By Michael Letendre

The Bristol Greeners of the Greater Hartford Twilight League ended its regular season at 1-23 overall, entering the playoffs without much momentum.

And though the squad was swept in the annual double-elimination format, Bristol hardly played like a one-win franchise.

In fact, during the recent GHTBL postseason tournament, the Greeners were in both their games – seemingly just one hit away from scoring a couple major upsets.

But the Greeners took on some of the best talent in all the GHTBL, including the regular season champions, the Vernon Orioles, in first round competition.

In that first round showdown from Palmer Field in Middletown, No. 8 Bristol was humming early as the squad knocked in two first inning runs while Greeners ace Trevor Nohilly (complete game, eight hits, three runs, two strikeouts) held the fort over the first three frames.

The Orioles notched a run in the fourth frame to trim the deficit to 2-1 while Nohilly threw a scoreless fifth to keep the locals on top.

However, in the bottom of the sixth, Vernon added two additional runs to their till to capture a 3-2 lead, eventually winning the showdown by a single run.

Orioles pitcher Jason Ray threw a seven inning, three-hitter while fanning 13 to lead the attack against the Greeners.

Veteran Dan Trubia and Peter Kelley each had two hits to pace the victors.

AJ Lorenzetti and Matt Fusco each tallied singles while Josh Nohilly kicked in a two-run home run while was also being hit by a pitch to lead the Greeners.

And then in an elimination showdown on August 9, Bristol gamely hung in with the Record-Journal Expos but fell 9-5 from McKenna Field in East Hartford.

Bristol roped up nine hits and led 1-0 off the bat before things fell apart just a half-inning later.

The Expos scored eight runs off of Bristol starter Devin Kazarian (2 IP, two earned runs, nine hits) while Robert Bisi (4 IP, four hits, three Ks) did a solid job out of the bullpen.

Jon Pierce (2-for-3, two RBI), Nick Swancott (2-for-3, walk), Nick Lloyd (2-for-4, RBI) and Lorenzetti (2-for-4, RBI) rounded up two hits apiece while Felix Gutierrez had the other hit for the Greeners.

Matt Fusco walked three times as Bristol was never out of contention as a four run sixth trimmed the deficit to 9-5 and the squad had ducks on the pond before late before eventually falling.

The East Hartford Jets, ranked third in the field, ended up winning the GHTBL Postseason Tournament with an 8-2 triumph over M&T Bank this past Wednesday.

GHTBL All-Stars win the CT Championship Cup

The GHTBL ended up winning the competition at the Connecticut Championship Cup this past weekend – capturing the title via a 7-2 victory over the All-Stars from the West Haven Twilight League from Muzzy Field on August 20.

The squad from the GHTBL was comprised of the best talent from all eight teams.

The GTHBL also defeated the Connecticut Twilight League All-Stars 17-1 on August 19 and started the championship journey with a 6-4 win over the West Haven Twilight League from Ceppa Field in Meriden.

The Connecticut Tri-State League, scheduled to participate, dropped out because it could not field a team.

Starting in 2009, the Greeners were part of the Connecticut Tri-State League before switching over to the GHTBL for the 2020 campaign and have been playing there ever since.