Derby 3, Naugatuck 0

The Derby Red Raiders are advancing to the semifinals of the Naugatuck Valley League tourney after defeating the Naugatuck Greyhounds 3 – 0 Monday.

When asked if his team had any reservations about joining the NVL this season head coach Sumner Sochrin simply shrugged saying: It’s baseball. No matter what league you are playing in it’s still the game of baseball.”

We’ve had a good season so far but there is still a lot left in the season. Ryan Skelly is our number one pitcher and our number one batter and toady he pitched a good game for us.”

Skelly fired a two-hitter with nine strikeouts against Naugatuck.

He retired the side in order over the last four innings. Derby backed him up at the plate hanging two runs on the board in the third and an insurance run in the fifth.

I got a lot of help behind me from my defense,” said Skelly. I don’t think we made one error in the field.”

We came in here and we wanted to make a statement. We were happy to qualify for the tournament but we didn’t come here to play just one game.”

Photo: Ken MorseDerby put up all the runs they would need when Matt Zahornasky lost the strike zone in the third walking Mike Ippolito and Brian Dobek with one out in the inning.

That set the stage for Ray Kreiger, who tore the cover off a fast ball, sending a run scoring double into the centerfield gap. Skelly followed with a run scoring ground out in the hole at shortstop for a 2 – 0 Red Raider advantage.

Dobek doubled to left in the fifth and scored the insurance run on Krieger’s second run scoring hit of game to push the advantage to 3 – 0.

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