Baseball Review // Tri State Fall Baseball League Playoffs 2025 (mostly at) Fisher Elementary, Terryville CT November 2025

Photos from the final game can be found in an album on Facebook here :::

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1934417003955178&type=3

More photos can also be found in other Facebook albums.  

The Tri State Fall Baseball League can be found on Instagram here :::

https://www.instagram.com/tristate_fall_baseball_league/

One thing I keep thinking the further we get into this Fall Baseball season is how in the Summer time the weather is hot and in Autumn we're leaning more towards the cold.   Throughout various fields in Connecticut I have spent time in the shade taking pictures only to move back into the sun because it felt cold.  In the Summer time, it would be so hot in the sun I'd move to try and find shade or just hope for a quick game so I didn't get heat stroke.  (We had some of those hundred degree games this past Summer)

The culmination of this Fall came down to two teams: the Terryville Twins and the Bristol Greeners.  I had been following the Nutmeg State Fall Baseball League a little bit as well, and really enjoyed seeing the Thomaston Cubs in there (shout out to them) but I really went to more of these Tristate games because I feel like I knew the teams a little bit better.  From the familiarity of the Hartford Hammerheads and Bristol Greeners, it was nice to see the Canton Crushers- who I hadn't seen in a while- and seeing the Beaver Hunters for the first time was fun.

This playoff tournament was everything you would want out of it and more.  For the opening rounds, I only wish that the Greeners-Canton game was on a Saturday so I could've seen that as well, but I don't think anyone expected the third place Greeners to beat the second place Crushers.  On top of that, the Terryville Twins (who finished fourth place) defeated not only the fifth place Hammerheads but also the first place Beaver Hunters.  It is difficult enough to win two games in a row- and the second against a fresh team- but to knock out the first seed was definitey some great baseball.

Going into this best of three series, whoever wins, in my book both the Terryville Twins and Bristol Greeners are winners because they did what no one expected them to do.  This should've been a Beaver Hunters-Crushers finals, as they were the top two teams.  But something changed in both of these teams as the season went on and seeing them compete against each other is what baseball should be all about.  This is the most even of matches.  

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For the first game in Terryville on Sunday, the Twins were away and went three up-three down in the top of the first inning.  Doubles in the bottom of the first inning would put the Greeners up 2-0 right away.  It would stay this way for three innings of play, with both pitchers just pitching a hell of a game.  The top of the fourth saw the Twins put up two runs of their own, the inning ending with an out at home.  This was the type of game this was.  That out was the go ahead run for the Twins and being not only what this game means but the type of team both these teams are, that was a risk I feel that they definitely needed to take.

In the fifth inning the Greeners began struggling with their pitching, a slight bit of vulnerability that the Twins needed to expose.   With runners on first and second doing the double steal, someone on top of the hill yelled something about something "not being baseball" which I think largely left everyone confused.   The Greeners would issue a walk to load up the bases with no outs and after everyone settled from whatever that spectator had intended on doing, a double would score two runs for the Twins, putting them up 4-2.

Another run would score on a ball that got passed the Greeners' catcher and then on another shot to right-center field two more runs would score on another double.  The Terryville Twins put up five big runs in the top of the fifth inning, changing it from a 2-2 game to a 7-2 game and the Twins just rode that high right up until the very last inning to get the win in Game 1.

I'm not sure who decided this, but while the Hartford Hammerheads, Canton Crushers and Burlington Beaver Hunters were all eliminated with one loss (0-1), these Twins-Greeners became a best of three, with two of the games on this Sunday and a third on another date to be determined if needed.  On one hand, yes, I want to see a winner in two games, but at the same time, having this split and going to that Game 3 would mean one more week of baseball.  I'm always up for more baseball.

While the first game definitely felt like a game of two of each team's best pitchers- Robert Bibisi for the Greeners and Frank Tirino for the Twins- the second game was perhaps the more anticapted match up, as Greeners lead Trevor Mays took the mound against Twins' Jake Rinkavage.   While I'm not sure the details of the Greeners win over the Crushers, I know that the Twins did have Frank Tirino on the mound against the Hammerheads and Jake Rinkavage to defeat the Beaver Hunters.

The second game was different from the first, but there was still that tension in the air.  After the Twins scored five runs in one winning to essentially win the game, it felt like either team could have that type of moment again and blow the whole thing open.  The Greeners went up early on, putting up three runs in the first inning.  This was a strong start for the Greeners, but they also started the last game by putting up two.

In the top of the second inning, the Greeners would score two more runs on a triple by Justin Miller.  This was where the Greeners would stay until the sixth inning, adding on just one more run in the sixth and the seventh, for a total of seven runs.  The Twins, to their credit, chipped back, putting up two runs in the bottom of the fourh inning and one more in the fifth.  Going into the sixth, with two innings left of play, it was 5-3 and that could have been the final score but it was 7-3 with two more Greeners runs.

While the second game had more tension to it, it wasn't just because this was a potential winner take all game.  For the first game, if you lost, it was okay.  You just had to make sure that if you lost that first game you didn't also lose the second game.  With their backs against the wall, the Greeners did exactly what they needed to do.  Though it felt like at any moment this game could've gone either way- there wasn't really this definitive spot like the five run inning in the first game.  But the Greeners got that five run lead and held onto it.  The Twins tried to mount a comeback but just fell short.

