Sunday July 29 Finals

Posted on Posted in Articles

Tri-Town Trojans 8    Bethlehem Plowboys 7

Copyright By Cody Dzis,Staff writerJune 30, 2025 CT Insider

LITCHFIELD — Former Housatonic High and UConn standout Willy Yahn has a simple philosophy when it comes to playing baseball.

“I’m just trying to set up my teammates for success, get on base and touch home plate,” said Yahn, the star third baseman for the Tri-Town Trojans. “That’s always been what I’ve been trying to do on the baseball field, no matter what team I’m on — be the table-setter, and those guys

Yahn came through on all accounts Sunday with three singles, two RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases to lead the Trojans past the Bethlehem Plowboys, 8-7, in a battle of perennial Tri-State Baseball League contenders at Community Field in Litchfield. The victory widened Tri-Town’s lead in the league standings headed into July. The four-time reigning champs improved to 6-1 after defeating the Torrington Thunder, 3-0, right after the win over Bethlehem.

The Wolcott Scrappers are next at 9-3, followed by the Plowboys (8-3) and the Valley Kraken (8-3). Bethlehem made things interesting with four runs in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to one, but Tri-Town relief pitcher Justin Emanuel recorded the final out on a flyball. Starter Connor Gannon claimed the win, allowing two runs in five innings. The two teams have played in the league’s championship series the past three seasons.

After the Plowboys went scoreless in the top of the first, the Trojans opened the scoring in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Dan McCarty, scoring Yahn, who led off with an infield single, making it 1-0. Bethlehem got on the board in the top of the second inning on a first-and-third double steal. Jesse Swartout took off for home after Tri-Town’s Bryan Carr tried to throw out Isaiah Johnson at second base. Both runners were safe, tying the score at 1-1. The Trojans broke open the game with three runs in the second inning. Yahn hit an RBI single to drive in Matt Troy, who walked, for a 2-1 lead. After two throwing errors led to another run, Colby Bunnel’s sacrifice fly scored Yahn, making to 4-1.

“It’s just simple Trojan baseball — get them on, get them over, get them in,” Tri-Town coach Bobby Chatfield said. “We just kept trying to tack one or two (runs) on every inning, and stretch the lead as much as possible because we know what Bethlehem’s capable of doing.” The Plowboys added a run in the fourth on an RBI double from Ryan Ponte, scoring Brett Davino, who got on base with a single up the middle, making to 4-2. But the Trojans extended their lead with two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Yahn’s RBI single scored Tom Troy, who singled, and Yahn later scored on a wild pitch, making it 6-2.

In the fifth, a bases-loaded walk scored Michael Fabiaschi, and Isaiah Johnson came home on another wild pitch for an 8-2 advantage.

Bethlehem wasn’t going to go away quietly, however. The Plowboys added a run in the sixth when Davino scored on a wild pitch, cutting the lead to 8-3. Davino walked to lead off the inning, and advanced to third on a double from Swartout.  In Bethlehem’s four-run seventh, Ponte hit a bases-clearing triple to drive in Dylan Chung (walked), Nate Cormier (single) and Davino (walked). Swartout followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Ponte, cutting the lead to 8-7. “We know what Bethlehem’s capable of doing, and they showed it right there in the seventh,” Chatfield said. “It was mainly just putting trust in our pitching. The alert goes up definitely, especially with a team like this. You can’t let it get away from you too fast because all of a sudden, they can take a lead in the blink of an eye.” Heading into the Bethlehem showdown, the Trojans were coming off their first loss of the season, last Thursday to Wolcott, 6-5.

“We were focused on this game just trying to get back on the right track, which we did,” Yahn said. With multiple rainouts in June, the Trojans have 11 regularly scheduled games and a handful of makeups in July, which Chatfield sees as a positive. “I think the way our schedule’s built after the 4th of July is going to help us out a lot,” Chatfield said. “We went almost three weeks without playing a game. It showed for sure Thursday just with errors and not hitting well, and having a couple of days and then coming back and playing (Sunday), it showed the difference in playing consistently. Playing the schedule that we have upcoming is going to be definitely beneficial for us.” Chatfield, in his first year as the team’s head coach after being an assistant the past few years, is hoping to guide the Trojans to a league-record fifth straight title. “We got a really good chance to get really hot, and get a lot of bats in a small period of time, which will just get us more comfortable in the box,” Yahn said. “We’re a pretty big roster, so it’s a good opportunity to get a lot more guys at-bats and make sure everybody’s feeling good going into the postseason. So it might be a little taxing on the body, but I’m really excited for it. If I could play a baseball game every night, I’d be happy.”

