The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Reflecting on lost lacrosse seasons for Middletown seniors
MIDDLETOWN — The city lets down its guard Monday with the opening of popular recreation spots that have been shuttered since the onset of the coronavirus epidemic more than three months ago.
The gates will swing open at the Hunter/Lowman Basketball Courts at the Pat Kidney Sports Complex, the playscape at Butternut Hollow and the Willie Pep Skate Park on deKoven Drive.
Be smart and mindful of others, and have fun out there.
On Friday, there will be a baseball game under the lights at PK’s Buzzy Levin Field. A team made up primarily of players from
Middletown, Xavier and Coginchaug Regional high schools will face Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland at 6:30 p.m. More on the clubs later in this column.
STAYING THE COURSE
The Middletown High boys and girls lacrosse programs are going to be just fine. But first, some thoughts on the 2020 season that never was.
“These guys would have done well. They were motivated,” boys coach Weve Valery said.
“This year was going to be our year. We were going to be a powerhouse in our conference,” said co-captain Eric Byrd.
“We were really looking ahead this year. It was heartbreaking to not have a season,” co-captain Joe Chiappetta said.
This wasn’t just any season that got wiped out because of a pandemic. It would have been the precocious program’s second year as a varsity club. Middletown won six games last season, was .500 in conference play and qualified for the state tournament.
With seven seniors (Byrd, Chiappetta, co-captains Brady Foster and Matteo Parent, goalie Ethan Foligno, Kristian Glemaud and Justin Walker) in tow, the Blue Dragons went all in on offseason training and were energized about proving they were more than just an up-and-coming program.
After an April of nothing more than preparing and staying in touch, their good feelings waned when the calendar turned to May and the CIAC announced two weeks later that all spring sports were canceled.
“When you have that many seniors, who were leaders of the team the year before, coming back with a feeling of unfinished business, my heart went out to them,” Valery said. “As seniors, the year is a memorable time for them, but now it was for all the wrong reasons — no prom, no graduation, no senior day. As a coach, when you start thinking about that, it’s depressing.”
Losing such a sizable class means the program will have to rebuild itself, Byrd said.
“There is going to be a lot of rebuilding now that my class has left,” he said, “but I do have faith my program will be really, really good with the athletes we have and the knowledge of our coach.”
Byrd hopes to play in the fall season at Eastern Connecticut State, where he plans to major in physical education.
“This summer I will be training a lot to get myself ready for fall ball and the regular season at Eastern,” he said. “You gotta keep your head up and keep pushing. You can’t let this one lost season kill your love for the sport.”
Chiappetta, a natural scorer who led the team in goals (49) and assists (15) as a junior, had a personal goal of topping 100 career goals.
“I wish I could play lacrosse right now,” he said a few weeks back. He wants to play on the club team at Bryant University, where he’ll study marketing.
“For a lot of us, we’re not going to see a lacrosse field again. So much for a last hurrah. I think you try and be optimistic about everything, because what happened was terrible, for my parents even. But in trying to think of what’s next, OK, this season was taken from me, what can I do to prepare the younger kids who will come next?
“We were not just preparing for this year, we were trying to prepare for MHS lacrosse to take off. We want it to be one of the most successful sports in the school.”
Valery expects to have numbers to replenish his roster, and he and girls coach Shannon Murdock get the benefit of Middletown having a strong youth program. Valery has coached the program since before it attained varsity status and will be back next year.
“I am committed to the players, committed to the school,” he said. “It’s a great program and a great opportunity to build a program. I want to build a solid foundation for Middletown that people can be proud of and players can look forward to joining, especially youth players, and seeing it through.”
BASEBALL AROUND THE CORNER
Middletown and Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland have 19U, 17U and 15U teams participating over the next six weeks in the Connecticut Elite Baseball Association, a statewide league that fills the void of American Legion ball for just this summer.
Ballplayers were hit with a double whammy this spring when both the high school and Legion seasons were canceled in early May because of coronavirus safety concerns. CTEBA was formed as an alternative to the Legion experience, although most clubs chose to keep their expected 2020 Legion rosters intact for this league.
There are a bevy of safety guidelines in place, including social distancing outside the field of play, no spitting, no high-fives or handshakes, and no sharing of equipment. Each team is expected to have an adult on hand to enforce the rules. At last check, umpires have the option of calling balls and strikes either behind the plate or pitcher’s mound.
Teams can carry up to 24 players. Middletown has a 20-man 19U roster and RCP is carrying 16 players. There are about 20 games on the CTEBA schedule, followed by a single-elimination playoff tournament for each division in the first week of August.
CTEBA has seven divisions for 19U. Middletown and RCP are among the 10 teams in Division 3 and open up against each other on Wednesday (5:45 p.m. first pitch) at Cromwell’s Fran Monnes Field. They meet again on Friday under the lights at Pat Kidney’s Buzzy Levin Field, where Middletown will play all of its home games.
