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Jenn Vazquez and her St. Joseph teammates are the team to beat in the FCIAC Tournament.

St. Joseph and Westhill entered today’s game with identical 15-3 overall and 14-2 league records. And with the top seed in next week’s FCIAC Tournament on the line, the Cadets came away with a convincing 8-2 win.

I will have an FCIAC Tournament preview in the paper this weekend. I’m thinking of doing a little more on my Overtime blog as well (including ranking the teams’ title chances, 1-8, which is probably a fruitless task).

I don’t remember there ever being greater parity in the league. While a few outcomes might produce some minor surprises, I can’t say any would shock me. Consider that Danbury clinched the No. 8 seed Wednesday night and will open the playoffs Monday at St. Joseph. The Hatters won the teams’ previous meeting, 8-7.

We aren’t going to show all of our cards just yet, but a few thoughts from today’s game:

— I thought this at 4 p.m. and it was confirmed two hours later: St. Joseph is definitely the favorite in the playoffs. The Cadets have the best balance of pitching, offense and defense in the league. No area is a weakness. Pitchers Tori Ceballos and Nicole Williams would each start for almost every other team in the league. The seven other entrants have either a noticeable shortcoming, or an area that is not a total strength.

Westhill coach Tom Pia said after the game the Cadets had to be considered the team to beat. That sentiment was echoed by the coach of another playoff team later in a phone conversation.

“They deserve to be No. 1,” Pia said. “I like them all around as a team. All nine players hit the ball well.”

— Don’t go writing Westhill off just yet. It still possesses as good an offense as there is in the league. The Vikings have been outscoring teams all year. Can the same team shut them down twice in eight days, if there is a rematch in the final? We will see.

— The loss cost the Vikings the No. 1 seed, but not much else. They will still be the No. 2 seed with a win Friday over Ridgefield and not have to face St. Joseph until the final. And if form holds, Stamford would be the No. 3 seed, we could have an all-Stamford semifinal and be assured of a team from the city in the final.

— When was the last time there were seven All-FCIAC players in a softball game at the same time? It has likely happened before, but not often. The voting was held by league coaches Tuesday night. Morgan Kurtz, Megan D’Alessandro, Tammy Wise and Kate Brainard of Westhill were honored, and Jenn Vazquez, Ceballos and Williams from St. Joseph.

—  I am sure there were a lot of smiles on the faces of the St. Joseph players when they learned they will be playing Danbury in the first round. They want the rematch.

(I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @DaveRuden and like the Overtime Facebook fan page.)

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High-fives, like this one between Shannon Connors (14) and Emily Lustbader, have been the norm for Staples so far this spring.

Two weeks into the season, the biggest surprise in the FCIAC has been Staples.

The Wreckers were hardly mentioned among the top teams during the preseason, but they found themselves with a 5-1 record following Monday’s hard-fought 3-2 win at Trinity Catholic.

The Wreckers came up with 10 hits, got a strong performance on the mound from Katie Burke and committed just one error.

Shortstop Nikki Bukovsky, the Wreckers’ best player, said the lack of attention has been a motivator for a veteran team.

“Definitely. I don’t really think they expected us to have as good of a year as we are right now,” Bukovsky said. “It was definitely expected by our seniors. There are nine of us on the team.”

Staples is much improved, but it is hard to tell at this point just how good the Wreckers are. Their only game against one of the expected contenders resulted in their lone loss, 5-4 to Stamford. They edged Brien McMahon, the other school that has demonstrated the most improvement from a year ago, by one run.

Right now Staples is beating the teams it should beat, one indication of a good team. Many of its biggest games are spread out on the schedule, with a good test coming at home against Fairfield Ludlowe on Friday.

A greater body of work will be needed to get a read of how the Wreckers stack up against the rest of the league’s top teams, but Sara Holland, their second-year coach, said she is maintaining an internal approach.

Asked if she thought others were overlooking her team, Holland said, “Maybe a little. We could be the unexpected. We actually just concentrate on what we have to do. We don’t worry about anything else. We worry about better defense, better baserunning, better fielding and better pitching. If we do that we can come out with wins.”

(I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @DaveRuden and like the Overtime Facebook fan page.)

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Ludlowe starting pitcher Aliza Guerrero came away with the win against Stamford on Thursday. The Falcons won 7-2. (Jason Rearick/Staff photographer)

The second day of a new season is hardly must-win territory, but coming off a 4-3 opening-day loss to Brookfield, there should have been a little extra added pressure on the Fairfield Ludlowe softball team heading into a key early FCIAC meeting at Stamford on Thursday afternoon.

Or was there? You could hardly tell on the face of the Falcons’ pitcher, Aliza Guerrero, who tossed a 6-hitter in a 7-2 victory against what figures to be one of the league’s better hitting teams, then spoke with the nonchalance of someone on the winning side of a neighborhood pickup game in a vacant lot.

“There was none at all,” Guerrero said. “Yesterday we went in with the same mindset we did today. We played well. A 4-3 loss is better than 10-0.”

Guerrero, with the calm of tranquil lake, said she remained even-keeled after Stamford came back from a 3-0 deficit with two runs in the third inning.

“I didn’t really let the score affect me,” she said. “I had positive thoughts.”

While St. Joseph and Darien are most mentioned as the teams to beat this season, don’t sleep on the Falcons, who have been ascending under coach Tony Samuelian. Guerrero, shortstop Emily Nelson and third baseman Brenna Martini are the returning stars, but it was the corner outfielders, Nickey Tygesen and Gillian Kennedy, who homered against Stamford.

“For us this is really nice because we want to come out of this week 2-1 at a minimum,” said Samuelian, whose team faces Trumbull on Friday. “I really like this team. I like what they can do, and I don’t think they realize their potential.”

Or perhaps the players do.

“We hope to make this year the best year ever here,” Guerrero said. “We have strong bats, which will help a lot, and the defense will be very effective too.”

(I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @DaveRuden)