Bethlehem, new king of Tri-State; stops Tri-Town dynasty
Copyright Rick Wilson Litchfield County Sports August 16,2025
WATERBURY – ROLL PLOW!
There is a new king in the Tri-State Baseball League that goes by the name of the Bethlehem Plowboys.
On a muggy afternoon at Municipal Stadium, the Plowboys ended the four-year dynasty of the Tri-Town Trojans with a neat and efficient, 4-0, victory to sweep the championship best-of-three series in two games. With the win, Bethlehem also ended the Trojans hopes of setting a record with five straight titles.
Bethlehem, (22-4) had lost the three previous series to the Trojans and had not won a league title since 2010. So much of the frustration, the relief, the satisfaction lost itself in the victory celebration near the pitcher’s mound. Finally, at last, it is about time, we did it was evident for one of the league’s long-lasting and proud franchises. “We rebuilt a lot, we have a lot of young blood, we had the opportunities and we just haven’t made it happen,” one of the Plowboys veterans Ryan Reynolds said. “There was something this year that told me this was going to happen. I cannot see how this doesn’t keep going. It’s been a long time coming.”
“It’s amazing to finally get the job done,” Bethlehem coach Rich Revere said. “We fought and scratched and proved this year that we were the better team.”
Tri-Town (19-7) saw its streak end with imperfect play and maybe part of the law of averages against a team that has equal talent.
“Your destined to lose some time. You are at the top and you are not always going to stay at top” former coach Dan McCarty said. “Bethlehem played cleaner baseball than us. We did not play Trojan baseball. They looked better than us than us. We pride ourselves on pitching and defense and we didn’t do defense.” The Plowboys rode the momentum of the opening game ninth-inning dramatics Friday night which resulted in a 4-3 win on Reynolds bases loaded game-winning hit and came out and scored three runs in the top of the first inning off Tri-Town starter Bobby Chatfield. Jon Wilson walked, Brett Davino was hit by a pitch and Ryan Ponte singled in a run with the second run coming in on an errant throw. After a walk to Jesse Swartout, Isaiah Johnson made it 3-0 with a base hit. Spotting ace Austin Brown with a three-run lead did not bode well for Tri-Town and it didn’t.
“I was pumped, I had full confidence after that, “Brown said. The hard-throwing Brown went on to pitch 71/3 innings of no-run ball, scattering five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. It was a repeat of his performance in Game 2 a year ago when he also shut out the Trojans in seven innings of work while striking out 10 and walking just three. Brown was not as overpowering this time around but every bit as effective. “He pitched great today,” Tri-Town coach Chatfield said. “I thought we hit the ball right at people today, but he might just have our number. “ “Brown spots his fastball very well,” McCarty said. “His fastball is around the plate, but he spots it very well. He locates his fastball and was doing it the entire time. “ Bethlehem added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Wilson bunted and eventually scored on Ryan Ponte’s single. Brown, nursing a bicep injury, gave way to Tyler Duffy in the seventh inning and he closed out the deal, allowing just two baserunners the rest of the way.
“In the end, we didn’t hit, we do what we needed to do,” Chatfield said after scattering seven hits. “We didn’t execute and do the truly little things that we need to do between the two teams. We did not execute.” Bethlehem played errorless ball in the series while its pitchers Kyle Banche, Carsten Donovan, Brown and Duffy gave up just three runs. The Municipal Stadium Parking lot overflowed with Tri-Town and Bethlehem players once again Saturday. Two teams with huge respect for one another. With one difference this time around. The smiles said Plowboys.
It has been a long time coming.
Plowboys seize control early to win first Tri-State title since 2010
by
The Bethlehem Plowboys celebrate winning their first Tri-State League championship Saturday with a 4-0 win over Tri-Town at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury. More game photos
WATERBURY, August 16, 2025 – The Bethlehem Plowboys were quite familiar with the sting of reaching the Tri-State League championship series only to fall short. In the past three years, the Plowboys were bridesmaids as the Tri-Town Trojans celebrated as champions. In the past two years, Tri-Town prevailed in game three to capture the pennant. On Saturday, there was a young, hungry Plowboy team on the field at Municipal Stadium. They were fleet in the outfield and solid on the infield. Bethlehem pitchers Austin Brown and Tyler Duffy limited the four-time defending champion Trojans to just six hits and struck out five. Bethlehem (23-4) scored three runs in the first inning and never gave the Trojans a chance to get up off the mat in a 4-0 victory to sweep the best-of-three championship series and win their first league championship since 2010.
