After a tough 7-4 loss to East Lyme over the weekend, the South Windsor Bobcats looked to rebound at home on Wednesday, April 29 against the East Hartford Hornets.
Bobcats senior ace Brayden Edwards took the mound in the top of the first and aimed to continue his early season dominance after a complete game shutout against Hall just one week ago.
Edwards got ahead on the Hornets leadoff man and would get the quick strikeout, however, a dropped strike three that rolled to the backstop let the runner reach first safely.
The next batter would pop out to the catcher to get the games first out. After a full count to the third-hitter, Edwards plunked him to put two on. A weak base hit into right field would score the runner from second to make it 1-0.
Freshman Torin Edwards led off for the Bobcats in the home first and drew his 15th walk of the season but would get out on a fielder’s choice that put junior Braydon Falco on base.
Falco swiped second and moved to third on a base hit from Brayden Edwards. Senior catcher Aiden Jackson brought them both in with a single of his own.
Senior Daltin Harrison started the bottom of the second with a base knock and got to second when junior Nico Calderon hit a ball that was misplayed by the East Hartford defense to make both men safe.
A passed ball advanced them both to put two in scoring position with one out. Torin Edwards stepped up for the second time in as many innings and brought in Harrison when he grounded out to second. Calderon soon followed on a passed ball to make it 4-1.
The Hornets would put runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third, putting some pressure onto Edwards. The Bobcats southpaw settled in and delivered with back-to-back overpowering strikeouts to keep the score as is.
Edwards would leadoff the bottom of the inning and walked in four pitches. Jackson brought in Edwards on a double for his third RBI of the day. Freshman Tyler Poland snapped a cold spell with a base hit to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Senior Jaiden Morales, coming off a career game in the loss to East Lyme that saw him hit a homerun and a two-run double, brought in both runners with a base hit. Harrison got on and then to second on a passed ball.
Calderon brought in Morales with his first career varsity hit. Torin Edwards walked to load the bases with one out. Every runner advanced on a passed ball.
Falco brought in a run on a base hit to score the ‘Cats tenth run of the game. Brayden Edwards got plunked by a ball to load the bases. Two passed balls would bring in Edwards and Falco to bring the score to 12-1.
East Hartford loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth, looking to pose their best threat of the game, but Edwards would strikeout three straight hitters and leave all three runners stranded.
Jackson came out to pitch the fifth inning for the Bobcats, needing to get three outs to end the game due to mercy rules. The senior retired the Hornets in order to end the game and secure the win.
Edwards finished his day with four innings, one unearned run, two walks, three hits, and a season best 11 strikeouts. The ‘Cats ace spoke to The Prowl after the game, saying “[My] fastball felt really good today. I think it was a big part of the high strikeout day. At the end of the day, we got it done and we got to carry this momentum.”
Jackson, who hasn’t pitched since sophomore year, talked about the win, saying “It was good to see us continue to tack on runs and not get complacent because there’s been a couple times this year we’ve done that and it was good to see we didn’t today.”
The win marks the eighth for the Bobcats, clinching their spot in the state playoff tournament with still nine games to play. Sitting at 8-3, the ‘Cats enter a crucial run of CCC games as they look to continue their strong play into the second half of the season.
