By Michael Letendre

The Central Connecticut Conference, in terms of softball, is one of the strongest leagues in all the state.

Bristol had two squads who played in the CCC and represented the sport to its fullest.

And Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern made deep postseason jaunts before the season was said and done.

In terms of state rankings and polls for the teams from the Mum City, no one noticed those Bristol programs for most of the year.

The Rams racked up a sterling 17-3 regular season ledger, losing just two games by a single run and dropped a game (three in the end) to Class LL champion Southington.

And no one noticed.

The Lancers made a 10-10 regular season splash in the CCC – a very good record going up against several state powers.

And no one noticed.

But after two tremendous state tournament runs by both programs, voters from the GameTimeCT Top 10 Softball Poll were enlightened.

Everyone noticed…and it was about time.

Central finally cracked the top-10 to end the season while Eastern was also shown a bit of love in the poll.

After earning enough points for the 14th ranking in the poll to start tournament play, Central – ranked at No. 5 in Class LL field – picked off Wilton, Cheshire, Trumbull, and top-ranked Danbury, to finish the season at 22-5 and at No. 6 in the poll.

Over on King Street, the Lancers defeated a few top-ranked squads on their way to an impressive 13-11 finish.

With the points earned in the poll, Eastern ended up in 19th place which was an excellent finish.

The Lancers defeated Jonathan Law and East Haven in Class L tournament play, two top-10 programs for most of the year, proved that the players and team over at Eastern could hang with anyone.

And guess what?

By the end of the year, the two programs from Bristol proved to be better than advertised. 

And everyone noticed.