By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – The senior American Legion baseball team from Bristol opened its 2021 campaign against West Hartford on Thursday as two talented squads attempted to earn their first victory of the season.

Bristol held the initial lead, saw Post 96 seize a 3-1 advantage midway through the contest before Post 2 tied things up going into the final inning of play.

But West Hartford had all the answers late as an error, a base hit, a sacrifice bunt and finally the game-winning single from Tom Redden propelled Post 96 to a 4-3 victory in Zone 1 action from Hall High School.

“I told them I was disappointed with the outcome but happy with the fight,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “Down 3-1, we could have gone away there but we got back in the game and had a couple chances to take the lead. We just didn’t get a hit.”

West Hartford scored its first three runs via two, two out rallies, and when the pressure was on, Post 96 added numbers to the scoreboard.

And the final play was a bang-bang hit to third base as the tally was going to jam up Bristol third baseman Zach Rinavage – whether he fielded it or not.

“The ball hit the line,” said LaPenta of the game-winning hit by Redden. “Zach thought he maybe could have gotten it but he said if he caught it, the guy was going to score but [Zach] didn’t know the [runner] was going back to the bag. If he caught it, he probably didn’t have a play and the bases would have been loaded with one out. We’re still in a tough spot.”  

Post 2 made an excellent showing as losing pitcher Albert Molina showed grit, made big pitches and kept his squad in the game late.

The lefty allowed just five hits, walked one and fanned a couple over his six-plus innings.

“He threw well,” said LaPenta of Molina.

Bristol had an eventful first inning – tallying a run on the scoreboard to snare the early edge in the showdown.

Austin Brown (2-for-4, two runs scored) led off with a single while Adam Caron (2-for-4) dropped a one-hopper to center.

And then with men on the corners and one out, Zack Rinavage sent a ball to centerfield on off the catch, Brown charged home as the sacrifice fly gave Post 2 a 1-0 lead through just a half inning of work.

West Hartford struck right back as leadoff hitter Alex Ciafone fell behind 0-2 but managed to draw a walk and later stole second.

He advanced to third on a groundout and when Drew Seidman slipped a flare into left-centerfield, Ciafone tagged the dish to knot the score at 1-1.

Both teams were retired in order in the second stanza as Molina got into a bit of a groove – as did West Hartford pitcher Joseph Dooley – but Bristol’s Nate Ouellette dropped a base hit into center with one out in the third.

But Brown lined out to short and Ouellette got doubled up to end the Bristol third as the game remained a 1-1 stalemate.

Molina had retired six straight before yielding a two-out single to Redden (2-for-4) in the bottom of the third.

But Seidman popped out to Caron at first, making a bit of a diving play to end the inning with the game still tied at 1-1.

It was a tough fourth frame for Post 2 as Caron wrangled up his second single of the game and when Evan Bouchard walked, two were on with no one out.

But a second straight inning-ending double play put West Hartford back at the dish.

Post 96 finally took the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Tom LaSpada opened the inning with a single to right but two outs later, he was still stuck on first base.

Ixael Albino then reached via error and when Lankevin cleared the bases with a deep double to left, the only extra-base hit of the showdown, it was a 3-1 game through four.

In the fifth, Bristol’s Matt Beaucar drew a one-out single to left as Post 2 was on the move again, but the visitors did not score as West Hartford continued to lead by two.

And then in the top of sixth, Bristol struck pay dirt.

Brown led off with a single to right and when Caron’s grounder to shortstop was misplayed, two men were on with no outs.

With one gone, Rinavage’s grounder to second was misplayed as Brown scored from third to chop the deficit to 3-2.

And when Jack Kozikowski grounded to second, the ball was thrown home but Caron easily scored and on the RBI fielder’s choice, the score was knotted at 3-3.

Bristol then had men on the corners and with two outs, the locals attempted its vaunted ‘Bristol pickle’ – with Kozikowksi at first base running to second, stalling midway in hoping to bait a throw as Rinavage was looking to score the go-ahead run from third base.

But West Hartford did not bite, eventually got out of the frame, but Post 2 had the event tied up at 3-3.

Dooley started the bottom of the sixth with a single and was lifted for a pinch runner who was immediately picked off.

The rest of the line-up was retired in order as the score was still 3-3 going into the final inning of play.

Bristol’s Alex Canzellarini led off with a walk, eventually stealing second to get into scoring position.

But Caron drilled a hard shot right at the second baseman as Post 96 got out of the stanza with the bottom of the seventh looming.

“We had the go-ahead run at second base and Adam had a great at-bat,” said LaPenta. “He hit the ball as hard as you can hit it and it’s all I can ask. It just happened to be at somebody.”

Lankevin started the rally with a shot to left-center that was misplayed as the wind just seemed to carry the ball in the wrong direction as a catch wasn’t made.

“The wind-ball started the bottom of the seventh,” said LaPenta. “It’s a tough play this time of night. At first, I thought it was an easy out but it stayed up there an awful long time. That kind of put us in an eight-ball spot there.”

And with the top of the order coming up, Molina was lifted for Canzellarini.

Ciafone singled and Weiss bunted the duo over as men were on second and third with one out.

From there, Redden unleashed his hit that just bounced down the third base line in fair territory as the winning run scored and Post 2 absorbed a tough 4-3 loss in its Zone 1 opener. 

“I knew looking at the zone we’ll be fighting with West Hartford and a couple other clubs for the zone” title said LaPenta. “But it’s all about how you’re playing at the end of the year. I was happy with the effort [and] I think we have a good club. We have an exhibition game [on Friday] to get our first ‘W’ and get rolling from there.” 

Bristol American Legion Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game

WEST HARTFORD 4, BRISTOL 3

from Hall high school, West Hartford

Bristol (0-1)     100 002 0 – 3 7 3 

West Hartford (1-0)           100 200 1 – 4 6 2 

WP: Elijah Salmons (WH); LP: Albert Molina (B) 

Bristol Batting 

2B – None

3B – None

HR – None

West Hartford Batting 

2B – Pete Lankevin

3B – None

HR – None

Records: West Hartford 1-0; Bristol 0-1