2008 Preseason Writeup
Coaching Carousel the Story of Tri-State 2008
The Tri-State baseball league will be celebrating its 75th birthday when league play begins on Sunday, May 18th with eight games scheduled to be played. One new team has been added bringing a record number of sixteen teams into the league for the 2008 season. Each team will play a 19-game regular season followed by a 10-team round-robin double-elimination playoff tournament to determine a league champion. Tri-State will also host the Stan Musial state tournament to be held the first weekend in August with the top five teams from the league participating.
Change is afoot in the league as many new coaching faces are on the horizon. Chris Clark of the defending league champion Torrington Rebels is giving up his tenure after three championships in the last four seasons to assistant coach Brian Mongeau. Clark gave up the ‘title’ to allow someone else the fun of coaching as well as wanting to be just a player. In a common trend, Ryan Soucy of Wolcott will also dedicate his time fully to playing and hand the coaching reigns over to first year coach Lou Paternostro. “It’s almost impossible to play and coach (all at the same time)” stated Clark. “The coaching position requires a special personality in a league full of great athletes and strong personalities.”
Proof is in the success as the top teams in recent years have had a permanent fixture whose sole possession has been the coaching position. Winsted (17-1 regular season in 2007) is coached by D.J. Reese, Bethlehem (runner-up in 2007) is coached by Jimmy Alberto, Amenia has Tom Downey and Tribury is managed by Ray Villanova. The pressures of finding enough playing time for all your players as well as knowing your teams capabilities and game-time strategy is a full-time job all in itself.
The Farmingbury Longshots will be playing their first season in the 16 team league and will be managed by Cem McAvoy. The Longshots will play its home games at the BAW Complex, sharing time with the Wolcott Scrappers team.
Tom Van Stone will be the new head coach for the East End Outlaws, who will be playing under the team name Waterbury in the 2008 season. Andrew Osolin will help manage the Tri-Town Trojans, while the cross-town rival Litchfield Cowboys will be run this season by Carl Rivers. Joe Deming and Timmy Hamel will act as interim head coaches for the Thomaston Spoilers for the first half of the regular season until Dave Post (personal leave) returns to the team. Amid all the coaching changes, Ed Gadomski will return as league commissioner for his 5thseason.
Tri-State would like to announce its 2007 season award recipients and All-Star team:
| Tri-State MVP: | Jon Noack | Torrington Rebels |
| Silver Slugger: | Joel Judson | Amenia Monarchs |
| Cy Young: | Donny Crossman | Winsted Whalers |
2007 All-Star team (as selected by the Board of Directors):
| Catcher: | Ray Ricker | Burlington Hunters |
| 1st Base: | Jay Wetherall | Torrington Rebels |
| 2nd Base: | Dave Lumpkin | Winsted Whalers |
| Shortstop: | Alex Narus | Wolcott Scrappers |
| Third Base: | Darrin Gould | Torrington Rebels |
| Outfield: | Eric O’Toole | Bethlehem Plowboys |
| Outfield: | Ricky Langer | Winsted Whalers |
| Outfield: | Eddie Belval | Wolcott Scrappers |
| DH: | Jesse Carpenter | Thomaston spoilers |
| Pitcher: | Erik Williams | Bethlehem Plowboys |
Tri-State is planning on playing an International Game this summer and will also induct its second Hall-of-Fame class during the Championship Series in late August. A 75-year anniversary celebration inter-league game will kick off the season. The Tri-State league can be followed all season long for info, history, archive listings, schedules, and standings on their website, http://www.TriStateBaseballCT.com.