The Bristol Post 2 Junior American Legion baseball team went from near defeat to the jubilation that only a state championship can bring on Sunday afternoon at Meriden’s Ceppa Field.
Bristol trailed Stamford 2-0 until there was one out left in the 17U state championship game. Somehow, someway, Post 2 rallied to tie the game and force extra innings. Bristol scored twice in the top of the eighth inning, then held off Stamford for a 4-3 victory. It’s the second state championship for the Post 2 Junior program.
The situation was as dire as it gets for Bristol. Post 2 had managed just a single hit off of Stamford pitcher Matt Tiplady, who threw the first 6 1/3 innings before hitting his maximum pitch count for the day. Bristol was down 2-0, and down to its final out, with Kyle Lauretti at the plate. Lauretti worked a walk on five pitches, which brought Nick Ruffino up to bat. Ruffino walked on four pitches, and Post 2 suddenly had the tying runs on base.
Evan Bouchard worked the count to 3-1, then took a strike to run it full at 3-2. On the payoff pitch, Bouchard lifted a fly ball to right field. It seemed like Bristol’s tournament run would come up one rally short, but the fly ball was dropped for an error. Dylan Woodsome, running for Lauretti, scored from second, and Ruffino scored from first to tie the game at 2-2.
Bristol pitcher Trevor Mays worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, Dillon Hudson led off with a single. He went to second on a wild pitch with Joe Crowley batting, then Crowley brought Hudson home with an RBI single to give Post 2 a stunning 3-2 lead. With two outs, pinch hitter Owen Davis drew a walk, and so did Lauretti to load the bases. Ruffino walked with the bases loaded to score Crowley and make it 4-2. That insurance run turned out to be huge.
Stamford’s Tyler Lueders was hit by a pitch leading off the bottom of the eighth. Lueders went to second on a wild pitch, then advanced to third base on a groundout. A two-out single from Shane Hackett brought Stamford to within 4-3, but Mays got the final batter to ground to Lauretti at first base. Lauretti took it himself to the bag, and Bristol celebrated an incredible comeback win.
