By Michael Letendre
The Bristol Senior American Legion baseball team is hoping for a big finish in 2022 and will need all hands on deck to get there.
While the top of Bristol’s batting order remains Elliot Norris at leadoff and Jayden Churchill in the second spot, forming a tough 1-2 combo, Adam Caron – Bristol’s slick third baseman – was batting third but moved down the order to fifth in the contest at West Hartford on Tuesday.
He went 1-for-4 in that showdown at Conard but has actually been hitting the ball well throughout the campaign.
Defensively, he’s been excellent at third base, using his size and length to snare the ball, but when Caron’s been at the dish, the hits always seemed to be roped at a waiting fielder.
“Adam just can’t buy any luck,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta of Caron. “He’s just hitting the ball right on the nose, right at people.”
But he’s been getting on base via walks, moving players around and doing the little things at the plate to help the Post 2 offense.
You can slot him third, fifth, or even sixth in the batting order and he’ll produce something positive.
If he starts to string a little of his hitting together, Bristol will be all the better for it.
New Bats
American Legion Baseball in the state of Connecticut has switched over to aluminum bats this season and if you a good hitting team, runs can pile up in a hurry.
That’s why when West Hartford zipped up a 9-0 push over Bristol this past Tuesday, it wasn’t any surprise when Post 2 made a near epic comeback.
Bristol dropped in a six run sixth to chop the deficit to three with an inning left to play.
It was anyone’s game at that point of the showdown but West Hartford ending up winning by that 9-6 push.
“With aluminum bats, no lead is safe anymore,” said LaPenta. “If [West Hartford is] up 9-0 in the past with wood bats, the game’s over. But not with aluminum bats.”
And Bristol can score runs as the program posted 39 combined runs over its past six games (6.5 runs-per-game).
West Hartford nearly clinches Zone 1
It’s looking more and more likely that the squad from West Hartford is going to win the Zone 1 title outright.
At 11-0 overall, the team clinched at least part of the zone title after Post 2 fell at home to Simsbury (4-3) on Thursday.
“This loss [against Simsbury] probably makes the zone unreachable right now,” said LaPenta. “West Hartford has played so many more games. They only have five games left. We have five losses.”
There is a path to a Zone 1 championship for Bristol but a number of things must take place in order for that to occur.
“West Hartford would have to lose all [their remaining games]. We’d have to beat them twice and we’d both have two losses against each other,” said LaPenta with other criteria determining the Zone 1 winner.
Post 96 played in a tournament this past weekend and gets right back to work in Zone 1 action with two home games after the holiday break.
On July 5, West Hartford battles Meriden and then has a huge rematch against Bristol the following Thursday from Conard High School.
Post 96 finishes its regular season slate with dates against Simsbury (July 9), Bristol (July 12) and Meriden (July 13) – all on the road.
If the West Hartford squad can win one of those five remaining games, Bristol will be looking for a strong second place finish in Zone 1.
Post 2 is 5-4 in Zone 1 play, 1.5 games in front of third place Simsbury (4-6).
Bristol can keep pace by winning its last seven games.
Along with the two big bouts versus West Hartford, Bristol has a challenging twin bill at Meriden – playing five straight games in a row from Ceppa Field before finally coming home.
“We have two weeks left to play our best baseball towards the playoffs,” said LaPenta. “We’ll see where we’re going to be.”
Post 2’s remaining schedule
Date Opponent Time
Tuesday, July 5 at Simsbury 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 7 at West Hartford 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 9 at Torrington 2 p.m.
Sunday, July 10 at Meriden (2) 1 & 3 p.m.
Tuesday, July 12 vs. West Hartford 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 13 vs. Simsbury 5:30 p.m.
