By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Before the Bristol Central softball team starts to prepare for the CIAC Class LL tournament fray, there’s a little bonus for the Rams to enjoy.

The locals, once again, qualified for the CCC Tournament as the top eight teams in the league will go to battle – with the possibility of two teams getting an extra three games to play.

And it’s all house money because instead of a bit of a layoff, Central will be competing in meaningful, playoff tests for the second straight year.

“In the beginning of the season, we knew that we wanted to get a single digit seed in the states and we wanted to get a game in the CCC Tournament,” said Central coach Monica Hayes.

And all that hard work paid off for Central (No. 5, 17-3) as the squad gets a rematch against No. 4 Hall in West Hartford today at 3:45 p.m.

It’s a showdown between squads that have already competed against one another this season.

Back on April 28, Hall’s Sophie Garner-MacKinnon and Central’s Alex Sciarretto combined on a seven-hitter that included 29 total strikeouts as two of the very best pitchers in the CCC went at it.

But mistakes cost the Rams the game as the locals fell by a 2-1 final.

Garner-MacKinnon scoped up 18 strikeouts, sending down 10 of the first 11 batters she faced.

Sciarretto was just as sharp on that cold afternoon, posting 11 strikeouts and giving up just four hits.

However, that’s in the past as Central looks to upset West Hartford on the road and if the Rams advance, a Wednesday challenge against top-ranked Southington could be in the cards.

Just qualifying for this tournament is a big deal and shows the growth of the one of the CCC’s up and coming programs.

“It’s an awesome accomplishment,” said Hayes of qualifying for the CCC Tournament. “I love that tournament. It’s available now and I love how they’ve offered that starting last year. That was a big accomplishment last year when we made the first conference tournament ever.”

“And we want to win a game again.”

This is a strong line-up of CCC teams as programs with at least 15 victories or more qualified.

Seedings were based upon each team’s CCC regular season results.

Last Year

Central, at 14-3, earned the sixth seed in the tournament fray in 2021 – the first year the CCC’s were held – and squared off against No. 3 Windsor.

The Rams pulled off a 14-0 upset back on May 27 and the following day, against powerful Southington, Central fell 13-5.

In 2021, Berlin was the top program in CCC Tournament play while Southington earned the No. 2 ranking.

Both programs were 19-1 as the Knights are one season later. Southington did not lose a CCC game this year.

The 2022 set-up

The postseason tournament will be played over three of the next four days, weather permitting.

The quarterfinals commence on Tuesday, May 24 – from the site of the higher seed.

On Wednesday, it’s semifinal round action and the finals will be held on Friday, May 27 from the Dunn Sports Complex in Meriden.

Here’s the line-up for the 2022 CCC Softball Tournament:

2022 CCC Tournament Softball – Seeding (Overall records noted. Non-CCC games did not count in the seeding process).

#1 Southington (19-1)
#2 Glastonbury (18-2)
#3 RHAM (15-5)
#4 Hall (16-3)
#5 Bristol Central (17-3)
#6 Enfield (16-4)
#7 Maloney (15-5)
#8 Avon (16-4)

Tuesday, May 24 (All games played at the higher seed)
#1 Southington vs. #8 Avon (4:30 p.m.)
#2 Glastonbury vs. #7 Maloney (3:45 p.m.)
#3 RHAM vs. #6 Enfield (3:45 p.m.)
#4 Hall vs. #5 Bristol Central (3:45 p.m.)