West Hartford’s Senior Legion baseball team defeated Naugatuck in the first round of the State Tournament on Tuesday evening.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

The West Hartford Post 96 Senior American Legion baseball team began its quest for a repeat State Championship with a 5-3 win over Naugatuck on Tuesday night.

The game started about as well as it could for the host team playing at Conard High School. But some sloppy play defensive play nearly cost them the win.

In the bottom of the first, John Kane singled home Calvin Cianflone and then he came around to score when Chase Hanawalt singled to right. The ball skipped past the Naugatuck fielder and it was a 2-0 lead.

With two out in the bottom of the second, singles by Owen Ludgin and Cianflone were followed by a walk to Matt Santoro to load the bases. John Kane followed with a two-RBI single to right-center field before Hanawalt delivered again with an RBI single and it was a 5-0  lead.

“We try to manufacture something early,” said West Hartford head coach Sean McCann. “We want to make that first inning as long as we can for the other pitcher and we had success tonight in the first and second.”

Unfortunately for Post 96, that would be all the offense they would score off Naugatuck pitcher Kevin Sestari. Add to that some sloppy play in the third by West Hartford, and what looked to be an easy tournament opener for the No. 3 seed was suddenly anything but.

Catcher James Crilly led off with an infield single. Damon Abate then hit a ball to shortstop for what looked like a tailor-made double play. But the throw evaded Cianflone at second to put two runners on base. After a pop out to first, another ground ball to short looked like it cold end the inning. Myles Fournier got the force at second but his throw to first was in the dirt and bounced away from Hanawalt and Crilly kept running and slid headfirst into home just ahead of the throw for the run.

Two batters later first baseman Alex Teixeira singled in the second run for the visitors.

One inning later, Naugatuck struck again. Ludgin gave up a walk and a double before being lifted for Brendan Grady. Crilly then dribbled one up the third base line that scored one run, Crilly would then get picked off first, and Grady would strike out Abate to end the inning at 5-3.

“This team killed its own momentum,” said McCann of his team’s play in those two innings. “That really took the air out of us and Owen [Ludgin] had to throw more than he should have.”

Trailing by 2, Naugatuck threatened again in the top of the fifth inning. Sestari led off with a huge fly ball to left that nearly cleared the fence. He had to settle for a double but put his team in position to drive in at least one more run. Grady then got a short fly to right and got Teixeira to ground into a huge 4-6-3 double play to keep things at 5-3.

An inning later, Grady would again have to knuckle down following a leadoff single. He induced a sacrifice bunt, and then struck out the next two batters.

Grady got two quick outs to open the seventh and final inning before he hit Colton Hoffman in the foot. It was then that West Hartford’s defense showed that they could get it done.

Kyle Donion hit a ground ball wide of first, pulling Hanawalt away from the base. The ball got past him but Cianflone and Fournier pulled off a heads-up play, getting the force on the runner heading for second to end the game at 5-3.

When asked after the game how important Grady’s performance was in relief, McCann said it’s all about confidence. “He’s been with us for three years now and he’s built a lot of confidence in his own craft,” McCann said of the Trinity College rising sophomore.

Post 96 will now have to wait an extra day to see who they play next. The game between Danbury and Tri County was rained out on Tuesday. They will try to play tomorrow with the winner coming to Conard on Thursday for a 5:30 start in the next round.

Game Notes:

• Post 96 won the Zone 1 regular season title for the third consecutive season. They posted a record of 18-3, outscoring opponents 174-57.
• In Tuesday’s game, Owen Ludgin had 4 Ks and gave up just one earned run.
• Brendan Grady struck out 2 and allowed no runs.
• Jack Kane went 2-for-3 and drove in 3.
• Chase Hanawalt was also 2-for-3, with 2 RBIs.

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