MYSTIC, CT—The Danbury Westerners prevailed over the Mystic Schooners 7-5 at Fitch High School Field.
All Danbury (18-15) batters reached base while making multiple run-saving plays in the field to rebound against Mystic (17-15) after losing two of three games to the Ocean State Waves.
Matt Zaffino drove in Andrew Jenkins on a sacrifice fly to left field in the top of the second inning for Danbury’s first run of the night . Second baseman Zaffino continued a good start to the night in the field by throwing out Tucker Flint at home after cutting off an outfield throw from Henry Strmecki.
Strmecki then hit a solo home run to right-center field to double the Danbury lead to 2-0 in the top of the third. Back-to-back doubles from Cam Masterman and Andrew Jenkins pushed the Danbury run count to three.
The Schooners scored on a hit-and-run double down the left-field line from Addison Kopack, where Brendan Cumming scored from first base.
Danbury added in two runs in the top of the fourth. Jake Roper lined a double off the wall in left-center field. Matt Zaffino ran through the stop sign from Danbury third base coach Bobby Rodriguez and scored standing up. Jack Payton later scored Roper on an RBI single to left to improve the Danbury lead to 5-1.
In the top of the fifth, Luke Shliger scored Danbury’s sixth run on a wild pitch. The underhanded throw from Sam Loda was in time to Mystic reliever Bowen Baker, but Shliger dodged the tag with a freestyle swimming stroke mid-slide. Cam Norgren later rounded third base and scored on an infield error to make the score 7-1 Danbury.
Mystic got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth as Sam Loda scored on a passed ball.
The Schooners loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning for Bryan Padilla. Padilla flew out to Jake Roper in right field, both runners on second and third advanced. Roper threw the ball to John Anderson at third, who got the tag in on time to end the inning. No runners scored on the play as Anderson applied the tag to Schooners third baseman Danny Crossen before Mystic right fielder Brian Walsh touched home plate.
Bryan DeMartino showed that Mystic wouldn’t go down without a fight in the bottom of the ninth by hitting a three-run home run to right when the Schooners were down to a final out, but the next pitch resulted in an infield popup to end the game in a 7-5 Danbury victory. It was the first time that Danbury has defeated Mystic this season.
The Danbury Westerners host the Southern Division leading Martha’s Vineyard Sharks (20-13) at Rogers Park in an afternoon doubleheader on July 24th. Both games will be live-streamed on the NECBL Network.
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