By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – If you give multiple chances to Bristol American Legion baseball slugger Ryan Fradette, he’s eventually going to burn you.
The former Bristol Eastern standout has a very good eye at the plate and bats anywhere from clean-up to the sixth position in the Post 2 batting order.
Against West Hartford this past Sunday, Fradette was slotted fourth in the line-up and caused absolute havoc in the seventh inning to help steal away the game.
He started the afternoon 0-for-1 with a walk but in the bottom of the sixth, after Adam Caron and Andrew Lozier drew consecutive walks, a wild pitch advanced the duo and Fradette cranked a ball into the outfield off a 2-2 count.
But the West Hartford left fielder played so far in, he was a quick hop, skip, and a jump away from the dirt at shortstop.
He snared the ball out of the air for the first out of the inning as Fradette was robbed of a hit and the next two batters did not produce a game-winning tally either.
And then with two on again in the seventh, in a 3-2 game, history would not repeat.
Fradette bounced a ball away from the third baseman as it bounced into left field – scoring the tying and game-winning runs – as Bristol snared a huge 4-3 victory from Muzzy Field in a must-win game.
“He had a great at-bat, a line drive” which was caught said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta of Fradette’s poke in the sixth inning. “This one [in the seventh] wasn’t a great hit but he hit it hard with a tilt-topspin. It was huge.”
And Alex Canzellarini was a right time/right place winning pitcher of record on Sunday – needing just five pitches to get Bristol out of a sixth stanza jam, earning the victory in the process against Post 96.
Credit also belonged to Roberto Cruz as he struck out three over a 13-pitch stint in the top of the seventh in 0.2 innings of relief.
Both pitchers are eligible to throw as of today while Lorenzetti will be next available to pitch on July 2 due to pitch count rules.
Bristol’s roster is (nearly) set
Over the last couple weeks, Bristol has been trying to nail down its roster and recently, the senior team added Bristol Eastern’s Jaydon Churchill into the mix.
Churchill is another varsity performer that LaPenta could use on the mound while he supplies deep level insurance at second base or in center field.
He had his moments in an Eastern uniform over the spring and in a pinch, Churchill can chuck an inning or two for Post 2.
Depth is something Bristol has in spades and not every Zone 1 team has the kind of quality depth Post 2 enjoys every summer.
Zone 1 Standings – As of Monday, June 28
As of Monday afternoon, the Zone 1 standings are a bit of a jumble.
At 4-1, Avon is now the Zone 1 leader after Bristol picked off West Hartford (6-2 overall) the previous day.
After starting the season at 1-2, Meriden is in third place and has won two straight games in zone play.
Naugatuck is also tied for third, hanging in at 3-2 and are 1.5 games behind first place Avon.
And Bristol is also in the hunt at 4-3, just percentage points behind Meriden and Naugy.
Don’t forget, one of Bristol’s goals this season is to qualify for the Regional Tournament – representing the top two teams of all five zones.
“If you want to go to the Regional Tournament, you have to be in the top two” spots of the zone said LaPenta. “If we don’t [win against West Hartford], we’re probably three games back for the second spot and it would be a tough uphill battle.”
The strange part of Zone 1 this season is observing the struggles of Berlin and Simsbury – two squads that have been successful over the summer months throughout the years.
Simsbury (0-4) and Berlin (0-5) are a combined 0-for-9 in Zone 1 play, scoring a combined 10 runs overall.
Bristol is the hot team right now
Currently, Bristol has won three straight zone games – four of five overall – as Post 2 is the hottest team in Zone 1 for the time being.
This week, Bristol goes to Berlin on Tuesday (Sage Park, 6:30 p.m.), and then plays three straight Zone 1 games from Muzzy Field in Bristol.
Avon is in town Wednesday (5:45 p.m.), Meriden travels to Bristol on Thursday (5:45 p.m.) and after a day off, Berlin makes its first Mum City appearance of the campaign on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We put ourselves in a good spot,” said LaPenta. “Now, we’ve got three games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So, we’ll see what happens.”
NOTE…Originally, Saturday was supposed to be a doubleheader but the non-zone feature against Fairfield has been cancelled…Bristol’s schedule after the fourth of July sees the program travel to Naugatuck on Tuesday, July 6 and then is home for a Zone 1 confrontation against Newington on Thursday, July 8 at 7 p.m.
