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NORWALK, Conn. Years from now, the summer of 2011 might be viewed as the season Norwalk American Legion Post 12 baseball went from being a good program to an excellent one.
The team finished 28-10, won its first state championship and went 2-2 in the Northeast Regional in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It's likely to be the measuring stick by which future teams are evaluated.
"That's been my goal since I started coaching,'' manager Chris Brown said. "I want this to become an elite program. I want kids to say, 'I want to play with that program.' That's the way we're going to get better each and every year."
Norwalk finished second in Zone 4 with a 20-7 record, trailing only Greenwich. After getting into the final 16 in the state tournament, Norwalk made noise with an 8-2 win over Zone 6 champion Niantic. Wins over Unionville and Trumbull put Norwalk in the winners' bracket final against Stamford. In perhaps its most significant win of the season, Norwalk erased a 7-0 deficit to come back and defeat its Fairfield County rival, 10-8.
Norwalk faced Branford in the championship round and dropped a 4-1 decision to force a winner-take-all game for the state title. Behind the pitching of Leon Fleming, Norwalk won 3-0 to take the state crown. Norwalk swept the top awards for the state tournament, with Spencer Jacoby chosen MVP, Kevin Cawley (.438) top hitter and Fleming top pitcher. Mike Parlanti was also named to the all-tournament team.
Norwalk got off to a terrific start in the Northeast Tournament with wins in its first two games. It dropped the next two to get eliminated, including a 9-5 loss to Whitestown, N.Y., in the final game.
"Leon and Patrick [Donohue] did a great job pitching for us in those first two games,'' Brown said. "We felt we were doing well. The first few innings against New Bedford (New Hampshire, a 4-2 loss) didn't go our way. After that loss, I felt we did a good job of putting that behind us. Then we had Leon pitching and in the first inning, he hurt his hamstring and it took a little bit of the wind out of us. They didn't give up and kept their spirits up."
Bedford won the tournament and reached the World Series. It very easily could've been Norwalk with a little more fortune. "We lost the game, but it was a great team and a great season,'' Brown said.
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