The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Portland’s dramatic title run a joy ride
For those who witnessed it, the most lasting images of Portland High’s first Shoreline Conference baseball championship occurred in this order:
Cole Peterson, the Shoreline’s Player of the Year, ropes one into the gap in left-center at Palmer Field.
Grant Collins, Portland’s leadoff hitter and maybe the team’s fastest runner, turns on the jets at the ping of Peterson’s bat and scores all the way from first base.
The Highlanders explode out of the third-base dugout and athletic director Chris Serra jumps into coach Rick Borg arms near third base. Portland 2, Haddam-Killingworth 1, in eight innings.
There’s just one thing. Was any of this possible without Brandon Hickey stealing home?
It happened in another eighth inning, this one versus Coginchaug in a scoreless Shoreline semifinal game two days earlier at Portland.
On more than one occasion during Portland’s ongoing 20-win season, Hickey reminded Borg, even badgered him, about trying to steal home. Borg coaches third base in games.
“Every single time this season he’s been on third base, Hickey would say, ‘I could steal home, coach!’ ” Borg said.
Hickey did it again during Coginchaug’s pitching change in the bottom of the eighth. The Highlanders had runners at the corners with two outs and Collins coming to bat.
“We outlined it. We discussed it briefly, but we really weren’t talking about stealing home,” Borg said. “We wanted to try and get (Coginchaug) to make a play with Josh Doering on first base.”
They also noticed one big thing at the outset. Blue Devils reliever Eli Rivera threw all eight of his warm-up pitches from the wind
up.
Hickey: “I can steal home, coach! I can steal home!”
Before Rivera’s first pitch to Collins went for a strike, Hickey got a “no” from Borg.
“Doering (drifted) twothirds of the way or more to second base and they ignored him, and he went back to first,” Borg recounted. “He figured he’d try it again. Hickey is a good baserunner. If they tried to make a play on Doering, Hickey was going to score.”
Before Rivera’s second pitch to the left-handedhitting Collins, Hickey again got a red light from Borg. Doering moved up to second without a throw. Collins now was in an 0-2 hole.
“After the count went to 0-2 on Collins, I didn’t say no,” Borg said. “Stealing home was Hickey’s idea, I just didn’t stop him.”
Beyond the center field fence at Portland High, Collins’ father was recording the action. Rivera is on the rubber and Hickey already has an enormous lead when he breaks for the plate. Rivera steps off, but his throw is late and not on target.
“Hickey was eight-tenths of the way home before Rivera realized he was going,” Borg said. “I think Rivera was locked in on the batter at 0-2. I had never seen a walk-off steal of home, although I heard there were two in the state earlier this year.”
If there were others, surely they didn’t match the thrill at Portland High that day.
“I told the kids afterward,” Borg said, “that the coolest thing in that video, other than Hickey stealing, is that Doering is taking his secondary lead, he sees what’s happening and starts running directly toward home plate as Brandon scores.
“Pure joy.”
PROMISING START TO MHS BOYS LAX ERA
Before getting the chance to coach at Middletown High, Weve Valery got Meriden’s youth lacrosse program up and running.
The Blue Dragons are his baby now, and with six wins plus a state tournament berth among the program’s Year One accomplishments, Valery is eager already to get going with Year 2.
“I’m very satisfied with the start we’ve had in this sport,” he said Saturday, a day after Middletown’s season ended with a 19-5 loss to Foran of Milford in the CIAC Class M qualifying round. “Six wins? Most teams that just start a varsity program would be happy with six wins.
“I’m happy with the outcome to our season. We had the opportunity to play in the postseason and that was a great opportunity for the kids. These are baby steps. We have a lot of work to do and much to build on going forward, and I can’t wait to get started for next year.”
Middletown won its first two games and three of its first four before the reality of its schedule set in. Of MHS’ 14 regular-season opponents, seven qualified for the state tournament. The Dragons finished 6-9 overall.
