CLL 10/11 Baseball Wins District 9 Title

Coginchaug takes 2 from Madison to win 10-11 District 9 Baseball title

As a small town in a 16 league district, it is never easy for Coginchaug to win a District 9 baseball title. So hard, that in the 50+ year history of Little League in Durham and Middlefield, with tournaments held for 3 different age levels, there have been just 5. The path is never easy. For the Coginchaug 10-11 year team, this year they would need to beat a Madison team twice in the finals of the double-elimination format tournament. That would be the same Madison team that handed them their only loss in the tournament so far.

A lot had to go right to get to the finals in the first place. It took a stellar pitching performance by Griffin Biro and 3 Home Runs by Kolby Pascarelli to pick up a 13-7 win over Cromwell in their first meeting. It would take a steady stream of hits from Pascarelli and Mike Garofalo throughout the team’s first 5 games. It took another solid pitching performance by the tandem of Noah Kleczkowski and John Vumback to deliver a 13-5 win in their return engagement with Cromwell, just to get the chance to face Madison in the finals. And then they would have to beat them twice.

Saturday’s District final actually started on Wednesday night, when Coginchaug jumped out to a 6-2 lead after 2 innings when thunder and lightening caused the game to be suspended.  Pascarelli had started on Wednesday, but Biro was brought in to pitch the continuation on Saturday, and he did not disappoint. Biro held Madison to just 3 runs, over his 3-2/3 innings pitched, scattering just 6 Madison hits and not allowing a walk.

Coginchaug padded their 6-2 lead in the bottom of the 3rd. Blake Courschesne led off with a walk, and was forced at 2nd on a fielders choice by Vumback. Justin Penney reached on an error by the Madison shortstop, and Kolby Pascarelli drove in both runners with a hard liner past the 2nd baseman to make it 8-3. In the 4th, RJ Albanese reached on a fielders-choice, Courschesne walked on 8 pitches, and Vumback reached on a error, all with 2 outs, but Madison pitcher James Arida got Justin Penney to strike out to escape any damage. In the 5th they added 3 more. A series of base hits by Evan Faiella, Mike Garofalo, Griffin Biro and Aaron Faiella made it 11-4, and Madison was only able to pick up one run in the top of the 6th as Coginchaug took the first game to force a second and final District championship game.

Now as visitor in Game 2, Coginchaug jumped on Madison starter Aiden Patrick early. Evan Faiella hit a one-out triple, and was brought in two batters later by Mike Garofalo’s single. Noah Kleczkowski reached on an error and Biro singled in Garofalo for a quick 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 1st, Coginchaug starter Pascarelli would give up a leadoff single to Chris Engelhart, but would set down the next 3 Madison hitters in order, including a pair of strikeouts to close the inning.

In the top of the 2nd, Jack Konopka reached on an error and Evan Faiella walked. Pascarelli singled to bring in Konopka to give Coginchaug a 3-0 lead. They would add another run in the top of the 3rd as Biro reached on an error, moved to third on an Aaron Faiella single, then scored on a fly ball to centerfield hit by Courschesne to make it 4-0.

Pascarelli kept rolling through the 4th inning, allowing a total of 3 hits in 4 shutout innings, walking just 1 and striking-out four. 

In the bottom of the 5th, Carson Dempsey and Chris Engelhart of Madison opened with a pair of singles, and Garofalo replaced Pascarelli on the mound. A pair of Coginchaug errors, sandwiched around a Tucker Godiksen single was all it took for Madison to erase the lead and tie the game at 4-4. Garofalo got the next 2 batters out, but the lead was gone and Coginchaug needed some 6th inning magic to prevent Madison from stealing another District title.

In the top of the 6th, now facing Madison pitcher Mike Engelhart, Coginchaug’s TJ Isleib led off with a single, and Justin Penney followed with a base hit. Pascarelli lined a 1-0 fastball over the centerfielders head to bring in both runners and open up a 6-4 lead. Garofalo shut down Madison 1-2-3 in the 6th, striking out Chris Engelhart on 3 pitches to deliver Coginchaug its 6th District 9 baseball title.

The 10-11 team now heads to East Hampton for a 3 team double-elimination divisional round. Their first game will be Thursday, July 17 at Seamster Field at 10 Spring Street in East Hampton, where they will play the winner of Wednesday night’s matchup between Newington and the District 10 champion (either East Lyme or Waterford). If they win they will play at Noon on Saturday. If they lose they will play at 5:30 on Friday.