Raiders Strike Late To Reach Semifinals

Windsor Locks’s batters were forced into a patient approach Saturday night in a CIAC Class S state tournament quarterfinal against Trinity Catholic of Stamford. But while the offense had to wait to produce, the Raiders’ defense at Quigley Stadium in West Haven was delivering a message to the Crusaders.

The Crusaders apparently did not grasp what was before them. They couldn’t do more than open a one-run lead and when Windsor Locks found its opportunity against starter Chris Neuschler, the momentum turned and the Raiders rallied late to advance to the Class S semifinals with a 6-1 victory.

Windsor Locks, seeded third, will meet No. 2 East Hampton on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Muzzy Field in Bristol in large part because of Oddo's six-plus-inning two-hitter. At stake in Bristol will be a chance to play for the state title on June 10 or 11. East Hampton (18-4) reached the semifinals with a 7-4 win over No. 10 Old Lyme earlier in the day at West Haven High School. The Bellringers of East Hampton watched most of the game.

“Brian Oddo set the tone,” Windsor Locks coach Dave Farr said about his senior starting pitcher. “He got them down. And that gave us the confidence that we could win the game. He was great. He did a phenomenal job.”

Oddo kept Trinity Catholic (11-12) in check through the first three innings of a scoreless game, by allowing one hit and two walks and striking out three. In the fourth inning, though, the 22nd-ranked Crusaders used a hit batter and a triple by Nick Russo for a 1-0 lead.

The 1-0 deficit was no small deal for Windsor Locks (18-5). Neuschler had contained the Raiders in the first three innings on one hit and two strikeouts. In the fourth inning, the potent Windsor Locks offense struck – aided by clever base-running. Trinity Catholic’s defense could not remain sharp, and the fifth inning began with a 4-1 lead for the Raiders.

“It was kind of a nightmare inning for us,” Trinity Catholic coach Tracy Nichols said. “It started off with a walk. It happened so fast. We had trouble throwing to lefty batters tonight for some reason.”

Tyler DeMarco, a left-handed hitting center fielder who had the lone Raiders’ hit to date, began the fourth by drawing a walk and moved to second base on Michael Spath’s sacrifice bunt. Chuck Vogt, Windsor’s Locks’s ace pitcher in the regular season, worked another walk out of Neuschler to put runners at first and second with one out. Catcher Casey Vogt’s grounder past Neuschler and into center field tied it a 1-1.

Then, the turning point that illustrated the difference between the teams, a fielder’s choice hit by Joshua Poissant that gave Windsor Locks a 2-1 lead – not a shot off Poissant’s bat and not sloppy ball by Trinity Catholic. Poissant hit a high bouncer to third base, in which Kevin Epp, on a difficult play, threw late to second baseman Mike Palomba in an attempt to get Casey Vogt. Palomba hesitated a second and fired home but could not catch Chuck Vogt seemingly headed for the plate from the moment Poissan’t grounder bounded high. On the late throw home, Casey Vogt darted into third base.

That left runners on first and third and Mike Gentile blasted a double off the right field screen and Casey Vogt raced in for a 3-1 Windsor Locks lead, with Poissant stopping at third base. Oddo followed with a sacrifice fly to center field and Trinity Catholic was in a 4-1 hole.

“That was a huge play by [Chuck] Vogt,” Farr said. “He kept going. There was no hesitation at all.”

Oddo, asked by Farr to throw more curveballs than usual because of the scouting report that revealed Trinity Catholic could feast on fastballs only, remained composed when pitching with the lead in the fifth and sixth inning. He got the Crusaders out in order in the fifth and in the sixth, hit Sammy Dominguez with a pitch. Dominguez reach second on an error but he struck out Palombo and Epp to snuff the threat.

Casey Vogt homered to right-center field leading off the bottom of the sixth. Poissant followed with an infield single and pinch-hitter Michael Thompson’s single to right field drove in Poissant to close out the scoring.

Chuck Vogt moved from shortstop to relieve in the seventh after Oddo walked Russo leading off the inning. Chuck Vogt struck out pinch-hitter Tyler Zaro, Kyle Divico and Spoto.

“His curveballs were pretty good,” Farr said about Oddo. “He threw 70 percent fastballs when he usually throws them about 90 percent of the time. I was going to use three pitchers but I didn’t have to because of how well Oddo threw. He got the batters out he had to get, then we started to rap the ball.

“He’s done the job this year much better than I expected him to do. I had to throw him in to do all that pitching because of the injuries to two of our pitchers.”