Sports
Sanford's Play Helps Post 96 Survive and Advance
Shortstop also gets two hits in 5-3 win that sets up another elimination game against Branford Monday.
MIDDLETOWN – Right after West Hartford Post 96 gained an early four-run windfall, Bethel was in the process of answering back.
One of the teams was facing the end of the season while the other would survive and advance in the American Legion State Tournament losers’ bracket.
The downstate Admirals had already scored once and runners were on the corners with two out when leadoff hitter John Sorice hit a ball toward the hole at shortstop, the domain of Nick Sanford. A hit meant a run. The tying runs would be on base, the lead in serious jeopardy.
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The fact that Sanford made the play was no surprise. He also had two hits Sunday as West Hartford held off Bethel, 5-3, in an elimination game at Palmer Field.
Post 96 (22-4) next meets defending state champion Branford at Palmer Monday at 12:30 p.m.
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Co-head coach Steve Meucci was confident that Saturday’s loss to Southington in the Round of 16 opener would fire up his troops because Post 96 responded brilliantly after each setback during the regular season.
“We talked to the kids yesterday. We said every loss we’ve had has been really meaningful,” Meucci said. “With the loss we had yesterday, they got refocused for today and we’ve always gone on a run. I believe we’re going to go on a run. If history dictates, we’re in a position to go out there and play our game. If we trust our baseball instincts, we’ll be fine.”
Sanford did just that on the defensive play that loomed as the game's turning point.
With West Hartford leading 4-1 in the fifth inning and Bethel threatening to climb back in the game, he ranged deep in the hole. He could have gone for the force at second but elected to go after the batter. First baseman Mac Venora deftly scooped up his throw on the short hop. Danger averted.
“Most of their hitters were pull hitters and I had been shading up the middle more for a double play so I kind of anticipated a ball hit into the hole,” said Sanford, who also plays at the University of Massachusetts. “Luckily it was hit hard enough to bypass the slow grass and I got it on the backhand.
“I didn’t even think about going to second. I just turned and fired to first. The coaches were giving me a hard time. They said second base was the easier [out] but it happened so fast that my instincts were to go to first.”
West Hartford scored four unearned runs in the third inning to give starter Matt D’Orsi a cushion.
Sean Packard reached on an infield error and wound up perched on second. He went to third on an infield hit by Chris DeMorais. When DeMorais tried to steal second, he was cut down by Bethel pitcher Andrew Guercio. Second baseman Ryan Tita tried to catch Packard napping at third but threw the ball away.
Guercio hit Dan Minnes with a pitch. Sanford pushed a hit-and-run single toward the vacated hole at second and Venora walked to fill the bases.
First-pitch hitting with two out, Chad Smedberg delivered a line single for one run and Nick Miceli blooped a two-run single to center for a 4-0 lead.
D’Orsi held Bethel scoreless on one hit through four and Sanford’s play bailed him out in the fifth, but the Admirals (20-11) made their move in the sixth. Three consecutive hits and an RBI grounder pulled them within a run.
D’Orsi, who earned the victory, had thrown his final pitch of the day.
“He was on a short leash the inning before,” co-coach Rick Sanford said. “All of a sudden he was changing his pitching sequence and I hadn’t seen a good fastball for two innings. I thought the guys were starting to sit back on him a little bit so we needed to mix it up.”
Wil Francis, whose father Dave was the winning pitcher the last time West Hartford won a state tournament in 1973, hurled a scoreless the seventh. George Lund followed suit in the eighth.
In the home half, Post 96 pushed across an insurance run. Packard walked, and DeMorais and Minnes followed with singles to load the sacks. Sanford grounded into a force at second and broke up the double-play attempt enabling Packard to score.
DeMorais, who hadn’t pitched all season, retired the side in order although all three Bethel hitters hit the ball on the nose. Since home runs generally are not part of the equation in wooden-bat competition, that’s just what Rick Sanford wanted.
“He throws strikes and in this game walks will kill you,” he said. “We needed a guy who just pounds the strike zone.”
Sanford will probably start Zack LaRosa against Branford.
“Around five [innings], LaRosa starts to hit the wall and we’ll bring in [Francis, Lund and DeMorias] again,” he said.
West Hartford 5, Bethel 3
American Legion State Tournament
(At Palmer Field, Middletown)
Bethel West Hartford
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Sorice ss 4 0 0 0 DeMorais 3b-p 5 0 2 0
Manfreda of-1b 3 0 0 0 Minnes cf 3 1 1 0
Roman 1b 3 1 1 0 Sanford ss 5 1 2 1
Frawley 1b-p 1 0 0 0 Venora 1b 3 1 1 0
Dee 3b 3 1 1 0 Lund dh-p-3b 3 0 0 0
Amaru 2b 1 0 0 0 D’Orsi p 0 0 0 0
Guercio p-cf 2 1 2 1 Francis p 0 0 0 0
Wilcox cf 2 0 1 0 Smedberg 2b 4 0 2 1
Rizzuto ph-lf 2 0 0 1 Miceli c 4 0 1 2
Harrison c 2 0 0 0 LaRosa rf 3 0 0 0
Fracker rf 4 0 0 1 Errico ph 1 0 0 0
Tita 2b-3b 3 0 1 0 Packard lf 3 2 1 0
Totals 30 3 6 3 Totals 34 5 10 4
Bethel 000 012 000 – 3 6 2
West Hartford 004 000 01x – 5 10 1
E – Dee, Tita, DeMorais. DP – West Hartford 1. LOB – Bethel 6, West Hartford 10. 2B – Dee. S – Harrison. CS –
Guercio, DeMorais.
Bethel
ip h r er bb so
Guercio L 7.1 9 5 1 4 9
Frawley 0.2 1 0 0 0 1
West Hartford
D’Orsi W 6 5 3 3 3 3
Francis 1 0 0 0 1 1
Lund 1 1 0 0 0 1
DeMorais Sv 1 0 0 0 0 0
WP – Guercio, D’Orsi. BK – Guercio. HBP – by Guercio (Minnes); by D’Orsi (Tita). T – 2:21. Records – Bethel 20-11; West Hartford 22-4.
