NEW BRITAIN – After a 104 minute rain delay, the New Britain Bees used a late rally with consecutive bases loaded hit-by-pitches to walk away with a FCBL semifinals Game 1 win over the Norwich Sea Unicorns by a score of 3-2.
Amato Civitello (UConn/East Haven, CT) was in the right place at the right time as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, getting drilled by a 3-1 pitch to score George Slauson (UConn/Plymouth, MA) and give the Bees a 2-1 lead. The next batter, Grady Schopps (Salve Regina/Fairfield, CT) was plunked as well.
Slauson ignited the rally with a leadoff double in the inning, the first hit for the Bees since the third inning. New Britain only had three hits on the night, the other two being singles from Tim Hennig (Binghamton/Wantagh, NY). The offense was quiet, but also drew eight walks and had the two crucial hit-by-pitches, so there was always traffic.
On the pitching side, Trey LaMay (Stonehill/Washington, CT) continued his dominant summer on the mound, tossing five innings and allowing just one run. In four starts since July 11, LaMay has allowed just three earned runs in 23.1 innings pitched. The right-hander only had two strikeouts, but Norwich as a whole only punched out five times all game. Nate Kempton (Brown/Cheshire, CT) came on next and threw a scoreless sixth and seventh to keep the game tied at 1. Jake Harmony (Endicott/Fairfield, CT) pitched the final two frames, preserving the tie in the eighth and finishing it off in the ninth despite allowing an unearned run to score.
The victory puts the Bees win game away from punching their ticket to their second consecutive Futures League Championship, and also one win away from ending Norwich’s historic run of three straight titles. Game 2 is on the road on Tuesday night at Dodd Stadium, first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. in the Rose City.