American Legion Wrap-up

American 

Legion hopes

fading quickly

By Ron P. Coderre

Most teams in American Legion Zone VI are approaching the halfway mark of the season and for the local entries Danielson, Moosup and TriTown the dreams of qualifying for the State postseason tournament are fading faster than a speeding bullet.

All three locals are in a battle to get to the .500, as all have a losing record.  Moosup, which had a great high school spring as Plainfield High School, surprisingly is 6-7 after dropping 4-of-4 in last week’s action.

Danielson, under coach Jonathan Krot, had high hopes entering the season but after a brief winning spurt has also hit the doldrums.  The Recs are currently at 5-7 after posting a 2-2 week.  TriTown, which was anxiously looking forward to the start of the season, finally picked up a win after dropping three straight to start the week.  The Towners are mired in last place in 10-team Zone VI at 3-8.

TriTown Splits Twinbill With New London

Following a week best described as a combination of hard luck and poor play, TriTown returned to the win column by taking the second game of a doubleheader from New London 3-1.  Nick Foucault, who’ll be a senior at Putnam High School in September, finally appeared to hit his stride, stifling the Whaling City crew on two hits.  Foucault was immense in going the distance, striking out five opposing batters.

Kyle Tyler helped Foucault’s cause with a pair of key hits.  Zach Cutler and Jared Carignan each drove home runs in leading TriTown to its third victory of the season.

In the lid lifter of the twinbill New London completely dominated the Towners 11-2.  Earlier in the week TriTown let a 6-1 lead slip through its fingers losing to the Whaling City nine 7-6.  The New London tying and winning runs crossed the plate thanks to the generosity of the Towners pitchers who walked in the two runs.  Adding insult to injury, the Towners committed six errors in the loss. 

In a game played at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, host TriTown was shutout by Jewett City 5-0.

Danielson Goes Through a 50-50 Week

Danielson completed a three-game series with Moosup. besting Post #91 8-0 behind the shutout pitching performance of Travis Zurowski.  The Quinebaug Valley Community College frosh struck out five Plainfield hitters in his route going performance.  The big blow of the game was a grand slam home run by Ian Burgess.  The Recs also received RBI singles from Ben Desaulnier and Evan Clarkin.

After being shutout 1-0 by Willimantic in the opener of a three-game series, Danielson bounced back behind the tosses of Cory Sipos to reverse the tables on Willimantic 8-0.  Once again Clarkin and Desaulnier were the offensive stars for Danielson.   In the finale of the series, Willimantic prevailed 8-2.

Moosup Disappoints

Moosup, which was looking like a world beater only a week ago, fell into the doldrums of a severe losing streak.  Post #91 after being shutout by Danielson lost three in a row.  Moosup lost a heartbreaker to Niantic 4-3 and followed that with a doubleheader loss to Ledyard-Pawcatuck.   They lost the first game to L-P 10-2 and followed that up with a 5-2 defeat.

TriTown Jrs. Split DH with New London

The TriTown Jr. team, which boasts a 4-4 record, split a double header with New London.  They captured the first game in an offensive battle 11-6.  New London’s bats came alive in the second game, bashing TriTown pitching for a 10-2 win.

 

 

DKH cuts 

restored;

new fund

will add

more help

PUTNAM – After months of doubt and concern about state funding for their hospital, Day Kimball officials June 29 lauded state Senator Mae Flexer (D- Killingly) and state Representatives Christine Rosati and Danny Rovero (D-Killingly) for fighting to not only restore the hospital cuts made in Governor Malloy’s proposed budget, but to give Day Kimball $1.6 million more over the next two years than they received in the last two-year state budget.

 “Our community rallied, our legislators rallied in the face of unprecedented budget challenges,” Day Kimball President and CEO Robert E. Smanik said today. “It is a new day at Day Kimball and for northeastern Connecticut because of your efforts. The new Small Hospital Fund erases the deficit created under the governor’s original budget, and for that we are extremely grateful.” 

 “This is truly good news for all of us today,” Day Kimball Board of Directors Chairman Joseph Adiletta said. “On behalf of the Day Kimball Board of Directors, I’d like to thank our community and our legislative delegation for continuing to support the mission of Day Kimball.”

 “We know how vital Day Kimball is to our community, and the three of us made that case in Hartford,” Sen. Flexer said, referring to herself and Reps. Rosati and Rovero. “It has been made easier because of all the great support we received from the hospital and the northeastern Connecticut community. With that support we were able to erase a deficit in state funding and provide an unprecedented increase of $1.6 million.” 

 “This is how it’s supposed to work – we hear your voices, we received your messages, we carried them to Hartford and we got a good outcome,” Rep. Rosati said. “We appreciate Day Kimball and we want to support you.”

 “The three of us, we worked very, very hard and we accomplished something,” Rep. Rovero said. “I think in the end Day Kimball Hospital will do better than most any hospital in Connecticut.”

 In the budget originally proposed by Governor Malloy back in February, a number of hospitals in Connecticut – including Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam – lost a lot of state funding.

 But after an outcry from Day Kimball officials and community members – including 2,500 petitions delivered to Gov. Malloy by Sen. Flexer and Reps. Rosati and Rovero asking for him to rescind his hospital cuts — Sen. Flexer and Reps. Rovero and Rosati fought for the creation of a brand new category of funding for state hospitals: the “small hospital fund.”

 This is a new pool of state funding for hospitals that have fewer than 160 beds, are not part of a larger hospital group and are not in contiguous towns (i.e. towns that share a common border). Only six hospitals in Connecticut qualify for that new “small hospital” pool of funding:  Day Kimball Hospital gets $3 million from this new pool of funding, which is $7 million more over the biennium than Gov. Malloy proposed in his February budget and $1.66 million more over the next two years than Day Kimball had received in the past two years.

 

Summertime

Soft ferns run rampant behind an aging wooden gate. More summer on page 6. Linda Lemmon photo.