East Hampton is State Champs

Just when you figured it couldn’t happen again, wouldn’t happen again, it did. East Hampton fell behind in the first inning.

Five consecutive postseason games, beginning with North Branford for the Shoreline Championship, the Bellringers trailed in the first inning. For the fourth time, they were quickly down two runs.

Lesser teams would have crumbled somewhere along that path. In a game for a state title, the best might have, too. Not East Hampton. In two weeks, the Bellringers have made turning adversity into success routine.

However, on Saturday they sure did take their time going about it.

Austin Shumbo’s two-out, two-strike single through the hole between third and short in the sixth inning drove home two runs to give East Hampton a 3-2 lead, then the Bellringers added three more runs in the seventh to defeat East Catholic 6-2 for the Class S Championship on Saturday at Muzzy Field in Bristol, their first state title in baseball.

“There’s not a kid who deserves it more,” East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger said of Shumbo. “With two strikes, against a tough pitcher, and he gets the biggest hit in the history of our school.

“No one thought we could win this game. The greatest group I’ve been around, ever. Just because of their personalities, The way they care for each other. The way they pick each other up. The mental toughness they have. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s just been an amazing season.”

It was a game with several key moments, but perhaps none bigger than the first inning,

Four of the first five batters East Catholic sent to the plate had singled off of East Hampton starter Al Iannone. Two runs had scored and with one out, the Eagles had runners at second and third. The Bellringers were on the ropes, perhaps just one more single from being sent home with a consolation prize. A two-run deficit was bad enough, being four runs down would have been an altogether different story.

That’s not the story East Hampton had been writing all season, however. Its final chapter was supposed to have a fairytale ending, not a Brother’s Grimm one where the small-town sheep gets eaten by the big bad wolf in Catholic school clothing.

Iannone found his Shoreline Conference Pitcher of the Year form just in time. He struck out Alex Fulco, then got Garrett Richardello to fly out to center to end the inning.

From there the senior lefthander kept East Catholic from adding to its lead, while East Hampton (22-4) tried to figure out Eagles starting pitcher Tucker Panciera.

“I felt good. My arm felt good,” Iannone said. “I don’t really remember the first inning, maybe nerves a little bit. I settled down. I think my velocity went up a little bit. When my velocity is better, everything else is better.”

Panciera, a senior, was on his game, allowing three hits and striking out seven through the first five innings. East Hampton did break through for a run to make it 2-1 in the third when Austin Wosleger walked and Adam Michaud hit a run-scoring double, but otherwise, there was no sign of a rally and it was getting late.

East Catholic (20-4) missed a chance in the fourth inning to widen its lead. Mike McMahon and Fulco led the inning off with singles and Richardello sacrificed them over. With one out, runners on second and third and the middle infield playing half way, Nick Benoit grounded the ball up the middle. Shortstop Marvin Gorgas made a diving stop, jumped up, looked the runner at third back, and threw out Benoit at first base. Iannone then got Tyler Aprea to pop out to end the inning.

After Iannone allowed a lead off single to Kelvin Sims (3-for-4) in the fifth, Wosleger came out of the dugout to bring in Gorgas to pitch.

Wosleger considered bringing Gorgas in earlier.

“I wanted to keep it close,” he said. “I didn’t want [East Catholic] to be able to tack on. I knew if they got three or four it would be much tougher, they would be playing with a lot more confidence.”

Iannone was fine with the move.

“I was a little tired, but I don’t disagree with Marv coming in at all,” Iannone said.

The combination has worked all season and Saturday was no exception.

The freshman closer, who struggled in the semifinal against Windsor Locks, got through the middle of East Catholic’s batting order, and the Bellringers, still in need of at least one run, into the sixth.

“I just tried to throw strikes, tried not to get in a jam like I did last game,” said Gorgas, who struck out the side in the sixth inning. “I tried to come in, throw strikes and get ahead in the count.”

Said Wosleger: “A couple of the curveballs he snapped off were the best he threw all year.”

With Gorgas also throwing hard – word is one gun at Muzzy clocked him at 91 mph – the only question remaining is could the Bellringers solve Panciera?

