2021 Tri-State Playoffs

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2021 Post Season

  • All 13 teams make the playoffs
  • Top 3 teams get bye in Round 1  (#4/#13, #5/#12, #6/#11, #7/#10, #8/#9)
  • Each round in Tri-State Playoffs will be a “Best-of-Three” Series
  • Saturday playoff games to start between (10am – 3pm).
  • Sunday playoff games any time after 10am
  • NOTE: 15 minute grace period allowed only if team is short of 9 players available
  • NOTE: Rainout dates are to be expected to be the very next day for entire playoffs
  • NOTE: All games must complete 9 innings of play. Friday games finished Sat if needed
  • NOTE: Players must have played in 5 regular season games to be eligible for league playoffs
  • NOTE: Any game that does not complete 9 innings of play as scheduled will be a suspended game regardless of how many innings are played.
  • NOTE: No starting on second base for extra innings in playoffs.
  • NOTE: No 10 run mercy rule in playoffs

Friday July 23 – Sunday July 25: 1st Round Tri-State Playoffs

Friday July 30 – Sunday August 1: 2nd Round Tri-State Playoffs

Friday August 6 – Sunday August 8: Semi-Finals Tri-State Playoffs

Wednesday August 18 – Friday August 20: Tri-State World Series

Round 1 – Tri-State Playoffs

#4 Seed Bethlehem Plowboys  vs  #13 Seed Torrington Rebels

Game 1: Bethlehem Plowboys 8 Torrington Rebels 0

Plowboys win 8-0, George Bielizna threw 6 no hit innings striking out 8, Isaiah Johnson finished off the final 3 innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 5. Jon Wilson led the plowboy offense going 3-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 stolen bases while Greg Campbell smacked his first home run of the year to keep the plow bats hot. Matt Mancini and Andrew Luis added RBIs as well to aid the plow attack in the middle innings as the Plow stays hot winning its 11th of there last 12 games

Game 2: Bethlehem Plowboys 15 Torrington Rebels 1

***Bethlehem plays Winsted in round 2

#5 Seed Winsted Whalers    vs  #12 Seed  Canton Crushers

Game 1: Winsted Whalers 7 Canton Crushers 2

Game 2: Winsted Whalers 4 Canton Crushers 1

***Winsted plays Bethlehem in round 2

Copyright Gerry DeSimas Collinsville Press 7/25/21

There were new colorful uniforms in the dugout of the Winsted Whalers baseball team this summer and a larger sense of commitment, too.

The Whalers incorporated blue and bright neon yellow into the uniform to pay homage to The Gilbert School and some red to pay homage to Northwestern Regional along with the traditional logo made famous by the National Hockey League’s Hartford Whalers in their 18-year stay in Connecticut that ended in 1997.

There is a renewed sense of commitment on this Winsted squad that won their first Tri-State League playoff game since 2013 with a victory over the Canton Crushers on Friday night.

“Everybody shows up that has been the big thing this year,” Winsted catcher Chester Warner said. “We have 14-to-15 guys every game committed to playing baseball. It’s been fantastic. Guys can play different positions and they can play them well. Everyone hits.”

In previous years, the Whalers weren’t quite sure who would be on the field for the game. “That was our achilles heel in the past. We would have just nine guys show up,” he said. “But this year, everyone is here for every game and we have been able to put a quality team on the field over and over.”

Winsted swept the best-of-3 playoff series from Canton with a pair of victories this weekend. The Whalers beat Canton, 7-2 on Friday night at Walker Field and completed the sweep on Saturday morning with a 4-1 decision at Bowdoin Field.

Winsted, the No. 5 seed, advances to face either Bethlehem or the Torrington Rebels in round two next weekend.

Canton pitcher Taylor Riley went the distance in Saturday’s loss to Winsted, allowing nine hits. At the plate, he had a RBI double for the Crushers. More photos

The Tri-State League began using best-of-three series for each round of the playoffs in 2014. Until this weekend, Winsted had lost in their last four playoff appearances. The most recent appearance was in 2018.

This year, they got solid pitching from Austin Brochu on Friday night and Mitch Gryniuk on Saturday. Brochu allowed just four hits on Friday while Gryniuk allowed just three on Saturday.

“We were able to capitalize on some big hits in the middle of our order,” Warner said. “Our pitchers did a good job of keeping Canton off balance because they have some good hitters, especially among their top six. They did a good job of controlling them.”

Canton (4-15) was making their first-ever playoff appearance.

