They said they were the best and they proved it. South Burlington baseball wins D-I title

Players on the South Burlington High School baseball team played with swagger and talked confidently of a championship run.

"I say this as humbly as possible, but we are the best team in the state and we are going to prove it," Sam Mazza-Bergeron said after the semifinals.

"All week we talked about playing our game because we knew we were the best team going into this," South Burlington's Nick Kelly said.

Actions speak louder than words, but the Wolves showed how to do both. And Saturday, they left no doubt who would raise the Division I championship trophy.

Opportunistic in plating six first-inning runs and riding Kelly's complete-game, four-hitter, top-seeded South Burlington coolly strolled to a 6-2 victory over No. 3 and defending champion Champlain Valley at Centennial Field, seizing the program's first state title since 2018.

"We just had to be us, be ourselves. We just got it done," said Kelly, who also went the distance in the semifinal victory. "I knew we were going to win because I have faith in myself, I trust my guys behind me."

Pouncing on a pair of CVU errors in the first inning, the Wolves (16-3) scored all six runs with two outs, highlighted by James Chagnon's bases-clearing triple.

"I knew a curve was coming and I put my hands inside the ball and put it to right field and when you put it in play, good things happen," Chagnon said. "It was super-surreal. I wish I could experience it all over again."

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That was more than enough for Kelly, the lefty ace who's headed to Fairfield University in the fall to continue his baseball career. Over seven innings, Kelly faced 28 batters and delivered 60 out of 90 pitches for strikes in yielding four hits, two runs (none earned) and two walks while fanning seven.

Kelly, who sent CVU down in order in three of the seven frames, only allowed runs to cross the plate on Travis Stroh and Russell Willoughby's back-to-back singles in the fifth.

"He was a dog out there on the mound," South Burlington coach Luke Goyette said. 'He’s been wanting this moment for years."

And so has Kelly's teammates.

"When you have a group as special as this, starting when we were 8 years old, just grinding every day and working hard with great mentors, great guys to lead us ... not much as else you can ask for there," South Burlington shortstop Andre Bouffard said. "It's a culmination of everything, really."

South Burlington's big inning almost wasn't. CVU turned a 4-6-3 double play to cancel out Bouffard getting hit by a pitch to open the frame. Then Lucas Van Mullen singled, Mazza-Bergeron drew a walk on a 3-2 count and catcher Kiefer McGrath beat Orion Yates to first base on a play ruled an error to load the bases for Chagnon.

Chagnon sliced a line drive to right, evading Aaron LaRose's diving attempt, for a three-RBI triple and 3-0 lead. Cedric Lamothe followed with a RBI hit to left and Bouffard brought home two more runs when his groundball to short was misplayed for an error.

"Honestly, I already thought we won it," Chagnon said. "That’s where I was at, but you can’t take (CVU) for granted."

Starter Stephen Rickert and the Redhawks (15-5), who lost three times to South Burlington this season, settled in after the opening frame. Rickert went five innings and allowed no earned runs, while the CVU defense made several web gems to keep the Wolves at six runs.

"We’ve been resilient all year and we knew that we had to play sound defensively to give ourselves a shot. But I’m super-proud of my group and the way they battled back every game all season," CVU coach Nicky Elderton said. "SB is a really, really good team and they can hit the ball around. Congratulations to them.

"One bad inning, but that doesn’t define us as a team."

While Goyette admitted he didn't love his players outward displays of confidence, there was no denying their work ethic and determination.

"I'm not not a fan of pop-offs under any situation. But they worked and in this moment, with this group, I’m OK with it," Goyette said. ""They wanted to earn it. The guys earned it."

And for South Burlington's 10 seniors, it was a perfect sendoff.

"It feels like the job is finished. There’s no better way to go out," Chagnon said.

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Contact Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.