East Hampton’s push to finish the regular season on a strong note continued when the Bellringers knocked off Coginchaug, the top seed for the upcoming Shoreline Conference tournament, 7-2 on the road Wednesday.
Junior Nathan Bigelow pitched shutout ball for the first four innings and worked into the seventh against the veteran Blue Devils for the win. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits, walked none and struck out four.
Freshman Baden Plante got the final two outs and sophomore catcher Avery Hall homered, singled and drove in three runs as East Hampton won its second straight, improving to 9-8.
Coginchaug wrapped up its regular season with a 15-3 record.
“Coginchaug is a tremendous team. I thought they were the best team we faced,” Bellringers coach Tom Seidl said. “We have been stressing the need to play good defense and eliminate the free passes, and (then) we can play with most teams.
“Hopefully today is a big step towards tomorrow (East Hampton hosts Valley Regional) and next week in the Shoreline tournament, and then the states.”
The game does not count toward the final Shoreline Conference standings that determine seedings for the league tournament, which starts Monday. Seedings are expected to be finalized after Thursday’s games.
Seidl emphasized that his three seniors — Colby Camp, Darren Way and Josh Wagner — have not played in a tournament game of any kind. East Hampton will likely be the eighth and final seed for the Shoreline tourney. The Bellringers last week qualified for the CIAC Class S tournament.
“We were 5-15 their freshman year and 1-19 when they were sophomores,” he said. “We were as crushed as everyone last year” with no tournament because of the pandemic. “I am happy for the three seniors that stuck it out through a lot of tough times.”
Dan Cascio had two hits and an RBI for East Hampton and James Quinn, Javy Diaz and Wagner each drove in a run.
Conner Willett had two hits for Coginchaug. Alex Tawa took the loss in relief of Griffin Biro, allowing four runs on five hits in two innings. The Blue Devils used five pitchers.
EH 100 402 0–7 8 1
Cog 000 020 0–2 7 2
Batteries: EH–Nathan Bigelow, Baden Plante (7) and Avery Hall; C–Griffin Biro, Alex Tawa (3), Conner Willett (5), Kolby Pascarelli (6), Anthony Morro (7) and Mike Garofalo, Chris Racki. WP: Bigelow; LP: Tawa.
In other games Wednesday:
Haddam-Killingworth 6, Old Lyme 5
HK 000 141 0–6 10 0
OL 100 400 0–5 10 6
Batteries: HK–Alex Erskine and Nick Glynn; OL–Tait Sawden, Casey Hurtgen (7) and Alex Roth. WP: Erskine; LP: Sawden.
Highlights: Erskine won for the fifth time this season. Luke DiMauro and Caven Burrell each had 2 hits and Lucas Kamoen drove in 2 runs with a single in the fifth. Colbe Andrews was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, Sawden had 2 hits, Jesper Silberburg had 2 hits including a double and 2 RBIs and Riley Warecke doubled for the Wildcats. The teams combined for 10 stolen bases.
Records: H-K 14-4, Old Lyme 7-11.
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Morgan 12, Westbrook 4
WP: Garrett Garbinski; LP: Dan Zambrano.
Highlights: Garbinski worked 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. Ethan Ranaudo got the final 3 outs. Ethan Reemsnyder hit a home run in Morgan’s 13-hit attack. Ryan Inglis, Brady Fritz and Bailey Goss all had multiple hits. Zach True took the loss for Westbrook.
Records: Morgan 10-8, Westbrook 0-17.
SOFTBALL
Old Lyme 6, Haddam-Killingworth 1
OL 000 102 3–6 8 1
HK 000 100 0–1 2 1
Highlights: Old Lyme freshman pitcher Emma Bayor held the Cougars to 2 hits while striking out 12 in a non-league contest. Paige Kalesnik broke open a 1-1 game with a 2-run triple in the sixth. H-K starter Kaleigh Bodak fanned 12 in 6 2/3 innings. H-K will complete its suspended game in Cromwell at 4pm on Thursday — scoreless in the top of the eighth, with two Cougars runners on and none out.
Records: H-K 14-2, Old Lyme 11-5.
MORE TO COME …