By Michael Letendre

The state of Connecticut continues to honor the police officers from Bristol who gave up the lives in the line of duty last October.

And the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference will do so again when the postseason arrives.

“Each year the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference dedicates its baseball state tournament in honor of an individual closely connected to high school baseball in the state,” according to a recent release by the CIAC.

The CIAC’s 2023 Baseball State Tournament will be dedicated to the memory of Bristol Police Lieutenant Dustin DeMonte. 

“DeMonte, a 2005 Middletown High School graduate, was a catcher and pitcher for the Middletown High School baseball team,” the release continued. “Coaches and friends recall Dustin as a quiet leader, who led by example. This season the Middletown High School baseball team has been honoring DeMonte by wearing #51 patches on their jersey sleeves.”

The number 51 was DeMonte’s uniform number in high school when he suited up for the Blue Dragons, a then member of the Northwest Conference.

This year, the CIAC baseball state finals will be played from Palmer Field in Middletown at a facility DeMonte knew extremely well during his playing days.

The championship games will commence over the dates of Friday June 9 and Saturday June 10. 

A brief pregame ceremony will be held to formally honor DeMonte and his family on June 10.

More details of the ceremony will be released by the CIAC at a later date.