By Michael Letendre
This past week, the Bristol American Legion baseball program got pretty sick and tired of the weather.
It’s been a ridiculous stretch for the program as Post 2 was only able to get one game in – an 11-1 triumph over Simsbury last Sunday to hang in second place of the Zone 1 standings.
At one point a week ago, Bristol had played 3-4 more Zone 1 games than every other team in the league.
But by the completion of this weekend, most teams will have caught up – for good or bad – in terms of standings.
And after Bristol belted Simsbury, a slew of postponements killed off the rest of the week for Post 2.
Thursday’s contest against West Hartford was postponed, starting an unfortunate pattern to the week.
That contest, which could decide the Zone 1 winner, has been switched to Muzzy Field on July 28.
In that pivotal showdown, Bristol will be the visiting team like it was in last week’s make-up against Naugatuck.
And then this past Friday, a brief rain shower dumped buckets on Muzzy Field – putting the infield area behind third base under water.
Groundskeepers and umpires took a close look at the situation, a sizable puddle, as both teams looked on, hoping to get the game in.
But ten minutes after the scheduled start time, the game was called.
And then the cherry on the sundae was finding out that Sunday’s game at Avon was, like everything that week, POSTPONED.
In its place, Naugatuck travels to Avon for a 5:30 p.m. Zone 1 thriller that did not involve Bristol.
In the end, it’s going to be a week before Post 2 finally hits the field – weather permitting of course.
Scheduled today is Bristol traveling to Newington for a 5 p.m. game from Legends Field.
It appears that Berlin is coming to Bristol on Monday for a Zone 1 clash at 6:30 p.m.
There was a game between the two squads scheduled for Tuesday at Sage Park, but the plans for that contest fell through.
That’s a wrap from one of the wackiest weeks of Bristol American Legion Baseball in quite some time.
Meriden takes over Zone 1 lead
The squad from Meriden has quickly taken control of the Zone 1 standings after beating West Hartford twice on Saturday.
Scores were 1-0 and 4-3 as West Hartford fell in a doubleheader from Ceppa Field in Meriden.
With those losses, Bristol popped up into second place at 9-4 overall while Meriden is 11-3 – 1.5 games in front of Post 2 for second place.
West Hartford is now 8-5 and is a game behind Bristol in third place.
Juniors are rolling now
The Bristol Juniors are now the hottest squad in Zone 1, winning three straight games since a 1-6 start.
Over its latest win, Post 2 defeated Torrington by a 15-2 final from Fuessenrich Park on Thursday.
The game was mercy-ruled after the completion of five innings.
Jaydon Churchill went 4.2 strong innings in posting the victory while Cole Latko mopped up in the end.
Bristol is 4-6 with a positive ratio of runs scored-to-runs given up this year (49-to-44).
West Hartford remains in first place (8-2) while Bristol is only four games behind that squad.
Post 2 continues to excel on the road, going 4-3 overall, and will be looking to continue its upward trek in the standings.
