Post 127 Takes a Beating at Brinley

North Haven Post 76 literally walked its way past Orange Post 127 10-3 Tuesday in a Zone 2 contest that was played under the lights at Brinley Field.  Orange pitching handed out 11 free passes and also hit a batter as their Zone 2 record dipped to 5-7. It was the third American Legion loss in a row for Post 127 that also went 0-4 in the Firecracker Invitational Tournament over the long holiday weekend in Providence, R.I.

After watching his team give up 11 the walks, manage to get only 2 hits, and also commit 5 errors, Coach Bob Mirto said, “That was a terrible effort!”

North Haven clung to a 2-1 lead after 5 innings but an agonizingly poor sixth inning followed for both teams. Orange starter Grayson Amoroso started his own downfall by walking Post 76 lead off batter Troy Sundwall. Three errors and 2 outs later, the visitors tacked on 2 unearned runs and extended its lead to 4-1.  Orange came to bat in the bottom of the sixth and North Haven quickly returned the defensive favor by recording  a trio of bobbles that gave Post 127 2 unearned runs without the benefit of a base hit.

Things went from bad to much worse for the Mirtomen in the top of the seven the inning. After throwing 6 innings during which he gave up 4 runs (only 2 were earned runs) on only 3 hits, struck out 9 but also walked 7 and uncorked 3 wild pitches, Amoroso (now 1-3) left and was replaced by Ted Ballou, who rarely does any pitching. He proceeded to serve up consecutive singles to Edison Rodriquez `and Sage Leonard. Jaysen Torello followed with a long run-scoring double into the left-center field gap that drove in Rodriquez.

Now trailing 5-3, Ballou struck out Chris Karnauchov but then walked the next 4 batters and forcing home 3 more Post 76 runs. With his team now trailing 8-3 and having the bases still loaded with only 1 out, , Mirto brought in Mark Boland, who rang up another run when he hit Johnny Johnson with a pitch and served up a sacrifice fly to Rodriquez that enabled Zack Brown to bring home the visitors’ sixth run of the inning and extend their lead to 10-3.

According to Mirto, “I thought Grayson pitched well although I admit that he also walked batters in a few situations he shouldn’t have done. We’re capable of winning any game we play, but we have to start playing with some confidence. Right now, we’re in a funk.”

Torello led off the top of the second inning with a walk. He stole a base, moved over third base on an infield out and scored on an Amoroso wild pitch. Torello also ignited a fourth inning rally with a lead-off single up the middle. Amoroso then served up 3 walks and forced in a run.

Now trailing 2-0, Orange matched the tally in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Julian “Nanno” Nieves hit Ballou with a pitch and walked Brian Speer. Sean Butler than spanked a 2-out single into right-center field to drive in Ballou. That base hit was the second of only 2 hits Post 127 recorded during the game.

“With a base hit here and there at the right time, we could have won this game,” Mirto added. “They caught us at a bad time, but I still believe in this team and firmly believe that we can turn things around.”

Orange is now halfway through its 24 game season. With its current 5-7 record, it must win 8 of its remaining 12 games in order to get the 13 victories, which would qualify the team for post-season play.

Jeter Padilla singled twice, scored a run, and drove in a run for the 6-8 winners while Torello doubled, singled, scored 3 runs and added an RBI for North Haven. Ballou singled, scored a run, and also recorded an RBI for Orange.

The same 2 teams meet again tonight in a 5:30 p.m. contest at DeMayo Field in North Haven that is the second of their 3 game series.