It may have been a regular season game and it counted as such, but Tuesday’s baseball matchup between St. Paul and Litchfield was more about the memories made that will last a long time.
The Falcons and Cowboys took to the diamond at Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford for their game. Litchfield coach Kyle Weaver and St. Paul coach Vic Rinaldi are good friends, they play on the same over-30 baseball team on Sundays, and they have coached against each other since both began roaming the third base box in the Berkshire League in 2006, Weaver at Litchfield and Rinaldi at Lewis Mills. Weaver had a contact at Dunkin Donuts Park, and the teams were asked last fall if they wanted to play this spring. The answer was a resounding yes.
“We’d like to do it next year, too, and try to make it a tradition,” Rinaldi said after the game, which St. Paul won 10-1. “It’s a great experience for the kids, a great experience for everybody, the parents, the school, for the players. To play in a facility like this is unreal. This place is gorgeous.”
Rinaldi and Weaver raved about the ballpark, and the players got a treat when their pictures flashed on the big scoreboard in left field every time they came to bat. Fans of both teams turned out in what was both a nice spring night, and a night with some nuisance showers.
As for the game itself, Ryan Parent was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and three RBI to pace St. Paul’s attack. Chris Mills was 2-for-3 for the Falcons.
It wasn’t always a rout for St. Paul, now 6-2. Litchfield (1-8) threatened to score in the bottom of the first inning against St. Paul starter Walker Sharp (4 2/3 innings). On a single to left field, left fielder Julian Thayer came up firing to the catcher Mills and caught a runner trying to score. Litchfield loaded the bases twice against St. Paul pitching, but didn’t score either time.
Shaun Remillard, Dylan Gagnon, and Thayer came on to pitch after Sharp started the game. Remillard escaped a bases loaded, two-out jam in the bottom of the fifth inning with St. Paul ahead 5-1.
A cool aspect of Dunkin Donuts Park in the radar gun to the right of the big center field wall. Thayer threw a pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning that registered 88 MPH on the gun.
St. Paul continues a busy week with games today, Thursday and Saturday. The busy stretch is one a bunch of teams face after all the rain that has fallen in April.
“We’re getting rained out every other day, we can’t practice on our field because it’s flooded because of the rain, so we’re indoors,” Rinaldi said. “We’re still getting our work in, but it’s really been tough to get into a rhythm this year. And it’s not just us, it’s a lot of other teams too.”
Rinaldi hopes Tuesday’s win at Dunkin Donuts Park is a building block toward a good week, and a strong season.
Gallery
Here are my photos from Tuesday evening’s game at Dunkin Donuts Park.
