By Michael Letendre

After a tremendous start to the Connecticut American Legion Baseball 17U campaign in 2023, the squad from Bristol hit a bit of a rough patch.

Some of that was due to call-ups to the Senior level, injuries caught the team a bit and just general bad luck stalled out the program.

Post 2 ended up 11-8 overall but that meant the locals were going to be in the postseason mix.

Even after losing its first game of the 17U State Tournament this past Tuesday, eleventh ranked Bristol bounced right back – riding its pitching to the Connecticut Super Regional.

Now, the program is one of the final eight teams left standing – one of several from Zone 3, Bristol’s home division – in the state with most of its pitching eligible to throw starting on Monday from Pat Kinney Field in Middletown.

How far can Post 2 go in the Connecticut Super Regional?

Frankly, the sky is the limit for this outstanding group.

Bristol went 2-1 to start postseason play

Post 2 just couldn’t get a hit in its opening round loss against No. 6 Milford last Tuesday night, falling 2-0 from Jonathan Law High School in Milford.

The Bristol squad allowed two unearned runs and just couldn’t tally a hit that would have made all the difference in the game.

Bristol pitcher Jonathan Montgomery went the distance for Bristol, throwing 95 pitches and stayed in the game until the very end.

However, the tournament was a double elimination format and Post 2 was in it to win it.

Two days later, this time from the friendly confines of Muzzy Field, Bristol eliminated 14th ranked RCP by a 11-1 mercy ruled final over six frames.

Caleb Molinsky won the game on the hill for Post 2, needing only 2.2 innings worth of work to keep RCP off the board for most of the encounter.

The game was a 7-0 contest before Brian Grabowski, Drew Martineau and Jack Erickson all joined the party on the mound, keeping Molinsky ready to pitch this week.

From the plate, Gabe White (2-for-3, two runs), Molinsky (2-for-4, two RBI), Tate Stevens (3-for-3, four RBI) and Grabowski (two hits) all produced something to the winning effort.

Overall, Bristol scooped in 14 total hits.

And as Stamford defeated Milford that same night, it led to a winner-take-all mega event on Friday evening with a rematch between Bristol against Milford on the road – both 1-1 in postseason play.

Finally on Friday, with the rain holding off just enough, Post 2 was able to zip up a huge 6-5 win over Milford from the beautiful field at Jonathan Law High School.

Bristol scooped up six runs in the top of the third tilt and never looked back.

With Gavin Colvin dishing from the hill, Milford ended up playing catch-up the entire evening.

Milford might have finished the contest on a 5-0 jaunt, but it wasn’t enough to spoil an amazing complete game effort by Colvin.

He went the full seven innings, using just 87 pitches, as Post 2 moved on in tournament play.

What’s next?

The 17U Regional Tournament bracket was not set in stone as of Sunday morning with the Tri-County/Waterford showdown still hanging in the balance on Sunday due to Friday’s wet weather in most parts of the state.

Overall, the bracket is split into two groupings: Region A and Region B.

Bristol is lumped with Torrington, Farmington – all members of Zone 3. – along with Naugatuck to make up the Regional B bracket.

All games from this division will be played from Pat Kidney Field in Middletown.

Bristol and Naugatuck were the two squads that advanced from Pod C competition.

On the flip side of the bracket, the winner of Tri-County/Waterford links up with West Hartford, South Windsor and Danbury in the Regional A grouping.

Those contests will be contested from Rotary Field in South Windsor.

The adventures don’t end

Bristol battles Torrington to open the regional on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in the double elimination fray from Middletown.

Of course, midway through the season, those two squads were battling for the Zone 3 championship.

Post 38 ended up winning the zone with a ledger of 15-3-2, scoring 150 runs this season.

Post 2, at 11-8, finished 4.5 games behind the division leader in seventh place.

The teams were 1-1 against each other this season.

On June 17, Bristol shutout Torrington by a 2-0 final from Riley Field while in the rematch (July 8), Post 2 dropped a tough 15-7 decision to Post 38, also from Riley Field.

Bristol led 7-1 after two innings in the second showdown but the squad simply ran out of gas in the end.

Win or lose against the Zone 3 winner, Bristol will be back in action at either 4:30 or 7 p.m. on Tuesday, depending on Monday’s results.

Winners will advance into Thursday and Championship Friday will determine which program advances to the state finals.