With the 2025 regular season officially over, the South Windsor High School Bobcats baseball team prepares for the CCC and state tournaments with expectations higher than ever, and for good reason.
A 17-3 record rewarded the ‘Cats with the second seed for the CIAC class LL state tournament. An accomplishment that seemed nearly impossible after just three games.
On opening day, the Bobcats carried a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning against the Maloney Spartans but began to unravel and lost 4-3 in a brutal ending.
Next for South Windsor was a marathon 3 hour and 20 minute game against Newington that saw the Bobcats escape with a 9-7 win.
The win against Newington looked to be the turning point for the Bobcats, but the very next contest was the worst of the year. A 9-2 smackdown by the Berlin Redcoats sent the ‘Cats to 1-2 and looking as if all hope was lost, especially with the next game against 3rd ranked Woodstock Academy.
Senior Robert Wunsch took the mound against the Centaurs and pitched an absolute gem, going the distance and holding the powerful Woodstock offense scoreless in a huge 6-0 win.
From that point on, the Bobcats rolled. South won 11 straight games, including thrillers against East Lyme and Southington. The streak was snapped in walkoff fashion against Windsor, but the ‘Cats rebounded by winning out their final five games to close the season.
The theme of the year for the Bobcats was being the giant killers. South took down 6 teams ranked in the top 15 at the time of the game, headlined by a monumental defeat of Southington under the bright lights to snap the teams 13 year skid to the Blue Knights.
After finishing with the same divisional record, the Bobcats split the CCC North title with Windsor, and despite having a better CCC and overall record, the Warriors received the higher seed in the conference tournament due to the win over the Bobcats.
South Windsor was granted the fourth seed, good enough to get a home game in round one and a very highly anticipated rematch with Berlin. The winner of the contest likely scores a date with top seeded Wethersfield in the semifinal, a team the Bobcats have already beat.
Despite the bad loss the first time around, the ‘Cats are a completely different team than they were just a month and a half ago. The Bobcats will look to get on the Redcoats early like they’ve done so many times before and get their revenge for the early season loss.
The other side of the bracket features second seeded Windsor battling East Catholic, while Southington plays either Bristol Central or Simsbury who still need to play their final game against each other later today.
This year’s CCC tournament is sure to be fiery and explosive, and with the conference having arguably its best season in decades, the tournament is sure to be spectacular.
Following the conference tournament, the Bobcats will turn their focus on the main goal, the class LL state tournament. South Windsor earned the two seed, much thanks to the Darien Blue Wave beating Norwalk in the final game of the season to move the ‘Cats into second place.
The first round will likely see the Bobcats host the Greenwich Cardinals, and if the ‘Cats continue their stellar performance into the playoffs, they’ll remain at home until the semifinals, with their sights set on something they haven’t done since 2012 by making it to the state title game, and if lucky, winning their first championship since 1993.
