Heartbreak Consumes West Hartford Junior Legion in Final Inning

WINDSOR LOCKS – Anger, heartbreak and disbelief joined hands and encircled the West Hartford Junior Legion players where exhilaration and anticipation tread just minutes earlier.

Max Vogel-Freedman, two outs away from a two-hit shutout, stormed off the field. Others were in wide-eyed amazement that defeat could be snatched from the loving arms of victory so quickly, in such a finite manner.

West Hartford, just a few well-located pitches and some routine defensive work away from a berth in the Junior American Legion semifinals, allowed a four-run lead to dissipate in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday, enabling Stamford to walk off with an improbable 5-4 win at Bob O’Connor Memorial Field.

West Hartford (16-7) has had two of its last three seasons end with a defeat in the elite eight.

West Hartford coach Dennis Hannigan held a short postgame meeting. Words were hard to come by.

“It’s tough, there’s not much you can say,” he said. “No matter how many times you say, ‘Hold your head up high and you had a great year,’ it’s going to take them a little while. It’s hard enough in single elimination [format], boom you’re done. But in two-thirds of an inning you’re done, that’s doubly tough.”

West Hartford held a 4-0 lead when Vogel-Freedman took the hill for the final frame. He got the first out when Chris Soule skied to center. It would be his last.

Andrew Oakes single to left field and took second on a walk to Brandon Curto. A wild pitch moved them up. Vogel-Freeman hit Brian Pollack with a pitch to load the bases and Hannigan summoned Charlie Fisher.

Number nine hitter Billy Murphy hit a tapper in front of the plate. Fisher fielded it cleanly but Murphy beat it by a step as Oakes scored Stamford’s first run. Nick Palumbo whacked a line drive that split the gap in left center field for a double to score a pair and whittle the West Hartford lead to one.

Fisher struck out Bryan Pieschel. Billy Droehl hit a grounder to short that caught Brendan Fox between hops. Palumbo raced toward home with the winning run and Fox’s throw sailed high. A Stamford squad about to pack up its season exploded in celebration.

“We picked a great time to come back because we were as flat as a board,” Stamford head coach Scott Giorgi said. “Through six innings [Vogel-Freedman] dominated us. We didn’t have that much trouble with a lefty all year and we averaged about 10 hits a game. He was fantastic and my hat’s off to him.”

Hannigan felt Vogel-Freedman had enough in the tank to finish Stamford off. He said his decision to leave him in had nothing to do with planning ahead.

“Maybe we could have gone to Charlie a little sooner but Max was so strong all day,” Hannigan said. “It looked like he was in okay shape.

“If we had gotten through today, Charlie would have started tomorrow. We weren’t doing that. We went with our best and we didn’t want to disturb the defense.”

West Hartford took advantage of two Stamford errors to take a 2-0 lead against right-hander Logan McCullough in the third inning.

Matt Laffin, whose two shoestring catches in left field kept Stamford off the board later in the frame, reached on an error. Ryan Coursey sacrificed and John Dinucci lashed a two-out single to right and a bobble allowed Laffin to score.

Drew Leach was hit by a pitch and Fox singled hard off the body of Murphy at short and Dinucci came home.

West Hartford pushed across two more in the sixth.

Brandon Rossmeisl and Zach Dobbins started the rally with singles. Laffin lifted a sacrifice fly. Dylan Robinson rapped a two-out single for a 4-0 lead.

West Hartford, the beneficiary of a hit batsman and seven walks to go with seven hits, left 10 runners on base.

“It would have been nice obviously in hindsight if we had added one or two,” Hannigan said. “I can’t complain. The kids executed all along until that last inning.”

Stamford reliever Peter Dawson earned the win by pitching out of trouble in the seventh after McCullough had walked the first batter.

Stamford 5, West Hartford 4

American Legion Junior State Tournament

(At Windsor Locks)

West Hartford                         Stamford

                           ab  r  h  bi                                ab  r  h  bi

Coursey 2b        2  0  0  0       Palumbo cf         3  1  1  2

Robinson rf        3  0  1  1       Pieschel 2b         3  0  0  0

Dinucci cf-p       1  1  1  0       Droehl 3b           3  0  0  0

Leach 1b           3  0  1  0       Cortese c            3  0  0  0

Fox ss               3  0  2  1        Soule dh            3  0  0  0

Nunes dh           3  0  0  0       McCullough p     0  0  0  0

McGoldrick ph    1  0  0  0       Dawson p          0  0  0  0

Rossmeisl c        4  1  1  0       Oakes 1b            3  1  1  0

Dobbins 3b        2  1  1  0       Curto lf              2  1  0  0

Laffin lf              3  1  0  1       Pollack rf            2  1  0  0

Vogel-Fdmn p    0  0  0  0       Murphy ss         3  1  2  1

Totals                 25  4  7  3     Totals                 25  5  4  3

West Hartford    002 002 0 – 4  7  3

Stamford            000 000 5 – 5  4  4

E – Laffin, Fox 2, McCullough, Pollack, Droehl, Murphy. DP – Stamford 2. LOB – West Hartford 10, Stamford 5. 2B – Palumbo. S – Coursey, Dobbins. SF – Laffin. SB – Pieschel, Palumbo 2.

West Hartford

                                 ip    h    r  er  bb  so

Vogel-Freedman       6.1    2   3   3   3    1

Fisher L                    0.1   2   2   0   0    1

Stamford

McCullough             6     2   4   1   3    4

Dawson W               1     0   0   0   1    1

(McCullough faced 1 batter in 7^th)

WP – Vogel-Freedman. HBP – By Vogel-Freedman (Palumbo, Pollack); by McCullough (Leach). T – 1:53.

Records – West Hartford 16-7; Stamford 22-7.