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07/24/2016 12:00 AMThe North Haven Junior American Legion baseball team won two games in the State Tournament before being eliminated with a 4-2 loss in Stamford last week. North Haven, which had qualified for states by placing second in Zone 2 at 14-10, finished the summer with an overall record of 18-12.
North Haven opened play as the No. 9 seed in the Southern Division portion of the double elimination State Tournament. In its first contest, North Haven played at No. 8 seed Danbury from Zone 5 at Mountain View Park on July 18 and won big by the final of 17-0. Two days later, North Haven played at top-seeded Stamford and took an 11-0 loss to the Zone 4 champion at Cubetta Stadium. The loss to Stamford sent North Haven to a rematch with Danbury in an elimination game at Danbury High School on July 21 and Post 76 ousted the opposition with a 7-0 victory. North Haven then needed to beat Stamford twice to advance to the next phase of the tournament, but dropped a 4-2 contest at Stamford on July 23 and was eliminated.
Pete Civitello, who coached Post 76 in tandem with Pete Katynski, felt pleased about their team's winning season and said that he enjoyed working with North Haven's athletes.
"It was a very good season. Kids showed tremendous growth and commitment to becoming a good team this summer," Civitello said. "It was a pleasure to work with this team. Hopefully, they enjoyed the season and learned from Coach Katynski and I."
North Haven's State Tournament opener versus Danbury wasn't close as Post 76 scored two runs in the second inning, three in the third, and one in the fourth before blowing the game open with an 11-run outpouring in the sixth en route to a 17-0 victory. Luca Lawrence pitched five dominant innings for the win, allowing just two hits and striking out six. CJ DeBridgita tossed a hitless sixth and the game was called due to the mercy rule.
North Haven hammered out 18 hits and drew seven walks in the one-sided win. Numerous people had multi-hit games at the plate, including Colby Cusano, who went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Jake Bencivengo was 2-for-4 with a walk and scored three runs; Ryan Sullivan hit 2-for-3 to go with two walks, two runs, and two RBI; Mike Salzano was 2-for-2, scored a run, and drove home two; Nick Perillie was 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and a RBI; and Andrew Laudano went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored, and a pair of RBI. On top of that, Leo Konopka doubled, scored a run, and recorded three RBI; Steven Erbe singled, walked, scored twice, and had two RBI; Christian Somma singled, walked, scored two runs, and drove in a run; Matt Iovanne singled, scored, and had a RBI; and Justin Shea also had a RBI.
In the first Stamford loss, starting pitcher Tom Myjak battled through three innings and allowed three runs (1 earned) before giving way to DeBridgita, who gave up eight unearned runs in the fourth inning. The game was then called after the top of the fifth with North Haven down 11-0. Post 76 committed four errors on defense in the game and the team's offense was limited to just a single, a walk, and a stolen base from Bencivengo.
Now facing Danbury with its season on the line, North Haven received a big boost on the mound from Perillie, who was the winning pitcher by allowing just three hits and four walks through six scoreless innings. Sullivan tossed a clean seventh to close it out. North Haven scored one run in the second inning and distanced itself from Danbury (12-10) by plating a six-spot in the third. Shea roped a two-run, inside-the-park home run to spur Post 76's big third inning. Erbe hit a triple, scored a run, and drove in two runs, while Salzano singled, doubled, scored a run, and added a RBI. Also for North Haven, Lawrence had a hit, scored a pair of runs, and had a RBI; DeBridgita walked twice; Cusano walked, singled, and scored a run; Jake Tantorski walked, singled, and drove in a run; Bencivengo had a hit and drew a walk; and Sullivan scored a run.
The rematch against Stamford was a much-closer contest than the first game. Stamford scored two runs in the second inning and two more in the third for a 4-0 advantage. Post 76 rallied by scoring twice in the sixth to cut the deficit in half, but couldn't complete the rally and took a 4-2 defeat to Stamford (30-2). Lawrence pitched all six innings for North Haven, allowing four runs, three of which were earned. Singles by Salzano and Perillie accounted for Post 76's only two hits on the day. Salzano had a RBI, while Perillie and Bencivengo scored North Haven's runs.
Despite the defeat, Coach Civitello complimented North Haven for making some postseason waves in the 2016 season.
"The team had a nice postseason run. Unfortunately, we wound up playing the No. 1 seed in the tournament in the bracket right away, possibly the best Junior Legion team in the state, Stamford, twice in our bracket," said Civitello. "They were a good team who put it to us, 11-0, the first time we played them. We got the opportunity for a rematch [on July 23] and took them to the limit, losing 4-2 with only a major error being the difference in the game. But the kids showed great pride and played very well to almost defeat Stamford. Hopefully, a lot of these kids will move on to varsity baseball next year and will continue to work hard."