Post 32 Takes On Cinderella Role By Crushing Oakville

BRISTOL – Mercy, Unionville, the glass slipper fits, and fits comfortably.

After winning two play-in games in convincing style, Post 32 was seeded 15th in the American Legion Round of 16. As the fifth-place team in Zone 1, most believed the locals to be a postseason afterthought.

Second-seeded Oakville Post 195, the Zone 5 champion, can’t be counted among the disbelievers.

David Kerlejza spun a three-hitter and catcher Colan Callahan provided four hits and three RBI Saturday morning to propel Unionville into the winners’ bracket with a resounding 12-1 six-inning victory in a game halted once by rain and ultimately by the 10-run mercy rule at Muzzy Field.

Unionville (21-9) advances into the winners’ bracket Sunday for a game against No. 10 Norwalk at Muzzy. Game time is slated for 3:30 p.m.

Callahan and his head coach Walt Nakonechny are among those who feel that Unionville’s robust Zone 1 schedule made the team ready for anything the rest of the field has to dish out.

“It’s not like we came out of nowhere,” Callahan said. “We’ve got Bristol, Simsbury, Avon, Southington and we hung tight with all those teams. We beat all of them at least once and a couple of them twice. The way it shook out, we came out at the bottom of that pack, but if it makes people throw their number two pitchers at us the first time around, we’ll take it.”

Simsbury was upset in the play-in round but one-quarter of the final 16 are Zone 1 survivors.

“We finished fifth. The separation between one and five wasn’t that great. Every team one through five is quality and I think that gets you ready to play against teams like [Oakville],” Nakonechny said.

Oakville’s vast shortfall was a result of two factors: Unionville’s timely work both at bat and in the field, combined with Oakville’s shortcomings on defense and the mound.

Post 32 used four sacrifice bunts – one by clean-up hitter Kerlejza – to force Oakville to make plays. Twice Oakville pitchers threw the ball away. Post 195 exacerbated physical mistakes with six walks, five wild pitches, a hit batsman and a passed ball.

Meanwhile, Callahan, who took a year off from baseball before opting to play this summer, scored the first run after a single, contributed to the seven-run fourth inning with another single and added singles in the fifth and sixth frames to cap a perfect day.

Three of his four hits were to the opposite field.

“We’ve taken a lot of [batting practice] the last few days,” Callahan said. “If we see it enough times, we figure out which way the ball is moving and which way to go. I’ve always kind of hit well that way. I’m just putting the bat on the ball and hoping it goes to good spots.”

Kerlejza pitched around two Unionville errors, two hit batsmen and three walks by inducing groundball outs to defuse threats. Oakville (24-4) went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and scored its lone run after Unionville tallied the first nine. He struck out three and recorded nine outs off ground balls.

“First I salvaged control of my fastball. Then I mixed in mainly my changeup and my curveball to get them off-balance so I was able to use my fastball as a more effective pitch,” Kerlejza said.

A spot downpour halted play after three frames with Unionville ahead 1-0. When play recommenced after a 23-minute lapse, Oakville hurler Brent Pelella walk the first two batters. Kerlejza sacrificed and a wild pitch brought home Jimmy Mulpeter.

Max Spracklin was hit by a pitch and Mac Crispino walked to fill the bases for Callahan, who shot a soft liner over first base for a two-run single.

“He does the little things,” said Nakonechny, who coaxed Callahan out of “retirement” when Post 32 was in need of catching. “He bunts, he hustles and he grinds it out back there behind the plate. It’s really nice to have a kid with a head on his shoulders and that kind of hustle and desire.”

Juan Rojas laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Crispino and Pelella fired the ball over the first baseman’s head.

Matt DeVaux singled and Mulpeter rifled a two-run double into the left field corner to extend the lead to 8-0.

Kerlejza’s first of two doubles evolved into the ninth run after Spracklin’s sacrifice and a passed ball. His second two-bagger was the centerpiece of the three-run sixth. Oakville needed three runs in the sixth to prevent the mercy rule from being invoked but Kerlejza danced around two singles, thanks to a game-ending double play initiated by Mulpeter at short.

Kerlejza’s Farmington High team plays in the CCC West, which featured three of the four finalists in the Class L and LL tournaments. The summer follow-up brought on the state’s only zone with five state tournament qualifiers. The Post 32 boys are in the midst of writing another successful chapter.

“It helped us prepare for this tournament,” Kerlejza said. “Those are all very good teams. I think that helped us a lot today and will for the rest of the tournament.”

Unionville 12, Oakville 1 (6 innings)

American Legion Round of 16

(at Muzzy Field, Bristol)

Unionville                                       Oakville

                           ab  r  h  bi                                  ab  r  h  bi

deVaux 2b            4  1  1  0            Tehan 2b            3  0  1  0

Mulpeter ss           3  1  1  2            Fein lf                1  0  0  0

BSchwghfr 1b       3  2  0  0             Fay 3b               2  0  0  1

Kerlejza p             3  2  2  0            French rf            2  0  0  0

MSpracklin 3b       2  2  1  1            Gombos cf          3  0  0  0

Crispino cf-p         3  1  0  1            Ouellette 1b        3  0  1  0

Callahan c            4  2  4  3            Cianciolo c          1  0  1  0

Rojas lf                1  1  0  2             Pelella p             1  0  0  0

Kozak rf               2  0  0  0            Kennedy p          1  0  0  0

                                                    Consiglio p          1  0  0  0

                                                    Pelkey ss            1  1  0  0

Totals                 25  12  9  9           Totals               19  1  3  1

Unionville            001 713  – 12  9  2

Oakville               000 010  –   1  3  4

E – Mulpeter 2, French, Kennedy, Consiglio, Pelkey. DP – Unionville 1. LOB – Unionville 6, Oakville 7. 2B – Mulpeter, Kerlejza 2, Tehan. S – Kerlejza, Spracklin, Crispino 2, Rojas, Fein. SF – Fay. SB – deVaux, Callahan, Pelkey. CS – Tehan.

Unionville

                                 ip    h   r   er  bb  so

Kerlejza W,4-2            6     3   1   0   3   3

Oakville

                                ip     h  r   er  bb  so

Pelella L,4-3              3.1   2   6   4   4   4

Kennedy                   0.2   2   2   1   0   1

Consiglio                   2      5   4   1   2   2

WP – Kerlejza 3, Pelella 4, Kennedy. HBP – by Kerlejza (French, Cianciolo); by Pelella (Spracklin). PB – Callahan, Cianciolo. T – 2:37 (rain delay :23). Records – Unionville 21-9; Oakville 24-4.