Norwich’s Kaden Downey is safe at the plate after beating the throw. Downey hit a deep ball to left field, but stopped at third for a triple before deciding to score on the throw. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

NORWICH – Coming off a strong PONY League regular season with their only loss to Oxford, the Norwich ‘A’ team hosted Richfield Springs in the quarterfinals. Norwich came back from a 1-0 deficit to hang on 4-2 to advance to the semi-finals. Norwich now prepares to face a tough Oneonta team on Saturday.

Richfield Springs, who finished tied for third in the ‘B’ division, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Richfield loaded the bases with one out and scored on a walk. Norwich’s Mike Brunick got out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground-out to limit the damage.

Norwich had several chances early on including two opportunities with the bases loaded, but their offense finally came through in the bottom of the fourth. Kolby Redenback led off the inning with a double before hustling in to score off Zack Parker’s game-tying RBI single. Parker stole second and scored off an error.

After Owen Olds got picked off at second base, Kaden Downey sent a deep ball into left field. He was held at third base, but took a chance and scored as Richfield was getting the ball in. Jaxson Francis, Carmine Pastore, and Zac Turner all contributed with singles following Downey’s at-bat. Turner made it 4-1 Norwich with an RBI single as Francis led the team with two hits in the win.

Carmine Pastore came in to relieve Brunick in the top of the fifth inning, where he allowed a run on a ground-out, but was able to strike out the next two batters. Pastore had a quick, clean sixth inning while Zack Parker picked up the save in the seventh as Norwich held on to the two-run lead.

Norwich is set to face Oneonta in the semi-finals at noon on Saturday. The game will be held at Damaschke Field in Oneonta. Since both teams finished first in their respective divisions, the home team will be determined by a coin toss.

Good luck Norwich.

Box Score:

Runs by inning: R H E

RS:

0-0-1-0-1-0-0 2 2 1

NO:

0-0-0-4-0-0-X 4 8 0