UConn baseball: looking to host a 4-team regional at Dodd Stadium

University of Connecticut outfielder Billy Ferriter and his second-seeded Huskies will tangle with No. 7 Cincinnati May 26 in a first-round Big East Conference tournament baseball game in Clearwater, Florida. Photo by Al Malpa

When the University of Connecticut’s baseball team begins Big East Conference tournament play against Cincinnati today [May 26] at Clearwater, FLA there’s probably more than just that title at stake.

The Huskies (43-12) have just completed the finest season in school history and know that a good showing this week could net them a hosting role when the NCAA tournament starts the first week in June.

UConn officials have proposed hosting a 4- team Regional at Dodd Stadium (likely beginning June 4) and are buoyed both by the Huskies’ record year and the fact that a bunch of New England teams seem headed for the 64-­team field this year.

The fact that:

• Dartmouth has already won the Ivy League title and an automatic berth

• Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut are both battling for the NEC title at their conference tournament this week

• Maine is among the favorites in America East and

• Boston College remains in the running for an at-large bid after a good ACC season, all would seem to point toward a Northeast school acting as host.

UConn’s baseball team has been ranked No. 1 in New England all season, has lost only twice to regional opponents and appears to be the obvious choice.

The availability of Dodd Stadium doesn’t hurt, either. The Norwich facility doesn’t welcome its new tenant, the New York-Penn League Connecticut Tigers, until a June 26 opener.

While all of that argues in favor of the Huskies playing a home tournament game for the first time since 1994, there are some questions to be answered.

Stuck?

Despite achieving national ranking for the first time in two decades, Coach Jim Penders’ team has remained locked around the 19-20 spot, unable to crack the country’s top 16.

And, although Louisville and the Huskies have consistently been ranked this year, the Big East is not regarded as an elite national baseball conference.

Pittsburgh has flirted with the country’s top 25 without being able to secure a regular spot.

The Panthers might well be in NCAA-bid jeopardy, especially if the Big East champion is some­one other than UConn, Louisville or Pittsburgh.

That’s because the champ gets an automatic NCAA bid and it is unlikely that more than three Big East teams would crack the national field.

It’s all speculation until May 30.

That’s when the NCAA announces the 16 regional sites, a day before the 64-team field is revealed.

Only the top eight teams are actually seeded – they are in line to host second-round Super Regionals if they succeed in Round 1 – so it is not necessarily the top-16-ranked teams that get hosting roles.

“The NCAA has consistently said they are always looking for Northeast hosts,” Penders has said, but recent history has seen area qualifiers like Boston College (shipped to Texas) or Central Connecticut (sent to Arizona State) make long trips for first round play.

Connecticut can put pressure on the committee with a good Big East tournament and also can lift the only cloud hanging around the program after seven terrific seasons under Penders.

This is Penders’ fifth team to win 30 or more games and the third to get in position to play for a Big East title.

Overcoming that next hurdle

It’s at that last step that the team has faltered.

In 2007, the Huskies made a dramatic run to the final Big East tournament game only to lose to Rutgers, 8-6.

That would have been a remarkable championship, since UConn lost on opening day and battled through the losers’ bracket to reach the final.

Last spring, in a rain-delayed Big East tournament final, Louisville jumped on the Huskies in the title game and triumphed, 11-3.

This season, in what developed into an epic pennant race, the Huskies held onto a slim half­game lead over Louisville until the final day of the season when Seton Hall edged UConn, 3-2, as the Cards were sweeping a doubleheader at Notre Dame.

Those results left Louisville the regular-season champ by a half-­game and eliminated the Irish from the Big East tournament.

When the Huskies open against Cincinnati today, they could face a pitcher who beat them in the regular season, freshman Andrew Strenge.

Strenge beat UConn, 3-2, in the series’ finale at Storrs on May 9 and has been the Bearcats’ best pitcher since then.

Strange shut out Georgetown in his last start and finished with a 7-1 record, an 0.62 ERA in Big East play and 29 strikeouts in 29 innings.

UConn is expected to counter with lefthander Elliott Glynn (7-2, 2.12), who beat Cincinnati, 14-2, on May 8, allowing six hits in six innings, coasting behind big run support.

Posted May 26, 2010

Learn MORE at Mansfield League of Women Voters Annual Dinner Meeting

The Mansfield League of Women Voters invites the pubic to learn M.O.R.E at its Annual Dinner Meeting on Thursday, May 27, at the First Church of Christ, 549 Storrs Road (Route 195), Mansfield Center.

The evening’s program will explore M.O.R.E:  Municipal Opportunities for Regional Effectiveness.

Speakers are Mansfield Town Manager Matt Hart and Mark Paquette, Director of the Windham Regional Council of Governments.

