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Sports

In Mid-Season, The Chase Begins

Here is a look at the successes, and near misses on the the diamond, the track and the course.

The injuries that have befallen the Windsor Locks baseball team were well documented in , but the Raiders still lead the NCCC (10-2, 8-1).

The reason is not necessarily the team’s offense, though the batting order runs deep with Chuck Vogt, Mike Gentile, Brian Oddo and Casey Vogt, to name just a few.

Despite the injuries, the numbers say Windsor Locks is winning with pitching and defense. The Raiders are allowing just 3.08 runs per game. No doubt this is unexpected for a team that lost two members of its rotation - Mike Chmelowski and Conor Pepin - to injury, but the facts are the facts.

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What’s interesting is that veteran coach Dave Farr will merely say his pitching staff is “getting there,” which tells you something about his expectations. Farr knows better than most that pitching in June is not the same as pitching in April. There is little doubt he can be confident in Chuck Vogt, who struck out the side for a save on Monday and then pitched a complete-game for a win on Tuesday. Farr also has Oddo and Gentile, who earned a win this week.

Perhaps the most interesting storyline for Windsor Locks is the idea of using senior Michael Spath as a pitcher. Spath throws a knuckleball, which, as anyone who has followed the career of Tim Wakefield can tell you, is a mercurial pitch that sometimes dances and sometimes begs to be hit.

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Farr said he was going to resist pitching Spath against a weaker team to build his confidence. The coach said he must know if Spath can help on the mound in the post-season, which is a fine illustration of how championship coaches think.

THE CHASE BEGINS

A three-game winning streak has revived Windsor’s tournament hopes. The Warriors are blessed with one of the areas best pitchers, UConn-bound Devin Over, but were 2-6 after a 4-0 loss to East Hartford on Monday.

The loss was typical of the way the first month of the season had gone for Windsor. Over pitched well but the Warriors didn’t score and made errors behind him. Yet, wins against Maloney-Meriden, Weaver and Platt-Meriden have lifted the Warriors to 5-6. In addition, Windsor is starting to get some pitching beyond Over, including from Brian Mazella. The schedule is more difficult this week (Manchester, Bristol Central and South Windsor), but Windsor’s chances of making the tournament have greatly improved and no one will want to see them in June.

Enfield is right on Windsor Locks’ heels in the NCCC, which is why it must avoid looking ahead to Friday’s head-to-head between Raiders. Enfield (9-2, 9-2) is one-game back of Locks in the loss column, but has meetings with SMSA and Somers before they get a chance to win the game back on their own. No doubt John Cerrato, Joe Turcotte, Eric Gates and the rest of the Raiders want to get to Locks but as their narrow victory over struggling Canton proves, it doesn’t pay to overlook anyone in the NCCC.

Certainly it doesn’t pay to overlook Somers, where the Spartans have won four straight. Justin Liquori continues and Jake Alvaro continues to be effectively wild on the mound. Somers (7-5, 6-4) has rival Ellington earlier in the week but the meeting with Enfield will no doubt have their full attention.

E.O. Smith (3-9) has had a difficult season so far but a look at the schedule indicates the Panthers may be able to make a run in May. A 3-1 victory over Tolland Saturday will help.

East Catholic (10-1), which may be the area’s best baseball team, has a 10-game winning streak. The Eagles beat Windsor, Manchester and Berlin last week and showed remarkable diversity along the way. They simply battered Windsor 13-3, Kelvin Sims doing most of the damage. They beat Manchester with a nip and tuck 5-0 shutout, and then came from behind to beat Berlin 11-9 behind the bats of Garrett Richardello and Sims.

Rockville’s five-game winning streak during the middle of April is a memory. The Rams have lost three of four despite the hitting of Evan Caine, Kamyno Royal and Chris Watts. The week ahead offers a chance to get back on a streak with games against Rocky Hill, E.O. Smith, Bloomfield and Tolland. The Rams have beaten three of those teams already this season.

A LOOK AHEAD ON THE TRACK & COURSE

It’s not too early to look ahead to the state track championships. Tolland’s Trevor LaFontaine, one of the area’s top performers, has the best qualifying time (9:52.43) in the 3,200 meters and 1,600 meters (4:27.4) in Class MM.

E.O. Smith’s Alek Kirchmann is among the top qualifiers in the Class L 100 meters (11.0).

No secret that Suffield has had its eye on a Division III golf championship. Such things are usually determined not by the top golfers, but by the third and fourth scorers. Suffield’s Andy Mai and Dan Banks are living up to pre-season expectations but the emergence of Connor Beaulieu will help the Wildcats quest.

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