A tip of the cap to Post 75

The Senior American Legion state tournament is moving along this week without Middletown. For the big picture, it is the 36th summer since the last time Post 75 won a state championship.

Some folks in town can’t believe the 75ers haven’t won a title in generations. Others probably have no idea Middletown still has an American Legion program.

Let’s just say that this year’s club was a good one to pull for, and that summer 2019 could be a really good one for players and fans.

This season, the 75ers weathered a lousy start in zone play, overcame some injuries and adjusted to a change in managers — all before July 1 — to make the tournament as the third-best team in Zone 3.

Middletown won seven of 10 in July to play its way into the postseason picture, and then won three straight games while facing elimination, to force a maximum fifth game in pod play. It all ended in the 11th inning on Thursday, a 6-4 loss to Oakville, at Palmer Field.

No more toothpaste to squeeze from the tube. For those three weeks in July though, a tip of the cap to a good bunch of young players.

“I felt like they started to play relaxed yet focused baseball” in July, coach Jay Famiglietti said. “We started to win again, and as we began to win, they started to believe in themselves again. Instead of being in a spot where they might have thought things would start to go wrong again, they thought, ‘We’re going to make plays and we’re going to be OK.’”

Famiglietti’s biggest challenge, as he put it, was navigating the ship.

“I had to step up and keep the kids in the ship,” he said. “Nothing I did was special. I made some changes on D. Once we stopped making errors, we started winning games.”

Truthfully, the 75ers should be one of the final eight teams in the tournament. They should have finished off North Haven in the seventh inning of their opener, but the bullpen blew it. And they had the bases full with no one out in the 10th against Oakville and came up empty.

“There were those blips,” Famiglietti said. By and large, though, it was a positive season.

Senior team regulars Tim Dickson, Sean Lenehan, Chris Mor-

mile, Ryan Famiglietti and Michael Gaboury have exhausted their eligibility. Pitcher/shortstop Luke Garofalo could play next summer, but he’s a Division I player and likely looking for more exposure once he finishes his freshman season at Bryant.

Regulars eligible to return include Cal Pitruzzello, AJ Kleczkowski, Connor Cardi, Cole Niedmann, Ryan Hurlbert, Connor Rulnick and Tyler LeMay. Role players Zach Reimer, DJ Arnold, Jake Famiglietti and Spencer Higgs could join that nucleus, and with promotions off a Zone 3 champion U17 team that qualified for the final eight of the state tournament Sunday, there is good cause for optimism.

State championship-type optimism? Who knows.

WHERE ARE THE FANS?

We may never return to a time when baseball was a big to-do in Middletown. I sat on the same wooden slabs at Palmer Field as a kid in the summers of 1979

and 1982 to watch the state’s best Legion program. Yep, that was a lifetime ago.

Those who also were there share similar recollections of big-time talent, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and an energy around town building toward the next night’s game.

Today, Post 75 crowds are made up of parents, girlfriends, some buddies of the players and only the most loyal of Legion baseball fans. You ask yourself, where is the interest from the larger community? Overall, it’s good baseball. The players come from Middletown High, Xavier, Vinal Tech, Coginchaug and Haddam-Killingworth. There is Division I talent, too. And wood bats, no less.

It’s the same game today as it was in 1982. What’s missing are people to watch it.

Residents support the arts, youth sports, Wesleyan and so many other things the city has to offer. Yeah, yeah, there are so many other options out there for entertainment. It’s an argument that’s reached the point of cliché.

Plus, you can get through the gate and fill your face for less than $20, courtesy of a team of people who volunteer their time and energy to help fund the program and keep ballplayers in Post 75 blue.

Voters approved a bond that pumped almost $2 million into renovations at Palmer Field, and visitors appear to have more love for the facility than the people who live here. What else is there to say?

THREE SACKS FOR SANTOS-KNOX

Winnipeg linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox had three sacks and a teamhigh 10 tackles in the Blue Bombers’ 40-14 win Friday night over the Toronto Argonauts.

Santos-Knox, who played at Xavier and UMass, is using the team’s bye week in the CFL to return to Middletown. He loves playing football for Winnipeg and in Canada in general.

“One thing about Canada, it’s a very accepting and very friendly country,” he told the Press. “Winnipeg is a big city and very diverse. There are so many different types of ethnicities and the food is good. Canada in general is a great country.

Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal — the common theme is diverse, friendly, just a good place to be.”

Santos-Knox established himself as a linebacker and tight end at Xavier, but he also was a really good basketball player. He played in the middle for the Falcons and had the assignment of guarding New London’s Kris Dunn, who is now a member of the Chicago Bulls backcourt, in the 2012 Class LL tournament. Santos-Knox outscored Dunn 34-30.

“I remember that game well,” he said, “specifically they were seeded highest and we were the lowest. I had my best effort. It was my last basketball game at Xavier. I’m a competitor and his type of hype brought out the best in me. I tell people now that New London got the win, but I outscored him.”

RUSSO NEW COACH AT HAMDEN HALL

Middletown resident Amanda Shannon Russo recently was appointed girls varsity basketball coach at Hamden Hall. Russo previously was an assistant at Central Connecticut State University for

two seasons, and before that she was the recruiting coordinator at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

Russo played her college ball at Merrimack, where she scored 1,360 points, was a two-time All Northeast-10 performance and remains ranked in Merrimack’s top 10 in career points, assists and steals.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” Russo said in a statement. “Hamden Hall has an incredible reputation for academics and producing high achieving student-athletes. Their commitment to athletic achievement matches my passion and enthusiasm for continuing the success of the girls basketball program.”

Russo has degrees from Merrimack and Northeastern University.

THIS AND THAT

⏩ I was told that former Xavier quarterback Tim Boyle threw a nice deep ball at Green Bay Packers training camp on Friday. Boyle, who essentially is fighting to stick on the practice squad, is expected to get more reps in practice as the

summer goes on. When all is said and done, the Packers will carry only Aaron Rodgers and a backup on the active 53-man roster.

⏩ Remember when almost all ground balls up the middle were base hits? If defensive shifts are here to stay, they will play a part in destroying baseball as we know it.

⏩ On a related note, more position players have pitched this MLB season than ever. The Rays, down 15-5 in Baltimore on Friday night, used outfielder Carlos Gomez and catcher Jesus Sucre to get three outs in the eighth.

Why they would do this makes total sense, it was a mockery. Gomez looked embarrassed. Sucre was throwing pitches you would see in an AhernWhalen game (and no disrespect to our town’s league) and laughing to himself. Baseball has gone goofy in many respects — not good for a sport that is struggling to captivate fans.

⏩ Finally, I challenge anyone to come up with a better summer movie than “Jaws.” Forty-three years after its release, it still nails the mark.