NORWICH— The Norwich Purple Tornado baseball team opened up the 2026 season, where they hosted Chenango Valley in a STAC non-divisional game. With some travel issues, the game was set to begin at 5:30 p.m. instead of the usual 5 p.m. start time. However, the game started just before 6 p.m.

The score was 11-9 Chenango Valley with Norwich making a good rally in the bottom of the fourth. However with no lights, the game was called due to darkness after four innings, which was marked official.

Chenango Valley took an early 3-0 lead in the first before Norwich quickly answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Connor White doubled to lead off the inning as Noah Eddy drew a full count and reached first on a walk.

Zack Parker drove in White on a double to center and just like that Norwich had runners in scoring position with no outs. Zac Turner drove in Eddy from third on a single to left. With one out, Owen Olds grounded out to drive in Parker to tie the game.

Norwich’s Collin Reid went back to the mound and worked a stellar second inning, where he struck out the side, which gave his team opportunities in the bottom half of the inning.

Carmine Pastore drew a walk to lead off the inning and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mikey Brunick before reaching third on a wild pitch. He scored on Connor White’s groundout to take a one-run lead.

There were several lead changes with Chenango Valley regaining the lead in the top of the third before Norwich went up 7-5 in the bottom half as Joey Parker drove in a run on a double and Carmine Pastore singled to also drive in a run.

Joey Parker went two-for-three with two RBIs and two runs scored and Connor White also drove in two runs to lead the team.

However, Chenango Valley had a six-run fourth inning, taking a 11-7 lead before Norwich rallied back to cut the deficit to two in the bottom half. Joey Parker tripled to drive in a run and Collin Reid drove in a run on a line drive to right field.

Reid worked three innings, allowing seven runs (five earned) on three hits, four walks, and struck out five batters. Zack Parker relieved Reid and allowed four runs (three earned) on two hits, a walk, and had one strikeout.

Norwich (0-1) heads to Waverly on Friday at 5 p.m.