AL Wrap-up

Moosup,

Danielson teams vie for

postseason

play

By Ron P. Coderre

As the 2014 American Legion Baseball season is rapidly approaching its conclusion, the Danielson and Moosup teams are hanging on to the opportunity of making the state postseason tournament.  TriTown, which is enjoying late season success, is a dark horse in the race with a slim outside shot to make the cut.

Five teams in the 11-team Zone VI will gain entry into the state tournament.  The current standings have Moosup in the 4th slot with a 15-8 record followed closely by Danielson in 5th place at 15-9.  TriTown, which posted a six-game winning streak and had a 4-2 week, is in the middle of the pack with Ledyard-Pawcatuck and Montville.  The Towners have a 10-14 record.

Busy Schedule Makes 

for Interesting Play

In an action-packed week that saw the three local American Legion entries play a combined 19 games, winning was of the utmost importance on everyone’s minds.

Moosup took care of business by capturing five victories in seven games.  In a well played three-game series with TriTown, Post #91 took 2-of-3 from the Towners with both wins being decided by a single run.

Moosup threw its ace, Mike Esposito in the opener of the series against TriTown’s Ty Anderson.  Moosup escaped with a 4-3 victory.  An extra base barrage of hits helped Moosup break a 3-3 tie when it scored the winning run in the top of the 7th inning.  Esposito, Colby Cyrus, and Dave Carpenter all contributed doubles, while centerfielder Steve Jankowski had a triple in the victory.  The following evening TriTown responded with a resounding 7-3 win.  The series closed with Moosup squeaking out a 3-2 victory behind the pitching of Kyle Boarman.  Josh Allard, who limited Moosup to a mere four hits, was the hard luck loser.  The difference in the win was a titanic home run blast by Esposito, which was deposited over the left field fence.  Anderson sparked the TriTown offense with an RBI triple.

Post #91 opened the week by taking 2-of-3 from second place Waterford.  After dropping the first game of a doubleheader to Waterford 4-1, Moosup responded with a 2-0 shutout behind a sterling pitching performance by Boarman, who limited the losers to three hits.  Garet Griffin’s triple was the big blow for Moosup, which concluded the series with another tight 5-4 win.  

In a surprisingly close 5-4 contest, which went nine innings, Mossup edged 1-25 Norwich as Esposito held on for the win.  Cyrus with a pair of doubles and Carpenter with a two-bagger were the offensive forces for Moosup.

TriTown started its week with a three-game sweep of Norwich in which every game was decided by the five-inning mercy rule.  The Towners rolled to victory by taking a twinbill 11-1 and 12-2.  Josh Malboeuf won the opener and Kyle Tyler was the winning pitcher in the nightcap.  Ben Brissette with a double and triple in the second game of the DH provided all the offense the team needed.  Anderson contributed a three-run double and Dan Murphy had three hits for the winners.  The final game of the series resulted in a lopsided 14-0 win for TriTown.

Danielson experienced a near perfect week by winning 5-of-6 games.  They opened with a doubleheader sweep over Ledyard-Pawcatuck, winning the first game 4-1 and the second 7-5.  In the finale of the series L-P salvaged a 5-3 win as Bryce Bedard bested Ben Carlone.  Tre Belanger had a double for Danielson.

Danielson then went on a three-game winning streak over Jewett City.  Corey Sipos picked up the opening 5-1 win with a four-hit pitching performance.  Ben Desaulnier was the winning hurler in the middle contest of the three-game set as Danielson posted an 8-5 victory.  The last game of the set went to Danielson 4-3 with Drew Daley picking up the win on the hill.  Ben Rumrill and Kolby Reggione had doubles to power the offense.

TriTown Junior Team Enters Final Week at .500

The TriTown Junior program leveled its record at 8-8 by taking 2-of-3 from Norwich.  The Towners swept the two opening games in easy fashion with 13-1 and 14-1 wins.  The last game went to Norwich 2-1.

Three players, Zach Cutler, Jared Durand and Joey Donovan each had two hits in the 13-1 contest to back the pitching of winning hurler Tyler Shanley.

 

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