The top seeded Woodland Hawks defeated #2 seed St. Paul,4-0, this afternoon to claim the NVL Championship for 2023. Starter Darren Gasparri picked up the win for the Hawks, scattering nine hits over six innings while striking out one.
The Hawks got off to a quick start, scoring three runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. Darren Gasparri reached safely on an infield error and Tyler DeCrescenzo singled to put two men on with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt attempt failed, Michael Belcher singled to load the bases. Bill Untiet then singled driving in Gasparri and DeCrescenzo, and Belcher advanced to 3rd. Untiet was out on an attempted steal, but Belcher scored on the play, and Woodland led 3-0.
From this point on, the story of the game was basically St. Paul’s inability to score. Over the final six innings, St. Paul had eleven hits.
In every inning, St Paul had men in scoring position. In the 2nd, 4th, and 6th innings, St Paul had two consecutive hits to start the inning. In the 7th inning, St Paul loaded the bases with no outs.
But in every instance, the Woodland defense made the plays necessary to keep the Falcons from scoring. It was the first time that St. Paul was shutout this season.
Woodland added an insurance run in the 4th inning without the benefit of a base hit. Walks to Erik Pulkkinen, Max Martin, and Gasparri loaded the bases, and an RBI groundout by DeCrescenzo produced Woodland’s 4th run.
Woodland moves on as the #1 seed in the CIAC Class M tournament while St. Paul will be the #1 seed in Class S of the State Tournament.
For St. Paul
Ryan Kilpatrick was 3 for 4 with a double.
Jonathan Remillard was 3 for 4.
Jamie Leggett was 2 for 3.
Devin Kulas was 2 for 3.
at Municipal Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
St Paul (19-4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 3
Woodland (21-2) 3 0 0 1 0 0 X 4 4 1
Pitching W/L IP K BB HB H R ER
St. Paul
Logan Rembish L 5 3 5 1 4 4 2
Dom Napoletano 1 3 0 0 0 0 0
Woodland
Darren Gasparri W 6 1 3 0 9 0 0
Matt Silva 1 1 0 0 2 0 0