Trojans in Tri-State Semis for 10th straight season, will face Ducks

copyright Kevin Roberts Rep-American 8/4/23

To the surprise of no one who knows the Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League, the Tri-Town Trojans are back in the semifinal round.

Tri-Town, the two-time defending champion, has reached the final four in the Tri-State playoffs in every season since 2013. That’s 10 straight semifinal appearances (there was no Tri-State season in 2020 due to COVID-19). The Trojans get to where they want to go because they play “Trojans baseball.” “Pitching, defense, running and timely hitting,” Tri-Town player/manager Danny McCarty said. “We’ve been here before, so we should be ready to go.” Tri-Town, the top seed in the playoffs, swept the eighth-seeded CT Gamecocks by identical 9-2 scores in the first round best-of-three series.

The next team to have a shot at Tri-Town (20-2 overall) in the semifinal round is the fourth-seeded Valley Ducks (12-10). Valley swept the fifth-seeded Brass City Vipers by scores of 5-0 and 15-9. Ducks player/manager Ty Pelletier doesn’t expect runs to be as plentiful against the Trojans. “I think it’s very important that we capitalize on every chance we have to score runs,” Pelletier said. “Obviously Tri-Town has one of, if not the deepest pitching rotations in the league, so runs will be hard to come by. Whether it be small-ball or stringing hits together, we have to manufacture runs any way we can.”

Game 1 of the semifinal series is tonight at 7 at Fuessenich Park. Game 2 is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Wolcott High. Game 3, if necessary, would be Sunday at Community Field in Litchfield at 11 a.m.

Tri-Town wins with defense and pitching, which forces other teams to be close to flawless. Pelletier said Valley is at its best when it is playing strong defense. “We have to avoid errors and we absolutely cannot give away free at bats and free bases against a team like Tri-Town,” Pelletier said. The Ducks are happy to be in the semifinal round, but Pelletier wants them to avoid being complacent. Valley wants to earn a spot in the Tri-State World Series, and it needs to be at its best to get past the perennial power Tri-Town Trojans. McCarty said the Ducks will hit the ball, but the Trojans need to keep them from stringing together multiple hits. “They score a lot of runs, so we need to neutralize them on offense and avoid big innings by them,” McCarty said.

The winner of the Tri-Town-Valley series gets Bethlehem in the World Series next weekend.