Unbeaten Orioles score 19 runs in last 2 innings of rout

TORRINGTON — Mercy couldn’t come fast enough in a 22-4 Macony Baseball League wipeout by the undefeated NW CT Orioles over Torrington Friday night.

In a matchup between the two best teams in the five-team league that’s grown out of the longstanding Northwest Connie Mack League, the game stayed close for four innings, then exploded in a flurry of seven Oriole runs in the fifth, topped by 12 in the sixth.

“They owned us,” said Torrington coach John Reynolds.

That was devastatingly true for two innings in a dramatic demonstration of the 13-0 Orioles’ major advantage.

“We have a lot of depth,” said Coach Bob Posey. “We have a lot of guys throwing.”

Friday, the teams used a combined seven pitchers — four for Torrington and three for NW CT.

“We have good pitching,” said Reynolds. “Our problem is when we bring our best pitchers in, our defense suffers.”

“We draw from four schools – three of them in Massachusetts,” said Coach Posey, who also coaches at the Berkshire School. Housatonic, Mt. Everett and Monument Mountain are the other schools.

“They all send us kids who know baseball,” Posey said.

“We’ve played them close. Our goal is to beat them,” said Coach Reynolds.

The league has a week left in its regular schedule before starting its first tournament with all five teams qualifying for the single-elimination first round starting next Saturday, drawing down to a best-of-three series for the championship.

Peter Wallace/Register Citizen Right, NW CT’s Jack McAuliffe was the first of three effective pitchers for the Orioles in their Macony Baseball League win over Torrington Friday evening at Fuessenich Park.