North Haven American Legion Hosts and Wins the First Annual Dan Riccio Memorial Tournament
Dan Riccio was the commander of North Haven American Legion Post 76 for many years before passing away at age 68 in January. After Riccio died, first-year Senior Legion baseball Head Coach Tim Binkoski and his predecessor Charlie Flanagan decided that they wanted to do something to honor him. The way they did that was by organizing the first annual Dan Riccio Memorial Tournament, which took place last weekend.
North Haven played five games in the tournament and was victorious in all five to claim the title, clinching it with a 4-3 victory versus the Diamond Zone on July 23. Post 76, which had previously finished third in Zone 2 to return to the State Tournament, completed its season with an overall record of 22-13-1.
“When we learned of his passing in January, Charlie and I wanted to put something together in his honor. We were lucky enough to get 10 teams to come out for the tournament, and it gave our boys a chance to keep playing for another weekend following our elimination from the State Tournament,” Coach Binkoski said. “Leading into it, I told the boys that this is our tournament, our commander, and I asked them to give me one last weekend of their summer and go out there and play, and that’s exactly what they did. They did a great job and played great in all five games.”
The Dan Riccio Memorial Tournament is serving as a fundraiser from which the proceeds will support a graduating member of the North Haven American Legion program. North Haven opened the 10-team tournament—which featured Senior Legion squads, AAU teams, and the North Haven Junior Legion team—by hosting two games in round-robin play at DeMayo Ballfield on July 22. Post 76 defeated both Madison and Waterbury by the final score of 4-2.
In the Madison win, Tom Myjak earned the victory on the mound by allowing two runs in four innings, after which Chris Ciarleglio picked up the save with three scoreless frames. Steven Erbe went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, while Kevin Lucey was 2-for-3 and scored a run. Peyton Farina singled, walked, and scored a run; Chris Stevens had a single and an RBI, and Brendan Clark walked and scored a run.
Against Waterbury, Mark Tantorski pitched a complete game in which he scattered eight hits and three walks to lead North Haven to the 4-2 triumph. Erbe went 2-for-3 with a three RBI, Lucey was 2-for-3 with a double and a run, Farina went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and DJ Caron added two hits. All four players also stole a base in the victory.
The following day, Post 76 won a 7-2, eight-inning decision versus the Connecticut Rivals in the final game of the round-robin portion of the tournament at Rochford Field in Hamden. Nate Zalegowski was the winning pitcher by allowing two runs and fanning seven in seven innings, after which Stevens pitched a scoreless eighth to lock it down. Caron went 4-for-4 with a double, a run, and an RBI; Myjak was 3-for-5 and scored a run, Lucey went 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBI; Farina was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, Erbe was 2-for-5 with an RBI, and Clark drew three walks and scored a run.
Later that day, North Haven opened play in the single-elimination bracket and won a 17-3 contest over Wallingford in the semifinals. North Haven scored six runs in the first, seven in the second, and four in the fourth before the game was called due to the mercy rule. Clark pitched two scoreless innings, and then Ciarleglio, Stevens, and Myjak all worked an inning of relief. At the dish, Lucey was 4-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, three runs scored, and four RBI; Caron went 3-for-4 with a double, a steal, two runs, and a pair of RBI; Erbe was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, two runs, and two RBI; Myjak was 2-for-3 and drove home a pair, Clark walked twice and scored three runs, and Gio Tirollo had a hit with a stolen base, three runs scored, and an RBI for Post 76.
Then in the championship contest, North Haven broke open a 1-1 game by plating three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Diamond Zone came back with a pair of runs in the sixth, but couldn’t complete the comeback, as Post 76 hung on for the victory. Clark got the win by pitching a complete game in which he allowed just one earned run. Lucey went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Myjak was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI, Zack Pincince singled and had two RBI, while Clark and Erbe both hit a double and scored a run to help North Haven win the first annual Dan Riccio Memorial Tournament.