West Hartford Legion rolls on with 12-5 win over Hebron

WEST HARTFORD – West Hartford Post 96 had all the elements of productive offense in its favor.

The local Legionnaires readily accepted Tri-County’s first-inning gift of four walks and two infield errors and parlayed them with five hits to produce eight runs.

Eight runs in a seven-inning game played with wooden bats is a substantial bounty, but West Hartford’s co-coaches Steve Meucci and Rick Sanford knew they couldn’t let their players relax. It’s baseball, anything can happen, and both clubs are in the thick of the Zone 7 race.

Good thing, too, because the Hebron club put together a rally in the fourth that offered a stern reminder that you have to play through the final out. But the veteran-laden West Hartford nine weathered the storm by keeping the pedal to the metal with a 12-5 conquest Friday evening at Field.

West Hartford raised its record to 12-1 while Tri-County falls to 9-3. The teams were scheduled to meet again Saturday morning in Hebron.

Meucci and Sanford had high expectations coming into the season and they’ve kept the players focused on a return to the state playoffs.

“We knew what we had coming back,” Meucci said. “We have eight kids in college, two of which didn’t play in college but kept throwing and hitting. You look at our starting infield and it’s college players and we have two in the outfield.

“We knew they would come in and be leaders and mentor the younger kids. That’s been huge because the team chemistry is awesome. It’s been fun to coach these guys.”

Tri-County, in spite of an eight-run deficit, wasn’t quite ready for the bus ride home. The visitors scored five runs in the fourth and could easily have had a few more, but Post 96 never let up.

“Our team stays in the game. Everybody’s picking each other up; we have good chemistry,” said Chad Smedberg, the former Conard star who walked on at the University of Tampa. “They respond with five runs and we add four more on.”

After starter Zack LaRosa retired Tri-County in order, the West Hartford offense went right to work. Two walks and singles by Nick Sanford and Mac Venora produced just one run due to an out on the bases, then the Tri-County infield defense imploded.

Two dribblers found open space Bill Buckner-style and the rally gained momentum. A three-run double by Dan Minnes was the lethal blow. Singles by Dan Errico and Chris DeMorais, and Nick Miceli’s long sacrifice fly added to the deluge.

DeMorais, who went 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs and two RBI, said he and his mates had to prevent the big lead from eroding their concentration.

“You’ve just got to keep holding the gas down,” he said. “Don’t give in. Don’t give up an at-bat. Don’t give up on a pitch. Just keep battling. I feel like we did that – a couple of bleeders here and there and they got back in the game – but we were able to shut the door.”

LaRosa faced the minimum over three innings but hit a brick wall in the fourth. Tri-County bunched five singles and two walks to close the gap to 9-5, but a well-executed relay cut down a run at the plate for the third out.

“That first inning killed us, but the game was totally different after that,” Tri-County coach Mike Susi said. “They fought, and that’s what I keep telling them. You can keep saying it, but the encouraging thing for me is they did it.”

Southpaw Matt D’Orsi, who turned in an outstanding senior season at Northwest Catholic this spring, closed out the fourth and hurled 2 1/3 frames of one-hit ball to earn the win. Meanwhile, West Hartford continued to pull away.

Venora delivered DeMorais with a two-out single in the third. Sean Packard’s leadoff single turned into a fourth-inning tally on Miceli’s sac fly. In the sixth, Smedberg’s hit and a pair of walks set the stage for RBI hits by Matt Leach and DeMorais to put the game in the win column.

“The approach is get ‘em on, get ‘em over and get ‘em in – the old-fashioned way,” Meucci said. “It keeps the momentum. You have to continue to put pressure on the other team when you use the wooden bats because if you let your foot off the throttle, they’re going to put the pressure on you.”

Every West Hartford batter had at least one hit and each scored at least one run. Not one Post 96 hitter struck out.

West Hartford 12, Tri-County 5

(At Hall High Field)

Tri-County                             West Hartford

                           ab  r  h  bi                                ab  r  h  bi

Stark cf               4  1  2  1       DeMorais 3b      4  2  3  2

King lf                3  1  0  0       Minnes rf           3  1  1  3

Salois ph            0  0  0  0       Sanford ss          3  1  2  0

Pogmore ss         4  1  1  0       Venora 1b           4  1  2  1

Repoli dh           3  1  1  1       Smedberg 2b       4  2  1  0

Schilling p          0  0  0  0       Packard cf          3  2  1  1

CSzuba 1b          1  0  0  0       Miceli c              1  1  1  1

JSzuba 1b-rf       2  0  1  1       Errico dh            1  1  1  0

Kirkpatrick ph   1  0  0  0       LaRosa p            0  0  0  0

LaPointe rf-3b    3  1  1  1       Leach lf              3  1  1  2

Fontanella c        2  0  1  1      

Depersia 3b-2b  3  0  0  0      

Wadja 2b-p        3  0  1  0      

Totals                 29  5  8  5     Totals            26  12  13  10

Tri-County        000 500 0 –   5    8  2

West Hartford    801 102 x – 12  13  1

E – Wadja, Depersia, Venora. DP – Tri-County 2, WH 1. LOB – Tri-County 5, WH 8. 2B – Minnes, Miceli. S – Packard, Miceli. SF – Miceli. SB – Stark. CS – DeMorais.

Tri-County

                                 ip    h  r  er  bb  so

Schilling L                1      5   8   1   4   0

Wadja                       5      8   4   4   4   0

West Hartford

LaRosa                     3.2   6   5   5   2   3

D’Orsi                      2.1   1   0   0   0   1

Francis                     1      1   0   0   1   0

WP – Schilling, Wadja, D’Orsi. T – 2:01. Records – Tri-County 9-3; West Hartford 12-1.