Ellington, Enfield, East Hartford/Manchester, Glastonbury, NCL, Northeast, South Windsor and TriCounty fill out the division. Middletown got creative with its name — the Palmer Dogs, a play on Palmer Field (the park is off limits to the league) and the oneof-a-kind hot dogs churned out by the Milardo-Wilcox Post 75.
The Dogs’ 19U roster, coached by Kyle Farrell.
Pitchers: Griffin Biro, Ryan Hurlbert, Chris Onofrio, Noah Kleczkowski, Brent Gilson, CJ Sokol.
Catchers: DJ Arnold, Giancarlo Genovese.
Infielders: Ryan Conklin, Tiernan Powers, Nico Kulpik, Owen Clancy, Mike Garofalo, Tyler Lemay, Jack Konopka, Ryan Michaud.
Outfielders: Frank Romano, Greyson Pizzonia, Kobe Watanabe, Frank Triay, Clancy, Genovese.
Conklin, Powers, Garofalo, Lemay, Triay and Pizzonia are also listed as pitchers.
RCP’s 19U roster, coached by Paul Francis:
Pitchers: Mason Fox, Tyler Baldwin, Tyler Szrejna, Jesse Frazer, Ryan Robb, Zach Zajac.
Catchers: Nick Polizonis, Zajac.
Infielders: Tino Gagliardi, Elias Deleon, Justin Fraleigh, Baldwin.
Outfielders: Nick Adherhold, Justin Valentin, Matt Sevigny, Ryan Boyle, Grant Collins, Alex Inglis.
Polizonis, Fraleigh, Sevigny and Adherhold are also listed as pitchers. Every rostered player comes from either Cromwell or Rocky Hill high schools with the exception of Portland’s Collins.
CITY SCHOLAR ATHLETES
The Middletown Sports Hall of Fame has announced the recipients of the 2020 Thomas J. Serra Scholar Athlete Award, given annually to a Xavier and Mercy student as well as two each from Middletown High and Vinal Tech.
From Middletown, Cierra Freer and Matt Nenninger. Freer was a member of the crew team and involved in the Blue Dragons’ Unified Sports program, while Nenninger competed in cross country and track.
From Xavier, KJ Grisham. Grisham was an allconference standout in football and basketball for the Falcons and will continue his football career at Nichols College.
From Mercy, Mia Lawrence. Lawrence was allaround SCC gymnastics champion for the second straight year and a twotime winner of the conference’s outstanding gymnast award. She also was recognized as an SCC Comeback Player of the Year after returning from a 2019 injury to win the 2020 allaround title.
From Vinal Tech, Shayna Pandolfo and Jyqwam Fountain. Pandolfo played volleyball and softball for the Hawks. Fountain, a terrific basketball player, set the school’s single-game scoring record with a 48point performance last season. He also surpassed 1,000 points for his career.
THIS AND THAT
** In just about a month, Major League Baseball will play its shortened-to-60games season under the weight of a 113-page stack of safety rules meant to minimize the threat of coronavirus infection.
For example, gum chewing is permitted, but spitting is not. Set your watch to the first time you see a guy spit. How will players and managers keep themselves from spitting? Seems impossible. I mean, have you ever seen Indians manager Terry Francona work his Bazooka inning by inning? Tito is a spit machine.
The rules are nothing to joke about, of course. Also on the list of don’ts: No chew, no seeds, no fighting, no clubhouse buffets, masks for non-players in the dugouts and bullpens, the discouraging of showering on the premises … and no arguing with umpires.
“Players (or managers) who leave their positions to argue with umpires or come within six feet of them or an opposing player or manager face ejection and discipline,” according to the rules manual.
I would assume one can holler from a distance at the likes of Angel Hernandez and Joe West, because to be barred from doing is just wrong. Set your watch, too, to bad calls by both.
** Wishful thinking that, by the time the U.S. Open rolls around at Winged Foot in late September, fans will be allowed on the course?
** Director Joel Schumacher died recently at age 80. In the 1980s and ’90s, he gave us movie fans such gems of the era as “D.C. Cab,” “The Lost Boys,” “Flatliners,” “Falling Down” and author John Grisham’s “The Client” and “A Time To Kill.” For people of my age, “The Lost Boys” is a classic.
** Finally, we remember Middletown native Kevin Smith, a cornerback for coach John Skubel’s 1984 and ’85 Blue Dragons super-teams. Kevin, who died on June 10 at age 52, also played baseball and was an avid fan of all sports. Throughout his battle with a rare liver disease, he had caring, supportive friends by his side.
Kevin and I worked in Liberty Bank’s lending department on Main Street for a couple of summers during our college years. We had fun and learned a lot. Kevin was a true professional, mature, and serious about the work. It was no surprise that, after earning a business degree from Nichols College, he went on to a long and distinguished career at People’s United Bank.
His name remains alongside the other ’84 Dragons, who as a team were inducted into the Middletown Sports Hall of Fame. Condolences to his parents, Bill and MaryAnn, his sister KellyAnn and her family, his wife Justine and their two sons, Christopher and Ryan.