D'Orsi pitches West Hartford Legion to 5-1 win over Newington

The umpires weren’t seeing double when they met with the coaches from the West Hartford and Newington Legion teams at home plate before the game.

Steve Meucci represented West Hartford. Tom Meucci, five minutes Steve’s junior, represented Newington. As Tom noted with a chuckle, they began life as “womb-mates.”

On this particular night, Steve had family bragging rights, thanks in large part to Matt D’Orsi.

The well-rested Post 96 southpaw yielded just three hits and struck out a dozen in six innings Wednesday as Zone 7-leading West Hartford notched a 5-1 victory over Newington at Hall High Field.

West Hartford raised its Zone 7 record to 12-3 and 16-4 overall, but the outcome isn’t likely to start a family feud between brothers steeped in baseball.

“Maybe something will happen at Christmas dinner,” Tom joked. “I’ll throw the mashed potatoes across the table.”

The spuds won’t be moving anywhere near as fast as what D’Orsi was dishing out. Known during the high school season as one of the state’s breaking-ball masters for Northwest Catholic, D’Orsi had the kind of pop on his heater that consistently made a distinctive thud in the glove of catcher Nick Miceli.

D’Orsi struck out the side in the first. Through two, five of Newington’s six hitters had fanned. West Hartford coach Rick Sanford felt D’Orsi would benefit from rest after he carried Northwest into the postseason. D’Orsi has also adjusted his mechanics for some added zip on his fastball.

“I hadn’t pitched in a while because I had a shoulder impingement so this is my first day back in a couple of weeks,” said D’Orsi, who will play college ball at Eastern Connecticut State. “I’m trying to finish low so I get my body into [the pitch]. It’s not just all arm anymore.”

Steve Meucci said he and Sanford have tried to spot D’Orsi through the early portion of the schedule.

“He pitched in like 11 of the 21 games for Northwest Catholic so we’ve brought him along [slowly],” Steve said. “He came into this game and he was raring to go.”

D’Orsi began mixing in his offspeed pitches after cruising through the Newington lineup for the first time.

“With the wooden bats you want to pound the strike zone a little bit,” Coach Sanford said. “He can get into trouble real fast by not having command of his second pitch and walking guys. You saw tonight that he can overpower hitters with his fastball. You pound away, get in a groove and then start using the offspeed pitch if you get into trouble.”

Miceli pitched the final frame in which Newington brought the tying run to the plate, but Cole Bryant, the winning pitcher in Newington High’s state championship game last month, skied to center fielder Sean Packard to close it out.

West Hartford jumped on Newington starter Tyler Eastwood for two runs in the first inning.

With two out, Nick Sanford stroked a single and raced to third on a hit by Mac Venora. Chad Smedberg brought them both home with a double that split the gap in left.

Post 96 plated three more in the fourth.

Packard cracked a leadoff double, Dan Errico walked and Miceli laid down his second perfect bunt in as many at-bats to load the bases. Packard scored on a wild pitch. Chris DeMorais walked to re-fill the sacks with one out.

Dan Minnes lashed a sinking liner that seemed destined to grab turf in center field but Alex Frutuoso made a diving catch. Minnes had to settle for a sacrifice fly scoring Errico. Miceli scored on Nick Sanford’s RBI single.

Newington had its chances. The visitors left the bases loaded in each of the final two frames and stranded nine for the game. They also had the first two aboard in the fifth but managed just one unearned run on an RBI single by Josh Barnett.

West Hartford, after splitting two doubleheaders over the holiday weekend, now has its sights set on the Zone 7 title. Hebron, which visits Hall High Field Tuesday, is just a game behind.

“I thought the kids played well overall and I thought we had both Hebron and RCP (Rocky Hill-Cromwell-Portland) on their death beds but we didn’t put them away when we could have,” Coach Sanford said.

“A lot of it had to do with getting bunts down. We get two bunts down we win both of those games.”

If West Hartford wins the zone, it avoids the necessity of first-round play-in games.

West Hartford 5, Newington 1

(At Hall High Field)

Newington                             West Hartford

                           ab  r  h  bi                                ab  r  h  bi

Barnett ss           3  0  1  1       DeMorais 3b      3  0  0  0

Rivera 2b            4  0  0  0       Minnes rf           3  0  0  1

Barrett dh-3b     3  0  0  0       Sanford ss          3  1  2  1

Tinkham lf-p      3  0  1  0       Venora 1b           3  1  2  0

Bryant 1b           3  0  0  0       Smedberg 2b       3  0  1  2

Meucci 3b-lf      2  1  0  0       Packard cf          2  1  1  0

Frutuoso cf        1  0  0  0       Errico dh            3  1  1  0

Callahan rf          2  0  0  0       Miceli c-p          3  1  2  0

Bellizzi rf           1  0  0  0       LaRosa lf            2  0  0  0

Morander c        3  0  2  0       DiNucci ph        0  0  0  0

                                                Mullin c             0  0  0  0                              

Totals                 25  1  4  1     Totals               25  5  9  4

Newington         000 010 0 – 1  4  0

West Hartford    200 300 x – 5  9  1

E – D’Orsi. LOB – Newington 9, WH 6. 2B – Smedberg, Errico, Venora, Packard, Morander. S – Frutuoso. SF – Minnes. SB – Frutuoso. CS – DiNucci.

Newington

                                 ip    h  r  er  bb  so

Eastwood L              4     9   5   5   2   1

Tinkham                   2     0   0   0   1   1

West Hartford

D’Orsi W                 6     3   1   0   4   12

Miceli                       1     1   0   0   2     1

WP – Eastwood 2. PB – Mullin. HBP – by Tinkham (DiNucci). T – 1:52.