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Sports

Bats Wake Up as RCP Win Two Over Week

Rocky Hill, Cromwell and Portland American Legion Baseball still in first place following loss.

The RCP American Legion baseball team suffered two losses early, but ended the week with a victory to remain in first place in their zone.

The RCP team, which consists of players from Rocky Hill, Cromwell and Portland, lost to West Hartford 6-1 on Monday. The home loss largely turned on RCP’s ghastly defensive performance in the third inning. RCP committed three errors and threw a wild pitch in the frame. One error by shortstop John McMahon should have been an inning-ending double play ball.

“It was one bad inning,” said RCP Head coach Jay Hickey about the third. “You can’t give a good team like West Hartford 3 or 4 extra outs and not expect something bad to happen.”  

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Meanwhile, the RCP offense was silent against West Hartford’s Matt D’orsi. He continuously pounded the zone and the aggressive RCP batters mostly responded with swings and misses or harmless fly balls. D’orsi struck out eight and allowed an unearned run in an otherwise flawless complete game effort.

 “D’Orsi is one of their best pitchers and he showed that tonight,” said Hickey. “Our offense is working hard; it just hasn’t shown in our results these last few games. We just need one game where we break loose and come up with the big hit, and from there, the offense can get back on track.”    

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RCP continued to hit and field poorly as they lost their third straight game 3-1 loss to Hebron on Tuesday. The two errors committed by RCP in the contest led to all of Hebron’s runs.

In the second inning, Hebron stole two runs after infielder Dan Bouchard threw a ball past first base. An insurance run was added in the seventh when RCP right fielder Alex Ramirez permitted a line drive to dribble through his legs.

RCP had only two hits in the game, both from John McMahon, and scored their lone run on a fielder’s choice. The pitiful offensive effort allowed the team to waste a strong complete-game effort from Rocky Hill’s own Corey Armstrong.

Led by an outstanding outing from Paul Francis, RCP returned to its winning ways in a 5-0 victory over Hartford on Wednesday.

The rejuvenated RCP offense wasted no time grabbing the lead. McMahon began the game with a triple that was followed by RBI singles from second baseman Rob Aresti and pitcher Paul Francis, giving the team a two-run advantage.

RCP pushed its lead to 3-0 in the third and picked up its final two runs in the fourth by way of fielder’s choice. McMahon, first baseman Kevin Post and catcher David Grande each had two hits.

As reassuring as the team’s performance was at the plate, the star of the game was on the mound. Francis allowed three hits and struck out seven while throwing an almost impossible 57 pitches over seven innings (roughly eight balls per inning).  The complete game effort was exactly the medicine RCP needed to end its losing streak, and could be a sign the team is getting back on track.

“I just put the ball in the zone and let the defense behind me make the plays,” said Francis following his start. “We’re not completely playing the way we want to as a team, but we’re moving in the right direction and this was an important win.” 

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