By Michael Letendre
EAST HARTFORD – When a Bill Mason coached baseball team takes the field, the defense better be ready, awake and – frankly – alive.
Because Mason, the king of small ball, always seems to put his players in the right position to win a game and the long-time coach of the Bristol American Legion junior baseball program nearly coached his troops back into the finals off a up-and-down regular season this past summer.
The defending CT Elite Baseball Association 17U champs had its collective hands full in 2021 with a small division of opponents that included a very talented West Hartford outfit.
Bristol’s division in Zone 1 included West Hartford (16-4, Zone 1 champions), Simsbury (11-9), Newington (8-11) and Torrington (7-13) who finished a half-game worse than Post 2 (7-12).
And off a very tough start, the Bristol crew flirted with .500 when the final weekend of regular season ball commenced.
“Think about it, we started out at 1-6,” said Mason. “And we turned it all the way around. We had a nice streak going, nearly got back to .500.”
In the middle of July, Bristol started winning, posting victories over Simsbury (6-2), West Hartford (5-4), and Torrington (15-2) to get back into the swing of things.
That included big victories on the hill for Bristol’s crew of Jaydon Churchill, Mike Roalf, and Ryan Maglio.
From that 1-6 start, Post 2 got all the way back to 7-8 – a slate of games that saw Bristol go 6-2 in eight contests – with four games left to play over the weekend of July 31 when things just fell apart.
Mason threw just about everyone on the mound against Torrington, West Hartford, and Simsbury that fateful weekend but Bristol dropped all four games – falling to 7-12 to end regular season play.
“We had a bad weekend, it was like a rollercoaster,” said Mason. “Then we got to the playoffs and played the way we did. This was a really good season altogether for having a bunch of young guys and 17-year old’s.”
And boy, did Post 2 explode over the postseason.
Sneaking in as the 12th seed in the North Division Connecticut State Tournament, the locals went right to work.
Against No. 5 Willimantic from Rec Park, Bristol mercy ruled the squad by a 10-0 final and then on the flowing night, Post 2 defeated No. 4 Enfield on the road, 3-2.
“The bats really came alive at the end of the year,” said Mason. “They really did.”
And then in a nip-and-tuck contest from McKenna Park in East Hartford on August 5, Bristol squared off against rival West Hartford – the top seed in tournament play.
Bristol, with just nine players available (coach Mason actually had to warm up the right fielder before each inning), battled West Hartford to the end but fell by a single run, 3-2.
Pitcher Mitch Crowley was sensational over the losing effort as West Hartford needed late game heroics to final topple Post 2
“He pitched the game of his life today,” said Mason of Crowley. “These guys really showed a lot of guts and really showed that they liked to compete and play.”
It’s all about small ball
Mason has won multiple state and a New England championship using small ball as his mantra.
Are home runs exciting? Absolutely.
Do doubles look pretty? You bet.
But Mason will bunt, draw walks, and infield hit the other team to death in order to win a game.
And in the end, four singles, base-on-balls or infield bunts that go for a hit account for the same as a solo home run.
“I’ve always played that way,” said Mason about small ball. “I love playing like that, moving runners around and getting them in scoring position.”
Mason puts the pressure on the opposing defenses to make decisions that have turned into errors and miscues in the past.
And the bottom line about small ball is that the techniques and skills that come from those little plays make big gains on the scoreboard in the end.
“It works and it keeps us in games,” said Mason.
