Southington Baseball Nearly Pulls Off Miracle

MIDDLETOWN, CT — No one said winning a state title is easy.

Up 7-1 in Saturday's CIAC Class LL baseball championship game at Palmer Field in Middletown, Fairfield Warde weathered a furious Southington rally in the final frame to, ultimately, capture the state championship 7-5.

After reliever Paddy Galvin struck out the final hitter of the game, jubilation erupted. The Mustangs finished the year 25-3.

Prior to Southington's furious seventh-inning rally, Fairfield Warde's methodical approach appeared to be lending itself to an easy victory, using an old-school mix of strong starting pitching, small ball and taking advantage of Southington mistakes.

In winning the program's first state title since 1981, the Mustangs defeated a team playing with heavy hearts.

Sunday, Southington's squad will be attending a memorial service for their longtime former coach, Charles Z. Zembo, who died late last month of cancer.

On Saturday, with Zembo likely smiling from above, the Blue Knights gave it their best effort, but came up just short.

At times dominant left-hand pitching courtesy of Fairfield Warde's senior captain Zack Broderick was too much to overcome.

The confident Broderick's mound presence led to 10 strikeouts as he pitched 6 1/3 innings to get the win and help Fairfield Warde capture the title.

Next season, he'll be playing baseball at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

He said after the game he was never nervous.

"I've had championship experience," Broderick said, citing other titles at other levels is his baseball career. "And, obviously, I had a great team behind me."

Even when Broderick was in trouble, such as the sixth inning, he never lost his cool.

After giving up a single to Southington's Frank Boutot and then a booming double off the wall to
Jackson Rusiecki, Broderick recovered to strike out two and got a flyout to end the inning.

No runs scored. Fairfield Warde was still up 5-1 at the time.

Game, essentially, over — but not quite.

His uniform dirtied from a hard day at work and eye black smeared across his face, Broderick said he was never worried, but also realized Southington wasn't going to quit.

"Southington is a great team," Broderick said. "It was battle all the way to the end."

The relentless approach at the plate of Fairfield Warde's hitters constantly put pressure on Southington's fielders, leading to three errors that played a role in the outcome.

The scoring started in the first on a play that would have made Wee Willie Keeler proud as Fairfield Warde senior co-captain Roman Digiacomo scored on a two-out bunt single from Griffin Polley.

It was 1-0 and Fairfield never trailed.

After Southington tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third on a dead-ball era suicide squeeze courtesy of junior Jaden Maia, Southington was undone by a difficult bottom of the third.

In that inning, Fairfield Warde scored three times as Southington threw the ball around on a couple of plays.

Southington's errors helped Fairfield Warde's cause, but Saturday's championship under cloudy skies wasn't about what wasn't done.

It was about what was done.

An emotionally exhausted Fairfield Warde Coach Brett Connor was relieved at the outcome — and proud.

"They're state champions today. They're state champions in the classroom and they're state champions in the community," Connor said. "All the stress. I'm so relieved. We're forever champions and I'm thankful."

Fairfield Warde tacked on two more runs later in the game and the title was seemingly in the bag.

But it wasn't officially secured without a few tense moments in the seventh, when Southington scored four to make it close, a bit too close for comfort for Fairfield fans.

After giving up a walk and single after getting one out in the seventh, Broderick left the game to a standing ovation, moving over to first base.

Connor put in relief pitcher Galvin. Then the game got very interesting.

With the bases loaded, Southington senior Rusiecki singled in two runs to make it 7-3.

Then Southington senior Justin Chiulli doubled in two more runs to make it 7-5, prompting half of the nearly jammed Palmer Field crowd to chant "It's not over."

But Galvin calmed down and struck out Southington senior Manny Izzo to end the game, the season and the championship careers for Fairfield Warde seniors.

It was the program's first title since 1981, when Broderick's father played for the squad.

As for Southington, no heads were down after the loss.

Southington Coach Stan Switala said his team put up a fight and he was pleased with the effort.

"No one included us all year. They battled all year," Switala said, his team finishing 22-4 on the season.

Switala had nothing but kudos to the champions.

"They're the best team we played all year," Switala said. "The guys are down, but it was a great season.

"You know what you're going to get with these players," Switala continued. "They played with a lot of heart."

Now, Southington's team will tend to more serious matters, namely a celebration of life ceremony planned for Sunday at 5 p.m. at Southington High School's baseball field for their former coach.

To watch a replay of the game online, visit this link.