The afternoon of Monday, May 11, brought the E.O. Smith Panthers to South Windsor’s Rotary Field for a conference battle with the Bobcats.
For the ‘Cats, they looked to rebuild a win streak after dropping their state title rematch to Glastonbury last Tuesday, before walking off Wethersfield on Friday in extra innings.
Senior ace Brayden Edwards took the mound for the Bobcats and looked to continue doing what he has all season, dominate. The first inning would be just that as Edwards set down all three batters with overpowering strikeouts.
Freshman Torin Edwards worked a walk to start the home first and moved to second when ‘Cats junior shortstop Bennett Durbois, making his first start in nearly three weeks due to a hip injury, was hit in the head by a pitch.
The elder Edwards brother stepped to the plate and provided himself some early run support when he launched a double to center field to score Torin and Durbois. Edwards would get brought in soon after to leave the frame with a 3-0 lead.
Junior Braydon Falco, the walkoff hero against Wethersfield, hit a single in the home side of the second and stole a base, but would be stranded there as the inning came to an end.
Edwards continued to soar through the start of the third with back-to-back strikeouts to the first two batters of the inning. A walk and a steal would put the first E.O. runner in scoring position, which would come to fruition on an RBI single to erase the Panthers zero.
Two straight errors put Edwards and his catcher, Aiden Jackson, on first and second with no outs. Both soon advanced a base and then would again on a passed ball that scored Edwards. A walk to sophomore Tyler Poland put runners on the corners with two outs.
Senior Daltin Harrison stepped to bat and soon faced a full count. The payoff pitch would find the barrel of his bat and go deep into right field. Harrison cruised into third base standing with a two-RBI triple. He’d soon be brought in on a base knock from Falco. The third ended with the ‘Cats ahead 7-1.
Edwards continued to be dominant through the fourth and fifth inning as he set down Panthers batters with ease. A two-out walk would prove no harm as Jackson fired a bullet to second to catch him trying to swipe the bag and end the inning there.
Senior Jaiden Morales got on to begin the bottom of the inning and got to second before junior Nico Calderon came to run for him. A passed ball brought him to third, where he’d soon score on another RBI base hit from Harrison.
Edwards seemingly had his best inning yet in the sixth. Three batters came up and all three could do nothing but whiff and stare as Edwards set them all down with strikeouts. The latter of which marked his 14th, tying the school single-game record.
With a pitch count of 95, Edwards had just 14 pitches to etch his name in history. After a long at-bat to the leadoff hitter that featured a full-count and several foul balls, Edwards fired home one of his best pitches of the day that was swung on and missed for a historic 15th strikeout.
Still needing to get the final two outs, Edwards plunked the very next batter but picked him off immediately after to erase the issue. A groundball right back to Edwards would be the final out of the game to cap an 8-1 Bobcats victory.
The game proved more than just a win, but a record setting day for the ‘Cats southpaw ace. Beyond just setting the single game strikeout record, Edwards is now officially the career strikeout king of South Windsor, totaling 282 and counting.
Edwards spoke to The Prowl after his historic outing, saying “Good for the boys to start off the week good. I felt my stuff was working really well, pretty cool to break the strikeout record. [I] couldn’t do it without my teammates and coaches.”
In addition to Edwards brilliance on the mound, Harrison provided two big run scoring hits to propel the ‘Cats offense. “It was a good win. The bats were there today and Brayden was there to hold the game down with his pitching. Overall, a very solid game,” Harrison said.
South now sits at 12-4 with four more games to play, but if Edwards continues to pitch like that and the lineup stays hot, it’s hard to not believe this ‘Cats team could make another deep run.