In game one, the Crushers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. Jim Spirito and Sean Bahre reached base on back-to-back walks. Both scored after a single from Braedon Bean and two Winsted errors in the inning.

Winsted (11-8) tied the game at 2-2 with a run in the fifth inning and broke it open in the sixth inning with five runs thanks to three hits, two walks and two Crusher errors.

Winsted’s Jay Torres had a great opening game by going 3-for-4 with a double while teammate T.J. Kent was 2-for-4 with a double and a single. The Whalers had 10 hits in game one and nine hits in game two.

On Saturday, a pair of home runs in the fourth inning enabled Winsted to take a comfortable 4-0 lead. Brochu led off with a single and scored on John Lippincott’s two-run home run to right field. With one out in the inning, Torres blasted a solo home run to right field for a four-run advantage for the visitors.

Lippincott finished the day by going 3-for-3 at the plate with a single, double, home run and two RBI. Teammate Tim Smith was 2-for-3 with an RBI double in the second inning.

Winsted pitcher Mitch Gryniuk kept Canton’s offense in check. Canton had runners at second and third base in the top of the second inning but Gryniuk got James Michanczyk to ground out to third baseman Lukas Gryniuk, who fired home to throw out Sean Bahre from third base for the second out of the inning.

Canton’s Mike Sullivan beat out an infield single to load the bases but Mitch Gryniuk got Cam Gaudet to ground out to second base to end the threat.

Sullivan walked in the fifth inning and scored on Taylor Riley’s RBI double to cut the lead to 4-1.

Canton’s Mike Sullivan safely gets back to first base as Winsted first baseman Austin Brochu takes a throw from Whaler catcher Chester Warner. Sullivan eventually stole second base. M“We came in as a lower seed we hung with a team that beat us earlier in the year,” Bahre said. “We had our chances to win the (first) game and it came down to the last inning in the first game and we made (some) errors. “

Canton was the No. 12 seed in the 13-team playoff bracket.

“(On Saturday), we hit the ball hard we hung with them the whole time,” Bahre said. “They had an inning (three runs in the fourth). We hit the ball hard but we hit the ball right at people. The team is looking good and we’re recruiting for next year.”

Winsted 7, Canton 2
At Winsted (July 23)
Canton (4-14)                   000  200  0  — 2-4-4
Winsted (10-8)                100  015  x  — 7-10-3
Jim Michanczyk and Jeff Mulhall; Austin Brochu and Chester Warner; WP: Brochu; LP: J. Michancyzk (0-1); 2B: Jay Torres (W), T.J. Kent (W)RELATED TOPICSBASEBALLFEATUREDTRI-STATE BASEBALL

Gerry deSimas, Jr., Collinsville Press

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 35 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

#6 Seed Wolcott Scrappers   vs   #11 Seed Burlington Hunters

Game 1: Wolcott Scrappers 2 Burlington Hunters 1

Game 2: Wolcott Scrappers 9 Burlington Hunters 4

***Wolcott plays #3 seed Amenia Monarchs in round 2

#7 Seed Blasius Chevrolet     vs  #10 Seed Twisters

Game 1: Twisters 5 Blasius Chevrolet 4

(5 unread) – [email protected] – AT&T Yahoo Mail – Twisters

The Twisters swept Blasius over the weekend to advance in their initial playoff appearance in the Tri St Baseball League. The Twisters featuring all Torrington residents won a hotly contested 5-4 contest in Prospect Friday night.Twister ace David DeGrom Strager went the distance throwing 110 pitches and striking out 8. The Twister lineup featured lots of contributors.  A three run 4th put the Twisters ahead with Rbis hits  by BCarr n Dj Reynolds giving the Twisters a lead. The Twisters later got big  hits from Kyle Matthews and Jake Reynolds to add to the lead.  Josh Rubino n Jim Lamanna also hit well. The infield defense of Matthews and Dj Reynolds and the speedy Lamanna in centerfield combined with Stragers 90mph fast ball proved  too tough for the veteran Blasius crew to battle back from. The leftfielder for Blasius Ravenik made a great catch and led his team at the plate.
On Saturday at Fuessenich the Twisters trailed early but led by a homerun by Marcus Blooom controlled the middle portion of the game adding to their lead in the 6th and 7th with hits from Matt Sokol .Bloom again and a ringing double from Carr. The pesky Jake Reynolds was in the middle of the rally. Fridays hero Strager added a huge 2 run single to open up the lead to 4 in the 7th. Stosh Rubino took over on the mound in the 5th and finessed his way threw a bases loaded no out jam to keep Blasius  at bay. Blasius was led by Ravenik who had 3 hits over the weekend and made a great catch and and Cogges who also swung a hot bat