“We got off to a great start and the rest of the season was pretty much a learning experience for our young players,” Valery said. “These guys were not used to varsity play and it was a rude awakening at times playing against elite teams. There were a couple of games that could have gone our way, but again, these guys are very young and when it came to playing a solid 48 minutes, our youth came out.
“At the same time, it was a great learning experience for the boys. To me, to be truly competitive you have to play the best teams. It was tough competition that should get us prepared for next year.”
Middletown’s top player, Joseph Chiappetta, led the Dragons with 30 goals and 17 assists as a junior. Valery’s roster of 18 will lose only four seniors: Kyle Dale (26 goals, 33 total points, second on the team in both categories), Calvin Ponzio (10 goals), Ian Corvo (two goals, seven assists) and Jared Lyding.
“My hat goes off to all four seniors,” Valery said. “Behind Joseph, Kyle Dale had an amazing season. Calvin Ponzio was excellent on the field, one of those kids who is involved and gets offense going, and he’s a great leader. Ian Corvo was great in the midfield. He did not play last year, but came back strong and helped our game.”
Next season, Valery’s offensive nucleus is set with Chiappetta, the versatile Dylan Reynolds, who had nine goals and 12 assists (he scored twice against Foran) and spent time in goal, and 6-foot-5 rising junior Liam Ardito (13 goals, 11 assists).
“Joseph was absolutely an amazing scorer for us,” Valery said. “We definitely work around him and Dylan Reynolds. Liam really stepped up. He played the point and the ball somehow always ended up to him, and he distributed to Dylan and Kyle.
“Our offense has the ability to be the best unit in conference (CCC) next year.”
Griffin’s first year playing laxrosse, and never played goalie, and helped us out, getting us to the postseason. Then 6-foot-5 Liam Ardito as soph def stepped us for offense, created lot of off opp. Played point, ball somehow alw ended up to him first, distributed to Dylan and Kyle. Liam lot of assists.
Defensively, Eric Byrd, Matteo Parent and Brady Foster will be the top returning players. The Blue Dragons finished the season with Reynolds and sophomore Griffin Foster, a first-year player, splitting time as goalie.
Valery, a New York native, was on former coach Justin Deegan’s staff the past couple of years when the Blue Dragons were playing as a club and then junior varsity team. He’d like to see his players get into city schools and promote Middletown’s program and the sport in general.
“It’s the fastest-growing sport in America, and whenever you can get an opportunity to get (others) involved, you should,” he said. “Lacrosse has to be a community effort.”
SCHOOL STUFF
** Saturday had to be senior Ryan Conklin’s best day in a Middletown baseball uniform. The righthander allowed two hits in a complete-game 3-0 victory over Stamford, retiring the final 11 batters in order, and went 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
“His mental toughness” stood out, Middletown coach Josh Cofield said. “He was around the strike zone and kept hitters off-balance. He just worked hard through every situation.”
Conklin retired the final 11 Stamford hitters. The qualifying-round win in the CIAC Class LL tournament sent Middletown (11-10) onto the first round, where it will play host No. 2 seed Newtown on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
** Xavier’s defense of its Southern Connecticut Conference golf championship will not come easy. With Hand, Notre Dame of West Haven, Fairfield Prep and Hamden all having deep teams, this year’s title is up for grabs.
The Falcons have the SCC’s best player in senior Chris Fosdick, and senior Kevin Lynch is as good a No. 2 player a lineup can have. Great attention will be paid to how the rest of Kohs’ lineup — senior Patrick Kennedy, junior PJ Cavaliere and senior Ryan Holgerson — plays over 18 holes Tuesday at Race Brook Country Club.
“We certainly have a shot,” Falcons coach Mike Kohs said. “Our league is as good as it’s been in a long time. The tournament is more wide open than I remember. Going in, Hand is probably the favorite. They are a very solid, very deep team. It’s not like Hand is a heavy favorite, but they have a slight edge for how deep they are.”
