By Michael Letendre
DANBURY – Perhaps the duo of Jerry LaPenta and Rick Lemke – the coaches of the Bristol American Legion Senior baseball team – are in the wrong profession.
Post 2, having just seven players available for its showdown against Danbury on Saturday afternoon, needed a couple of standouts from Bristol’s Junior team, locked in a long dual against Torrington earlier that day, from Riley Field.
And once that game was complete, the duo of LaPenta and Lemke shuffled Tyler Ryan and Gavin Colvin into their vehicle and pulled out an Indianapolis 500 – getting to the Senior game in record time.
Simply put, Uber has nothing on the Bristol coaching staff and their diving abilities.
“Luckily, I had two junior kids [and] they wanted to come,” said LaPenta. “They drove down with Rick and me, through the traffic. We got here.”
And I-84 West was an absolute nightmare that afternoon, starting with the ‘fun’ at the ‘Mixmaster’ in Waterbury, and then several points later that saw so much stop and go traffic, it was a miracle the group made it when they did.
Between tractor trailers weaving in and out of the two lanes to drivers from New Hampshire thinking 84 was actually Interstate 93 and driving through like it was rush hour traffic in Boston, just getting to Danbury was treacherous at best.
And while the opening contest for Bristol in the 2023 Stars and Stripes Tournament didn’t go as planned, there’s another chance to win on Sunday when Post 2 squares off against Ridgefield (11-7), winners of three straight games.
Who will pitch?
After sustaining a knee injury against Torrington in Bristol’s Junior Legion game on Saturday, Caleb Molinsky (3-1 overall) will probably not be available to throw against Ridgefield.
“[Sunday], I’ll be shocked if Caleb can pitch,” said LaPenta. “We’ll see.”
While Molinsky’s availability will be in question, Post 2 is expecting the return of Elliot Norris along with Josh and Joe Dunne and Nick Sconziano.
With that extra beef in the lineup, Bristol wants to get the better of Ridgefield from Rogers Park at 3 p.m. from Danbury.
“I get four guys back for Sunday,” said LaPenta. “The main nucleus of our team will be back. We’ll try to get a ‘W.’”
Playoff bound
The regular season is quickly drawing to a close in the state of Connecticut and Bristol has a ton of baseball left to play.
The goal is stay around .500 as that benchmark will be good enough for postseason qualification.
“The goal is if we stay at .500, we’ll make the playoffs,” said LaPenta. “We can make the playoffs even if we don’t stay at .500 but if we stay at .500, we’ll definitely make the playoffs.”
From Tuesday until the following Sunday, Post 2 plays on all but one day (Thursday) which includes three make-up games.
Two games (Bristol at Torrington, 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and at Northeast on Friday in a twin bill) are continuations while Sunday’s game at Enfield is a contest that never got off the ground about two weeks ago.
However, the finish line is coming up fast and the reward should be a playoff appearance for Post 2.
“We still have a lot of work to do but it’s been a fun year so far,” said LaPenta. “It’s been frustrating at times with the weather and with the injuries. But to be where we’re at, at .500, I’ll take it.”
