BURLINGTON, V.T.- Windsor and Green Mountain squared off in the Vermont Division 3 baseball State Championship on Saturday at Centennial Field in Burlington. In a tightly contested game through the first four innings, the Yellow Jackets exploded for four runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to ride off with a 10-2 win, earning the school’s fourth state title this school year.
Green Mountain got on the board first. In the top of the first inning, Windsor’s senior pitcher, Seth Balch, walked the first three batters faced, and then hit GM’s Ryan McSally with a pitch to knock in a run. After that hit-by-pitch, Balch settled in nicely, striking out the next three batters on his way to a complete-game two-hitter.
Balch, on coming back from a slow start Saturday, said, “I did some reflecting. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that we were down one to nothing… and I thought… this isn’t how I want it to end. And I’m not going to let it end like that. I told my coaches as a joke that I had to let them score one.”
Windsor’s catcher, senior Duncan Frazer, made a visit to Balch on the mound with the bases loaded. Post-game, Frazer said, “I told Seth that his brothers had his back today and that we were there for him.”
In the bottom of the first, Windsor answered back with a run of their own on an RBI-single from Frazer to tie the game at 1. In the third, Balch grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Frazer, to give Windsor a 2-1 lead that they would only build on.
After the third inning, Balch ran back to the dugout noticeably pumped up and trying to motivate his teammates. “You can never get complacent,” Balch said post-game. “I’ve been in games where we had the lead and felt good, and the next thing you know… it’s gone. I just wanted the guys to understand the sense of urgency that comes with this pressure. That’s something that I always try to do… just be a leader and hope make sure the others have the right mindset.”
Windsor managed to plate a run in the fourth on a hard groundball from Justin Smith that scored Ben Meagher. In the top of the fifth, Green Mountain scored their second run of the day. Rex Hill hit a blooper to shallow right that was misplayed by Windsor in the outfield, and Dylan McCarthy came around to score and cut the lead to 3-2.
That is the closest GM would get, as Windsor started to pile on in the fifth. Frazer knocked in Ryland Richardson on a bunt single and Dakota Page walked with the bases loaded, making the score 5-2. With the bases loaded and one out, GM’s Hill replaced Tanner Bischofberger on the mound in a tight spot. Hill forced a groundout to Bischofberger who had just moved over to short, and the out was made at home plate. With two outs, Windsor’s Smith came through in a big way, slapping a 2-RBI single up the middle to plate Page and Robert Slocum, and giving the Yellow Jackets the boost they needed to put the game away. 7-2 after five.
In the bottom of the sixth, Windsor provided the final knockout blow. Balch knocked in Ryland Richardson on an RBI-single up the middle. Balch later scored on a throwing error. Page then knocked in Slocum with an RBI-groundout to give the Yellow Jackets their tenth run.
At the plate for Windsor, Richardson had 3 walks and 3 runs, Balch went 2-4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs, Frazer was 1-3 with 2 RBIs, Page had 2 RBIs, Meagher was 1-3 with a run, and Smith had 2 RBIs.
For GM, McCarthy was 1-2 with 2 walks and a run, Hill was 1-3 with an RBI and a walk, and McSally had an RBI and a walk.
GM saw three pitchers get action on Saturday. Bischofberger pitched 4.1 innings, striking out 3, walking 4, and allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits. Hill pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing 2 hits and 1 earned. McCarthy pitched the final inning, walking 1.
On the mound for Windsor, Balch pitched a complete-game, striking out ten, walking five, and allowing just two hits and two runs.
Balch, on his performance, said, “A lot of stress is put on my arm in the playoffs… I don’t know if I did a great job to prepare myself for the start of the game.”
Windsor head coach, Jamie Richardson, on Balch, said, “With work, he gets better. Sometimes he starts out slow, but he makes up for it in the end.”
On the loss on Saturday, GM head coach, Matt McCarthy, said, “Coaching half of this team since they were eight or nine years old, in the beginning of the year… I knew we could win some games. These boys worked hard all year and improved throughout the year. Being such a young team, I am confident we have some exciting seasons in the future for GM baseball. The experience being there is something you can’t teach or really prepare for until you’re there… going through that process will only help in the future. I’m proud of the group of boys and we have nothing to hang our heads about. I’d like to thank my three seniors [Ryan McSally, Josh Bodin, and Tanner Bischofberger] for being great leaders, teammates, and also great young men.”
On what stalled GM on Saturday, McCarthy said, “After the first inning, Balch settled in and kept us off balance throughout much of the game.”
Balch is a part of a group of seniors that have put their names in the history books for Windsor athletics. Dakota Page, Ben Meagher, and Duncan Frazer have all now won state titles in football, basketball, and baseball. Senior Adam Stapleton was also on the basketball team. Juniors Robert Slocum and Ryland Richardson were a part of all championship teams.
On his group of seniors, Jamie Richardson said, “It’s a special group of seniors. They didn’t disperse. Through football, basketball, and baseball, they buy into their role and that’s what you need as a team. I’m going to miss them starting tomorrow morning. When you have a team like this, you don’t want to see it end. The younger ones look up to them and they have seen what it takes, and hopefully we can get back here.”
On winning multiple state championships , Balch credited his teammates. “It’s incredible. It’s something that I could never accomplish without the group of guys that I have. I can’t say enough about them. I’ve played with some of them for the last twelve [years].”
Dakota Page, on the win, said, “We had lots of growth over the year but we all felt this year could be very special, and it ended just the way we wanted it to.” Adam Stapleton added, “What a beautiful ending to a great season and year. You can never say enough about the support from the community, our coaches and our school and the support they have for our teams. This year was our year”
In this school year alone, Windsor won the state title in football in the Fall, both boys and girls basketball in the Winter, and now baseball in the Spring, wrapping up a historical year for the Yellow Jackets. The Windsor boys looked like their experience in high-pressure games helped them out against a young GM team on Saturday, having now won baseball titles in two of the last three years.
“This can be overwhelming, but these guys have won a lot of games,” said Coach Richardson. “They got on the bus, and what I saw at nine this morning was that these boys were ready to play.”
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