By Michael Letendre

SIMSBURY – The Bristol American Legion Senior baseball program is starting to roll just at just the right time this year.

And after a tough start, a few postponements and a backlog of games to be played, Post 2 is putting everything together over its playoff push.

The winning continued into Tuesday when Bristol knocked off Simsbury by a 3-1 final from Memorial Field in Simsbury.

The victory evened the season series between the squads at 1-1, avenging a 10-1 loss to Simsbury back on June 11 from Muzzy Field.

This time around, Bristol attacked from the start, scoring single runs over the second, third and seventh frames to take a huge two run win – earning the program’s ninth victory of the campaign.

“It was a good baseball game, well played,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. 

Post 2 improved to 9-7-3 overall, slotting into third place of the Zone 3 American division standings.

The loss pushed Simsbury, now at .500, into a bit of a backlog towards the bottom of the division.

Post 84 fell to 9-9 overall and is in a fourth place tie with South Windsor and Tri-County.

Northeast is currently 8-9-1, at the bottom of the standings with two games against Bristol remaining.

It’s certainly going to be an entertaining ride to the regular season finish line between Bristol and all those squads.

Pitching wins games

Defensively, Post 2 has allowed just three runs over its past two games.

That’s off the power of a surprise start by Jayden Churchill at Ridgefield (complete game, four hits, 74 pitches, 1-0 overall record) along with a tremendous four innings by Declan Schenck (64 pitches, 1-1) while Ryan Maglio (4-1) threw a three-inning, one hit, 34 pitch save against Simsbury.

These are huge performances which has helped keep Bristol from taxing its depleted roster too much as the locals are rolling into a possible postseason berth with a little zest.

“The whole goal has been to play our best baseball at the end of the year,” said LaPenta. “We’ve now won four out of our last five.”

There’s more to come over a full slate of road games this week with only one day off (Thursday) on tap.

Molinsky good to go on Wednesday

On Wednesday, Bristol travels to Torrington for a continuation game from Fuessenich Park.

Torrington leads by two runs (3-1) through three-and-a-half innings with batters five through seven due up in the bottom of the fourth.

Schenck started the contest on the mound in that late June game and was hanging in until the skies opened up – postponing the contest due to saturated field conditions.

But when the game recommences on Tuesday, Caleb Molinsky (3-1 overall), coming back from a bit of a knee injury, will take the mound, hoping to keep Torrington off the boards while Bristol plays catch-up.

“He’s going to start [Wednesday] in the suspended game,” said LaPenta of Molinsky. “He won’t have to throw a ton of pitches either way so that will be perfect.”

And just like Molinsky did in Bristol’s 3-2 win over Middletown on July 5, it’s a chance for the chucker to get Schenck off the hook for the loss.

Frankly, this is a game Post 2 can turn and with Torrington (6-13-1) struggling a bit, now is the time to pick the squad off.

“We have three innings to score two runs and we’ll get another win,” said LaPenta. “We then get a day off and have to go up to Enfield and Tolland.”

“[But] it will be a nice ride home tonight [from Simsbury] anyways.”