Shoreline Title Slips Away from East Hampton

East Hampton was one inning from consecutive Shoreline Conference titles in baseball. Cromwell, however, had ideas of its own.

Trailing 1-0, the Panthers rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning, then hung on to defeat the Bellringers 3-2 in the tournament championship game on Saturday in Clinton.

Pat Sirois delivered the big hit for Cromwell, a two-run double with one out.

“He did it again,” Cromwell coach Lew Pappariello said of his senior, calling him a big-time player. “He’s something else.”

Said East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger: “We just had a hard time with the lefthander. It was difficult to figure out what to throw him because he was on fastballs, he was fouling off curveballs and he ultimately hit a change-up.”

For East Hampton (17-5), it was a game of missed opportunities. The Bellringers had a hit in every inning and got a runner into scoring position six of the seven innings.

“We had so many missed opportunities,” Wosleger said. “Get guys to second as often as we did, you got to score them.”

Cromwell’s starting pitcher Christian Budzik danced in and out of trouble throughout his six innings of work, but held East Hampton to a run in the first on an RBI single by Spencer Daly that scored Marvin Gorgas (3-for-3 and a walk).

“He really grinded it out and found a way to step up in big spots and get himself out of it by making a pitch here and pitch there,” said Pappariello, who won his first Shoreline title. “I thought he really did a nice job with runners in scoring position – being smart, locating his pitches, knowing who was dangerous in their lineup and who we wanted to attack. He had a great feel for that. Because of that I think that’s why we ended up holding them to one run even though they had a bazillion chances to score.”

Adam Michaud, East Hampton’s starter, made that one run hold up. The senior allowed only two hits, both in the fourth inning when center fielder Alex Meeker threw out Logan Lessard at the plate to preserve the lead.

“He did what he does a lot,” Wosleger said. “He grinded it out. He kept us in the game. He got us to where we needed to be. We were hoping he could get to the fifth. He struggled a little bit in the beginning with command, but kept us in the game. He deserved better."

Michaud did make it to the fifth, but after walking the leadoff batter in the sixth, Wosleger took him out.

“I thought it was hot. I thought he was tired and I thought it was the right time to show them something different,” Wosleger said.

Enter Gorgas.

Gorgas, however, had pitched a complete-game shutout against North Branford just a day earlier.

“He said he felt really good,” Wosleger said. “No regrets there. We just didn’t locate a couple of pitches.”

Gorgas got out of the sixth without much trouble, but Cromwell (18-5) quickly got to him in the seventh with consecutive singles to lead off the inning to set up Sirois.

Gorgas had beaten Cromwell twice during the regular season, allowing one run each game. So, what made the seventh inning different?

“They’re will to win,” Pappariello said of his team. “We felt like this was our game, even if they did go to Gorgas. We felt like we were prepared. We faced him twice already. Again, he pitched [Friday], so I’m sure he’s not at his finest. Gorgas at 75 percent is still better than most at 100.”

Joe Tuxbury’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh got East Hampton to within 3-2, but a fine catch by second baseman Mike McNally ended the threat.

“We played just lights-out defense, including that last play,” Pappariello said.

Wosleger said there wasn’t one play that made the difference, but in the third inning came East Hampton’s best chance for more runs.

With the bases loaded and one out, Ryan Massie hit a chopper to first and Tyler Allen threw home to force Gorgas. However, the ump said Gorgas took out the catcher illegally, ruling it a double play even though the sophomore was barely outside the baseline.

“[The ump] said you can’t take the catcher out, period,” Wosleger said.

The lack of clutch hitting and offensive production had Wosleger a little concerned.

“A little bit,” he said. “I told them a lot of teams have days like this where they don’t execute. Hopefully it doesn’t carry over. We just have to continue to work at it.

“If we cash in on our opportunities, we’re running away with that game.”

The Bellringers will look to cash in during the Class S tournament starting Wednesday at home, but first they will have to work through the disappointment of losing the conference title game. Wosleger, though, tried to put it in perspective.

“It’s disappointing because you want to win,” he said. “We’ve won championships and it feels great, it feels phenomenal, and it feels terrible when you lose. It is a privilege to get in the championship game three out of the last six years and win it twice. We have had a great season. We shouldn’t take anything away from these guys just because of today, just one day where we didn’t execute offensively. It’s always disappointing to lose a championship game. You hate to watch somebody else celebrate.”