Game 2: Twisters 7 Blasius Chevrolet 3

***Twisters play #2 seed Tri-Town Trojans in round 2

copyright Peter Wallace register citizen 7/25/21

Call it a change of the guard or call it the effects of a missing COVID-19 year, but this weekend, call a young Twisters team from Torrington the winners of a Round 1 best-of-three playoff series over veteran-filled Blasius Chevrolet in the 13-team Tri-State Baseball League’s four-week march to a championship.

The 10th-seeded Twisters, last seen as a high school Connie Mack team, beat No. 7 Blasius 5-4 Friday night, then came back for a 7-3 series clincher at Fuessenich Park Saturday afternoon. “We just wanted to find a way to keep playing baseball together,” said Marcus Bloom, explaining his team’s entrance into the league this year, after his solo home run in a 3-for-3 day Saturday. Turns out, two years without baseball can have positive effects along with the obvious negatives when it adds bulk and muscle to a former high school team. “I gained 20 pounds and learned to cook,” laughed Josh Rubino after closing out four strong innings Saturday.

On the other side, two more years may have cost a step or two for some of the veteran players in a league full of high school stars, college and ex-college players and retired pros “We weren’t worried; we’ve got talent,” Rubino says about the Twisters’ entrance into the venerable league this summer. It may be a different story when they face the No. 2 Tri-Town Trojans and 2018 league champions next weekend for Round 2, but this weekend, a youthful learning curve was the Twisters’ ace in the hole. “We learned how to have fun in the last couple of games,” said Brian Carr, a rising sophomore at Post University who went 3-for-4 with two doubles Saturday. “Now we just step up to the plate and try to hit the ball hard.” “We stopped being tense. We brought the energy today,” said Bloom.

“They want to be good,” said Coach John Reynolds. “We had 28 practices this summer. I doubt if most of the other Tri-State teams had more than five.” Nevertheless, it was far from a sure thing on Saturday. “We’re just happy to be playing baseball again,” said Blasius coach Dave Vardnais after his team took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a walk to Eric Rovinetti (2-for-3, 2 runs scored), a hit by Jon Conlon (2-for-5, RBI) and a Twister error.

Twister Kyle Mathews raced for two bases on a Blasius error in the bottom of the inning, moved to third on a sacrifice by starting pitcher Jake Reynolds (2-for-3, run scored) and an RBI single from David Strager (2-for-4, 3 RBI) for a 1-1 early tie.

Four innings later, Blasius starting pitcher Will Aldem seemed to be winning the duel with Reynolds. In the top of the fifth, veterans Paul Novakowski and Rovinetti scored on three hits, a walk and a hit batter for a 3-1 lead. But, in this game at least, youthful exuberance was a huge weapon. Bloom’s home run narrowed the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth. Relieer Rubino came on with a one-two-three debut in the top of the sixth. Reynolds, Jimmy Lamanna and Carr took over the lead, 4-3, with two hits and a double in the bottom of the inning. Rubino mastered the top of the Brosius lineup in the seventh.

Then Twister batters strutted their new selves. With one out, Bloom sent his third hit through the left side; Matt Sokol walked; Mathews batted Bloom home; Strager greeted reliever Fran Phalen with a two-run single, 7-3. Still, In the top of the eighth inning, nobody — maybe not even the Twisters — would have bet on the final score. Rubino gave up a single and double to Steve Hartson and Colby Levinson (2-for-3, RBI), then hit Ben Brown for a bases-loaded no-out bona fide jam on his way to facing a trio of giant Blasius veterans, each of them eminently capable of a game-tying grand slam home run.

“We’ve got talent,” one envisions Rubino saying to himself before proving it once again: pop-up to short; great catch by Lamanna in short center field; fielder’s choice to short. In Tri-State’s world of pitching, Rubino won the trifecta and the final inning as well. “It’s the mustaches,” he laughed, lining up with three other mustachioed Twisters for a fierce older look.

#8 Seed  Southington 66ers   vs   #9 Seed  Valley Thunder Ducks

Game 1: Southington 66ers 5 Valley Thunder Ducks 4

Game 2: Southington 66ers 6  Valley Thunder Ducks  4

***Southington plays #1 seed Terryville Black Sox in round 2