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Sports

Young Saints Go Marching Into Post-Season

ECC Finals Appearance A Prelude To State Title Pursuit

The Montville-Uncasville area has been a home office for CIAC state baseball championships recently.

Montville High won the 2006 Class M title and claimed it again last season for the first two state crowns in school history. Saint Bernard won the Class S championship in 2007 and reached the final a year later.

This season, both teams entertain hopes of making a long run in their respective tournaments, although each squad have taken different paths into post-season.

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The Saints come in on a high, fresh off winning the Eastern Connecticut Conference Small Division title and reaching the ECC Tourney final Friday. losing 4-3 to East  Lyme. Armed with only one senior starter in Trevor Turgeon, Saint Bernard (16-7 overall) made the final on the strength of two sophomore pitchers, Tristan Hurley and Pete Aldrich.

Underclassmen dominate a squad that was 4-4 at one point. Sophomore Izzy Davila and freshman Willie Rios, Jr., have been key contributors at bat and on the mound, sophomore  All-ECC Small catcher  Bryan Harper and freshman shortstop Billy Buscetto has solidified the infield defense. The kids and a host of juniors, paced by Sean Hurley, Jon Malchiodi, Tim Lathrop and Avery Barlow, have turned the Saints into a state title contender perhaps a full season ahead of coach Bill Buscetto's projections.

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"We're playing good baseball," Buscetto said. "We talked at the beginning of the year that I expected us to struggle early because we had so many young kids. We've moved kids around into different positions and now we're kind of settled in six positions. The kids are growing up. Did I expect us to be this good, this fast? Not yet. It's nice to see."

Saint Bernard opens Class S play 3:30 Tuesday against Shepaug Valley (8-12) at home. If the Saints win, they play the next day at home against the Lyman-Trinity Catholic winner at home.

"Home" may be the story of the Saints' season. Saint Bernard has been unable to play at its school field, which needs renovations that were put on hold until after the school year. The Connecticut Tigers' minor league franchise in Norwich has allowed the Saints to play at Dodd Stadium for home games. The Saints were undefeated in nine games there before the ECC final.

"It's been a nice homefield advantage for us," Buscetto said. "It's a beautiful place to play, and the Tigers have opened their arms to welcome us."

While St. Bernard solidified its regular season success with a solid ECC tourney, Montville missed out on its first conference playoffs in eight years. Also a young squad, the Indians (12-8) have shown flashes of dominance at times with five shutout wins. But inconsistency, including sporadic play from players expected to carry the team, have plagued Montville.

Two losses to ECC Medium champ New London, a regular-season final loss to Bacon and an inexplicable defeat to Tourtellotte left the Indians out of the ECC playoffs and sent them on the road for a Class M first round game 3:30 Tuesday at Ellington. If Montville wins Tuesday, it could return home Wednesday for the second round, expecting that Griswold can knock off fourth-seed Abbott Tech.

 

 

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