The wait is over Westerners fans. After 26 years, the #4 Danbury Westerners won their first-ever Fay Vincent, Sr. Cup in an 8-4 victory over the #5 North Shore Navigators at Fraser Field.
The Navigators put up three runs in the first inning. Danbury responded with a five run top of the third inning spearheaded by a Matt Zaffino three run home run to left field. North Shore scored a run in the bottom of the third, but remained scoreless for the rest of the game against Westerners pitching. Danbury added two runs in the top of the fourth and the one final run for the cherry on top in the top of the sixth. The Danbury bullpen combined for five scoreless innings before Coleman Picard struck out Matthias Haas to secure the trophy.
North Shore scored three runs in the bottom of the first with a pair of RBI singles to left field. Matthias Haas found a hole between Danbury third baseman Nick Lorusso and shortstop Sebastian Murillo for two runs to score after the bases were loaded with Navigators. Cal Cristophori brought home an additional run with a single that scored Joseph Lomuscio from third base to put North Shore up early for the second straight game.
Danbury responded by scoring five runs in the top of the third inning. Andrew Jenkins and Nick Lorusso slapped RBI singles for Danbury before Matt Zaffino Zaffino floated a three run home run over the left field fence to put Danbury ahead for the first time in Gamcame to the plate with runners on second and third. e 2 with a 5-3 lead. North Shore got a run back on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third.
For Matt Zaffino, a second year Westy, his Danbury career had come full circle. He started his 2019 season with a walk off three run home run against Ocean State and ended his 2021 season with a three run home run in the title clinching game of the NECBL Championship Series.
“I’m think I’m a little used to Rogers Park,” Zaffino said, recalling how the ball left Fraser Field. “I definitely got all of that ball. I thought it was out originally, then started to second guess it before realizing that it was a home run.”
A Nick Lorusso sacrifice fly to right field and an RBI single to center field from Andrew Jenkins added to Danbury’s lead to make the score 7-4. Lorusso found his run scoring ways later on in the top of the sixth. While beating out an infield single, Cam Masterman came around to score from second base to increase Danbury’s lead to four runs.
Starting in the fifth inning, Danbury used four relievers in relief of starter Sean Hogan. Through five innings the pitchers combined to give up five total hits while striking out six Navigators batters en route to the win. The final strikeout from Coleman Picard ended the game by throwing a fastball past a swinging Matthias Haas to secure the first Fay Vincent, Sr. Cup in franchise history.
The Westerners manager Ian Ratchford also had some extra history with the series clinching victory. He was a player on the 2012 Danbury Westerners team that lost in the NECBL Finals to the Newport Gulls, but in his first year as a manager of the Westerners, he brought the team to their first Championship in franchise history.
“It’s been a long time coming for Danbury,” Ratchford said, “I’m ecstatic for everybody in the organization and it’s always nice to win the last one.”
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