Posts 194-25 wrap up difficult year with win

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BEACON FALLS — Though it was another tough season for the Prospect-Beacon Falls American Legion Posts 194-25 baseball squad, the team finished the summer on a winning note with a 3-2 win over Danbury on Saturday afternoon.

The horse on the mound all season long, Kyle Georgia pitched a complete game for PBF in earning the team’s fifth win, one more than Posts 194-25 had in 2010.

Prospect-Beacon Falls got off to a promising start with a 2-2 record through the first week of the season, but things fell apart during the rest of the summer.

“It’s pretty disappointing,” Georgia said. “We actually started out 2-2 but went on like a 13-game losing streak, so it was tough. Our main goal was to make states for the first time in [PBF] Legion history and that skid knocked us out.”

That losing streak stretched from the first week of the season until July 9 and 10, when PBF split a pair of doubleheaders against Bethel and New Milford.

A problem that has plagued Posts 194-25 since Connecticut American Legion baseball changed to wood bats a few years ago was the offense. Georgia, among others, took several hard-luck losses because the team was unable to give him any run support.

“The first part of the season we were actually pretty hot with the bats,” Georgia said. “We would out-hit our opponents a lot of the time. We just didn’t seem to get the timely hit we needed. We were on the bad side of a lot of low-scoring games.”

Anthony Scirpo, Ryan McKay, Connor Chura, Ryan Mariotti, and Georgia were among the team’s key hitters while Brian Langdon and Mike Masulli joined Georgia atop the PBF rotation.

Georgia’s strong production in the lineup and on the mound was somewhat unexpected after he underwent hip surgery earlier in the year. He credited the team’s coaches, including manager Jim Augelli and assistant coaches Jeff Clarke, Dave Langdon, Don Ensero, and Larry Renna with helping him make a successful return.

“My coaches helped me out a lot,” Georgia said. “I was pretty rusty coming back, but they patiently worked me back into the swing of things.”

Prospect-Beacon Falls finished the season 5-22, four games behind Naugatuck and Ansonia for last place in Zone 5. Oakville won the zone again with a 24-3 record while Monroe, Bethel, Waterbury, and Oxford also qualified for the state tournament.