Tri-Town Trojans 3    Torrington Thunder 0

Torrington Thunder and Tri-Town turned Sunday’s game into a classic pitchers’ duel — if pitchers dueling meant Tri-Town’s bats got the last laugh in a hard fought 3-0 win. Ryan Green was impressive for Torrington, striking out 11 but walking a few too many, while Tri-Town’s Scribner was the silent assassin, shutting down the Thunder with 11 strikeouts over seven spotless innings. Tri-Town sneaked ahead early with a couple of runs thanks to some smart hitting and patient walks, leaving Torrington chasing shadows despite a solid effort from JT Gostkowski and some slick base stealing by Robert Anton. Next up, Torrington hopes to swap luck for some hits when they host New Haven Tuesday at 7 p.m.—because every thunderstorm needs a little lightning!

Valley Kraken 12    Canton Crushers 0

The Kraken had a legacy game against the Crushers. The Kraken had 15 hits in the 12-0 7-inning victory. The Kraken came alive in the 3rd scoring 4 runs and kept piling on! Aidan Kane had his best performance of the year going 4-4 with 1 double, 1 triple, and 2 singles. The Kraken bats were juiced from the start with multi-hit performances from 5 different players. This solid offensive performance was led by a strong pitching performance by Riley Corgan who threw all 7 with only 77 pitches. Riley let up 5 hits and struck out 4. Canton was contained at the plate except for Matt Rose and Noah Asmar who tallied 2 hits each. Hitters Kraken     Aidan Kane: 4-4, 1 3B, 1 2B, 2 1B, 1 RBI    Zach Mars: 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI  Jake Coniglio: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB      Crushers:  Matt Rose: 2-3  Noah Asmar: 2-3

Valley Kraken 7   Naugatuck White Sox 6  (8 innings)

The Kraken bested the White Sox 7-6 in a multi-day extra-inning affair due to daylight. The contest started on 6/10 and was a back-and-forth chess match. The Kraken started off strong scoring 5 runs in the 2nd inning followed by 1 more in the 3rd. The Kraken bats went cold and the White Sox started to heat up scoring 3 in the 4th, 1 in the 5th, and 2 in the 7th to tie the game up. The Kraken had 4 errors in this game to help Naugatuck to close the game up. The game ended up being postponed until 6/29 to find the winner. In the extra innings, both the White Sox and Kraken managed to get bases loaded in the 8th inning. The White Sox couldn’t punch a run across due to a timely strikeout by Luke Fisher and an against the fence snag by the catcher AJ Romaniello. The Kraken defense held out to give themselves a chance in the bottom of the 8th. With bases loaded, the White Sox pitcher, Zamil, struck out 2 in a row to strand the bases loaded. The Kraken stopped the White Sox from scoring with close plays at the plate. The Kraken managed to walk it off in the bottom of the 9th inning with Zach Mars as the winning run and Kevin Braathe driving in the clutch run. Kevin Braathe went 1-2 with 2 walks to send the kraken to 8-3 on the season. Pitchers: Kraken     Ryan Bohrman: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO     Braydon Stellato: 2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER
    Luke Fisher: 2 IP, 3 BB, 2 SO       Hitters:Kraken     Kevin Braathe: 1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB     Braydon Stellato: 2-3, 1 R, 2 BB
    Cormac Belloti: 2-3, 1 R

Burlington Hunters 8   Naugatuck White Sox 5

The Burlington Hunters improve their record to 7-3 defeating the Naugatuck White Sox 8-5. Ty Morin earned the win on the mound pitching 5 innings, surrendering 2 earned runs on 5 hits while striking out 5.  Alex Rauso made his debut on the mound and earned the rare 6 out save.  Offensively, somehow Andrew Bunger drove in 2 runs while Josue Sway Lopez, Zack Rinkavage, Tim Krol, Justin  McCulloch, and George Zaruba all drove in a run each. 

The Hunters took a quick 6 run lead through the first 3 innings.  The White Sox would respond in the bottom of the 4th thanks to singles by Zamil Fernandez and Eric Bonilla as well as a little help from the Hunter defense who threw the ball all over DelGobbo Field.  The Hunters would respond by adding on a couple more runs in the 6th and 7th to hold off the surge from the White Sox and secure the win. 

Game Highlights: Josh Taylor rebounded from his dreadful performance Friday ripping a double to the wall and throwing out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double from left field; Andrew Bunger continues to be out in front every time he swings; and there seems to be an issue in the clubhouse between Tim Krol and Josh Taylor.  After Krol led off the 6th with a triple, Taylor came to the plate and did his job hitting a ground ball to short that should have driven in the run.  However, Krol did not move refusing to give Taylor the RBI later telling reporters “That guy has better hair than me and I can’t stand it”