Bethlehem, Tri-Town play ‘good ole country baseball’

BETHLEHEM — For all its modern rule changes and controversies, baseball remains a game of romantic nostalgia in some quarters, a selective memory of life in simpler times. There was no better place for that sentiment to ring true than Bethlehem’s Gallop Field last Saturday afternoon for the biggest game of the summer so far. The mighty Tri-Town Trojans from Litchfield, four-time defending Tri-State Baseball League champions, were on hand to face the mighty Bethlehem Plowboys, three-time defending league runners-up, in the final regular-season matchup for both before the league playoffs were set to begin Tuesday for 12 of the league’s 13 teams. On this day, Bethlehem came away with a 3-2 win.

The league, with roots in the 1930s, lays claim to being the oldest league in the state. The Plowboys celebrated their own 100^th anniversary several years ago, looking back to a time before the league was formed. The Plowboys couldn’t be prouder of their nickname, with T-shirts proclaiming “Plow for life” sometimes on display. The slogan has more than one meaning for some, with active farms not far from the baseball fields in many of the Northwest Corner towns that form the league. Saturday, the first clue to the importance of this game for No. 1 seeding in the tournament was a full string of small parking lots behind the small fire station/police department/library buildings in the middle of the tiny collection that forms the center of a town you might miss if you were just out for a beautiful weekend country drive. Full as the parking lots were, extending into a charming little playground, you’d absolutely miss the driveway to the baseball field and parking lots, hidden behind the buildings, if you weren’t looking specifically for it.

If you could find a parking spot (which you could if you tried), a first glance at the field, around the corner of the surrounding trees, might be deceiving. Where were all the people from these cars? A smattering of them sat on the small bleachers on each side of the field, but you’d have to look to the shade to find the rest on a hot summer afternoon — mothers, fathers, girlfriends, wives, grandparents and siblings strung out in folding chairs under the trees beyond right field, along the sidelines on both sides, behind the backstop. Former Thomaston First Selectman Gene McMahon, who lived long enough to become the dean of local sports fans, used to crow, “Good old country baseball!” on sight of the field. Indeed, the sight of the fans themselves, spread out, relaxed but intense in their focus and histories, somehow brings to mind a day of horse and buggies in the parking lots, long before the league was formed.

Don’t be deceived.

“Baseball is fickle,” proclaimed Jennifer Balisle, a veteran spectator who has watched hundreds of games played by sons Chase (otherwise, the starting senior catcher at St. Joseph College) and Caden. “It’s a game of inches.” “It’s our turn,” said another, on the Plowboys side of the field. On the other side of the field, most of the Trojans fill out the visitor bleachers in their at-bats, forsaking the added heat of the dugout. There’s time for former minor leaguer and Housatonic/UConn baseball hero Willy Yahn to regale his teammates with the story of why he drove to Chattanooga for a wedding last week to be sure he didn’t miss Best Man duties after a near-miss trying to fly to another wedding in Detroit earlier in the summer after several airline cancellations and delays. Former major league pitcher Evan Scribner sat at the far end of the bleachers, listening, after flying from his home in Arizona with his longtime girlfriend and two dogs the weekend before to see his family in Washington, Conn., but also to qualify for the Tri-State Tournament. “I’d have to work out for two months to be back in pitching shape,” he says. “I just want to play the outfield.”

On the field, younger brother Miles Scribner, often proclaimed the best pitcher in the league, was in his familiar spot on the mound. He and fellow veteran, Plowboy ace Tyler Boisvert, dueled for three scoreless innings before Tri-Town broke through for a run in the top of the fourth on a no-outs double-play by the Plowboys. Against many other teams in the league, that’s enough for Scribner. This is Bethlehem. Jesse Swartout evened the score with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. The Plowboys took the lead with a Ryan Ponte RBI in the top of the sixth. Coleby Bunnell, whose brother Joe died in a farming accident in 2020, cleared the center field fence with a solo home run, tying the score 2-2 for the Trojans. Scribner carried on. “He was great, as usual,” said Bethlehem’s No. 3 batter Isaiah Johnson. “He hits all his spots.”

Kyle Banche came on in relief for the Plowboys in the top of the eighth. The score remained 2-2 through the ninth. The new rule, putting a runner on second base to start each half of extra innings took over in the 10th, amidst grumbles from a few fans. Banche thrived in the top of the 10th with two pop-ups and a throw-out to third on a Trojan steal attempt. Johnson claimed his only hit of the day, a walk-off RBI single against reliever Bobby Chatfield, in the bottom of the inning. “I knew he was going to throw me a fastball,” said Johnson. “We didn’t go for strikeouts; we just wanted to put the ball in play,” said both Bethlehem pitchers after the game. Why not, in a game with major league defensive plays on both sides.