The Bethel Admirals’ Post 100 American Legion baseball team had a strong season, highlighted by a ten-game winning streak. The 19U Admirals saw their strong season come to an end, in the state playoffs, on July 19. They posted a 21-6 regular season record, finished runner-up behind Waterbury in the Zone 5 standings, and won their state playoff opener, with a 6-3 win over visiting Norwalk, on July 18, before falling 7-4 to Hamden in the next round.

The team, which includes players from both Bethel and Newtown, played a truncated schedule — 27 games in just over a month — like the other legion squads. The season doesn’t start until mid-June when the state high school playoffs wind down, and it concludes in mid-July, so that the playoffs — which culminate with the World Series — are wrapped up in time for the country’s West Coast players to get back to school in the middle of August, a bit earlier than school starts on the East Coast.

“That’s why our season is so compressed,” said Josh Hull, who coaches the squad.

The brief schedule leaves little wiggle room to make up games called off because of rain, forcing teams to play double headers — in one instance for the Admirals on consecutive days — to get their games in when necessary.

“The toughest part is being fatigued — having so many games in a row,” said catcher Charlie Huegi, one of the team’s Newtown representatives, adding that drinking lots of water and trying to maintain focus are essential for success.

The Admirals didn’t let a tough stretch of makeup games faze them. In fact, they thrived during a grueling period of rescheduled games, which included a trio of double headers in a handful of days.

“I’m really proud — especially during the middle part of the season. We had six rainouts in June. That meant we had to play nine games in six days at the beginning of July,” Hull said. “Amazingly, we won all nine. It’s just a blur.”

Hull had a set rotation of pitchers, including Newtown’s Michael Parker and Jim Parker, and Bethel’s Joe Liquori and Stephen Brittin, the latter of whom was among the zone’s leaders in innings pitched, with 42 frames. But Hull had to call on Abe Defeo to step in and give the starters a breather during that busy period.

That sort of teamwork helped make it a successful campaign for the Admirals.

“We’re kind of like a family here,” Huegi said.

Bringing together players from different towns adds a unique component. Newtown and Bethel are South-West Conference rivals during the high school season, meaning most of the player are opponents-turned-teammates. And some of the team members are in college.

“At the beginning of every year that’s always an interesting part of it — to see how the chemistry goes,” said Hull, adding that the personalities of the players made for good camaraderie from the beginning. “This is a pretty relaxed group,” the coach said.

The Admirals’ coach finds ways to help the team bond. One of the ways he makes it fun is to give a $5 reward to a the defensive player of each game, which the teammates vote on.

“It’s a lot of great baseball we’ve played. There’s good competition in the league,” said first baseman David Matthews of Newtown, who was recruited to play at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

Teams play seven-inning contests during the regular slate, then compete for nine innings in each postseason game. In the win over Norwalk, Michael Parker pitched a complete game, struck out six, and didn’t allow a walk. Leadoff batter Sam Czel, another Newtown product, went 2-for-4, with a walk, double, two runs batted in, three stolen bases, and two runs scored. Huegi, the cleanup batter, also went 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of runs batted in. The sharp fielders committed only one error in the game.

The next day, Liquori, whom Hull said was battling a virulent stomach flu under the broiling sun at Bethel High School, held Hamden to only one run through the first five innings.

Hamden broke through with four runs in the top of the seventh. The Admirals responded as pinch-hitter Defeo lined an RBI single and Czel had a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough for the home team.

In the team’s regular-season finale, on July 15, the Admirals defeated Prospect-Beacon Falls 4-1.

Brittin threw a 69-pitch gem at Bethel High School that clinched second place in the zone. Kyle McGrath contributed vital offense in the win. In the second inning, McGrath walked, stole second and third, and scored on Logan Whelton-Pane’s single. In the sixth inning, he singled, stole second and third, and scored on Chas Cywin’s squeeze bunt.

Jack Procaccini, Timmy Schneider, Tyler Plumb, Jake Roper, and Garrett Whelton-Pane, along with bat boy Samuel Brittin and Coach Tom Liquori, all contributed to the team’s success during the campaign.