Ludlowe
- Ellington
- Southington
- Trumbull
- Darien
- Middletown
- Ridgefield
- Norwich Free Academy
- Griswold
PSA Hall of Fame
Putnam Science Academy recently announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2024, led by all-time leading scorer and two-time national champion Hassan Diarra. Diarra is one of eight members of the incoming class, which also features former players Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jose Perez, Tyson Etienne and Danny Upchurch, as well as the 2017-18 team that won the school’s first national championship, and contributor Donald Cushing.
Diarra played three seasons at PSA and left his mark both in the record books and in PSA’s lasting legacy. He is the school’s all-time leader in points (1,469), assists (470), and games played (118). After his graduation after the 2019-20 season, he was the only player in school history to win two national titles.
Diarra is regarded as the face of PSA’s basketball program. He went on to play two seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to UConn, where he ...
