A warm, Saturday afternoon brought the Bobcats of South Windsor to Wethersfield High to battle the Eagles in the opening game of the 2026 season.
Both teams looked to start the year off right after the seasons both are coming off of. For the Eagles, they saw their catcher, Cam Righi, take home Gatorade Player of the Year, however, he’s now playing for the UCONN Huskies. On the other side, the ‘Cats are coming off their first state title in 30 years, but saw a plethora of big contributors graduate.
The game started with Luke Lagosh on the mound for Wethersfield, who was able to make quick work of the inning and return to his dugout unscathed.
Senior Brayden Edwards took the mound for the Bobcats and got a quick out to start his final campaign. A two-out double would prove to be no harm as Edwards sent the Eagles back to the field still even at zero.
In the second inning, the ‘Cats entered the score column when junior Braydon Falco drove in senior Ryan Hubbard on a base hit.
The following inning would bring another run in for the visitors as Edwards doubled, stole third, then scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Tyler Poland. Poland will now become an integral piece of this year’s lineup after a stellar freshman year where he produced the only run of the state title game.
Edwards worked himself into some trouble in the third and even loaded the bases, but the ‘Cats ace settled in and forced a soft groundout to escape without any serious damage.
The top of the fourth was when the game really broke open. Senior Jaiden Morales pulled a base hit perfectly on the line in right field and would get to third after Falco followed up with a double to put two men in scoring position.
Senior Daltin Harrison lined a double into the gap to score both runners. Freshman Torin Edwards, the younger brother of Brayden, would score on a passed ball to mark his first time crossing the plate in his young high school career.
Poland, Harrison, and Morales all tacked on more hits of their own to pour it on the Eagles. By the time Morales had his third hit in four innings, this time a double off the fence, the Bobcats led by double digits.
A Wethersfield run in the home fourth would go on to be their only one of the entire game. Freshman Colin LeDoux came in for the fifth and sent the Bobcats home happy with a 15-1 win on opening day.
Edwards went four innings, while giving up just three hits and one run to six strikeouts. The senior spoke to The Prowl after the game, saying “Really happy with the offense. I think it’s a very positive sign and [I] felt good on the mound. Happy to get out there post injury during the summer.”
Morales had three hits and played strong defense at first for the ‘Cats, but gave all the praise to the team over the individuals, saying “The team played great overall with the bats and just a great way to start the season off with a big W.”
The Bobcats start the season on a positive note and will look to keep the hot bats into their home opener on Monday with the Bristol Central Rams.
