WEST HARTFORD >> Two outs, bottom of the seventh, runners on first and third.
The second pitch Kendrick Boss threw to Sam Dobins bounced off the front off home plate, got by the catcher and Jonathan Greenfield raced home, throwing his helmet in the air and jumping into his teammates arms.
The Warriors beat Fitch, 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at Hall High School.
“You can tell from our dugout just how much they believe in each other, how much fun they have being together and when you do that,” Hall coach Jeff Billing said. “Hopefully you come out on top of games like this.”
Greenfield led off the final inning with a ground ball to the shortstop, one Cooper Robinson couldn’t handle cleanly. After a failed sacrifice-bunt-attempt-turned-strikeout by Matthew Skwiot, Patrick McHale singled up the middle, but was erased on a fielder’s choice. Greenfield moved to third on the play, setting up the winning run.
“We couldn’t make routine plays in the field and to their credit,” Fitch coach Marc Peluso said. “Hall, for the most part, did and that’s why they win.”
Sam Dobins, the player at-bat for Hall when the winning run scored, also recorded his first varsity win Saturday. He pitched a clean seventh, including a strikeout of Ryan Glass to end the inning.
Fitch took the lead in the top of the sixth when Boss single to right field scoring Jonathan Barstow from second.
Barstow led the Falcons with two runs.
“They tried to fight a little bit,” Peluso said of his team. “What’s unfortunate, if you don’t show up from inning one with that type of fighting mentality you’re playing catch up at that point. We didn’t show up until that third, fourth inning when we came back a little bit, tied it and then took the lead. So if you’re unable to do that from inning one to seven, you’re not going to win as many games as you should”
Hall answered right back when Ian Henderson led off the inning with a walk and came around to score.
The Warriors used three pitchers to win their second game of the season. Jake George started, but was a little wild.
“[He] had really good stuff, couldn’t quite locate it today,” Billing said. “Struggling a little bit with his command, but he was getting a lot of swing and misses.”
George allowed just one hit, but walked four and hit two batters, both in the first inning. He also had four strikeouts.
Aaron Jay replaced George with one out in the third and bases loaded, he got Pieter Khoury to fly out to center and Glass to ground into a fielder’s choice.
The bright spot for the Falcons, according to Peluso, has been the Fitch pitching. In the first two games, they have given up two earned runs.
“Pieter Khoury battled a lot for us, he mixed it up,” Peluso said. “He was a pitbull out there which was great.”
Hall held a 3-1 lead after three innings, with all their runs coming in the third, unearned.
“We don’t deserve to win a game like that when we didn’t quite show up,” Peluso said. “We have a lot of talent here and the coaches know that there’s a lot there. But when you don’t show up and have that aggressive mentality you will not win.”
This was Hall’s first win of the year, but second one-run game. The Warriors lost to East Hartford on April 9, 4-3 in nine innings.
“It’s always nice to get the first win under your belt,” Billing said. “To beat a team like Fitch, which is actually my alma mater–To beat them is huge. I think it gives us even more confidence, now they know they can play with anybody, with the best in the state.”
Hall hosts New Britain on Wednesday and Fitch welcomes Bacon Academy to Groton on Monday.
