Bobcats Swing Into the Quarterfinals
The South Windsor High School baseball team meets together after defeating Hamden.
On Wednesday, the South Windsor High School Bobcats matched up with the Dragons of Hamden Hall High School in the second round of state playoffs.
Freshman Brayden Edwards took the mound for the Bobcats, setting down the first three batters in order to head to the bottom of the first.
The Bobcats got on the board early in the bottom of the first, thanks to Sam Balducci’s RBI single that scored Peyton West. But they would strike again in the bottom of the second to add on to their lead when West hit a two run single.
The Dragons got on the board in the top of the third inning. Senior Maico Cardona hit a deep fly to left field that left the park. Then, Edwards started to get into trouble when Hamden scored two runs in the top of the fourth to even up the score at three apiece.
This tie did not last very long as Ben Balducci stepped up to bat in the bottom of the fourth with Andrew Goulet on third. Hamden’s pitcher Matt Moreira came set and delivered the pitch that was smacked off the bat of Balducci and driven deep to right field, landing just shy of the fence and giving Balducci an RBI triple. The very next batter was Jaden Glatt, who brought in the run with an RBI single that made the score five to three.
Andrew Goulet came in for relief in the top of the fifth. Despite a single and back-to-back walks that loaded the bases, Goulet got the batter to fly out and end the inning.
Sam Pines led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, then moved up to second on a bunt by Nate Grilli, who reached on errors. Brayden Edwards did the same as Grilli by laying down a bunt and getting safe on errors, making the bases full. After an error by Hamden on a pickoff attempt, Pines scored, while Grilli and Edwards both advanced a base, before scoring when Ben Balducci hit a ball that was fumbled around by the Hamden defense, allowing him to reach base safely.
Goulet came back out for the sixth and seventh inning where he shut down the Dragons offense, ending the game with a strikeout on Hamdens’ Will Benedetti. The Bobcats celebrated as they moved on to the quarterfinals of the CIAC class LL playoffs.
South Windsor will take on the Staples Wreckers at 1:30 PM on Saturday in Westport, Connecticut, with a trip to the semifinals on the line.
Eli Schwartzman is a third year journalism student at South Windsor High School and is entering his junior year. He is the Multimedia Editor for The Bobcat Prowl. He oversees all the video content for...
