The Wolcott Scrappers were a young team in 2021, but played hard, which earned them praise from Tri-Town Trojans player/coach Danny McCarty.
McCarty’s Tri-Town team had to rally from a 1-0 games deficit to overcome Wolcott and win the best-of-three Tri-State Baseball League semifinal series. McCarty sees the Scrappers as a dangerous team in future years if they can find more pitching. Not enough pitching was part of the reason why Wolcott couldn’t grab one of the other two games in the series. If the Scrappers had won, they would have reached the Tri-State World Series for the first time since 2014, when they beat Tri-Town to win it all.
Pitching certainly helped Wolcott gain its 1-0 lead in the semifinal series. Former Wolcott High star right-hander Ike Negretti tossed a no-hitter in a 2-1 victory over Tri-Town in the first game of the series last Friday at John Casadei Field (Community Field) in Litchfield. After the win, Negretti talked about the Scrapper ride from a 7-8 regular season to being one win away from the World Series.
“We’re definitely more relaxed,” Negretti said. “We’re coming to the game, it’s just another game.”
The relaxed attitude certainly helped Wolcott navigate a tough three-game series against the Amenia Monarchs. The sixth-seeded Scrappers were able to win both games on the road and capture the series against the third-seeded Monarchs. In the first game at Amenia’s Doc Bartlett Field, Negretti tossed a complete game (1 run, 7 hits, 11 strikeouts, 2 walks) in a 5-1 victory. Any good vibes from the first game were vanquished when Amenia erupted for 11 first inning runs in the second game, which was played at the B.A.W. Complex. The Scrappers were behind, 13-1, entering the bottom of the eighth inning, but scored four times in the eighth and ninth innings to make the Monarchs sweat out the 13-9 win.
The second round series came down to the third-and-deciding game back in Amenia. Wolcott claimed a hard-fought 8-5 victory and took the series. The top three hitters in the Scrapper lineup, former Wolcott High stalwarts Steve Urbanski, Matt Warren and Jack Drewry, proved to be a winning combination. The trio reached base seven times and smacked out six hits. They scored six times and drove in seven runs. Warren had a two-double and Drewry smacked a three-run homer.
Wolcott had reached the second round after sweeping the No. 11 Burlington Hunters by scores of 2-1 and 9-4. After losing the semifinal series to the Trojans, the Scrappers finished the season with a record of 12-11.
Caption: Wolcott player/coach Matt Warren makes contact in Game 3 of the Tri-State Baseball League semifinal series against Tri-Town on Sunday in Litchfield. Teammate Jason Sullivan waits on deck. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69).
GALLERIES
Here are my photos from Game 1 of the Wolcott-Tri-Town series.
Here are my photos from Game 2 of the Wolcott-Tri-Town series.
Here are my photos from Game 3 of the Wolcott-Tri-Town series.
