Coventry rallies in seventh to reach Class S baseball final

CLASS S SEMIFINAL BASEBALL: COVENTRY 4, SHEPAUG 1

BRISTOL — It all started with a bloop single, a seemingly innocuous pop-up that detected a small opening in no-man’s-land in shallow left field and dropped in for a hit.

It wasn’t particularly well-hit, but it certainly was well placed, and that harmless fly ball, off the bat of sophomore Cole Lalli to lead off the top of the seventh inning Wednesday night, sparked an explosion that propelled the Coventry High School baseball team into the Class S state championship game with a 4-1 win over Shepaug in the semifinals at Muzzy Field.

Trailing 1-0 through six innings and down to their final at-bats, the fifth-seeded Patriots needed something — anything — to stir up a rally and keep their season alive. That something was Lalli’s pop-up. Ryan Lawrence followed with a line-drive single to center, and a textbook sacrifice bunt by Jordan Jeroszko put runners on second and third with one out.

Justin Mancino then lined a two-run single to left that plated Lalli with the tying run and Lawrence with the go-ahead run.

But the Patriots weren’t done yet. Nikolaj Freschlin

drew a two-out walk, and John Boutin grounded a two-run single to left field to give Patriots senior pitcher Trevor Moulton a three-run lead — finally, some breathing room — for the bottom of the seventh. Moulton then set the Spartans down 1-2-3 to seal the victory.

“Oh, man! It feels great!” Moulton said. “I’ve been

waiting since my freshman year to make it. We’ve been working so hard this season, and it paid off.”

Coventry will face Notre Dame of Fairfield in the Class S state championship game at Palmer Field in Middletown on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Sixth-seeded Notre Dame defeated Holy Cross 7-5 in Wednesday’s earlier semifinal at Muzzy Field. It will be Coventry’s first trip to the state final since it won the Class S crown in 1984 with an 8-6 victory over Somers.

Moulton’s exuberance is certainly understandable considering the Patriots’ tournament run this year followed frustratingly early exits the two previous years. They were the third seed in Class S last year, but were upset by 19thseeded Shepaug in the second round. In 2016, Coventry was the fifth seed and was upset by 28th-seeded Immaculate in the first round.

“I’m so excited to see

what Saturday brings,” Moulton said. “Hopefully, it brings us a championship. It’s going to be a blast.”