By Michael Letendre
The Bristol American Legion baseball team was supposed to have its rubber match showdown against West Hartford on Thursday evening from Hall High School, but the event was postponed earlier in the day.
It was one of a full slate of games in Zone 1 on Thursday that has three teams battling it out for first place.
In a mild upset, West Hartford (8-3) lost to Berlin by an 8-1 final on Tuesday – shaking up the Zone 1 standings.
It was Berlin’s first victory of the season (1-9) and Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta had predicted that program was due for a huge victory this season and would not go winless because the squad is a quality program.
That first win came against the leader of the zone and very quickly, West Hartford, Meriden and Bristol are all tied for first in the Zone 1 standings.
Bristol entered Thursday at 9-4 in Zone 1 action and had played two more games than both West Hartford and Meriden (8-3, .727).
In a strange twist, Meriden and West Hartford are a combined 10-1 on the road this season while carrying a fairly average 6-5 combined ledger at home.
West Hartford’s only road loss this season is at Bristol while Meriden is a perfect 4-0.
Meriden got one of games in against Simsbury on Tuesday, winning its contest 11-2, but saw its second contest suspended.
Bristol, at 11-4 overall, has won three straight Zone 1 games and is 4-2 from home – the best home ledger in Zone 1 play this season.
The Thursday that wasn’t…
It’s not clear if the rest of Zone 1 got in its games in on Thursday but the docket was supposed to have Bristol at West Hartford (postponed), Meriden at Newington (5-6), Naugatuck (5-5) at Simsbury (0-7) and Avon (6-5) against Berlin.
Losses by West Hartford and Meriden would have vaulted Post 2 into first place all by itself.
Bristol’s up-coming slate
In a make-up game, Newington comes to Muzzy Field on Friday at 7 p.m. while after an off day Saturday, Bristol travels to Avon on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. from Buckingham Park (I almost wrote Palace instead of Park…).
On Monday, Bristol is in action at Berlin in another make-up encounter.
That showdown takes place from Sage Park at 6:30 p.m. with Bristol slated as the home team.
Finally on Tuesday, its back to Legion Field, as Bristol tangles with Meriden at 5:30 p.m. with the possibility of first place being on the line.
There’s a lot going on over the next week or so with plenty of rain, thunderstorms and the chance of miserable weather in the forecast.
The Pitching front
The locals are going to play four games over the next five days with all its pitchers available for action.
Mike Lorenzetti was eligible to pitch as of today and that means Bristol has its complete complement of throwers at the ready.
All hands must be on deck for this slew of games, starting on Friday.
Juniors on a roll
The Bristol Junior program has won its past two games and is now 3-6 overall after defeating Zone 1 leader West Hartford by a 5-4 final on Wednesday from Conard high school.
It was West Hartford’s first loss of the year (7-1).
Jaydon Churchill started the game for Bristol but made way for Michael Roalf who earned the victory over a five-inning, 80-pitch sizzler.
Bristol trailed 3-1 after one frame, tied it up through two (3-3) and held the lead after two-and-a-half completed innings at 4-3.
West Hartford scored once in the bottom of the third to re-tie the contest before one additional run by Post 2 in the fourth ended the scoring on the evening.
Both teams collected seven hits over the back-and-forth contest.
