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07/22/2019 12:00 AMAfter finishing up a solid regular season, the North Haven Senior American Legion baseball team began the State Tournament by splitting its first two games in the double-elimination bracket last weekend. Post 76s earned a 3-1 victory versus Oakville in its opening contest, before taking a 5-3, nine-inning loss against Stamford in its second game. North Haven, which has an overall record of 25-11, needs to win three games in the face of elimination in order to advance to the next phase of State Tournament play.
North Haven entered the state tourney on the heels of a regular season that saw Post 76 finish with a record of 18-9 in its Zone 2 games. Post 76 came in second place in the Zone 2 Western Division standings, finishing 2.5 games behind Hamden (20-6) for first place. Last week, North Haven took an extra-inning loss to Madison and then swept a three-game series from East Haven to wrap up the regular season.
State Tournament Opener
North Haven began the State Tournament by competing in the Southern Division Sectional portion of the bracket. Post 76 is the No. 2 seed in a four-team pod that also features Stamford, Oakville, and Orange. The winner of the pod moves on to the Meriden Super Regional portion of the tournament that begins this weekend.
In its first game, North Haven hosted No. 3 seed Oakville and claimed a 3-1 victory at DeMayo Ballfield on July 20. Ryan Sullivan pitched four scoreless innings to get the win on the mound for North Haven. Nick Rossi allowed one run in 2.1 innings of relief, and Zack Pincince retired the last two batters of the game to get the save.
Post 76 took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kevin Lucey brought home Pincince on an RBI double. North Haven tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth inning. First, Owen Silk reached on a single, stole second base, and then scored on a ground-rule double from Mason Balmer for a 2-0 advantage. Later in the frame, Balmer came home on a sacrifice fly by Lucey to make it 3-0.
Oakville scored a run in the top of the seventh inning and had two runners on base. Pincince came on in relief and got the final two batters to ground out to solidify the win for Post 76.
Lucey went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI, while Balmer was 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI to pace the North Haven offense. Pincince went 1-for-2 with a run, and Silk was 1-for-2 with a run and a steal.
Taking on the Top Seed
The following morning, North Haven hit the road to square off against No. 1 seed Stamford at Cubetta Stadium. Post 76 dropped a 5-3 decision to Stamford in a nine-inning contest that was decided on a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth. Joseph Skarad hit the homer to left field with two outs to give Stamford the walk-off win.
North Haven fell behind 2-0 in the third inning, but tied the game on a two-run home run to right field by Dave Christoforo in the fourth. After Stamford went up 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Post 76 made it 3-3 in the fifth when Silk reached on a single and later came home on an error. The game stayed tied until Stamford won it on the homer in the ninth.
Christoforo was 1-for-3 with the home run, a walk, a run scored, and two RBI; Silk went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run, and Lucey went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run for North Haven.
North Haven is hosting the winner of Oakville and No. 4 seed Orange in a State Tournament elimination game at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 23. If Post 76 wins, it will have to defeat Stamford twice on the road on Wednesday, July 24 in order to move on to the Meriden Super Regional that gets underway on Saturday, July 27.
Close Contest
Prior to competing in the State Tournament, North Haven completed its regular season by winning three of its four games during the final week of play. On July 14, North Haven dropped a 4-3 home game in eight innings against Madison in the last matchup of a three-game series.
Madison snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring a run in the top of the seventh inning, but North Haven tied it up again in when Christoforo doubled in Balmer to make it 3-3 in the bottom half of the frame. Madison came back with a run in the top of the eighth and then hung on for the win to salvage the last game of the series.
Nick Rossi pitched 4.1 innings of relief for Post 76, allowing two runs on five hits. Balmer went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, while Nate Zalegowski went 1-for-2 with a home run and two runs in the game. Pincince was 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI, and Lucey went 1-for-3 with a walk and a double.
Three-Game Sweep
Following the Madison series, North Haven finished out its regular season by sweeping a three-game set from Zone 2 Western Division opponent East Haven. Post 76 swept a doubleheader at home and then prevailed in East Haven the following day.
On July 16, North Haven won both ends of a doubleheader against East Haven at DeMayo Ballfield. Post 76 defeated East Haven by the final score of 7-0 in the opening game.
In the second contest, North Haven triumphed by the final score of 15-5 in five innings. North Haven trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the third inning, but plated three runs in the frame to tie the score at 4-4. Post 76 went on to score three runs in the fourth inning and then added eight more runs in the fifth, after which the game was called due to the mercy rule.
Owen Silk pitched a complete game to pick up the victory for Post 76. Silk pitched five innings in which he allowed five unearned runs on five hits.
Christoforo highlighted a huge day at the plate for North Haven by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two runs scored, and five RBI. Lucey went 2-for-3 with a walk, four runs scored, and two RBI; Cole Zalegowski was 2-for-3 with a walk, a pair of doubles, a run, and three RBI; and Pincince went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Danny Cannavaciolo went 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and a stolen base; Silk was 1-for-3 with two runs, and an RBI; and Rossi drew two walks to go with a run scored.
The next day, North Haven posted a 5-0 shutout at East Haven in its regular-season finale. Post 76 scored single runs in both the third and fourth innings, followed by a three-spot in the seventh to salt away the victory.
JJ Mazzaro tossed four scoreless innings to get the win for North Haven. Pincince closed it out by working three scoreless innings in relief.
Lucey went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run, and an RBI; Cole Zalegowski was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, Nate Zalegowski went 2-for-2 with a walk, Christoforo went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run, and Rossi had a single with a walk and an RBI.