WINDSOR- Error-free baseball, timely-hitting and strong pitching is usually the recipe for a win, and Thursday was no exception. The Yellow Jackets displayed all those, plus a little hard-nose baseball thrown in, for an opening round 8-1 win.
Windsor’s Seth Balch started today for Jamie Richardson’s squad, and after allowing a walk to the first batter, he settled down nicely, getting eight out of the next nine batters out while fanning the order in the second inning.
While Balch was in a groove, Ryland Richardson led off with a sharp single and would score off a Duncan Frazer line drive to right. After a walk to Robert Slocum, Dakota Page hit a sharp single to center that ended up being misplayed in the infield. Slocum ended up caught between third and home and ended up crashing into the Vergennes catcher. In the pile up at home, the Vergennes pitcher came to the aid and helped clear Slocum from the heap resulting in a few tense moments on the field.
“I ended up stuck in a bad spot and by the time I decided to head home, the catcher was right there and we ended up in a pile on the ground, we talked right after it happened and everything was fine,” said Slocum after the game.
By the time the inning had ended, Windsor had a 1-0 lead. Both teams were held silent in the second but in the home half of the third, Windsor would add to their lead as Balch doubled to plate Richardson and would later score on an error to give Windsor a 3-0 lead. Slocum would hit a rocket that would one hop the fence at the 350 ft sign that would score Frazer, and when Page singled to plate Slocum, the Yellow Jackets were in command, 5-0.
“You can’t give a team like Windsor any breathing room, they are too good and they took advantage of a hiccup from us like any good team will,” said Vergennes head coach, Dwight Burkette, after the game. The Stearns brothers would account for the only run of the day for Vergennes as the freshman pitcher would score off his brothers double to left but that would be all of their scoring on the day, as Balch would only allow one single over the final three innings, ending his day with a 12-strikeout, 97-pitch performance for the complete-game win.
Windsor would add to their lead in the fifth inning as Balch, Frazer, Slocum and Page all had hits, while Ben Meagher’s sacrifice scored Slocum to end the scoring, as Windsor ended up with an 8-1 win.
“It was a typical hard-fought playoff baseball game today and I thought our error-free defense played a big role in the win,” said Richardson after the game. Ryland Richardson had two great plays from deep in the hole to gun out the runners which drew praise from the visitors’ dugout.
Page led the offense, going 3 for 3 at the plate with 3 RBIs. Balch, Frazer and Slocum all had two hits each while Richardson and Justin Smith each added a hit apiece.
No. 1 seed Windsor will be home on Tuesday to face the winner of No. 4 seed Peoples Academy or No. 5 seed Leland & Gray. Windsor has not faced either team this season. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.