The South Windsor High School Bobcats hosted the Fairfield Prep Jesuits at Rotary Field for the second round of the CIAC Class LL state tournament. With both teams fielding lineups full of firepower, the game was sure to be an instant classic.

Junior Brayden Edwards took the mound for the home Bobcats and faced a tough situation early on. The Jesuits were patient with Edwards’ pitching and forced a handful of walks, along with some massive hits, to put up two runs early.

A quiet home first sent Prep back up to bat, and in the blink of an eye, it looked as if they’d blow the game wide open. After getting an out on a pickoff move, three straight Jesuits reached base safely to load the bases with one out after a walk to Ryan Ventrelle.

Edwards’ dominance on the season looked like it could all be lost and send the ’Cats home early. Unfortunately for the Jesuits, Ventrelle would be the last batter to reach safely on Edwards until the seventh inning. A strikeout and flyout would get Edwards out of the jam with no runs surrendered.

Senior Justin Dittmar worked a long at-bat to lead off the bottom of the second and eventually got to first on a walk. Dittmar moved to second and then third base after walks to fellow senior Jake Gombotz and junior Aiden Jackson.

Next to bat was sophomore Braydon Falco, who stayed patient after watching three of the four batters walk in the inning. Falco quickly got ahead 3-1 and watched the pitch miss high for ball four, bringing in Dittmar to make it a 2-1 game.

Edwards returned to the mound and dominated the Jesuits. The southpaw found his groove and could not be touched. Not a single Prep batter would reach base safely during the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

The Bobcats still trailed by a run and, despite constant threats, couldn’t capitalize on anything until the fifth inning.

Dittmar got on with a one-out single and got to second on a base hit from freshman Tyler Poland. Jackson stepped to the plate with two outs and found the outfield grass for a base hit to score Dittmar from second and tie the game at two.

The same team that looked dead in the water in just the second inning had now tied the game and drained all the momentum from the Jesuits.

Edwards started off the seventh inning with a strikeout, but on his 100th pitch of the game surrendered his first hit since the second inning. Coach Mike McDermott gave Edwards one more batter with his pitch count nearing the 109 limit, and he returned the favor by getting a massive strikeout.

Senior Jake Palombizio came out of the bullpen and got out of the inning after a groundout on the very first pitch he threw, sending the game to the bottom of the seventh and a walk-off chance for the Bobcats.

The ’Cats went down in order in the bottom of the seventh and sent the game into extra innings—the first contest to reach extras in the entire Class LL bracket.

After hitting the first batter of the eighth and with the heart of the lineup coming to bat, it looked like the Jesuits were due for a big inning. But a fireball off the bat of Vinny Lombardo went right to Dittmar at short, who was able to turn the double play.

With two outs, Prep was able to get two more runners on base but would do no damage after another ball hit right to Dittmar ended the inning.

Neither offense produced much until the bottom of the tenth inning. Poland led off the frame with a huge single through the left side of the infield. The freshman would advance to second on a passed ball, but after back-to-back strikeouts, the hope of Poland ending the game seemed to shrivel.

Falco stepped up to the plate and dug his cleat into the dirt. Ventrelle was on the mound for the Jesuits and got ahead of Falco 1-2. The payoff pitch was on the outer half of the plate, where it met Falco’s bat and blooped into right field and down onto the grass.

Poland came racing to the plate and slid in safely. The dugout emptied and swarmed Falco at first base. All of the home fans erupted into total chaos. South Windsor 3, Fairfield Prep 2.

The two most unlikely players turned into the heroes—a freshman and the ninth hitter—now forever immortalized for their clutch hitting.

Falco remained humble and grounded after the game and instead gave credit to his teammates.

“Our defense kept us in the game and they [Fairfield Prep] were for sure a great team. Brayden settled down after the first two innings, which was huge, and Palombizio shut the door on them. Ty getting a base knock to start the inning was huge,” Falco said.

Despite the rocky start, Edwards finished the day with 6.2 innings pitched, four hits allowed, two earned runs, three walks, and nine strikeouts.

Following the game, Edwards spoke to The Prowl, saying, “After the first two innings, I really started to trust myself and attack. I have a great defense behind me and I was able to get quick outs and compete to get my pitch count back in check.”

A movie-esque season for the Bobcats lives to see another day in movie-esque fashion. The ten-inning thriller was a testament to the character of both the Jesuits and Bobcats.

The win scores the Bobcats a date in the quarterfinals with Naugatuck, a team who also won round two in walk-off fashion on an insane walk-off grand slam to beat Darien.

The ’Cats will battle it out for a spot in the semifinals when they play Naugatuck at 1:00 PM on Saturday, June 7, right back home at Rotary Field.