Michaud began the sixth inning by dropping a single into right field. Gorgas followed with a walk. Two on, no outs and the East Hampton contingent was getting louder. The Bellringers had something brewing.

It all changed in an instant. With Iannone up, Fulco, the catcher, tried to pick Michaud off second base. The ball, however, sailed into center field and Michaud’s first instinct was to head for third. After a few steps, his second instinct told him to go back to second. Unfortunately, a charging Andrew Gordon fielded the ball and threw to John Brownell, who tagged out Michaud.

“I think he just lost sight of the ball,” Wosleger said. “The emotion, the crowd noise, I think he just lost sight of the ball.”

It seemed like a rally killer, but all the strikeouts and deep counts seemed to be catching up to Panciera.

Iannone walked. Spencer Daly struck out for the second out, but Brian Roberson also walked, loading the bases.

To the plate stepped Shumbo. For the senior, recently named one of two scholar athletes at the school and playing his final game as a Bellringer, it was an opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the program, a chance for a final bow he will never forget.

Shumbo swung and missed the first pitch then fouled off the next. After a ball, what happened next is the stuff dreams are made of. Shumbo grounded the ball by the third baseman and into left. Two runs scored and East Hampton had its lead, 3-2.

“I’m still shaking right now,” Shumbo said. “I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my season. We could not leave the bases loaded with two outs that late in the game. Luckily I was able to pull it through the hole. This great group of guys and the coaching staff couldn’t deserve it more. You couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Said Roberson: “I don’t think anybody deserved that hit more than Shumbo.”

Panciera was lifted to start the seventh and replaced by Tyler Aprea. East Hampton, which had only five hits to that point, responded as though it had been waiting on the sophomore all afternoon.

The Bellringers had four hits in the inning, including an RBI single by Iannone and a long double by Daly that drove home two more runs.

With a 6-2 lead, all that was left was for Gorgas to get through the seventh. As Panciera’s high pop nestled into the glove of Iannone, East Hampton had that elusive baseball state title.

“That hasn’t even set in yet,” Shumbo said of being state champs. “I’m sure the next couple of days I’ll keep getting those feelings and just stop and admire it. To know we had the whole town behind us the whole way, throughout the whole year, it feels great to do something good for them, to give back to them.”

Many who made the trip to root for the Bellringers were waiting outside the park as the team finally emerged. The cheers, hugs and high fives made for another emotional moment in an afternoon of many.

“There is no feeling like this,” Iannone said. “There is no better way to end your senior year.”

The title comes on the heels of a 3-17 season. Yet despite last season’s struggles, this team didn’t hide its confidence or shy away from talking about its goals.

Among them was Roberson, who said after beating North Branford in the Shoreline Championship Game, “We’re not even close to being done.”

He was right.

“It’s terrific. Couldn’t have asked for a better end to the season,” Roberson, a senior, said. “It helps we have the best pitcher, probably in the state of Connecticut, on our team. We have a dominant closer, we got quality hitters up and down the lineup. I’ve never been on a baseball team that’s worked as hard as this team. So I think if anybody deserved it, it was us.

Michaud, who took his solid play to another level during the postseason, was also quick to hand out praise.

“We played our game. Everyone did their part today,” said Michaud, who finished 8-for-12 the final three games. “Marvin did what he always does, shuts the door tight. Shumbo deserves that hit more than any other kid in this program. He’s such a good kid … he deserves it. He deserved that hit. I’m so proud of the entire team.”

As for Gorgas, he still has three years left at East Hampton yet has already reached rock star status among the Little Leaguers who cheer him on and want to be like, well … Marvin.

“That makes me feel really special,” Gorgas said.

The victory meant something else to Wosleger and his team. Winning for the town.

“We’ve been in the newspapers for the wrong reasons over the last year for a couple things,” Wosleger said. “To see people from our town so excited in the stands, the amount of people from East Hampton that came, how loud they were. I just felt so happy for our town and our school and most of all, the kids. They’ve had a tremendous season.”