MIDDLETOWN – Last year, when the Coventry baseball team came to Palmer Field for the Class S championship game against Haddam-Killingworth, coach Ryan Giberson thought maybe his team was a little young, a little bit inexperienced to be there. And he was right. The Patriots lost.
Friday night, they were back, the No. 1 seed, facing 15th-seeded Oxford. There were nine seniors. Three of them had played on the Coventry basketball team which lost in the Class S state championship at Mohegan Sun in March.
They didn’t want to lose again in a state final.
Coventry used a three-run fifth inning to go ahead and sophomore Kevin Johnson had six strikeouts and gave up three hits in Coventry’s 5-2 victory over Oxford in the Class S state championship game.
Coventry wins the Class S title 5-2 over Oxford #ctbase pic.twitter.com/vzx0NkcWRL
— Lori Riley (@lrileysports) June 8, 2024
“Gold feels a lot better than silver,” said senior Nathan Spear, who singled in fifth inning and scored two runs.
Spear played on the basketball team, along with seniors Gavin Covell and Nate Cordner.
“This feels amazing, I mean, we’ve lost in basketball and baseball – it’s about time we won,” said Cordner, who had two hits and scored two runs.
“This entire year – just the chemistry – we’ve had seven people who have played all four years.”
Last year, Coventry made five errors in a 6-2 loss to H-K in the championship game. Friday’s game started a little rough – there were a couple errors, a couple of walks. Oxford scored its first run on an error and its second when Kyle Donlon doubled home Jake Matusovich in the third inning.
Then Coventry settled down. Nathan Spear walked and scored on an error in the third. Cordner singled and scored on Mather Spear’s double in the fourth.
“I was always confident – at the beginning of the game, we were hitting the ball hard, but we just couldn’t find the gap,” Cordner said. “We were due.”
Nathan Spear opened the bottom of the fifth with a single to left and scored on an error. Dustin Menzel drove in the fifth run with a single.
“Once we scored the three runs, we came back (and got three outs) 1-2-3 in the sixth,” Giberson said. “That kind of deflates, takes the wind out of the sails.”
And though there were nine seniors, there was also Johnson, who didn’t pitch a lot last year but has come a long way this season. He pitched his biggest game last Saturday in the quarterfinals, a 4-0 win over Canton.
Friday night, he was on the biggest stage.
“Oh my God, he was absolutely amazing,” Nathan Spears said. “He’s been great all year. I knew (the rough start) wouldn’t affect him but the way he played through like it was any normal game is incredible.”
Johnson said he was nervous at the start of the game.
“We had two seniors last year, we kind of let them down,” Johnson said. “This year we had nine seniors – it was like, ‘We have to win this, we have to win for them.’
“After (the first few innings), everybody kind of clicked and everybody kind of relaxed and everybody loosened up. Everybody started hitting, making plays. I was just saying to myself, ‘I just got to throw the ball. Just buckle down and throw it hard.’”
Johnson struck out the last batter to cap off the win.
“We haven’t really felt a lot of pressure this year, but I felt a little today just in the sense that you want it for these guys,” Giberson said. “I’ve had these guys since they were freshmen and they’re a great group. They’ve always played well together, they were competitive and gritty – they were just young (last year).
“This is the year we’re not young – a young guy helped us get there for sure – but this win’s for the seniors.”