The evening will begin with time for socializing at 5:30 p.m., followed by the League’s business meeting at 6 p.m. Dinner will be at 6:30 p.m.

After dinner, at 7 p.m., Matt Hart and Mark Paquette will discuss best practices for regionalizing services, supporting economic development at the regional level, and eliminating policies and statutes that cost towns money.

No reservations are needed to hear the speakers at 7 p.m.

The Mansfield League of Women Voters serves the towns of Ashford, Columbia, Coventry, Eastford, Hampton, Mansfield, Mansfield Center, Stafford Springs, Storrs, West Willington, Windham, and Willimantic

Posted May 26, 2010

[Editor's note: the deadline to reserve a dinner was May 20. If you would like to find out if you can still reserve a dinner, call Joan Neuwirth at 860-420-5798.  Dinner, including salmon or vegetarian entrée plus vegetables, salad, bread, dessert, and beverage is $15 per person.  Checks should be made payable to Mansfield LWV.]

CSU Chancellor’s firing of SCSU President challenged

An informational forum will be held Wednesday, May 26 in Hartford on a controversial policy change by the CSU system that gives Carter the power to fire a university president without cause and without a hearing, as long as he has the consent of the board of trustees chair.

Faculty members at Southern Connecticut State University have written to Gov. M. Jodi Rell saying that they have ” lost confidence” in the leadership of the Connecticut State University Chancellor David Carter and the chair of the state’s four-university system Board of Trustees Karl Krapek.

The letter accuses both men of reckless financial decisions and poor policy concerning personnel.

An informational forum will be held Wednesday [May 26] in Hartford on a controversial policy change by the CSU system that gives Carter – formerly President of Eastern Connecticut State University – the power to fire a university president without cause and without a hearing, as long as he has the consent of the board of trustees chair.

The trustees have a one-time opportunity to reverse the decision, but according to several board members, the firing of Southern President Cheryl Norton had not been made clear to the majority of the board.

Carter terminated Norton on Nov. 17, 2009. She signed a separation agreement Dec. 9, 2009 – a day before the trustees’ meeting.

The policy change has generated criticism from state legislators that the trustees have relinquished their responsibilities.

The letter to Rell is signed by President of the Faculty Senate at SCSU Brian Johnson, who also criticizes the two men for “reckless” financial decisions.

The agreement with Norton lets her do research for a year at her full salary of $285,200, plus expenses, while the university system will pay William Battle $280,200 to be the acting president, starting in June.

Johnson said the additional expenditure could support 34 one­year scholarships for underprivileged students.

He said the first instance of bad financial decision-making was offering Carter a retention bonus of $82,500, paid out over three years, for not taking a state employee buyout.

Carter, who is paid about $ 400,000 annually (and last year got a longevity bonus of $24,049, declined the retention bonus for 2010-11.

Asked to comment on the issue, Bernard Kavalear, spokesman for the CSU system said, “We’re declining comment on that.”

Posted May 26, 2010

By Mary E. O’Leary – Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services – published in Windham Today through an agreement with The Chronicle

Focus on Reiki form of healing at 5/26 event

The Integrative Health Steering Committee at Windham Hospital hosts “For the Health of It,” a monthly lecture series held on Wednesday evenings.

The next event, on Wednesday, May 26, is “Reiki for Self-Healing,” presented by Chair of the Integrative Health Committee Carleen Wells and Cherese Mathews.

Both Wells and Mathews are Reiki Master/Teachers, and both are passionate about the art of Reiki and about the benefits associated with integrative health therapies.

The talk will be held at 7 p.m. in the Windham Hospital Education Center.

The demonstration will use attention, intention, focus, and practice as primary tools for relaxation and health.

“Reiki is gentle, compassionate, deep and powerful,” says Wells.

Adds Mathews, “Reiki engages our innermost abilities in creating harmony and well-being in our lives, and it is easily learned.  It takes only minutes to achieve wonderful results.”

The “For the Health of It” series is free, and is a service of the Integrative Health Service at Windham Hospital.

Future topics will include:

• Integrative Medicine and Reducing Health Care Costs
• Massage Cupping
• An Overview of Holistic Psychotherapy
• Life Force Yoga for Mental Health

Please note that there will be no June lecture; the series will resume in July with Cultivating Your Spirituality for Health.

In addition to the Lecture Series, Integrative Health Services offers therapeutic massage, Reiki, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, nutritional counseling, and the free Community Health Resource Room at Windham Hospital and at the Hospital’s Center for Women’s Health at Mansfield.

More information is available on the hospital’s website at www.windhamhospital.org.

The educational programs presented by Integrative Health Services are provided as a community service, and are not necessarily endorsements of a particular health regimen or practitioner by Windham Hospital.

For more information please call 456-6002.

Posted May 26, 2010

Related link: How it works – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0kZywc_TT0