Bristol Junior American Legion pitchers Trevor Mays and Nick Ruffino shared the mound, and the spotlight, on a long Tuesday evening at Page Park.
What Mays and Ruffino shared at the end of Tuesday’s game against Glastonbury was history. Mays threw the first five innings of the 3-0 victory, and Ruffino cleaned up the last two. When it was over, Glastonbury didn’t have a hit, walk or hit batter, and the solid Bristol
defense didn’t make an error.
Mays and Ruffino were perfect, and they made history.
“It felt great,” Mays said of the effort. “I didn’t even realize it was perfect until I had been taken out after the fifth because of a sore shoulder, but it’s really cool to be a part of it. My
team made a lot of great plays to keep it alive.”
The play that stuck out most came early.
“Sean O’Neil made a diving play at first base early in the game that would have easily been a hit,” Mays said.
The game took three hours because of a pair of weather delays, one for lightning and another for thunder, Ruffino said. Both occurred early and affected Mays in a positive and negative manner.
“It was kind of tough because I had to keep warming up after each delay, but our offense had several 1-2-3 innings early, so the delays actually helped give my arm more of a break between innings,” Mays said.
When Ruffino entered the game in the sixth, he knew what was at stake.
“Yes, I heard chatter around the dugout as a joke in the second inning, and then batter after batter the other team wouldn’t reach base,” Ruffino said. “When I entered it was almost like all my teammates had been telling me it was still on.”
Ruffino and the Bristol defense made sure the perfect game stayed intact.
“It felt great being a part of the perfect game,” Ruffino said. “Everyone contributed to the game and was a part of the historic night. At first with having two delays none of us really wanted to be there, but towards the fourth inning we realized what can happen and we turned on the jets.”
