Daly Delivers for East Hampton Baseball

He didn’t want any part of him. After Spencer Daly had driven in a first-inning run for East Hampton in the Shoreline Conference championship game, Cromwell coach Lew Pappariella wasn’t about to let him do it again.

“Spencer, he’s a phenomenal player. He’s a clutch guy for them,” Pappariella said. “We decided we have to attack somebody else. Spencer is one of the finest offensive players in our conference. I just felt like it was an opportunity to work around him or walk him. That was probably better than facing him because he’s a heck of a hitter.”

The strategy worked and Cromwell went on to rally and defeat East Hampton 3-2 on Saturday. That’s not how this story ends, however. There is a bigger fish to fry and East Hampton, the defending Class S state champion, will be back on the field Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. against St. Paul.

For Daly and the other seniors, the tournament will bring an end to a remarkable two-year run. A Shoreline title, a state title and 17 victories this season and No. 4 seed in Class S.

Though there is plenty of praise to go around the past two seasons, it is Daly who has quietly established himself as one of the pillars.

“He went from a guy who really needed development his freshman and sophomore year to a guy now, it’s hard to imagine the program without him,” coach Scott Wosleger said. “He’s made himself completely invaluable to us.”

At one of the most difficult positions on the field as well.

Though Daly’s hitting might give coaches something to worry about, it’s his role as the Bellringers’ catcher that his coaches and teammates will first point out.

“In Little League, a lot of kids can’t hit,” he said. “It’s either like a walk or a strikeout and I just got bored.”

So, the second to last year of Little League, Daly, the shortstop became Daly the catcher.

Wosleger and pitching coach Gregg Johnson couldn’t be happier.

“We’ve had a great relationship over the years,” Johnson said. “We’ve been working four years together. He’s developed into such a leader and it makes it easy for me because you can call pitches in the dirt and you know it’s not going to get by him. He’s like the backbone of the team. He’s the best catcher to come through East Hampton.”

Said Wosleger: “He helps us call the game. He knows the pitchers well. He could coach the team, that’s how knowledgeable he has become, how valuable he is. The thing I admire most about him is he is fearless. There is not a moment that gets him flustered.”

Daly, who has lettered in three sports including as quarterback of the football team, sort of shrugged off his value as a leader.

“I try,” he said. “I try to get the guys pumped up a little bit and at least stay focused when we’re not doing too well.”

Don’t let Daly’s quiet nature outside the lines fool you though, on the field his play speaks volumes.

“He knows exactly the right time to go to the mound. He knows the right thing to say. They know he’s going to block everything and he’s going to throw runners out,” Wosleger said. “They get a lot of confidence knowing he’s going to block just about everything.”

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Then, of course, there is his hitting.

Perhaps forgotten in the hoopla surrounding East Hampton’s sixth-inning rally in the Class S championship game last season, is that in the seventh inning, Daly’s two-run double put the game away as the Bellringers went on to defeat East Catholic, 6-2.

When Daly thinks of that game, however, it’s not that hit that first comes to mind. What does?

“The final out,” he said. “Al [Iannone] catching it and everyone piling on.”

This season, his hitting, well, at least one hit, took on a life its own.

Trailing Hale-Ray 6-3 with two out in the seventh inning, Daly delivered a walk-off grand slam. The hit made the rounds on the internet, winding up on ESPN SportsNation.

“I don’t really know,” Daly said of what he was thinking rounding the bases. “It was a rush of emotion. It was crazy. I didn’t realize it was a grand slam. It was pretty surreal.”

Said Wosleger: “It was fitting because it was kind of an exclamation point on his career all the way from Little League because he loves the big spots. I was happy for him, but I wasn’t a bit surprised.”

Still, it’s his defense that his coaches and teammates want to talk about first.

“It makes it a heck of a lot easier to have Spencer behind the plate,” pitcher Adam Michaud said. “He’s blocked some balls that I’ve seen major leaguers let get by. And his arm, he’s thrown out 90 percent of the base runners in his career.

Unfortunately for Daly, the thrill of throwing out a runner isn’t felt as much these days because his reputation precedes him. Teams don’t run.

“They don’t really run,” he said. “Then when they do, it kind of catches me off guard.”

What’s a catcher with an arm like Daly’s to do? Find other ways to throw out runners.

“Me and [first baseman Ryan] Massey talk a lot, especially when there are runners on first and second,” he said. “A lot of time, the runner on first, if [Massey] is playing behind him, he won’t even pay attention and Massey will slip in and most of the time if I can get it there … they’re dumfounded it happened.”

After only receiving Shoreline Conference Honorable Mention last year, Daly got his due this season, being named to the All-Shoreline Conference First Team. He was with Michaud when he found out the news.

“That was kind of cool,” said Daly, who, despite the Shoreline snub last year, became only the third East Hampton player selected to play in the Rawlings Futures Showcase game.

Perhaps the biggest compliment for a catcher is to hear that you have helped make your pitchers better. The past two years Daly has caught the Shoreline Pitcher of the Year in Ianonne and Marvin Gorgas. Michaud also has posted great numbers.

Johnson believes that Daly has had something to do with that.

“If you don’t have confidence in your catcher to be able to throw out runners and block balls, you tend to maybe not want to throw pitches in certain situations,” he said. “Give Spencer a lot of the credit.

“It’s going to be a big loss next year.”

Speaking of next year, what is Daly’s plan?

After strongly considering Southern Vermont, a school where Michaud and former teammate Austin Wosleger will be attending in the fall, he eventually decided on Western Connecticut.

“I didn’t really want to go far away,” he said.

First, however, there is this season to complete. After winning a state title, East Hampton might have raised a few eyebrows by going 16-4 during the regular season. Not Daly’s.

“We have good coaching,” he said. “They prepare us for just about everything.”

And of course the Bellringers have Michaud, Gorgas, Massey, Joe Tuxbury, Nate Heroux and several others who have had a hand in the team’s success.

All that should bode well during the tournament.

“I think we can compete with any team we face,” Daly said.

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