As a great conclusion to our 2019 season, we held our annual CTL vs Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League All-Star Game. This year, the CTL and the Bristol Knights hosted at Bristol’s home ballpark, Muzzy Field in Bristol. The game started after a short delay as many thunderstorms were moving across the state on Sunday 8/18, but they held off enough to make the game playable. The classic ballpark also served as the site for the game 2 seasons ago. In the previous 4 games, (with the exception of the first year), the games have been extremely close. Last years even ended in a 7-7 tie after calling the game after 10 innings.

Both sides were well represented on the day of the game. There are a handful of players that play in both leagues, and only a couple possibly would have been picked to play for both. This year, … one of our veteran pitchers was picked as a pitcher for both teams. As a move to honor one of Connecticut’s longtime and best Twilight pitchers, the Connecticut Twilight League Board came up with and pitched the idea to have Dan Livingston start the game for BOTH teams. Dan came out, started the top half of the inning pitching in his Willibrew Ridges uniform and hat against the GHTBL All-Stars. Dan made quick work of the top of the order. After the 3rd out of the top of the first, Dan went back to the other dugout… put on his GHTBL All-Star Uniform and Ulbrich Steel hat… and trotted back out to the mound to face his fellow CTL players. Dan had a great year in both leagues and we all thought what a great way to honor one our our states best. Congrats Dan.

Following Dan on the mound, the CTL brought in our recently voted 2019 Cy Young Winner, Mike Lord for 2 innings, followed by Jakari Pellegrini for 2, Tyler Cyr for 1 1/3, submariner Chris Hayes for 1 2/3, and Nick Dzioba to close out the 9th.

Both teams played a great game, each finding a way to score one run in the last few innings… meaning we were tied after 9 full innings. Both teams agreed upon 1 extra inning… and that unfortunately is where the game was lost for the CTL. The CTL Started the inning with longtime league veteran player Kez Douglas taking the mound. This summer, Kez split the year pitching for the Wethersfield Dodgers and the Platsburgh Thunderbirds of the Empire Pro League of New York. In our league Kez rarely pitches, but he was used primarily in that fashion in the independent single A equivalent pro league. Unfortunately for the CTL, Kez didn’t have it this night and the GHTBL bats hit him. The CTL quickly got Chris McGrath, our emergency pitcher warmed and into the game in relief, but the damage was done, and Chris couldn’t stop the bleeding right away… with the GHTBL going on to score 3 in the top of the 10th. That ended up being the final score as the CTL couldn’t push any runs across in the bottom of the 10th, giving GHTBL the extra inning win.

Here are all our photos of the great night of baseball… that could easily have ended in a win for the CTL, but it wasn’t to be.