“We came ready to play. We came ready to battle and we won the battle,” ninth-year Plowboy skipper Rich Reeves said. “It feels amazing to finally reach the mountaintop. I love it. I can’t be more happy about my team. They’re a great group of guys. A solid defense made the difference this summer. “Playing clean baseball (was the key),” Reeves said. “In years past, we had a few errors, kicked the ball around a bit. This year, we cleaned it up. Our defense was extraordinary (on Friday) and it was really good today.” The Plowboys didn’t make an error in the series. On Saturday, outfielder Jarrett Michaels raced to catch a foul ball down the third base line while outfielder Joe Rupe made a diving catch in foul territory down the first base line in the seventh inning. The Bethlehem outfielders had 12 putouts in the game. “Getting ahead in the count was the No. 1 priority,” Bethlehem starting pitcher Austin Brown said. “And challenging (the hitters). Making the (Tri-Town) guys hit it and put into play. That’s why I have seven guys behind me.” A year ago, Brown struck out 10 and allowed just three hits in a 2-1 win in game two of the series here at Municipal. On Saturday, Brown scattered six hits and struck out two. He walked just one and hit one batter.
Bethlehem led virtually the entire series. Tri-Town took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of Friday night’s series opener but the Plowboys responded quickly with two runs to take the lead. They never trailed again – although it was tied for three innings in game one. Bethlehem took a quick 3-0 lead on Saturday. Leadoff hitter Jon Wilson walked and moved to second base after Brett Davino was hit by a pitch. Wilson scored on a RBI single from Ryan Ponte and Davino moved to third base. Davino scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. Ponte scored on a RBI single from Isaiah Johnson for a 3-0 advantage. The Plowboys extended their lead in the fifth inning. Wilson reached on a bunt single and moved to second base on a ground ball out. With two outs, Wilson scored a RBI single from Ponte for a 4-0 lead. Tri-Town’s first good opportunity to score came in the third inning. Matt Troy led off with a single but Brown got two fly ball outs. Troy moved to third on a single from Coleby Bunnell but Brown got Cooper Johnson to fly out to left field to end the inning. In the fifth inning, Brian Carr led off the inning with a single for Tri-Town (21-6) but was stranded there after three consecutive fly ball outs. Tri-Town had leadoff singles in the sixth and eighth innings but the runners were stranded there each time. Bethlehem reliever Tyler Duffy struck out three of the five batters he faced
“It’s hard to put into words. It really is. But (Friday), I don’t think where was a single person (in the Bethlehem dugout) who thought – even when we went down 1-0 –that we would lose that game,” Bethlehem’s Nate Reynolds said. “We have so many college kids. I think half of our team is under 22.” They were not burdened by previous struggles to win titles, Reynolds said. But they found their roles and the team blossomed, winning 15 of their last 16 games. “It was a long time coming and there was a lot of rebuilding,” Reynolds said. And with a young team, he thinks this team will be contender for years to come. Veteran lefthander Bobby Chatfield got the start for Tri-Town and scattered seven hits. He struck out four and walked four. With two singles, Carr was the only Tri-Town player with multiple hits. Jesse Swartout had a double for Bethlehem with Ponte going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and two RBI.
Keeping the faith: Bethlehem wins Tri-State crown to end Tri-Town’s 4-year reign
By Peter Wallace,CorrespondentAug 18, 2025 CTInsider-Register Citizen
Baseball is a religion. Either you believe in it or you don’t.
Last Saturday, true believers in the baseball church of the Bethlehem Plowboys finally held the Tri-State Baseball League’s Holy Grail, its championship cup, after three straight years of trying. Their belief held true with 4-3 and 4-0 wins on Friday and Saturday over the Tri-Town Trojans in the best-of-three finals.
It was a big ask. The Trojans (Litchfield) came into the series on a quest of their own — a fifth straight championship, never before accomplished in a league founded in the 1930s. The teams entered the finals with 21-4 records. They split their two regular-season matchups by one-run decisions. The No. 4 Wolcott Scrappers took No. 1 Bethlehem to three games in the quarterfinals. No. 3 Burlington Hunters went three against No. 2 Tri-Town in the semis. For the last two years, Bethlehem has also taken Tri-Town to three games in the championship series.
Each time, Tri-Town veteran ace Miles Scribner, the league’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, helped lay down a cushion for the Trojans with a win in the series opener. Newcomer Connor Gannon and Tri-Town veterans produced timely hits in the deciding games. This year, Bethlehem reversed the order, starting with changes that rippled through the organization for each of Rich Revere’s nine years as coach. He aggressively welcomed newcomers to his own band of dependable veterans. “We have so many college kids. I think half the team is under 22,” Ryan Reynolds said. More importantly, Revere made them believers in themselves and the team, starting with Reynolds’ bat throughout the series.
