Winsted Star: Johnny Lippincott

Lippincott’s enthusiasm for game continues with Winsted Whalers in Tri-State baseball league

Copyright By Peter Wallace, Correspondent Aug 8, 2024 Register-Citizen

WINSTED – Johnny Lippincott, now 28, has been a star in Winsted’s sports firmament since his days in youth sports, three sports at Northwestern High School, then baseball at Division I Central Connecticut State University and Division III Westfield State and the Tri-State Baseball League’s Winsted Whalers ever since. Older siblings Bobby and Sarah came before him in a geographic area that often produces its sports stars by the family-load.

Sunday, the Whalers’ first win over three-time defending champion Tri-Town Trojans, 11-6, in the 12 years he’s been playing for them, was an auspicious occasion to sit down and talk with Lippincott after the game at Walker Field. “This was the most fun I’ve had since I started playing in Tri-State,” beamed Lippincott, the league’s Silver Slugger Award runner-up last year. Sunday, relegated to the designated hitter spot instead of his normal center field because of a throwing arm that went numb a few games ago, Lippincott came through, 2-for-2 at bat with a double, two walks and 3 RBI in a game in which a big part of his joy came from “everybody doing their job.” It was the perfect time for such a performance – the first round of the best-of-three series in the 12-team Tri-State’s championship playoffs ending August 16-18 at Fuessenich Park and Municipal Stadium. Tri-Town, based in Litchfield, and the Bethlehem Plowboys, remain heavy favorites after the Trojans completed their first-round win over Winsted with a 12-4 win at Litchfield’s Community Field Monday night and Bethlehem, the top seed, was expected to slug their way out of a 1-1 tie with the Wolcott Scrappers Tuesday at Fuessenich.

But guaranteed, the loss won’t dim Lippincott’s enthusiasm for baseball, whether or not his ailing elbow requires medical attention in the long off-season. “I love baseball – just being with the guys,” said Lippincott, still thriving in a league full of current or former college and high school stars along with a few former pros. “It’s a chance to be a kid again.” That feeling started when he actually was a kid playing Wiffle ball in his yard with Bobby and Sarah, coached by his dad, Wayne, a punter at CCSU, in all of his youth sports. Sarah’s path to high school stardom was softball; Bobby’s was football, as Gilbert/Northwestern’s star quarterback, then two years in the same role for Central Connecticut State University. Johnny, three years younger than Bobby, “played every position in PeeWee football except quarterback,” then reveled in watching Bobby start for the Yellowjackets as a freshman. “He’s my brother,” Johnny told his friends in the stands. “I looked up to him,” says Lippincott, literally and figuratively as Bobby grew to 6-feet-4 while Johnny topped out at 6 feet.

Nevertheless, Johnny took over the quarterback slot as a sophomore under Coach Scott Salius after Bobby moved on to Central. Meanwhile, Johnny, then stockier than his brother, made a habit of parking baseballs halfway up the high bank surrounding Northwestern’s baseball field while chasing down every ball while patrolling center field. When it came time to focus on a single sport in college, Lippincott looked back on a statement one of his coaches made to him in high school: “Football is fun on game day; baseball is fun all the time,” said Bob McCarthy, a former top athlete who was one of the G/N football coaches who actually made the sport fun most days. Lippincott also looks back at the work ethic Coach Salius demonstrated to his highly-successful football team: “He’d send me emails after watching film all the time to get ready for the next game; the time on some of them was 1 a.m.,” says Lippincott. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for in any sport.” Central Connecticut waved a scholarship at him and McCarthy’s advice prevailed. “I got hurt my freshman year, then started as a sophomore,” Lippincott says, “but the school just wasn’t a good fit for me, so I transferred to Westfield State.” Salius’ work ethic model took over his life after that.

“I was a history major and thought I wanted to teach, but then I changed my mind. I had no idea what I was going to do after college,” he says. “I got a job in construction, but I didn’t want to do the grunt work all my life, so I looked at HVAC and electrical work as possibilities. Finally, I decided on plumbing. I’ve worked for Minute Man Plumbing in Torrington for four years while taking about 20 courses at a tech school at night in Bristol to get my license.” Lippincott likes plumbing – “I never want to have a desk job,” he says – but his candidacy for another Tri-State Silver Slugger Award still comes easier. “I keep it as simple as possible. When I go up to bat, I try to get my head clear. I freeze up when I’m thinking too hard. Early in the count, I look for a pitch I want – the first good fastball I see. “If I get two strikes on me, I swing at everything,” he laughs. Confidence is a big part of it, but the sense of pride through accomplishment is a bigger part of the carryover into everyday life, he maintains. And teamwork. “All of my friends come through athletics,” he says. “There aren’t many things you do by yourself. You have to rely on other people.”