Sports
Top-Seeded Branford Ends Post 96 Tourney Run
West Hartford boys unable to cash in on opportunities.
MIDDLETOWN – The slumbering giant awoke.
Defending state champion Branford, the top seed in the American Legion State Tournament, stumbled in Saturday’s opener and barely avoided elimination against Avon on Sunday.
But on Monday, the Shoreline boys found their rhythm, and their discovery was untimely for West Hartford Post 96.
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Buddy Shea laced three this and drove in four runs to lead Branford Post 83 to a 10-4 victory at Palmer Field that signaled the end to a successful campaign for the local boys.
West Hartford (22-5), the Zone 7 champion, couldn’t find a pitcher to quiet the Branford bats, which produced 12 base hits. The pitchers exacerbated matters by issuing seven walks and hitting a batter. Four of the free passes became runs, as they are prone to do.
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“I thought we had our pitching set up pretty well but we had eight [free passes] and on top of that they had 12 hits,” co-coach Rick Sanford said. “That’s 20 baserunners, but we were still in the game, and I thought their pitcher (Taylor Gamache) was somebody we should have been able to hit.”
Meanwhile, Post 96 drew six walks and none of them came around. West Hartford stranded 12 runners.
Branford (25-2) reached starter George Lund for a run in the third with Shea’s one-out single scoring Connor Moriarty. The masters of Zone 2 added five runs in the fourth inning. Shea and Oliver Hart greeted reliever Wil Francis with successive hits that sent home two runs each.
West Hartford made it a ballgame in the fifth with the help of two Branford errors and a passed ball.
Chris DeMorais, Dan Minnes and Mac Venora had singles to key a four-run rally that had West Hartford down by just two with plenty of baseball left to play. Zack LaRosa was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home the inning’s final run, but West Hartford left the bases loaded.
Branford scored a run off Chris Colleary in the seventh and blew it open with three in the eighth against DeMorais.
DeMorais and Minnes led West Hartford’s eight-hit attack with two safeties apiece.
Branford 10, West Hartford 4
American Legion State Tournament
(At Palmer Field, Middletown)
West Hartford Branford
ab r h bi ab r h bi
DeMorais 3b-p 5 1 2 0 Forgione 2b-3b 2 1 0 0
Minnes cf-3b 5 0 2 0 Shea c 4 0 3 3
Sanford ss 5 1 1 1 Hart ss 4 1 2 1
Venora 1b-rf 4 1 1 0 Pelligrino rf 4 0 0 1
Smedberg 2b 3 0 0 0 Stoddard dh 2 0 0 0
Miceli c 4 0 1 0 Gamache p 0 0 0 0
Errico dh-p-1b 3 0 0 0 Palluzzi 3b-2b 2 0 0 1
Lund p 0 0 0 0 Janotta lf 3 1 2 0
LaRosa of-p 3 0 0 1 Perez lf c 1 0 0 0
Packard lf 3 1 1 0 Castaldi 1b 4 0 1 0
Velardi 3b-p 3 2 0 0
Moriarty cf 3 4 3 1
Totals 35 4 8 2 Totals 32 10 12 10
West Hartford 000 040 000 – 4 8 1
Branford 001 501 03x – 10 12 3
E – DeMorais, Hart, Velardi, Forgione. DP – West Hartford 1. LOB – West Hartford 12, Branford 8. 2B – Hart. S – Smedberg, Forgione 2. SF – Palluzzi. SB – Shea.
West Hartford
ip h r er bb so
Lund L 3.2 6 5 4 3 3
Francis 0.2 3 1 1 0 0
Colleary 1.2 2 1 1 0 1
Errico 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
LaRosa 0.2 0 2 2 2 0
DeMorais 1 1 1 1 2 0
Branford
Gamache 4.2 5 4 1 5 0
Velardi W 4.1 3 0 0 1 0
BK – Francis, Shea. HBP – by Velardi (LaRosa). T – 2:50. Records – West Hartford 22-5; Branford 25-2.
