By Ron P. Coderre

The 2014 American Legion baseball season officially came to a close for all the local entries as two local teams were eliminated from postseason play.  Moosup and Danielson, which finished fourth and fifth in Zone VI respectively, were eliminated in American Legion Senior State Tournament in early round play.

Moosup managed to get by its opening game prior to exiting and Danielson lost a heartbreaker in its opening contest.

The TriTown Junior Legion team finished its season on a disappointing note, dropping its final two games of the regular season.  The losses eliminated the Jr. Towners from any postseason consideration.

Moosup Advances Then Falls

It took 12 innings for #9 seed Moosup to get past its first round opponent, 16th-seed Newington, but Post #91 prevailed 3-2 over the visitors.  Jeff Nicolosi’s walkoff single drove home Jason Biesadecki with the winning run to give Ryan Pambuku the victory.  Garet Griffin had four hits for Moosup.

Next up for Moosup was #8 seed Windsor Locks, who proved to be too much for Post #91 as they won 8-1.  A five-run, eighth-inning uprising by Windsor Locks broke open a close game and was Moosup’s undoing.  Kyle Boarman absorbed the loss for Moosup, which closes the season at 22-10.

In another first round game Danielson lost to Enfield 2-1 to close out its season at 18-13.

TriTown Juniors Go Out on Losing Note

The TriTown Junior American Legion Baseball team lost its final two games of the season, much the way many of their defeats went throughout the 20-game regular season.  The Jr. Towners were shut out by Ledyard-Pawcatuck 2-0 to open the week.  Despite striking out 10 opposing hitters, losing pitcher Nick Foucault couldn’t catch a break.  A fluke L-P hit off the lip of the infield grass proved to be the difference, scoring the only two runs of the game.

In the finale of the season Jewett City bested TriTown 5-4 in eight innings.  Rookie Tyler Shanley pitched six terrific innings.  Alex Leveille was 2-for-3 and Ryan Gadoury contributed a double to the TriTown offense.

Coach Dan Durand’s Junior unit finished the season at 8-12 and just out of contention for the postseason.