BY KYLE BRENNAN
CITIZEN’S NEWS
WATERBURY — After running the table for the first 19 games of the regular season, the Woodland baseball team was the undeniable favorite to win a second straight Naugatuck Valley League championship.
But the tournament, always known for its upsets, had other ideas.
The top-seeded Hawks suffered a 4-2 loss to eventual champion Oxford in the league semifinals May 20 at Municipal Stadium. Woodland managed just five hits in the semifinal, compared to the Hawks’ 15-run outburst in a quarterfinal win over Seymour.
“We pitched well enough and played good enough defense to win that game,” Woodland head coach Steve Bainer said. “We had a couple of chances to break it open and didn’t come up with timely hits.”
The Hawks’ only big hit was a two-run single by Bill Untiet in the third inning, which cut the Wolverines’ lead to 3-2. Woodland struck out 12 times in the game, which Bainer said was “very uncharacteristic of us.”
Jason Beaudry allowed four runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout in five innings for Woodland.
“Baseball’s a funny game,” Bainer said. “It’s gonna humble you.”
In the 15-7 semifinal win over Seymour, Woodland staged a comeback from a 4-0 deficit. Max Martin had two hits, including a three-run home run in the fifth, and scored three runs.
Tyler DeCrescenzo had three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored for Woodland, and Erik Pulkkinen added two hits, an RBI and two runs scored.
Ethan Stepputtis had two hits, four stolen bases and two runs scored, and he also recorded 11 strikeouts on the mound over six innings.
Woodland (20-2) was set to enter the Class M state tournament as a favorite to make a deep run. The Hawks earned the No. 2 seed and were scheduled to host No. 31 Rocky Hill in the first round May 28. The second round was set for May 29 against No. 15 Stonington or No. 18 Ansonia, and Woodland would host a quarterfinal June 1. The semifinals and finals will be June 4 and June 7-8, respectively.
Bainer said the focus after losing in the NVL semifinals was putting the defeat in the rearview mirror.
“It’s been business as usual,” Bainer said. “We gave them the day after to clear their heads. Our assistant principal, Ryan Mackenzie, said it to me the other day: ‘You have to have a memory of a goldfish at this point of the year.’”
In Class LL, Naugatuck (14-7) earned the No. 8 seed and was set to host No. 25 Norwich Free Academy in the first round May 28. The Greyhounds suffered a 7-4 defeat to Wolcott in the NVL quarterfinals despite Kevin Cestari’s two-run home run.
The Greyhounds would host a second-round game May 29 against No. 9 Newington or No. 24 West Haven on May 29 with a first-round win.