As someone who loves baseball, these were the exact two type of games I wanted to see.  There wasn't a point where one team was up 10-0 or something and you knew that there would be no way for the other team to come back.  They were always in reach, and it was always tense.  Right up until the final out.

Oddly enough, the day before these games the MLB World Series came to an end on just a beautiful game between the Dodgers and Blue Jays.  One thing that was said about this World Series match up which stuck with me from the beginning was that many people felt like the Dodgers had more star power and kind of bought their way into the post season.  People saw the Blue Jays as more of this team that hustled, the working man that might not hit homeruns but could stretch a double into a triple.   The were the players you might not know by name, but they would grind down and do what they had to do to get the job done.

What makes these games so special with the first ever Champion being crowned in the Tristate Fall Baseball League is that both of these teams feel like the Blue Jays.  Both of these teams feel like that team which is going to scrape and claw and do everything they have to do to win.   

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The weekend after the doubleheader there was rain scheduled so this third and final game- the rubber match- did not happen right away.  The week of November 16th it was also a rain out.   Sunday, November 23rd was to be the last attempt and it finally happened.  On the drive there all I could think about was how both teams got to this point and we were about to see some of the best baseball possible.   Both teams have more than one pitcher as well, so I expected this to be a combination of the first two games.  

The Championship Game began with Trevor Mays on the mound for the Bristol Greeners.  This took the Terryville Twins to three up / three down in the top of the first.  Jake Rinkavage got off to a rough start pitching for the Twins.   After three consecutive walks, Herb Melfor doubled in the first two runs of the game.   Justin Miller would score on a wild pitch and then Melfor would end up scoring on a single.   This would put the Bristol Greeners up 4-0 after the first inning, and every inning at this point just felt like its own game.

During the second inning, the Twins got a runner to second base but that was it.  They were slowly building up that offense.   Elliot Norris would bunt onto first base to lead off the bottom of the second and then ultimately steal second base as well.   Putting Norris into scoring position like this was the type of ball that the Greeners were playing and it was working.  Herb Melfor was back around again and he hit a deep shot to left field to score Norris.   While that was a double for Melfor, he had a pinch runner in Justin Miller, who would then score on a deep shot to right field by Trevor Mays.  

Seeing the Greeners go to opposite sides like that, putting runners on base and bringing them home was just the way baseball should be played and it was just that reminder of how they got to this point.   The top of the third inning saw the Twins get bases loaded on a walk but that was it.  The bottom of the third saw the Greeners go three up / three down, as Frank Tirino seemed to be settling in as pitcher for the Twins.   This third inning was when the tide began to turn as neither team scored, but it felt like a switch was flipped and there was a new game about to start.

The top of the fourth inning saw the Twins get some base runners on.  In a big at bat for Jake Rinkavage, he sent a shot to right field that would become a base clearing triple that scored two runs.   The Twins were right back in this game.   A sac fly to center field would bring home Jake Rinkavage and then on a bad throw to first base another Twin would score for a total of four runs in the fourth inning.   It was now a 6-4 ball game and the momentum had seem to have shifted.

In the bottom of the fourth inning there was a great diving while running backwards catch by Twins' center fielder Sean O'Donnell which definitely saved some runs.   The Twins just seemed to intensify their defense while shutting down the Greeners' offense now.   The fifth inning would be the only other inning of scoring and it was a big one.

Back to back doubles to start put the Twins within one.  At this point, Trevor Mays was out and Robert Bibisi came in to pitch for the Greeners.  With a stolen third base, it became first and third after a walk.  An infield pop up for out number one but then Jake Rinkvage was back at the plate doing what he does.    A double drove in two more runs and for the first time in this game the Twins had the lead, as it was 7-6.

Two more runs would score for the Twins in the top of the fifth inning and while the first two innings of this game felt like they belonged to the Greeners, the fourth and fifth innings felt like they were all Twins.   At this point it should be noted that this game began at 1pm and we were at a field without lights.   Clouds had brought in some minimal rain, but you could just feel it growing both colder and darker as the game went on.  With the Twins up 9-6 this became a battle against time as there could have been an inning where the Greeners came back, tied it and then it became too dark to continue play.

The fifth, sixth and even seventh innings went by fairly quick with minimal offense.   While the Twins were fighting for insurance runs, the Greeners were fighting to stay in the game.   The bottom of the sixth inning saw a great catch out in left field by Jake Rinkavage, but overall these last three innings just were both teams shut down by the other.   The way these last three innings went was how the game could have gone from the start and for as many as twenty innings.

This game was the latest I had ever been to a baseball game in the sense that it was on November 23rd (I think my previous record was November 8th) and it was also the coldest I've ever felt at a baseball game.   This was also somehow the 100th baseball game that I experienced in person in 2025, which is kind of wild considering I don't work in baseball or have a family member playing, etc.    This game just felt like such the perfect culmination of everything I've seen in baseball this year.   

When I started this year, as one tends to do, I was at college baseball games and I saw the Yale Bulldogs host the Ivy League tournament.   Seeing Dan Livingston pitch a no-hitter in the CTL Playoffs this summer and then seeing the Bridgeport Flyers win the Nutmeg League Championship this summer as well.   At the end of the day- and at the end of this year-it wasn't always about wins and losses, though the wins were nice, but it was just so great being out there watching baseball.