Portland’s Cole Peterson, Bryan Dinnis and Connor Murray were named to the All Shoreline baseball team, with Brett Thivierge making the second team. The Highlanders will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Class S tournament and will host Westbrook on Tuesday.
OUR BASEBALL SCENE
Rosters still need finalizing for the Middletown and RCP 19U teams, but their schedules have been set.
Next week, Middletown Post 75 has three exhibition games: Sunday against Winsted at Palmer Field, at Berlin on Tuesday and at Newington on Wednesday. RCP opens at Southington on Sunday, visits Bristol on Tuesday and hosts West Hartford on Wednesday.
Middletown and RCP are in Zone 3’s Southern Division, along with East Hartford/Manchester, Tri-County and Glastonbury. Ellington, Enfield, South Windsor, Windsor Locks/Windsor and Northeast make up the Northern Division. Connecticut has reduced the number of zones from eight to six and realigned most for geographical purposes.
Dan Botti will manage Post 75’s 17U team, replacing Joe Carta. The 75ers do not have a 15U team this year.
Meanwhile, Malloves Jewelers’ first Greater Hartford Twilight League game in 27 years is scheduled for Thursday at Pat Kidney’s Buzzy Levin Field. The season opener against the Record-Journal Expos starts at 7 p.m.
The Jewelers play a 24game schedule, with their home games split between Levin Field (nine) and Palmer Field (six). They also play at Levin Field on Sunday night (7 p.m.) against the South Windsor Phillies.
THIS AND THAT
** Jovan Santos-Knox will soon start a third season in the Canadian Football League, but with a new team. The linebacker, who spent the last two seasons with Winnipeg, signed a free-agent contract with the Edmonton Eskimos in February.
Santos-Knox was a twoway player for Sean Marinan at Xavier and starred at UMass for four years. Last season, he appeared in all 18 games for Winnipeg and had 83 total tackles, six sacks and two forced fumbles.
** This summer’s Triple Threat Basketball Clinic will be held the week of July 8 at both Portland High and Portland Middle schools.
The clinic, under the direction of Portland athletic director Chris Serra, focuses on fundamental skills in basketball and life for boys and girls in grades 4-9. The full day of instruction runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a cost of $180. More information can be found at portlandct.org.
** This year alone, 10 have died on Mount Everest. In an especially horrific scenario, many climbers experienced bottlenecks in a rush to reach the summit and two lost their lives. In some cases, there were twoand three-hour delays to the top as crowds of climbers took advantage of a short window of good weather. Long waits meant more hours in Everest’s death zone (above 8,000 meters). The pursuit of Everest’s apex is one of those things in life that I just find incomprehensible.
** For more than a year, “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” sat in my Netflix queue. No idea why. The story of Bing (Father of Kurt) Russell’s start-up of the independent Portland Mavericks, with ballplayers no other leagues had use for, was fantastic. Check it out.
** Another sports-centric documentary that sounds like a winner is “Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk.” The critically acclaimed film is narrated by Bill Murray and includes the participation of pro caddies Steve Williams (Tiger Woods), Carl Jackson (Ben Crenshaw) and Fanny Sunesson (Nick Faldo), among a host of others. “Loopers” comes to Hartford’s Bow Tie Cinemas on June 12.
** Condolences to Joey Logano and family on the loss of their French Bulldog. Logano tweeted the news late last week. RIP, Luigi.
** Why should any baseball fan care about exit velocity? I know a hard-hit home run ball when I see it. We don’t need a new calculation, a cute graphic and a nerd convention to convince us of this.
** It’s a beautiful thing, this Yankees season. Saturday in Kansas City, Austin Romine and Cameron Maybin drove in five of New York’s first six runs. The Yankees won that one, too. You would think the mojo would run dry at some point. Not yet, Red Sox fans.