Pictured: Coginchaug hopes it has one final celebration left — in the Class S championship game on Friday night at Palmer Field.
Coginchaug Regional will play for its first state championship in baseball in nearly 50 years after crushing Northwest Catholic 12-0 in the CIAC Class S semifinals at Sage Park in Berlin.
Following a delay in the start time of Tuesday’s game by more than two hours by bad weather, the No. 3 seed Blue Devils came out swinging, scoring six runs in the second and four more in the fourth to secure their first trip to the final since the 1972 team defeated the old Middletown High Tigers 5-4 for the tile in Class S.
Coginchaug will meet the tournament’s No. 1 seed, St. Paul of Bristol, on Friday night at 7 at Palmer Field in Middletown. The Falcons advanced with a 12-8 win over Immaculate in the weather-delayed first game at Sage Park.
Senior left-hander Kolby Pascarelli pitched five innings of one-hit ball and struck out 10 for the Blue Devils. He also went 2 for 3 with four RBIs and two runs scored in the team’s 10-hit attack.
Owen Clancy went 3 for 3 with a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored to continue his hot streak in the tournament. Cleanup hitter Jeremy Mangiameli was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and leadoff batter Conner Willett had a hit, three runs scored and an RBI.
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Senior Alex Mach pitched the sixth inning, allowing two walks and striking out three, and Willett got the final three outs.
Garrett Fusco and Riley Carew had the only hits for No. 23 Northwest.
The Blue Devils softball team also will be playing for a state title — on Saturday at noon at West Haven’s Biondi Field. They face No. 2 Somers in a rematch of the 2019 Class S championship game at DeLuca Field in Stratford. Coginchaug is 19-3 and the tournament’s No. 4 seed.