Surprising Stonington advances to ECC baseball final against East Lyme
Waterford — Next time debate ensues about who can (and cannot) be competitive with whom in the Eastern Connecticut Conference, let the league baseball tournament of 2017 serve as a cautionary tale.
Because an 11-9 team from Division II — The Bears of Stonington High School — will be playing for a championship Friday night.
Fifth-seeded Stonington endured and prevailed after a long day of baseball Wednesday, defeating No. 9 Fitch 10-3 in the semifinals at Waterford. The Bears (14-9) defeated No. 13 Wheeler 5-3 earlier in the day, thus setting a date with No. 2 East Lyme in finals Friday night (7 p.m.) at Fitch.
The Vikings defeated No. 6 Bacon Academy 6-1 in the quaterfinals and No. 2 Lyman Memorial 17-0 in the semis. Both games were played at Fitch.
“We were up and down all year, but this team was capable of playing great ball,” Stonington coach Bob Cahoone said.
They sure did Wednesday night. Kyle Whipple and Griffin Crowley staked starter Adam Gibbs to an early lead … and Gibbs did the rest, pitching a complete game. He did so against a Fitch offense that had outscored Norwich Free Academy in the first round and Waterford in Wednesday’s earlier quarterfinals by a combined 17-0.
“Adam was spot on,” Cahoone said. “We played good defense behind him. This was probably our most consistent game.”
Kevin Ferrer homered for the Bears.
“We have a lot of good players on this team,” Gibbs said. “We have the pieces to make a good run.”
Gibbs also noted how the competition within the ECC helped prepare the Bears for the moment.
“There are a lot of good teams in this league,” he said. “Look at Wheeler. We beat them pretty good in the regular season, but only 5-3 today.”
And now the Bears are poised to play their biggest game in years on Friday.
“A win for us would be huge,” Cahoone said. “East Lyme is a very talented team.”
The Falcons advanced to the semifinals with perhaps their most complete game of the season, a 7-0 stroll over top-seeded Waterford.
Right-hander Ian Cekala threw a one-hitter, allowing Dylan Bosco to reach on an infield hit the first batter of the game. Mike Williams and Hendrik Khoury had run-scoring hits during a three-run third inning for the Falcons, who eventually chased starter Walker Sutman.
Sutman, a left-hander drawing interest from Dartmouth, beat Fitch earlier in the season, striking out 14.
• At Fitch, Matt Malcom and Matt Abbey had big offensive days for East Lyme (21-2), ranked third in the latest state poll. Malcom had four hits, including a home run against Bacon, while Abbey had three hits in each game.
Tommy Mason led the Vikings with four hits in the win over Lyman while Trevor Delesdernier was the winning pitcher against Baconr, allowing four hits and striking out eight, and Tristan Levesque picked up the win in the second game against Lyman.
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