Quit is the one word that isn’t in the Derby baseball team’s lexicon.
Sixth-seeded Derby scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to erase a 1 – 0 deficit and grab a 2 – 1 home victory over 11th-seeded Windsor Locks in the second round of the Class S playoffs on Wednesday.
“A couple of kids came up big and did their jobs,” Red Raiders coach Summer Sochrin said.
Derby raised its record to 16 – 7. They will play either third-seeded Morgan or 14th-seeded Trinity Catholic (Trinity Catholic plays at Morgan on Thursday) in the Class S quarterfinals on Saturday. It’s the team’s first trip to the quarterfinals in at least 10 years.
Windsor Locks ended its season at 14 – 8.
It was a pitchers’ dual for most of the game between Red Raiders senior co-captain righty Ryan Skelly and Windsor Locks junior righty Chuck Vogt.
Skelly was masterful in allowing only one run on four hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts.
“I kept them off-balance with the off-speed stuff and the defense made plays behind me,” Skelly said.
Vogt allowed two earned runs on six hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts. Derby mounted a threat on him in the bottom of the second with Jon Haydu (2 – 3) hitting a single to left, followed by two walks to load the bases. The threat fizzled when sophomore Colin Haydu hit a grounder to the box with Vogt nailing the older Haydu at home to start a double play as freshman catcher Casey Vogt got the younger Haydu at first base.
Windsor Locks scored its run in the top of the third with sophomore Conor Pepin hitting a one-out single up the middle and junior Mike Spath doubled to right field to score Pepin.
For the first six innings, Chuck Vogt was unstoppable and retired 10 straight batters. Besides the second inning, sophomore Ray Kreiger was the Red Raiders’ only other base-runner in this span. Kreiger singled to left in the first and reached on an error in the third.
Derby solved Chuck Vogt in the seventh with Jon Haydu leading off with a single to right. Sophomore Hector Vazquez followed with a single to right to put runners on first and third. Senior Angelo DiSorbo then lined a single to center to score Haydu and tie it 1 – 1.
“I felt good about the swing and everything felt good,” DiSorbo said.
Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, Vazquez accidentally overran the third base bag and senior center fielder Ryan Curcio’s throw to classmate Mike Lord got him for the out.
“You can’t blame him [Vazquez] because he was aggressive,” Sochrin said. “The kids don’t give up and never quit.”
Some teams would have lost momentum after the play — but not Derby. Colin Haydu struck out afterwards but freshman pinch runner Justin Olenoski stole second, which put the Red Raiders in better position to win the game.
“Coach practiced running with me and told me to steal the base,” Olenoski said.
On a 2‑and‑2 pitch, junior pinch-hitter Adam Greenhill lines a single to right to score Olenoski with the winning run.
“I was looking for a base hit and put the bat on the ball,” Greenhill said. “I went out there and focused.”
Skelly said, “It feels good to come back and win and it was closer than it should have been.”
