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Ray Curren - Elm City Newspapers
July 3, 2008 - They‘re not exactly out there beating their chests, but there is a quiet confidence with the Shelton Legion team that they are the team to beat in Zone II this season. Why not? Shelton doesn’t exactly have the history of Zone II’s former traditional leaders of the pack - Branford and before that, Orange and Milford - but the numbers don’t lie.
After finishing runner-up in the state to Branford last season, and having won the zone in 2006 and 2007, Shelton sees itself as the team to beat in 2008, and they’ve gone out and proved it, having won nine straight and on top of the Zone II standings with a 13-2 record at the end of last week.
“We don’t ever talk about the states, there are too many games and too many good teams in our zone,” Shelton coach Sean Kiernan said. “But our kids definitely don’t want any part of any play-in games, we want to win the zone and we think we have a very good chance to do that.”
In a season that has been marked by who is not playing Legion baseball, Kiernan and Shelton have set up a program where it seems everyone wants to be a part of the fun. Post 16 is led by Central Connecticut pitcher Jason Foster, who is 3-0 this season, and has been dominant for three seasons; his career record in Legion play is an astounding 16-1. Foster is also contributing this season with his bat, batting in the middle of the Shelton lineup.
The rest of the pitching staff is also without peer in Zone II: Ryan Headley is 2-0, Tom Lindberg is 3-1, and Kyle Lavin also has two wins, including a 3-2 win over Milford last Thursday. The game was scoreless for six innings before Shelton scored three runs in the top of the seventh. Milford came back with two in the bottom of the inning, but Shelton had yet another one-run victory. In all, nearly half (6) of Shelton’s victories have come by a single run.
“After the success we’ve had the last couple of seasons, we play with a lot of self-confidence,” Kiernan said. “We’ve played in a lot of stressful games, including in the postseason, and I think that has helped a lot, too. Of course, our pitching always seems to do the job in those games.”
Shelton won its second straight one-run game over Milford Sunday, 11-10, proving it can also do the job with the bats. The biggest surprise for Kiernan has been newcomer Ron Lumento, who is hitting close to .600 at the season’s halfway point. He’s gotten plenty of help from Mark McCormick and Brian Newton, and Shelton is one of the teams where there is very little rest anywhere in the lineup.
Shelton plays West Haven this week, and has Branford and New Haven remaining, before closing the season with what could be a first-place showdown with current second-place squad, Hamden.
“We obviously have to take them one team at a time, Hamden has a tough schedule left, but I’m really glad for (Coach) Frank (DeLucia) and those guys. They’ve had a tough couple of years and they’re really playing well,” Kiernan said. “Branford beat us in the state finals and they’ve got some really good players, too, so we just have to keep winning and see what happens.” What might happen is a third straight Zone II title, leaving everyone else to chase Shelton, once again.
OOPS, SORRY: I occasionally do make mistakes, and made a rather large one last week when I reported that Hamden had beaten state player of the year Jason Esposito twice in a doubleheader.
Well, Hamden did beat Orange twice (in fact, they turned around and beat them again the next day to make it a three-game sweep), and they did beat AN Esposito twice, but it wasn’t Jason Esposito. It turns out Jason - who was drafted by the Royals in the seventh round, but turned down a $1.5 million offer to attend Vanderbilt - has been preparing to go to Nashville, and it was his younger brother, Mark, who was pitching against Hamden.
The fact that Orange trusts Mark, who will be a sophomore in the fall at Amity, to close their games means he has a bright future both for Amity and for Orange. Orange got a big 6-5 win over Milford Thursday, but its hopes of catching Shelton (or Hamden, for that matter) appear to be dead …
It does look like it’s going to be an interesting race to see who will qualify for the Zone II Tournament (formerly, the first couple of rounds of the state tournament) in three weeks. Shelton and Hamden appear to be locks, but there could be five teams in the postseason tournament (teams that don’t win the zone), with Milford, Branford, West Haven, and East Haven all fighting to stay above .500. We went through the different scenarios (some of them extremely convoluted), and I’m sure we will again this year.
GAME OF THE WEEK Shelton vs. West Haven, Saturday-Monday - If there is going to be a stumbling block for Shelton, maybe it could be West Haven. The Westies have struggled with their pitching in the early part of the campaign, but have the talent to make it a miserable holiday weekend for Shelton, who is looking to roll to its third straight Zone II title.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Dan Rhone, Hamden - Rhone threw a three-hit shutout against West Haven last Friday, and has been one of the many reasons why Post 88 has fooled everyone and continued their climb to the top of Zone II. At week‘s end, they were just one game out of first (and Shelton) in the loss column.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS 13
With the glass half full, number of walks North Haven drew last Sunday. With the glass half empty, number of walks East Haven issued last Sunday. Amazingly, East Haven won the wild game, 11-10 anyway, scoring in every inning, including two in the seventh. Eight pitchers were used, and North Haven left the bases loaded three times, including in the bottom of the seventh.
WHO’S HOT Shelton - Could have gone with Hamden again, but Shelton deserves some credit for an eight-game winning streak, and are clearly the team to beat in Zone II at the halfway mark.
WHO’S NOT West Haven - Unfortunately for them, it seems like a one-step forward, one-step back season for Post 71 thus far, as they can‘t quite be consistent enough to make a run toward the top of the standings.
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