No fireworks? Who cares! There are few things more American than baseball, and baseball on Independence Day is double the fun. Earlier today I posted a reminder of the Third Annual Norm Way Classic Memorial baseball game that took place this morning at the Bill Pomfret stadium at Palmer Field in Middletown. Today the local 75er's played Berlin's team. The Middletown American Legion Local Post #75 is coached by Tim D'Aquila and is comprised of players16-19 years old. Today the game was played in honor of the late Norm Way a veteran of WWII who fought 1944-1945 after which he returned to Middletown and was a key figure in local sports & the Legion until his death in 2008. Way fought at Normandy, arriving the day after D-day. Today's game was sponsored by the Middletown Military Museum. 
The opening ceremony was at 10:30 am on the pitchers mound. The Way family was there to honor their patriarch and Way's granddaughter Kelly Deegan threw the first pitch to the Middletown catcher Kyle Krajewski. Mayor Sebastian Giuliano (R) (right photo, with hot dog), flanked by Councilmen Phil Pessina(R) and David Bauer(R) (far right photo), threw the second pitch, all later stayed to cheer on the players. In the stands Councilwoman Deb Kleckowski (R) and B.O.E. Boardmember Ryan Kennedy(R) showed their support for the veterans and the players. Roughly 150 people came to see the game today. The new digital score board showed who is at bat, out's, strikes etc was very user friendly in keeping track of what was going on and well worth the investment.
I have to give the players extra credit too, because they played a double header the day before, and with temperatures over 90 today, they made it look easy as fans watched from the shaded stadium. In honor of all branches of the armed forces, Middletown traded it's traditional blue and white uniforms for tan and brown camo tee shirts printed with their numbers in black, but kept the original light blue pants and darker blue cap normally worn. The very sharp looking tribute tee's were supplied by local sports store Home Team Supply on Saybrook Road. Berlin's traditional red and white uniforms complimented Middletown's blues and made the event all the more patriotic. It was a fashion home run in my book. I am not a sports writer, so I cannot comment too much about the actual game, I have to say that for a non sporty person it was still very exciting and engaging to watch! Regrettably I did not write down player names as I was watching to see who did what- my apologies to the team. It was neat to see lots of slides and no bickering with the umpire.
I will leave the real sports writing to the game's announcer and Middletown legend Jim Bransfield who wrote a fantastic article about the play by play of the game for the Middletown Press that is truly be worth reading. It was a pleasure to listen to Bransfield announce the game today, I think sports I think that voice! I do have to say that by the fourth inning Berlin made a steady practice of trying to steal second base, but this didn't slip by the stealth view of Middletown's pitcher Krajewski (seen pitching in photo on right). Pop fly's seem to be the theme today as far as ball play for what Berlin was hitting. Atleast 2 balls were hit out of the park- one by Berlin ( the red guys) to Washington Street during the third inning and one by a Middletown player (camo & blue) to the parking lot during the fourth inning, which made me duck and cover and almost spill the amazing nachos I got from concessions- which by the way were only $2! Middletown plays Wallingford July 6th at Palmer, 7:00 pm, with the live action, brilliant announcing by Bransfield and very reasonably priced concessions,I recommend taking the whole family and checking out a game or two. More information can be found at the website here. Outcome: Middletown won 2-1 against Berlin
ps Jim Bransfield, if you're reading this please come write for the Eye anytime!
Branfield's article aka real sports coverage
pss The Eye could use some sports coverage :)
Madam Nirvana aka Molly Salafia
