By Michael Letendre
August 12, 2009 went down in Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League postseason history, as the Bristol Merchants and People’s Bank waged a 19-inning extravaganza that took place from McKenna Field in East Hartford.
A win by the Merchants would have delivered the Bristol franchise another GHTBL postseason championship while a loss meant one more showdown between the teams in a winner-take-all challenge.
And what happened that evening?
That game started on August 12 and finished on August 13 in what turned into an insane, unreal game.
The contest was simply incredible from start to finish as People’s defeated Bristol by a 3-2 final to stave off elimination.
“It hasn’t even set in yet, to tell you the truth,” said exhausted Bristol coach Bunty Ray after the game.”
It was the longest game (five hours, 11 minutes) in league history according to the Hartford Courant.
And the contest had a little of everything with players striking out three or four times and a couple critical outs were made at the plate.
“We had opportunities,” said Ray. “We just didn’t capitalize. At the same time, I thought we were outstanding too.”
It was People’s third win – out of four tries – against the Merchants that season but it was certainly the most entertaining.
The pitching was off-the-charts as 44 strikeouts were posted between some serious heavyweights on the hill.
Bristol’s Kevin Rival came out of the bullpen to post 22 strikeouts in 13.1 innings of work. It was simply an incredible performance.
Eric Butkiewicz drew the loss for Bristol as baserunners mounted for People’s in the 19th inning.
With one gone and two on in the 19th, People’s Matt Riemer notched a single against a drawn-in infield as Sam McDonough scored for the final 3-2 score.
But it was the in-game heroics that fueled an incredible effort by both programs.
Rival came in to pitch during the fourth frame, reliving starter Jarrett Stawarz, and kept it all tied up deep into the marathon game.
Over Rival’s first 20 batters, 19 were retired – 13 via K – as the game crept into the 12th inning, with seven more stanzas to follow.
Over the next four innings, Rival added five more strikeouts, then two K’s each over the 16th and 17th frames, before eventually being lifted for Butkiewicz.
Rival’s night saw him allow just three hits, walking just one over 13-plus innings of grueling work.
At one point, Rival retired an amazing 28-of-30 batters.
“Kevin, I don’t think in the history of the league has there ever been a performance like that,” marveled Ray. “That’s why you really don’t want to lose a game like this…you don’t want to waste an effort like that.”
People’s reliever, John Skinner, was just as sharp over 11.1 innings of work – also out of the bullpen.
He allowed only two hits, posted 14 strikeouts, and gave up three walks to earn the win (he might have thrown 180 pitches).
Two Bristol runners were caught at home plate with Rick Barrett coming up short, in one attempt, by a country mile.
Barrett tried to score in the 13th and in the 18th, a single nearly saw Joe Parlante cross the plate but was called out over a controversial call.
And off that play, it appeared Jay Maule had an infield single in hand but the speedster was called out over a bang-bang finish.
“We had some opportunities but we weren’t able to capitalize on them,” said Ray. “You have to tip your cap to [People’s]. They came up with the big hit when they had the chance.”
“We have to find a way to bounce back.”
The Merchants scored first in the game off an unearned run while People’s scored two runs in the fourth to secure a 2-1 edge.
And then in the fifth, three straight two-out singles – the final netting Adam Peters an RBI – made it a 2-2 game.
And then there was over two-hours of play without the benefit of a run.
Over 13 innings later, People’s finally scored the go-ahead run to secure a 3-2 win, forcing a winner-take-all final showdown the net day.
“No one is going to forget this one,” said Ray. “I just wish we could have won it.”
People’s pitching gave the Merchants plenty of heartburn
The Bankers fanned 19 batters, using three pitchers on the evening.
Eric Fritz and Skinner allowed a combined one earned run in 16 innings of work, walking just four over the grueling event.
“I knew coming in that Fritz and Skinner were going to give us fits,” said Ray. “Hats off to them. We just have to come back and win [the final game]. That’s a tall order.”
Want more from the 19-inning war?
Here is a list of all the tomfoolery from that fateful People’s/Merchants’ playoff game on August 12:
*Joe Parlante was 4-for-9 – accounting for a good chuck of Bristol’s 12 total hits. He scored a run and had a double to lead the offense.
*Ray (2-for-8) and Nick Macellaro (2-for-6, three walks) were the only other Bristol batters with multiple hit games.
*Chris Klepps, Rival, and Matt Hackney – all excellent hitters – were a combined 0-for-21 that night. Klepps was HBP (twice by Skinner), and Hackney was intentionally walked and reached base twice via errors.
*Bristol left 19 men on base and batted .171 for the game over 70 at-bats.
*The Merchants stole six bases with Maule (two) leading the charge.
*People’s committed six errors in the game, the first allowing Parlante to net Bristol’s initial run of the contest.
*To end the game, Bristol went scoreless over its final 14-plus innings at the plate.
*People’s Wes Ulbrich, for instance, went 1-for-8 and had a single in his last at-bat. In his seven previous trips to plate, he hit into a fielder’s choice and struck out a game high SIX times. He looked at strike three an amazing three times.
*People’s leadoff batters, Matt Riemer and Bassani, went a combined 5-for-16 – all singles. But Riemer had the game-winning hit to clinch the event.
Bunty’s final word on the game
“That’s not a typical game obviously,” said Ray. “Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. We have to find a way to bounce back and it’s tough. All the momentum you had in the tournament [is gone] and now you have a winner-take-all [scenario]. You have to find a way to come back and put this one behind us.”
The end results
On Friday, August 14, Bristol won in the rematch – seizing the GHTBL postseason title by an 8-4 final.
Ryan Pacyna came out of the bullpen to earn the win, allowing just six hits over 4.2 innings pitched.
It was the final postseason title for the Merchants as the squad disbanded after the 2011 campaign.
Next week in TBE Sports Sunday…
When TBE Sunday rolls around next week, we’ll look at the 2010 season for the Bristol Merchants as the squad had another terrific season in the GHTBL play.
