By Michael Letendre

AVON – The Bristol American Legion baseball roster is still in a bit of flux as the season continues to unfold for the locals.

Players are coming in while others are leaving the squad.

But one player returning to Post 2 line-up this season will be St. Paul Catholic’s Owen Davis.

Davis is no stranger to the program as he helped the 17U Bristol team win the state title last season when the squad played in the CT Elite Baseball Association.

He is an all-around talent but his play behind the plate with help add a little depth to the catching position.

“We’re picking up Owen Davis who is a catcher,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “That’s going to help us because Nate Ouellette, the other catcher, is still hurt.” 

St. Paul Catholic batted around .400 for the year and Davis was a big help in that department.

Davis batted over .500 and while he played first base for Falcons, he’ll help solidify the catcher’s position this summer.

More help may come in the form of Dillon Hudson as the Bristol Central standout can play at multiple infield positions and has a good stick at the plate.

And depth is something Bristol needs at every position.

Against Avon, in a tough 10-1 loss on Tuesday, Bristol ’s Dylan Woodsome was a surprise starter on the hill (the original starter LaPenta had in mind for the game quit the team) and the former Bristol Eastern talent threw extremely well over his 3.1 innings of work. 

“I think he’s going to help us,” said LaPenta of Woodsome. “He’s like no more than a two times through the lineup type of guy but he can throw strikes [and] he keeps people off balance with the wood bat. We had plenty of fly balls and ground balls [against Avon].”

“He’s going to be that type of guy for us…spot starter, middle relief guy, gives us three or four innings and just dip and duck.”

For Woodsome, it’s just a matter of getting on the mound and finding his groove.

Due to ailing shoulders from scholastic basketball days gone by, Woodsome couldn’t throw a full spring slate worth of games.

In 5.67 innings pitched for the Lancers, ‘Woody’ allowed just two earned runs and carried a healthy 2.47 ERA.

It might have been a small sample space but that’s what Bristol is going to get in bits and pieces from Woodsome as the year goes on.

“He’s going to pitch backwards – curveball and fastball counts and fastball and curveball counts,” said LaPenta. “I think he got tired [against Avon]. I think he threw [58] pitches. I don’t think he’s thrown that much in a while, and he’s got the funky shoulder anyway.” 

Bristol American Legion Baseball Notebook: Injury to Cruz is a huge concern for Post 2

The injury bug has bitten the Bristol American Legion baseball team early in the 2021 campaign.

But with that said, Post 2 could be a very successful team with all hands-on deck.

With its starting catcher nursing an injury and out of action, it appeared Bristol’s Roberto Cruz re aggravated a hamstring injury from last month during Post 2’s 10-1 Zone 1 loss at Avon on Tuesday. 

And his bad hamstring is worrisome for Bristol head coach Jerry LaPenta.

It’s an injury that Cruz suffered during the scholastic season, knocking the athlete out of the last Bristol Central/Bristol Eastern showdown back on May 27.

Cruz is a force on the hill, can and will pay defense and always makes something happen on the bath-paths.

Hustlers like Cruz are hard to come by.

He hurt it again trying to field a ground ball at second base in the fourth inning against Avon.

“That is a big concern,” said LaPenta of Cruz. “He’s one of our best pitchers. I don’t think I’ll be playing him in the field for a while until I’m sure he’s 100-percent. I can’t afford to lose him for any length of time.”

“He pitched great the other night against Wallingford. That was a pretty good hitting team.”

American Legion baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, and if Cruz can rest the injury and get a little health, it will be a big boost for Bristol.

“Hopefully, he’s not too bad,” said LaPenta. “[Cruz] said he felt it, so I don’t think it was a big-time pop, but we’ll see.”

And just like a big puzzle, LaPenta has some tremendous pieces on the board.

Now, where to plug those players to be as successful as possible is the challenge for the long-time mentor and coach.

“We’ve just got to figure it out,” said LaPenta. “We’re still kind of figuring out the role of everybody on the team.”

Two-out-of-three is for me (or Post 2)

Bristol plays each Zone 1 opponent three times and the objective is to always win at two games against every opponent.

After dropping its first two contests this season against Zone 1 opponents, Post 2 will get two more shots against West Hartford (4-3 loss last Thursday from Hall high school) and Avon later in the summer.

“The goal is still the same, to win the series – two out of three,” said LaPenta. “I just said [to the players after the Avon loss] ‘now we’ve put ourselves in a hole with two teams, so we have to win two games to win the series.’”

“The good thing about baseball is it’s over and done with, flush it and we come back on Thursday [against Meriden].”

A look ahead

Thursday’s game from Legion Field in Meriden commences at 5:45 p.m. while on Saturday, Naugatuck travels to Muzzy Field for a Zone 1 tilt at 10 a.m.

Finally, in a Father’s Day extravaganza, Bristol tangles with Newington in another Zone 1 encounter on Sunday at 5 p.m. from Legends Field in Newington.

“We’ve got some big games Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday,” said LaPenta. “It’s early in the season and we need to get some ‘W’s.”