By Michael Letendre
SIMSBURY – The Bristol American Legion baseball program is ready for a little baseball in August.
It’s postseason time for the program and off a stellar 15-5 Zone 1 ledger (17-6 overall), Post 2 is one of the top seeds in the 19U Northern Division Tournament fray.
The Zone 1 champs are ready for battle and are wary of the one-and-done situation in single elimination play this year during the postseason.
“It’s going to be a tough game on Tuesday, no matter who we play,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “Even if a team doesn’t have a good record, all you need is one good pitcher.”
It’s not business as usual for all the teams in Connecticut as the winner won’t advance to the Northeast Regional Tournament and the usual double-elimination format wasn’t sustainable due to COVID and the late start of the American Legion regular season.
Thirty-one teams qualified for the tournament and Bristol is the third ranked squad in the Northern mix – earning two possible home games.
And the first round opponent isn’t any stranger to Post 2.
Bristol drew No. 14 South Windsor (8-13 Zone 3, .381 winning percentage) who at one point was 4-13 in Zone 3 play before winning four straight games to close out the season.
After falling to Tri-County by a 4-3 final on July 20, South Windsor went on quite a roll.
South Windsor picked off RCP (3-0), Glastonbury (5-2), EHM (6-4) and Ellington (5-2) coming into the showdown against Bristol.
In an exhibition game on June 11, Post 2 defeated South Windsor 7-1 from Muzzy Field in Bristol.
Robbie Godi, Andrew Gough, and Greg Bidwell all got a chance to throw against Post 2 and are familiar with Muzzy Field.
Through three innings of that non-zone challenge, it was a 1-1 game before Bristol scored three times in the fourth and fifth frames to seize the contest.
Matt Beaucar won the game for the locals – his first of five wins this season.
However, LaPenta expects a closer game the second time around.
“In all playoff games, it’s going to be a 2-1 game,” said LaPenta. “It’s not going to be a big blowout or anything like that. I’ll play for runs early and try to get a lead. We’re at home so that’s a good thing.”
And if Bristol passes its first round test, Wednesday could see another familiar squad show up at Muzzy Field.
Advancement to the second round would have Post 2 square off against the winner of No. 4 Middletown (15-6-1) and No. 13 Naugatuck (9-10).
Naugy dropped the season series against Bristol (2-1) but did draw a 4-2 victory over Post 2 from Muzzy on June 19.
That loss helped to keep Bristol out of the Regional Qualifier.
But that’s water under the bridge as Post 2 will simply take one game at a time and play the ‘survive and advance’ card when necessary.
“We’ll just see how it shakes out as far as who we play,” said LaPenta. “I don’t like that it’s one-and-done but, you know, we’re going to have to just [do it].”
Bristol has pitching depth and all those warriors are ready for battle.
Beaucar (5-1 record, one save, 32.1 innings pitched) has been excellent this season while Andrew Lozier (4-0, 29 IP) is a bulldog on the hill.
Mike Lorenzetti (1-1, 24.2 IP) has not allowed a hit over his last two starts and Roberto Cruz has five wins to his name in 2021 – coming through over numerous clutch situations.
This is a squad ready for a deep postseason run.
“We’ve got enough arms to play every day,” said LaPenta. “We’ll just see if we can stay hot. Hopefully, we have a nice run in the second part of the season.”
The top seeds in state tournament play this year include Waterford in the North (20-2) and Madison in the South (16-3).
NLC headed to the Northeast Regional
NCL (Windsor Locks/Windsor), the seventh ranked squad in the Regional Qualifier, earned the bid to represent CT American Legion Baseball at the Northeast Regional Tournament in Worcester, Massachusetts from Fitton Field – starting on August 3.
No. 7 NCL defeated No. 4 Fairfield 3-0 on July 31 to advance to the Northeast Regional tournament.
NCL went 5-1 in postseason action and had to play out of the single elimination bracket – winning it all in the end.
The squad is slated to play Portsmith, New Hampshire in the second game of the day.
