Simsbury Legion sweeps Avon to clinch 2nd straight Zone 1 title

Simsbury pitcher Chris Enns improved to 5-0 as Post 84 beat Avon, 5-3 Sunday afternoon to clinch its eighth Zone 1 championship.

AVON, July 12 – The 90 degree temperatures and sizzling humidity on Sunday afternoon reduced the celebration by the Simsbury American Legion baseball team for winning its second consecutive Zone 1 championship to a lot of smiles.

Post 84 earned their ninth and tenth straight victories, sweeping a pair of games from Avon Sunday at Avon Old Farms, 5-1 and 5-3 to clinch the Zone 1 championship. It’s the first time in team history that Simsbury (18-3) has captured back-to-back titles.

“We’ve been great pitching all year,” Simsbury manager Thomas E. Vincent said. “We’ve got guys who would be No. 1 pitchers on other teams. They see one guy pitch a great game and they want to duplicate it. It’s the kind of mentality we’ve had all year.”

In game one, Simsbury’s Matthew Gill, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound right hander, was dominating in a 5-1 victory. In five innings of work, he allowed just two hits and struck out five. In the second game, Simsbury hurler Chris Enns improved to 5-0 on the season, allowing four hits and striking out four in a 5-3 decision.

“It was disappointing (to get swept) but Simsbury was a better team today and look at that pitching rotation,” Avon manager John Ponzani said. “Very few teams have that type of pitching rotation.”

Avon pitcher Connor Dunn went the distance in the nightcap for Post 201.

With Southington (6-12) dropping a pair of games to Wolcott on Sunday, Avon (12-9) clinched a berth in the playoffs for the seventh straight year. The top five teams in Zone 1 qualify for the playoffs.

Bristol (15-7), Wolcott (15-7), Avon and Terryville (11-8) will play with 16 other teams from Zone 6, 7 and 8 in a single-elimination tournament with four teams advancing to a best-of-3 series with Simsbury and the Zone 6, 7 and 8 champions for the right to play in the Northern Sectional tournament.

Ponzani said that Avon is still fighting to finish second and earn a home playoff game. Avon has two games left with Terryville and a game with Winsted. “You’re never as bad as you look when you lose, especially against these guys (Simsbury) because they are so good,” he said.

Avon travels to Terryville on Monday night, hosts Winsted on Tuesday night and closes out the regular season against Terryville on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Tunxis Meade in Farmington.

In the opener, Avon grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a double by Ben Suski and a RBI single to left field by Sean DelGallo. But Gill settled down after giving up the early run. After DelGallo’s hit, Gill (3-1) allowed just four baserunners. Two reached on errors and two reached on walks. No one got past second base.

Simsbury got all it needed in the third inning. Jake King scored on Jack Lavigne’s RBI single tied the game at 1-1. Two walks from Avon hurler Will Boone loaded the bases. Jacob Cassano gave Simsbury the lead, driving in one run on a ground ball to third base and Brendan Reilly made it 4-1 on a two-RBI double to centerfield.

After a single by Jake Wood, Reilly scored on a double steal for a 5-1 lead.

Simsbury threatened in the fourth, loading the bases with one out thanks to three consecutive singles off Avon reliever Justin Olson by King, Patrina and Lavigne. But Olson got Gothers to ground out to third base and struck out Amato to end the threat.

Lavigne was 4-for-4 in the opener with three singles, a double and one RBI. King had two singles.

The Simsbury American Legion baseball team shares some laughs before the start of game two of Sunday’s doubleheader with Avon.

In game two, Simsbury was too much for Avon’s hard-throwing pitcher Connor Dunn. In the first inning, King and Patrina led off the game with singles. After a sacrifice, Gothers drove in two runs with a single to left field.

Avon cut the lead to one in the second inning. Connor McCutcheon walked, moved to second on an error and moved to third on a single by Ryan Ollstead. He scored on a ground ball to second base.

But Enns allowed just three baserunners in the next three innings to keep Avon off the board. He walked two and gave up a double to Suski.

Simsbury extended its lead to 3-1 in the fifth due to an error. Patrina had a two-out double but scored when a ground ball slide under the glove of DelGallo. Post 84 increased its lead to 5-1 in the seventh with runs scoring on an error and a double steal.

Avon added two unearned runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-3. Olson had a RBI double in the seventh. Dunn went the distance for Post 201, throwing more than 120 pitches, scattering eight hits and fanning four.

“Obviously, we are happy where we are,” Vincent said. “We hope we haven’t played our best baseball yet.”

Simsbury previously won Zone 1 championships in 2014, 2008, 2003, 1995, 1991, 1987 and 1981.

Post 84 closes out the regular season with three home games at 5:30 p.m. against Winsted (Monday), Unionville (Tuesday) and Wolcott (Wednesday). Simsbury will be idle until Wednesday, July 22 when they host the best-of-3 series to earn a berth to the four-team Northern Regional final. Simsbury has been playing American Legion baseball since 1948.

Simsbury 5, Avon 1
At Avon
Simsbury (17-3)                    005  000  0 – 5-8-2
Avon (12-8)                          100  000  0 – 1-3-0
Matthew Gill, Jake Nichols (6) and Ryan Gothers; Will Boone, Justin Olson (4), Connor McCutcheon (5) and Matt Williamson (7) and Jeremy Zarwanski; WP: Gill (3-1); LP: Boone; 2B: Jack Lavigne (S), Brendan Reilly (S), Ben Suski (A)

Simsbury 5, Avon 3
At Avon
Simsbury (18-3)                    200  010  2 – 5-8-2
Avon (12-9)                           010  000  2 – 3-5-2
Chris Enns, Ryan Gothers and Michael Amato; Connor Dunn and Ryan Ollstead; WP: Enns (5-0), LP: Dunn; 2B: Justin Olson (A), Ben Suski (A), Jack Patrina (S) 2