By Michael Letendre
ENFIELD – The Enfield American Legion baseball team led wire-to-wire against Bristol over a Zone 3 clash on Monday afternoon, zipping up a 13-3 mercy-ruled finish in five innings of play from Powder Hollow Park.
Both teams moved to 10-11 after the completion of the game and each program will play into the postseason.
Monday was the final day of American Legion regular season baseball in the state of Connecticut.
Post 2 just didn’t have it that afternoon in Enfield, trimming an early deficit to a one-run game before the home squad notched the final nine runs of the showdown to ice the contest.
“The team can hit a little bit,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta of Enfield. “They have some hitters. They have some big guys over there.”
Braiden Alaimo smacked out a solo home run while a blistering triple by Canon Marshall turned a slim 4-3 lead into a big 7-3 push for Post 80 through two completed frames.
Post 2 never got back into contention of that huge Marshall tally but Bristol pitcher Ryan Maglio battled none-the-less.
Maglio was hampered by a bit of an injury but still went four innings, fanning five, while trying to keep things close early.
Evan Daly, who won the game for Enfield, was shaky but never entirely lost his composure.
Errors, a couple timely hits and aggressive baserunning fueled Enfield early as the squad notched four first inning runs to capture a quick 4-0 push.
However, Bristol nearly drew even in the top of the second, dropping in three runs.
With one away, Bristol’s Jaylen Churchill walked, Connor Cyr zipped out a single to left and off a botched pickoff play at first base, Churchill scored to trim the deficit to 4-1.
Cyr got to third on the error and when Caleb Molinsky earned a base-on-balls, Bristol had runners on the corners – ready for the vaunted ‘Bristol pickle.’
But the play turned extremely sour – instead of dill – as Molinsky did a nice job dancing in-between the first and second base bags but the ball was eventually fired into home plate just in time to get a charging Cyr as the game remained a 4-1 affair.
From there, Josh Dunne walked and with two on, Joe Dunne absolutely drained a single down the third base line – clearing the bags – to make it a 4-3 contest.
But Dunne kind of stopped running going into second base and was eventually tagged out as Post 2 was in it, down by a single run through an inning-and-a-half.
In the bottom of the tilt, Dominic Kohler walked but Maglio struck out the next two batters, nearly getting out of the jam.
Alaimo was then intentionally walked and when Jayden Maynard also nabbed a base-on-balls, the deck was set for Marshall.
Marshall, a 6-foot-4 shortstop that was scooping up everything defensively, absolutely canned a three-base hit to right as the ball just kept on carrying.
His triple stole the momentum of the game, scoring all three runners, as Enfield reassumed control at 7-3 through two.
“We needed to play really well,” said LaPenta. “Ryan needed to be on his ‘A’ game because they can really hit.”
Post 2 tallied just two more hits for the rest of the way, a single to right field by Gabe White and an infield hit by speedster Elliot Norris, but the visitors were not able to tally another run on the board.
Maglio allowed just one walk in the third frame to keep it a 7-3 game but in the fourth, Enfield started to pull away.
Alaimo cracked a homer to left centerfield and an RBI single by Brandon Rowe made it a 9-3 contest heading into the fifth and final frame.
Josh Dunne and Norris each threw some pitches to close the contest out but four runs later, which included RBI doubles by Tyler Nickerson and Maynard, a sac fly from Alaimo and finally, an RBI single by Rowe ended the contest as Bristol fell by the mercy rule, 13-3.
“We made a little punch back there, made it 4-3,” said LaPenta. “But I could just tell Mags didn’t have his normal stuff. And I really didn’t want to use Caleb [Molinsky] unless we got back into it because he only has three innings left to pitch with us [at the 19U level]. If he pitched more, then he couldn’t play for the juniors.”
NOTES…After the game, the thought was Bristol was done for the season. Instead, at 10-11, Post 2 actually ended up qualifying for the postseason tournament as the 18th seed, playing in the Southern bracket. The opponent? Try a rematch against No. 15 South Windsor – a squad Bristol no-hit on Saturday but Post 2 lost 1-0. The contest between the squads takes place on Wednesday from Rotary Field in South Windsor at 6:30 p.m. Frankly, this is a no-miss event as the teams were 1-1 against one another over two chippy regular season games. And it was extremely chippy last Saturday in South Windsor by the time things were said and done.
Bristol American Legion Baseball – Zone 3 Tilt
ENFIELD 13, BRISTOL 3 (5)
from Powder Hollow Park
Bristol (10-11) 030 00 – 3 4 4
Enfield (10-11) 430 24 – 13 10 1
WP – Evan Daly (Enfield); LP – Ryan Maglio (Bristol)
Bristol Batting
2B – Tyler Nickerson, Jayden Maynard
3B – Canon Marshall
HR – Braiden Alaimo
Enfield Batting
2B – None
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Enfield 10-11 overall; Bristol 10-11
