The Bristol Knights quest to win three straight Connecticut Twilight League championships ended when the team lost to the eventual champion, Elmer’s Silver Bullets (of Elmer’s Place, New Britain). Bristol finished the 2016 regular season winning 20 games, with 4 losses and 1 tie… tops in both their division and the league overall. The team all year was led by a very strong defense and dominant pitching. Unfortunately the Knights picked the wrong time to falter, and was beat by two of the strongest teams in the 10 team field on back to back nights to end their season.

Bristol had finished the regular season clinching the top overall seed in the post season tournament, and received a bye in the first round games. The playoffs were supposed to start for the Knights on Wednesday, August 10^th, but rain pushed the opening games to the following day. Following another round of rain, and some field cleanup, Bristol finally started the playoff run an hour later than scheduled on Thursday the 11^th vs the Brickhouse Indians. On the mound, Bristol started the ace of the team’s staff all year, southpaw Chris McGrath. The Indians countered with a midseason roster addition, recent UConn Husky pitcher and Windsor native, Devin Over. In the end, Over kept the Knights bats off balance when it mattered most while striking out 10 in the game. The Knights only managed 5 hits and 3 walks against Over in the seven innings. The team had multiple scoring opportunities with men in scoring position, but could never get the big hit or catch a break with the Indians making every play.  McGrath wasn’t his usual dominant self either, allowing 5 runs (3 of them earned), while only striking out 1 in 4 2/3 innings pitched. The Indians went on to score 8 in the shutout win, knocking Bristol into the elimination bracket with a win or go home game the following day.

Elmer’s Place awaited Bristol in that elimination game on Friday the 11^th. This game was much more of a battle and was a back and forth struggle for the first 5 innings. The Knights started their other dominant pitcher from 2016, Marco Ross. Marco’s varying arm angles and speeds, and good command of his breaking pitches brought him a lot of success in 2016. Marco went on to throw a gem, but a the offense never really got the big hit to get the team any kind of separation, and the Knights had a few very uncharacteristic defensive failures at very key moments which allowed Elmer’s to take the lead late in the game. Bristol was led at the plate by Julio Ortiz-Rivera’s two hits and a run, Rick Barrett’s hit and run, and Marco Ross’s RBI Double. In the end, the Knights fell short, losing 7-2 on the late defensive miscues. The season was ended by Elmer’s who went on to win the championship when they later knocked off the Orioles, Indians, and won the first 2 games of the best of 3 championship vs the Willimantic Ridges. This was the second championship for Elmer’s, with the previous happening in 2012.

The Knights had the team to win the championship in 2016, but couldn’t get the pieces working as needed when it mattered most. The 2016 season was almost the exact opposite of the 2014 championship team when Bristol had a very average regular season, but put all the right pieces together to start the championship run. “3-Peats” as some have called them (or copyrighted) are pretty rare, and very tough to accomplish, as Bristol learned this year. The team can look back at 2016 with pride after a fantastic year overall and most of the team expected to return in 2017. Coach Brian LaRochelle and the Knights coaching staff plan to use the offseason to find one more top of the rotation pitcher and one additional big bat to add to the lineup to add to the returning talent.

As a cap off to the 2016 Connecticut Twilight Season, the league faced off against the best of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League in our second annual All-Star Game. This year the game was played at McKenna Field in East Hartford as the GHTBL hosted after the CTL did last year. The Bristol Knights were well represented on the CTL roster. Five Knights players and one coach were picked to the team. Ed Dickman (1B/C), Julio Ortiz-Rivera (OF), Brian LaRochelle (IF), Chris McGrath (LHP), and Marco Ross (RHP) were all picked from Bristol to play in the game. For the CTL Coaches, the squad was run by Bristol Knights coach/GM and CTL Vice President Scott Dickens. Also coaching the CTL All-Star squad were Indians Manager and CTL President Chris Barsa, Orioles Manager Don Fodaski, and Elmer’s manager and CTL Vice President Ken Cook.

In the game, Dickman got the start at first base, and caught the second half of the game. Ortiz-Rivera got the start in left field, while LaRochelle pinch hit. Marco pitched the 8^th inning for the CTL while McGrath was saved for the 9^th if it was needed (and possibly into extra innings). In the end it wasn’t needed. The home team GHTBL All-Stars prevailed in a collective pitcher’s duel, 1-0. Both teams pitching were very dominant, with the GHTBL being able to squeak in the only run in the 4^th inning. The CTL pitched Bryant Morander (Elmer’s) for the first two innings, Devin Over (Indians) the 3^rd and 4^th, Zach Cloft (Glastonbury Pirates) the 5^th – 7^th, and finally Marco in the 8^th. The CTL pitchers struck out 9 in the 8 innings pitched, while only allowing 5 hits. Cloft was especially effective in his 3 innings, striking out 5 and not allowing a hit. As good as the CTL pitching was, the GHTBL was a bit better. The five Hartford Twilight pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter, and shutting down the CTL offense while collecting 12 strikeouts in the 9 innings.