By Michael Letendre
SOUTH WINDSOR – When the Bristol American Legion 19U baseball team finally found its bats in first round state tournament play against No. 15 South Windsor on Wednesday night, Post 2 nearly turned the tide of the showdown.
No-hit and trailing by three runs through five innings, No. 18 Bristol zipped up a three-run sixth, forced an extra frame but fell to eventual winner South Windsor 4-3 in eight innings from Rotary Park.
“We weren’t doing anything,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta about the offense. “And I was getting nervous, thinking we were going to lose on a no-hitter [from the previous Saturday] and then lose on a no-hitter. But they showed a lot of heart. They did that pretty much all year with a pretty shallow team.”
“We were [basically] down to nine guys and for them to rally like that and tie the game up and have a chance to win it in [in the sixth was tremendous].”
The game was a single elimination bout, ending Bristol’s season at 10-12 overall.
South Windsor improved to 12-10 and moved on in 19U Southern Division play against Stamford on Friday.
Post 2 went six up and six down over the first two frames, but the home team was poised from the start.
South Windsor added a run in the bottom of the first as Ben Balducci nabbed a blooper to left, stole second and scored on a Logan Sinacola double to right to lead 1-0.
The home scored once again in the second as Kiefer Culligan led off with a base-on-balls.
Sam Balducci added a base hit to left to put runners on first and second.
Nate Grilli followed up with a comebacker to Schenck, easily tossing the ball to second base for the second out but when the ball was thrown to first, the catch wasn’t made as Culligan came home from third to make it 2-0 through a couple innings in the books.
Sinacola was perfect through three but there was plenty of ball left to be played.
Bristol chucker Declan Schenck went three up and three down via fly outs to left and center field as Post 2 held the opponents off the scoreboard in the bottom of the third.
Trailing by two runs going into the top of the fourth, Gabe White drew a one-out walk, stole second but ended up stranded to keep Bristol scoreless through four.
South Windsor added another run in the fourth off a two-out rally.
Andrew Goulet smacked a double to left and a Sam Balducci one-hopper to center plated the lead runner to post the home program to a 3-0 push.
After a quiet fifth inning, everything changed for Post 2 in the sixth, tying the contest up at 3-3.
Josh Dunne, Caleb Molinsky and Elliott Norris hit back-to-back-to-back singles to load things up with no outs.
White followed up with an RBI base hit to right to trim the deficit to 3-1.
And Maglio flipped out a fly ball to right, plating Molinsky, as the deficit was cut to 3-2 via the sacrifice fly.
With runners on the corners, Post 2 went for the ‘Bristol pickle’ but White was eventually tagged out in between first and second base.
“Gabe missed a sign there. He wasn’t supposed to go,” said LaPenta of the play. “Cole gets his hit and we had first and third with one out in a tie game.”
Caccamo eventually drilled a single to right – scoring Norris – as it was a brand-new game at 3-3.
A botched pickoff allowed Caccamo to get to second base and when Jayden Churchill smacked a single to left, the lead runner got to third and was waived home.
Caccamo, steamrolling to the dish, was tagged out for the third out but the game was all knotted up at 3-3 going into the seventh.
Then in the top of the seventh, Nick Sconziano dropped a double into the gap in right as Post 2 was at it offensively again.
However, the go-ahead run never came homes the game needed an eighth inning.
“Nick leads off with a double to start the seventh,” said LaPenta. “We just didn’t execute. We’ve got to score.”
Cyr followed with a bunt that might have hit him in foul territory, but the runner was thrown out at first base and two pop-ups later, it was still a tied game with South Windsor looking to end the event.
Molinsky took over for Schenck in the seventh and even as South Windsor nabbed two walks, the winning run never came home – and an extra inning ensued.
Bristol’s top of the order came to the plate in the eighth, but Goulet pitched his way through the frame as the home team was about to end it.
South Windsor managed to load the bases with one out, but Bristol refused to give in.
Grilli smashed a ball to Norris at shortstop as Culligan was off from third base.
He steamrolled home as Norris made a desperate throw to the plate.
The throw was a bit offline but Jed Sutula, behind the plate for Bristol, leaned over to carrel the ball – getting the force out at the nearly the last possible second – to keep the game tied at 3-3.
But Ben Balducci ended up walking with the bases loaded as Goulet scored the winning run, giving the home team a 4-3 victory – finally able to fend off Post 2.
“With a guy on second and no outs, you’ve got to get him to third,” said LaPenta of the seventh frame. “The bunt wasn’t good and two pop-ups [later], that was our shot.”
Bristol American Legion Baseball – 19U State Tournament, First round – Southern Division
No. 15 SOUTH WINDSOR 4, No. 18 3 (8)
from Rotary Park, South Windsor
Bristol (10-12) 000 003 00 – 3 7 1
South Windsor (12-10) 110 100 01 – 4 10 1
Battery: Bristol – Declan Schenck, Caleb Molinsky (6) & Joe Dunne, Jed Sutula (4); South Windsor – Logan Sinacola, Andrew Goulet (6) & Jaden Glatt.
WP – Andrew Goulet (South Windsor) ; LP – Caleb Molinsky (Bristol).
Bristol Batting
2B – Nick Sconziano
3B – None
HR – None
South Windsor Batting
2B – Andrew Goulet, Logan Sinacola
3B – None
HR – None
HBP – Lucas Sinacola
LOB – Bristol 3; South Windsor 10.
Records: South Windsor 12-10; Bristol 10-12
2023 Connecticut 19U – Tournament Seeding
Northern Division RegionalWednesday, July 19First Round Play-in games – Single eliminationGame 1: No. 17 Orange 1 at No. 16 Northeast 3
*Northeast advances to the double-elimination part of the tournament.
Game 2: No. 24 East Hartford/Manchester 1 at No. 9 Middletown 7
*Middletown wins against another Zone 3 squad.
Game 3: No. 20 North Haven 9 at No. 13 Tri-County 1
*No. 20 pulls out the eight-run upset over the Zone 3 challenger.
Game 4: No. 21 Enfield 4 at No. 12 RCP 9
*The Zone 3 battle saw RCP eliminate Enfield in another Zone 3 state tournament battle.Friday, July 21Double-eliminationGame 5: No. 16 Northeast at No. 1 Waterford
Game 6: No. 9 Middletown at No. 4 Ellington
Game 7: No. 20 North Haven at No. 2 West Hartford
Game 8: No. 12 RCP at No. 3 Willimantic
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Southern Division RegionalWednesday, July 19First Round Play-in games – Single eliminationGame 1: No. 18 Bristol 3 at No. 15 South Windsor 4 (8)
*Upset minded Bristol came back from a 3-0 deficit but fell in eight innings.
Game 2: No. 23 Westport 0 at No. 10 Norwalk 4
*Norwalk keeps rolling in postseason play.
Game 3: No. 19 Windsor Locks/Windsor 4 at No. 14 Norwich 3
*NCL pulled out a one run upset.
Game 4: No. 22 Ridgefield 7 at No. 11 Danielson 1
*Ridgefield got the better of Danielson over the biggest upset of the postseason to date.
Friday, July 21Double-eliminationGame 5: No. 15 South Windsor at No. 1 Stamford
Game 6: No. 10 Norwalk at No. 4 Milford
Game 7: No. 19 NCL at No. 2 Naugatuck
Game 8: No. 22 Ridgefield at No. 3 Danbury
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