It may not have been a long journey to the 17U state tournament semifinals, but it certainly was a challenging one - both in terms of the time spent on the diamonds and the level of competition that stood in the way - for the Bethel Admirals Jr American Legion baseball team.

The Admirals, comprising mostly Newtown players this summer, but who call Bethel High School's Hunt Field their home, went 18-2 to win the truncated, month-long regular season's Zone 5 championship. The second-seeded Admirals then fought out of the loser's bracket to advance to the South Bracket championship/ state semifinal round, before falling 9-1 to defending state champion and top-seeded Stamford, in Meriden, on July 28. They had overcome No. 11 Fairfield 2-1 in walk-off fashion in the quarterfinals, also in Meriden, the day before.

Against Fairfield, Kenny Malin scored the winning run after leading off the inning with a walk and advancing to second and third base on groundouts, and coming across on a pitch that got past the Fairfield catcher. Sam Grossano played a key role in the winning run coming home; he was in the batter's box with two outs and fouled off a handful of pitches to keep the at bat alive before walking on the pitch that got away.

Ryan Kost pitched the first three innings and only gave up one run on two hits, and Dylan Champagne pitched the last four and was dominant, yielding just one hit and striking out seven batters.

The Admirals' first run came when Ben Harrison singled, went to second on a ground ball by Stephen Spinella, and scored on a line drive to left center by Joey Caruso.

Stamford, which won Zone 4, ended the Admirals' strong campaign with a powerful hitting attack and solid pitching.

The Admirals went a round deeper in the tourney than they did a year ago, noted Coach Tom Harrison noted, adding that his team's dedication and serious approach are what aided the run.

"I think our success came from practicing more than most teams, and working hard," said Harrison, adding that his team was out on the diamond sharpening skills just about every day it wasn't playing a game during the summer.

"It's a lot of baseball and very few days off - it is totally consuming for that period," the coach said. "It was a good run; it was a solid summer," Harrison said. "It was a good season - the kids played well."

The Admirals' roster includes Joe Caruso, Dylan Champagne, Stefano Dimeglio, Harry Eppers, Sam Grossano, Ben Harrison, James Heran, Will Huegi, Robert Hutchins, Ryan Kost, Mike Liberante, Kenny Malin, Steve Spinella, and Orlando Swift. Head Coach is Tom Harrison; assistant coaches are Dan Spinella, John Luhrs, and Daniel Kost; and Assistant Manager is FJ Urso.