On Saturday, May 11, the South Windsor High School baseball team hosted the Manchester Redhawks, winning the contest by a score of 8-2.
Junior Robert Wunsch began the game on the mound for the Bobcats. The right-handed pitcher downed the Redhawks in order to head to the bottom of the first inning.
After a quick first out, the ‘Cats would subsequently load the bases for junior Sam Balducci. Balducci lined a double into right field, bringing in two runs. Fellow junior Jake Palombizio followed that up with a base knock of his own to score a run, making it a 3-0 Bobcat lead early.
Balducci came in to score on a hit by another junior, this time Jake Gombotz. The first inning would end with South Windsor ahead by four.
Wunsch dominated again in the second, making easy work of the Manchester lineup to keep them scoreless entering the bottom of the inning.
Sophomore Brayden Edwards led off the home frame with a base hit. A few batters later, junior Justin Dittmar would provide the only run of the inning when he brought Edwards in to score with a hit of his own.
Yet again, Wunsch set the Redhawks down. Through the first three innings, Manchester remained hitless.
Palombizio stepped up to lead off the third inning, getting his barrel onto the ball and launching it into deep right field for a double. Gombotz came to bat next and laid down a spectacular bunt, which not only advanced Palombizio to third, but also reached first safely himself.
Senior Ryan Fischer grounded into a double play, causing himself and Gombotz to be out, but got the job done as he brought Palombizio to the plate to score. “Our pitching staff shut them down and our team had big hits when it mattered,” Palombizio said on the game.
Edwards would hit a double into right-center field but would finish the inning stranded on second.
Manchester would remain scoreless in the fourth following more strong pitching from Wunsch and a brilliant play in the field by Balducci.
Wunsch began the 4th inning with a base hit but would be pinch-run for by junior Cooper Anderson. Anderson swiped second on a passed ball before coming to score on another base knock by Dittmar, who soon scored himself.
The only pitching trouble Wunsch faced in the game occurred in the top of the fifth inning. The Redhawks finally erased the goose egg on the scoreboard as well as getting their first, and only, two hits of the game. The inning ended with the Bobcats still leading 7-2.
South Windsor failed to score in the home half of the fifth, marking the first inning they didn’t bring in a run all game. After trouble in the fifth and some runners getting on in the sixth, Wunch’s day would come to an end. Edwards came in out of relief for him.
The lefty shut down the Redhawks in the sixth. Senior Andrew Goulet led off the home side of the inning with a single, eventually scoring on yet another hit by Dittmar.
Following the game, Goulet spoke to The Prowl, “Our pitchers did exactly what they’ve done all year by throwing strikes and were helped by a great defense behind them.”
Edwards mowed down Manchester in the top of the seventh to bring the game to an end with a score of 8-2.
With the win, the ‘Cats are now 12-4 and sit at sixth in the Class LL rankings. The Bobcats will be back in action Monday, May 13, on the road against Valley Regional, looking to make it three wins in a row.
