Season comes

to a close for 

TriTown 

American

Legion

By Ron P. Coderre

The 2014 TriTown American Legion Baseball season came to an abrupt and disappointing close as the Towners, who were still in contention for a postseason spot as late as Sunday, July 13, dropped three of six games in the final week of play.

Moosup with tournament aspirations staring them squarely in the face went on a tear, capturing four of five games to clinch a State Tournament berth and secure fourth place in Zone VI.  Danielson meanwhile wobbled to the finish line with a 3-3 week.  Their up and down week, however was enough to get them into the State tourney and a fifth place finish in the Zone.

Postseason Opportunity Slips Through TriTown’s Fingers

TriTown Baseball, which had an outside shot at postseason play and a chance to play spoiler in the Zone, missed both occasions.  In the final week of play, the team which posted a 10-5 log in the second half of the season after going 3-12 in the first 15 games, needed to win out to play in the State Tournament.  By winning out they also could have spoiled Danielson’s opportunity for postseason play.

The week started on a positive note for the Towners as they swept a doubleheader from a disorganized Willimantic team.    TriTown showed some guts in the first game over Willi, scoring two runs in the home half of the seventh inning and winning 6-5 in eight innings.  Ty Anderson scored the winning run on a Ben Ross walkoff single.  Kyle Tyler picked up the win in relief

Young Nick Foucault (3-0) up from the Junior team pitched the second game an got credit for a 7-5 win, limiting Willimantic to five hits.  Josh Malboeuf with a triple and two runs batted in paced the TriTown offense.  The Towners couldn’t stand prosperity as they let a 7-3 lead slip out of their grasp in losing the third game of the series 9-8.  Anderson suffered the loss on the hill.  Ben Guimont had a home run and Ben Brissette went 4-for-4 in defeat.

Traveling to Danielson with a chance to play spoiler, TriTown opened the three game set by besting the hosts 6-3.  Will Bourgeois turned in a gutsy performance on the hill as Ben Desaulnier was the tough luck loser.  Danielson committed four errors behind the lanky hurler.  Brissette with a pair of doubles was TriTown’s big offensive gun.

The last two games belonged to Danielson as Drew Daley spun a six-hit, 6-0 shutout over Josh Allard.  The following night Danielson used five pitchers in preparation for the State Tournament in posting a 6-3 victory.  Connor Hanlon emerged as the winning pitcher.  Malboeuf went the distance in absorbing the loss.

Danielson opened the week by beating Waterford 5-1 in the opener of a twinbill before falling 5-4 in the back end of the two-game set.  Waterford, which finished second in Zone VI, proved too much for Danielson as it won the finale of the three-game series 9-2.  The Danielson team finished the regular season with an 18-12 mark.

Moosup lost its first game of the week to New London 8-3 but woke up to put a four game winning streak together, upping its record to 19-9 with two games to play.  Jordan Federer was the losing pitcher despite contributing a double and triple at the plate.  Post #91 then bounced back to pick up a 2-0 shutout win behind the three-hit pitching of Jeff Nicolosi.  Steve Jankowski delivered a key double in the victory.  Moosup closed out the series with a 15-1 laugher over NL.  Mike Esposito raised his record to 7-0 as he limited New London to four hits.  He also had a home run in the 19-hit Moosup attack.

Moosup escaped what would have been an embarrassing defeat by pulling out a 6-5 win over 1-29 Norwich.  A Federer triple drove home Ryan Pambuku with the winning run and earning Federer the pitching victory.  In the completion of a suspended game, Moosup slipped by Montville 5-4.

TriTown Juniors Remain in Contention for Postseason

Despite dropping two games last week, the TriTown Junior entry remains hopeful of gaining a berth in the postseason tournament.  The team, which has an 8-10 record, needs to win its final two games and get some help from Niantic, which is playing Jewett City.

Last week the Juniors were beaten 8-4 by New London and 7-3 by Niantic, two teams that stand ahead of the Jr. Towners.

 

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