The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Post 75 repeats as fall champs
The Brooklyn Dodgers had their “Boys of Summer.” Middletown Post 75 apparently has cornered the rights to “The Boys of Autumn.”
The 75ers’ Junior Division (17U) team won the state’s fall championship for the second straight year, defeating Windsor/Windsor Locks 76 when Colin Loria drove in two runs with a double to deep left in the bottom of the seventh.
The game was played in a steady drizzle at Pat Kidney’s Buzzy Levin Field. There were several lead changes, 12 walks issued by Middletown pitchers and only five hits total. Windsor/ Windsor Locks was held to just one.
However, there was no dampening the 75ers’ thrill of going backtoback as fall champs.
“It was wild,” manager Dan Botti said.
The 75ers won three tournament games to finish 1211 in league play and 1422 overall. Loria, their leadoff hitter, had three of the team’s four hits in the final — two doubles and a single — and drove in three runs.
“When Colin hit that ball, the players all rushed the field,” Botti said. “They were all so excited. Already we were talking about next summer after the game and the really good vibe this team has.”
The 75ers took a 54 lead in the sixth inning on a failed suicide squeeze. Caught off third, Jackson Salafia broke for home when the catcher threw back to the bag and beat the return throw.
Righthander Tiernan Powers, who got the final five outs for the win, struggled with the wet ball. He walked three and allowed two runs as Windsor/Windsor Locks took a 65 lead in its half of the seventh.
“Tiernan was tremendous all year. He just didn’t have it,” Botti said.
The stage though, was set for Post 75’s comeback.
Pinch hitter Dan Lyons worked the count and walked to lead off the seventh. Dan Lapham also worked the count and fouled off several pitches in a 10pitch atbat that ended with him walking. No. 9 hitter JJ Fox was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Loria, a middle infielder who led the fall team with 18 hits and a .419 batting average, crushed a pitch that fell just shy of the warning track, scoring Lyons and Lapham. Botti believes Loria was team MVP.
“He was my leadoff hitter all summer and fall, and summer and fall last year, too,” he said. “He’s
always been so consistent at the plate. He’s like DJ LeMahieu (the Yankees’ leadoff hitter). I can play him all over the field. He makes contact. He’s just a great player.”
Lapham started on the mound for the 75ers and lasted 21⁄3 innings, allowing an earned run and striking out three. All told, Lapham and relievers Loria, Alex Mach and Powers combined for 12 walks, 13 strikeouts and 175 pitches.
“They battled,” Botti said. “Lapham had a good start and did a nice job setting the tone.”
Mach got the final out in the fifth and the first out in the sixth before Botti turned to Powers.
“If had to make the decision again, I’d go to Tiernan again. He is nails,” Botti said. “His ratio of good games to bad games is like 3,000 to 1. It was the first time I hadn’t seen him pitch well. Uncharacteristic for sure.”
Middletown’s 17U roster for the summer and fall was mostly a collection of players who played in the past for the program’s 15U squad previously coached by Botti.
“It’s been really cool to see the move up from 15U to 17U in the summer and fall with this core of guys,” Botti said. “They’re great and they work really hard. The new guys we got this year have worked so hard, too.”
The 75ers’ championship roster: Kai Cottle, Middletown High; Fox, Xavier; Ethan Kupek, Coginchaug; Lapham, MHS; Loria, Xavier; Lyons, Xavier; Mach, Coginchaug; Kyle Noska, Xavier; Rian Parker, MHS; Adam Passamano, MHS (.283 BA); Powers, Xavier (.405 BA); Ryan Quinn, MHS (.327 BA, 16 hits); Salafia, Xavier (.389 BA); Andrew Strickland, MHS.
LITTLE THREE CHAMPS
How ‘bout them Cardinals?
In front of a homecoming crowd of 8,110, Wesleyan captured the Little Three championship with a 2721 overtime win over Williams. The Cardinals have a 71 record for the first time since 2013 heading into their season finale at Trinity.
And how ‘bout that David Estevez? Who is this guy?
He is a sophomore dualthreat quarterback from River Edge, New Jersey, listed at 5foot10 and 190 pounds, and he factored in all four Cardinals touchdowns.
In fact, Estevez scored the winner, a 25yard run on Wesleyan’s first play in OT. Watching every Cardinal player and coach storm the field when he crossed the goal line at Andrus Field is mustsee video.
Estevez carried the ball six times and scored two touchdowns, the second from 2 yards out with 17 seconds left in regulation. After Williams took a 147 lead with 53 seconds left in the first half, Estevez returned the kickoff 94 yards, tying the game.
