St. Mary’s Door pitcher Greg Conden fires to the plate in the home half of the fourth inning against Western Charles batter Jason Boyd. Conden tossed a complete game on Sunday as the Door defeated the Natty Bohs 6-2 in the CHASM regular season finale.
Western Charles pitcher Jake Kost fires to the plate in the top of the first inning against St. Mary’s Door leadoff batter Chase O’Dell. Kost plunked O’Dell during the at-bat and the Door scored three runs in the first and three more in the fourth en route to a 6-2 victory on Sunday.
St. Mary’s Door pitcher Greg Conden fires to the plate in the home half of the fourth inning against Western Charles batter Jason Boyd. Conden tossed a complete game on Sunday as the Door defeated the Natty Bohs 6-2 in the CHASM regular season finale.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Western Charles pitcher Jake Kost fires to the plate in the top of the first inning against St. Mary’s Door leadoff batter Chase O’Dell. Kost plunked O’Dell during the at-bat and the Door scored three runs in the first and three more in the fourth en route to a 6-2 victory on Sunday.
Sunday afternoon when Western Charles and St. Mary’s Door met to put the finishing touches on the Charles & St. Mary’s Baseball League regular season, both teams were literally already in full playoff mode at Rainbow Construction Field.
St. Mary’s (9-7) scored three runs in the top of the first inning and added three more runs in the top of the fourth and that was more than enough support for pitcher Greg Conden. On a warm, muggy afternoon, Conden limited Western Charles to two runs over nine complete innings to collect the win and keep the Door out of the play-game.
“I thought my fastball was pretty good all day,” said Conden, who fanned five batters and yielded a solo homer to Chris Blondin in the eighth. “My curveball was pretty good in the late innings. We got some runs early and that always helps you settle down. They had a couple of guys on in the ninth, but my defense helped get me out of it.”
Western Charles (8-8), which won three consecutive CHASM tournament titles from 2018-20, will have to climb back into the double-elimination portion of the playoffs via a play-in game next Wednesday against Indian Head. The Natty Bohs fell behind early and could only manage single runs in the fourth and eighth innings against Conden.
St. Mary’s scored three runs in the top of the first against Western Charles hurler Jake Kost. Chase O’Dell was hit by a pitch. Two batters later Mike Gorze doubled home Tarlton and Jason Bean for a 3-0 lead. Caleb Bean, O’Dell and Gavin Wathen all drove in runs in the top of the fourth to extend the Door lead to 6-1.
Western Charles scored one run in the bottom of the fourth against Conden when Jason Boyd singled then scored on an infield single by Blondin. In the home half of the eighth Blondin collected his second RBI when he smacked a solo homer to left center, one pitch after he hit a foul ball that traveled less than 50 feet.
Western Charles threatened to trim the lead further in the bottom of the eighth but with two out and runners on second and third, Conden retired Tyler Summers on a grounder to shortstop. Each of the first two batters in the ninth reached courtesy of errors by the Door shortstop, but Conden escaped unharmed by fanning Blondin and Cam Juryk to end the contest.
One day earlier Pomfret (9-7), the reigning league champions, split its final doubleheader with Indian Head (5-11) at Rainbow Construction Field. With the loss, the Pirates yielded the regular season title to idle St. Mary’s Post 255 (9-7) which earned the honor via several tie-breaking scenarios. Pomfret will face St. Mary’s Door on Sept. 10, while St. Mary’s Post 255 will await the winner of the play-in game between Indian Head and Western Charles.
After Pomfret coasted to the regular season titles in 2020 (17-1) and 2021 (16-2), the Pirates were one of three teams to end the 2022 slate tied for first place at 9-7. Both St. Mary’s Post 255 and St. Mary’s Door also finished 9-7, while Western Charles went 8-8 and Indian Head dipped to 5-11.