Friday night, both teams knew the importance of a game-one win between teams so close in talent. For the past 11 years, every game-one winner has won the championship. At Torrington’s Fuessenich Park, Scribner, winner of well over 100 games in the league in his career, took the mound for Tri-Town. Kyle Banche, a recent graduate of Plymouth State, got the start for Bethlehem.
“If you go up to bat thinking you can outguess Miles, you might as well turn around and sit down,” said Plowboys leadoff hitter and 2024 league MVP Jon Wilson. Few teams dare to use their ace against Scribner, but Revere built a deep rotation of strong young arms. He had faith in Banche. “He’s been our dog all year and he grew up in Torrington. This is his home field,” said Revere. Faith was rewarded.
Former minor leaguer Willy Yahn greeted Banche with a lead-off triple, scoring on an Owen Hibbard sacrifice fly for an early Trojan lead, but Brett Davino, who helped Nonnewaug High School win a state championship a few years ago, returned the favor with a triple in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a Ryan Ponte sac fly for a 1-1 tie. Banche went 1-2-3 in the second. In the bottom of the inning, three hits and a sac fly by youngsters Isaiah Johnson, Reynolds, Chase Balisle and Joe Rupe, respectively, produced a 3-1 Plowboys lead. Banche was good until the top of the sixth while Scribner returned to his magic. A walk to former Trojan player/coach Dan McCarty, a hit by Jon McNellis and a two-run double by Austin Patenaude brought a 3-3 tie and more youth to the Bethlehem mound. Carsten Donovan graduated from Holy Cross High in June, heading for St. Joseph College next month. He went stride-for-stride with Scribner to keep the score tied.
In the bottom of the ninth, veteran Plowboy Greg Campbell, the league MVP in 2023, led off with a double, followed by a single from Jesse Swartout and an intentional walk to Johnson. A walk-off single by Reynolds gave the Plowboys their first game-one win over the Trojans in four years. If Friday night’s win at Fuessenich Park made the Plowboy faithful giddy, a three-run first inning at Municipal Stadium on Saturday in the second game of the series put the promised land in sight.
The Trojans went with another 100-game winner, co-coach Bobby Chatfield. Revere stuck with his youth, second-year ace Austin Brown. “This is his home field,” said Revere, with the luxury of holding veteran ace Tyler Boisvert for use Sunday if he was needed to clinch the series. He wasn’t. Fittingly, the three runs were hustle plays. Wilson drew a leadoff walk. Davino was hit by a pitch. Ponte singled Wilson home, and a wild pitch got Davino in. Swartout walked, and another single from Johnson made it 3-0. Chatfield recovered to finish the game. Brown was another Plowboy bulldog. Bethlehem added another hustle run in the top of the fifth on a leadoff bunt single by Wilson and RBI double by Ponte, making it 4-0.
Otherwise, the most notable plays came on defense for Bethlehem. The Plowboys made no errors in the two-game series. Saturday, they showed their defensive edge outside the lines as well as inside. Left fielder Jarrett Michaels and right fielder Joe Rupe made Trojan batters scratch their heads with racing catches on deep foul balls down the third and first base lines after proving all day, along with center fielder Wilson, that Municipal’s vast fair territory wasn’t big enough for them. Brown gave way to reliever Tyler Duffy in the seventh inning, allowing six hits with two strikeouts, a walk and a hit batter. “I have seven guys behind me. My job is to make the batters get the ball to them,” Brown smiled. Tyler Duffy struck out three Trojans in the final two-plus innings. It was Bethlehem’s first title since 2010 and seventh overall.
Afterward, the Plowboys gathered around their trophy, now a symbol of their belief.
A Plowboy season
Gallop Field sat empty, a forlorn presence marking the diminishing days of summer. The silence was interrupted only by a light wind that rustled the leaves and whispered of a changing season. A sodden baseball lay in a patch of still-green grass behind a dugout looking for a friend while a used lineup card skittered across the ground. A mini-American flag stuck in the fence along the first base line fluttered serenely next to the `No dogs allowed’ sign, both enjoying the morning except for any potential K-9s. The Bethlehem dugout wore an empty cleanliness unknown during a long season while at one of its ends, a wooden storage unit provided a home in one of its half dozen cubby holes for a used, gray pair of uniform pants and mystery. Forgotten? Left behind? Ignored? Thrown away? Alien offering?
Faded foul lines ready to hibernate for the off-season and the pitching mound covered with its winter off-season tarp cap dominated the playing field. Still anchored empty bases yearning for a foot sat their lifeless and base paths traveled more like highway with their hard pan instead of forgiving dirt.