He also caught three balls. He also threw four passes and completed three, one for a 52yard TD to Delando Clarke. And he punted once.
For all of that, Estevez was named NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week, the sixth this season that a Cardinal has received a weekly honor.
Saturday’s kickoff at Trinity (53) is noontime.
THE WEEK AHEAD
With nasty weather predicted on Friday, some events could be subject to change:
Monday: It’s a busy one. No. 2 seed Mercy’s soccer team faces No. 3 Guilford in the SCC tournament semifinals (6:45 p.m. at Xavier). The Tigers eliminated Amity in the quarters 32 after building a 30 lead behind goals from Grace Riegler, Emma McMurray and Lindsay Stevenson.
Also in SCC tournament play, No. 3 seed Xavier visits No. 2 Guilford at 6 p.m. It’s an intriguing semifinal match knowing Xavier lost to the Indians in September and the two played to a scoreless tie in October.
The Shoreline Conference volleyball tournament opens with quarterfinalround play. The top four seeds are hosts: HaleRay (vs. North Branford), Coginchaug (vs. Morgan), Cromwell (vs. Valley Regional), and HK (vs. East Hampton).
Tuesday: Semifinals in the girls and boys Shoreline Conference soccer tournaments. Girls side: No. 3 HK at No. 2 Old Lyme, 2 p.m.; No. 4 Valley Regional at No. 1 Portland, 5 p.m. Boys side: No. 3 Old Saybrook at No. 2 Coginchaug, 2 p.m.; No. 4 Portland at No. 1 Morgan, 6:30 (Indian River Complex).
Wednesday: Shoreline volleyball semifinals, at the higher seeds.
Thursday: Everyone, take the day off.
Friday: The CIAC releases state tournament seedings and brackets in soccer, field hockey and volleyball.
** WCNXRadio.com will air the HandXavier football game from Larry McHugh Field. The early forecast calls for a high of 39 degrees and a low of 24. Pretty sure the press box is heated.
** Shoreline soccer championship matches. Sites to be determined.
** Middletown plays E.O. Smith (16) at RosekSkubel Stadium. Kickoff at 6:30 p.m.
** Shoreline volleyball final, 6 p.m., at Morgan or at an undetermined neutral site if the Huskies are involved.
Saturday: Wesleyan/ Trinity at noon in Hartford. The Cardinals’ last win over the Bantams came in 2014 (2019).
** New England Cross Country Championships at Wickham Park. In the boys race, for my money, it’s Xavier’s Robbie Cozean or bust.
THIS AND THAT
** Middletown quarterback Chris Danas, who threw for 515 yards against Farmington, was named the MaxPreps/USA Football Player of the Week, Northeast Region, for the week of Oct. 2127.
** Middletown’s Tyshaun James capped Central Connecticut’s 2713 win over Wagner with a 35yard touchdown catch from Aaron Winchester. James, a preseason AllNortheast Conference selection, tweeted that family members traveled by bus to Staten Island to see him play.
** WCNXRadio.com will air the XavierHand football game on
** HaleRay is the No. 1 seed in the Shoreline Conference volleyball tournament and the handson favorite to win the title. The Noises are 173 overall and went 151 against Shoreline opponents. Yet the Noises received not one vote in the latest coaches’ poll — despite a Shoreline coach having a vote in this poll. Hmm.
** You don’t have to look too hard to find fresh news about high school athletics and cheating. At a prep school in Missouri, the coaching staff was dismissed, the AD chose to retire and the football program was suspended for the remainder of the season after it was discovered that a junior running back wore a different number in a game and was identified on the roster as a different player.
** I love the Rockets’ Russell Westbrook for saying this: “When I hoop, I have no friends.”
** Best fantasy football quarterback: Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens or Drew Kron of Xavier?
** On Saturday, Detroit Pistons big man Andre Drummond recorded his third straight game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this ties the longest streak since the NBA/ABA merger of 197677. Five others have done this, including the late, great Moses Malone (five times). Drummond, of course, also is the first Woodrow Wilson Middle School product to achieve the feat.
** Finally, congratulations to hugely successful coaches Lou Milardo of HaleRay and Joe Grippo of Morgan. The two retirees/ greats are among the five recipients of the Gold Key Award from the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance in April. Back in the day, Grippo’s volleyball and girls basketball teams dominated the Shoreline scene, and Milardo’s state championship softball teams were special. Welldeserved recognition for both.