Sports
Baseball Is Back In North-Central Connecticut
In the absence of American Legion baseball this summer, the CT Elite Baseball Association was formed to provide players a chance to compete.
ENFIELD, CT — With the high school spring sports season cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the American Legion shutting down all sponsorship and national involvement in baseball for the 2020 season, the likelihood of summer baseball was in serious doubt until a group of volunteers from numerous communities organized an alternative: the CT Elite Baseball Association (CTEBA).
Organized using mainly Legion rules and policies, the CTEBA is grouped into four age categories. In U19, there are five divisions statewide totaling 36 teams, with 15 involving towns in Hartford and Tolland counties. U17 has 25 teams in three divisions, U15 has 14 teams and U14 has six teams.
The U19 season in Division 3, which counts nine of its 10 squads based in Hartford and Tolland counties, officially kicked off Sunday at Powder Hollow Park, where NCL, consisting of players from Suffield, Windsor Locks and Windsor, took on Enfield. Prior to the game, nine recently-graduated seniors from NCL and four from Enfield were honored, due to missing out on Senior Day ceremonies due to cancellation of the spring high school season.
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NCL seniors are Claudio Santaniello, Ben Tillotson, Erik Romero, Manny Flores, Nick Kreuzer, Patrick Leahy, Griffin Alexander, Tyler Ruff, John Heiden and Richard Eheander. Enfield honored Ryan Flanagan, Josh Haskins, Justin Ledger and Jack Willoughby.
Other than the home plate umpire calling balls and strikes from behind the pitcher's mound, all seemed somewhat back to normal, with players and coaches thrilled just to have the opportunity to get back on the field after such a long layoff. For the record, NCL prevailed by a 3-0 score.
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Other than Enfield and NCL, Division 3 teams containing players from Hartford and Tolland counties are EHM (East Hartford, Manchester), Ellington, Glastonbury, Northeast (based in Tolland), RCP (Rocky Hill, Cromwell, Portland), South Windsor and Tri-County (based in Marlborough). Area teams in Division 1 are Berlin, Bristol, West Hartford, Newington, Simsbury and Avon.
Complete information about the league may be found here.
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