It was a scene that spoke of endings. Summer season. Plowboys season. The steady beat of life went on, just not here. Assuredly the scene was not unique to Gallop Field. Baseball fields all over were undoubtedly experiencing the same melancholy.
Yet, Gallop was where my wife Caroline and I spent chunks of time. You do that when you have a son playing and where Jon plays, we go. His baseball career will never get old enough to leave mom and dad behind.
So much of the summer schedule revolved around the Bethlehem schedule, the short trek to Gallop from Thomaston up Route 109 racking up the mileage and leading to late lunches and suppers. If not Gallop it was off to Doc Bartlett Field in Amenia, Washington Park in Waterbury, Walker Field in Winsted, Community Field in Litchfield, the BAW Complex in Wolcott, Wolcott High School, Fuessenich Park in Torrington, Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.
We missed a few games and places, but we scheduled around the Plowboys as opposed to trying to fit the Plowboys into the schedule.
Any season watching your son play is a good season. A season watching your son play on a championship team is memorable. Three straight years the Plowboys had lost to one of the great franchises in Tri-State League history, the Tri-Town Trojans. This time Bethlehem figured it out. And don’t let anyone tell you titles get old. These weren’t young kids on top of the world; they were young adults on top of the championship pile.
But it all must end, right? Seasons run out of time no matter how they end. Taking a title with you into tomorrow and forever makes it sweeter but still the ending is jarring. The rhythm, the magic, the energy, the jubilation – here today, gone tomorrow.
Gallop Field represented an emptiness this day, waiting for a new time to infuse life to a serene scene. A season only a few days gone by was now history.
But the images created remained firm and crisp. You looked around, you saw. The mind’s eye is a brilliant camera. It couldn’t escape that easily. All the sudden by the first base dugout was Bethlehem’s legion of fans. Parents and relatives who answered to names Belisle, Rupe, Michaels, Sibilias, Ponte and Donovan and Wilson. Further down the right field line and around the outfield there were more, the Johnson family and Campbell.
Behind home plate in their steadfast spot with fancy lawn chairs were Reynolds, Wilson, a pair of Banches and Craig Lamphier. A group with the dubious label – ‘The Wall of Wisdom’ or in some circles ‘The Jury.’ Sometimes clear-eyed depending on which way the wind took the cigar smoke but always clear-minded. Well…….
Almost all had blood on the field and in the dugout. An amazingly loyal group following their own into adulthood. Parental attendance tends to slow down as the youngin’ stop being so young. Not here.
The plays and performances of a hard-to-let-go season still took on an appreciated freshness in the stillness – Greg Cambell’s two mammoth home runs against Wolcott in the semifinals clinching win, Ryan Reynolds’ game-winning hit in the first game of the championship series. Brett Davino’s stunning fully- stretched out diving catch near the left field foul line, also in Game 1 of the championship series.
Austin Brown’s shutout performance on the mound in a must-win Game 2 victory over Wolcott in the semifinal round followed up be seven shutout innings in the title clinching victory at Municipal Stadium. Jon Wilson’s stunning back-to-home plate, on-the-run catch deep in the left-center field gap early in the season. Tyler Boisvert’s solid, 5-2 pitching win over Wolcott to clinch the series. Shortstop Nate Cormier’s repeated going left and throwing runners out throwing right. Catcher Jesse Swartout’s lasers down to second base. The sting of Ryan Ponte’s bat and the bulldog of Kyle Banche.
Championship plays by a championship team. And you couldn’t help resurrecting the Municipal Stadium parking lot smiles that only a championship can produce. The constant photo-ops of players holding up the trophy. The Rupe family reveling in it all. Tri-Town coach Bobby Chatfield presenting the Plowboys with a couple of bottles of champagne. Bethlehem coach Rich Revere constantly moving away to read text messages from former Bethlehem players.
Maybe nobody was happier than my wife. Jon eats, sleeps and lives Plowboy baseball. She knows how important it is to him. He has had individual success but so wanted a title. Now he had one. Driving home from Boston every weekend was worth all the miles. Washing that uniform sometimes twice in a weekend was worth it. She has seen members of the team often camp out on our front porch. She knows what it means. So, there was a tear there. OK, and dad’s eyes were a little more watery than usual. Or it was just a bug that caused the voice to crack a bit too. Believe that one.
Gallop Field was quiet this day, waiting for tomorrow. But it rocked during the season. So did the Plowboys and they took us along for the ride. We packed a lot into this summer, and the Plowboys were right there with the best of it.