Simsbury third baseman Jeff Nedorostek tags out Avon’s Ben Suski, who was trying to stretch a double into a triple earlier this week. The two teams could meet in the state tournament if Avon can win its first two games.
The Simsbury and Avon American Legion baseball teams played three outstanding games in the last week to decide the Zone 1 championship. They might get the chance to do it again.
Simsbury and Avon were both placed in the same group in the 2014 Connecticut American Legion baseball tournament that begins Sunday. Pairings for the 40 teams that qualified for this year’s tournament were released Saturday. The top five teams in each of the eight zones qualified.
Participants in Zone 1, 6, 7 and 8 play in the Northern Division tournament while teams from Zone 2, 3, 4 and 5 play in the Southern Division tournament. The respective divisional champions play a best-of-3 series to determine the state champion.
Simsbury and Avon both finished the regular season with records of 18-6 in Zone 1. Simsbury claimed the championship because Post 84 swept the three-game series between the two teams.
Simsbury won game one by a score of 10-7 in 12 innings, captured game two, 1-0 on a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and won for a third time on Thursday night, 3-2 in eight innings.
Simsbury claimed its first Zone 1 championship since 2008 and is in the state tournament for the eighth time in the last 10 years.
Avon opens the tournament at home Sunday against Hartford (11-10) at 1 p.m. at Avon Old Farms. If Post 201 can prevail over Hartford, they’ll face either Danielson (18-12) or Enfield (16-8) on Monday night, also at AOF.
Two wins by Avon will advance them to a best-of-3 series with Simsbury beginning on Wednesday, July 23 at Memorial Field at 3:30 p.m. Game two is Thursday at 2 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Avon is making its sixth straight appearance in the state tournament.
2014 Connecticut American Legion state tournament pairings
The winners of the four groups in the Northern Division tournament will advance to the double-elimination Northern Division finals at Muzzy Field in Bristol beginning July 26. The four group winners in the Southern Division tournament advance to the double-elimination Southern Division finals at Cubeta Stadium in Stamford.
Final 2014 Zone 1 standings
Zone Overall
x-Simsbury 18-6 21-7
Avon 18-6 18-6
Southington 16-8 16-8
Bristol 14-10 19-14-1
Terryville 12-12 13-13
Unionville 10-14 10-14
Wolcott 9-15 9-15
Torrington 9-15 9-15
Winsted 2-22 2-22
x-won Zone 1 title by winning season series against Avon, 3-0
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