Sports
RCP Splits 2 Games as Bats Go Cold
Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland beats Newington but loses to New Britain in close games.
The Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland American Legion baseball team beat Newington in a low-scoring game 1-0 on Tuesday, but was held scoreless in a 2-0 loss to New Britain on Wednesday.
In the game against Newington, pitcher B.J. McNaughton was called up from the junior team for the start because RCP has eight games in six days. McNaughton tossed a complete-game shutout and allowed only five hits.
RCP needed McNaughton to be precise as possible as the offense continued to display inconsistency. The team had a number of chances at the plate but failed to convert, including with the bases loaded in the second inning.
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The lone run was scored in the third inning when John McMahon advanced to second on an error and sacrifice bunt. He scored on a single by Kevin Post.
“We’re still struggling to hit,” head coach Jay Hickey said. “That’s been the story all year. We put too much pressure on our pitchers.”
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The contest against New Britain was decided on one play. With a man on first in the second inning, New Britain’s Kenny Noyala belted a first-pitch fastball from McMahon just over the left-field fence, giving his team the only two runs of the game. The home run was the first given up by RCP pitching this year.
“McMahon just left a fastball up over the plate and the batter was able to jump on it,” Hickey said about the home run pitch.
Outside of the home run, McMahon pitched a strong game and only allowed seven hits.
RCP had only two hits against New Britain starter Paul Sturges, with none coming past the fourth inning. The team failed to score in the first two innings when it had multiple runners in scoring position.
Sturges received a significant amount of help from the New Britain defense. The fielders behind him made a number of impressive plays, especially on balls hit in the hole. The fielding of his opponents did not go unnoticed by Hickey.
“Their defense made a lot of nice plays, especially on balls in the hole,” he said. “We only had a couple of chances to score and their defense didn’t allow us to. “
The loss drops RCP to 11-6 in Zone 7. The team is third in the zone standings behind West Hartford and Tri-County.
