The American Legion baseball season can be an arduous journey, especially for a young team. The postseason can also be unforgiving.
Three Zone 6 teams were eliminated on the first day of the American Legion state baseball tournament: Tri-Town was edged by Glastonbury, 4-3; Moosup forfeited to Ridgefield; and Danielson fell to Simsbury.
Zone 6 champion Waterford and runner-up Norwich earned first-round byes in the 24-team field and will host games this week looking to advance to Saturday’s regional semifinals in Middletown and South Windsor.
Danielson (5-17) was also hoping to advance through Monday’s single-elimination round but found the going a little rough against Simsbury. Danielson fell behind early and never recovered, dropping an 11-1 five-inning, mercy-rule contest at Simsbury’s Memorial Park.
“It was a tough way to end it,” Danielson manager Jacob Tarryk said. “It was a long season and we had a lot of young guys. We’ve been playing a lot of games and haven’t had many days off.”
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Simsbury (13-9) finished third behind West Hartford and Bristol in Zone 1.
“Simsbury is a very good program,” Tarryk said. “We kind of let the score get away from us. We put up a little bit of a fight for one inning. Hats off to Simsbury. I hope they have a great run in the tournament.”
The game ended in the bottom of the fifth when Simsbury notched three straight singles, including an RBI-hit from Colby Wilhem. A walk loaded the bases before Patrick Matyczyk scored on a wild pitch that invoked the mercy rule.
Simsbury drew 12 walks and constantly had runners in scoring position during four of the five innings.
“That’s been our issue the whole year, just giving too many free bases,” Tarryk said. “We give those free bases that’s fine, but we can’t let those free bases turn into runs. That’s just going to come with time and these guys getting a little older and being able to make more plays. The game is moving so much quicker at this level and that’s just a hump that these young guys got to get over. Hopefully, for next year, they’ll be ready for it.”
Danielson scored its run in the third inning. Ben Jax led off with a bunt single and moved to second on Dominik Kubera’s single to left. Jax and Kubera stole second and third, and after a flyout, Jax raced home on Keon Lamarche’s RBI groundout.
Kyle Anthony allowed just three hits over four innings to earn the pitching win for Simsbury. Danielson starting pitcher Jack Sumner had a leadoff single in the second inning.
Jax, who relieved Sumner in the third inning, was playing in his last American Legion game. The former All-State football and baseball player for Killingly High School played five seasons beginning in the summer of 2020. Jax was teammates with Tarryk during his first year playing for Post 21.
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“If I can make a team of nine Ben Jax’s I would love that,” Tarryk said. “He just plays the game the right way. He represents Danielson baseball in the right way. He’s an athlete that can do many things I haven’t seen done. And this isn’t even his main sport so it just shows you how much he loves the game and loves this program.”
After a tough season, Tarryk is optimistic his club can bounce back.
“I’m very excited about the future of this team,” Tarryk said. “We’re going in the right direction. Last year we lost a lot of older guys, this year we’ve got a lot more younger guys so as long as these guys stay together and play Legion, I think we’ll be pretty good. That’s the biggest thing you can stress because a lot of these kids might not think that playing together now when they’re young. They’re not playing too well against these older teams but if you give it two or three years I know these guys will be competing for the Zone championship.”
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Danielson ousted in Legion state tourney opener
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