Bellringers' 1964 Team was Last to Play for Baseball Title

East Hampton had finished the regular season strong, winning six of seven games, then defeated Old Lyme, Woodbury and Guilford in the postseason.

Next up, the Class C state championship game against Joel Barlow High School of Redding.

The year was 1964. For the Bellringers, it marked the first time the school had played for a state title in baseball, and until today, the last time.

June 15 was a regular school day, a Monday, so the team was let out early for the bus ride to Bowen Field in New Haven.

Waiting was Joel Barlow, winners of 14 in a row.

“I remember looking at them and thinking, ‘Geez, they’re pretty good,” said Bill Dennehy, the East Hampton first baseman.

East Hampton wasn’t too bad, either. Ray Strong and Joe Kagerer were All-Charter Oak Conference that season. Gordie May, John Krasnitski and Dennehey were honorable mention.

“[Barlow] had a good hitting team. I think they were hitting well over .300 as a team,” said Strong, the starting pitcher.

The Bellringers got to witness that hitting first hand as Barlow (18-2) had 17 hits in a 14-2 victory.

After three innings it was 6-0 and Strong’s day on the mound was over.

“I didn’t have it,” Strong said. “We had a very small Class C team. We were kind of overmatched.”

Strong pitched every tournament game, including a 1-0 shutout of Woodbury in the quarterfinals. He also started the first game against Barlow before rain came and the game was replayed a couple days later.

“I was very disappointed I couldn’t do my best,” Strong said. “My arm was tired. We got beat.”

East Hampton closed the deficit to 7-2 before a six-run sixth inning put the game away for Barlow.

Lefthander Tom Chrzanowski held East Hampton to five hits, two by May. Chrzanowski finished 9-0 on the season.

“I remember feeling it was the first time as an athlete I felt less prepared than my opponent and realized there is a big world out there,” Dennehy said. “I was embarrassed, frankly.

“I can remember being in the dugout, I was yelling out at the pitcher about something, and Don Calarco, the coach, looking at me and saying “What are you doing.’ I was just embarrassed.”

Though Strong had a good recollection of the game, what he seemed to remember most was the fun the team had during its postseason run.

“We had a good run,” he said. “I know a lot of games leading up [to the championship game] was a lot of fun. We’d sing Dave Clark 5 songs, that kind of stuff … we were having a good time. Small town, very small, there were only 86 kids in the class. We had a good baseball team and we had fun.

“We were very close. We had a very good Little League All-Star team. We didn’t have many kids, but we had a good baseball team.”

As they say, "To the victor go the spoils," but what did the runner-up get?

Strong laughed as he recalled the jackets the team received.

“We were disappointed to get these jackets,” he said, though expressing appreciation for the gesture. “A merchant in town got these jackets for us. It had “Finalists” on the patch. A big consolation.”

There is something else, though, that comes with playing for a title, even when that jacket says Finalists rather than Champions.

“The relationships, the thoughts and the happy memories still remain,” Dennehy said. “It seems like when you’re 16, 17 or 18 it’s the end of the world, but being there is important. That’s the journey, trying to get there.”

And after 47 years East Hampton has gotten there again. Game time against East Catholic is 3:30 p.m. at Muzzy Field in Bristol.

“I hope they do well. It would be great for them to win it,” Dennehy said.

1964 Results (13-5)

East Hampton 6, Rocky Hill 4

East Hampton 2, Portland 0

Avon 4, East Hampton 0

Cromwell 2, East Hampton 1

East Hampton 5, RHAM 4

East Hampton 2, Bacon Academy 0

Coventry 3, East Hampton 2

East Hampton 9, Rocky Hill 8

East Hampton 4, Portland 0

East Hampton 4, Cromwell 3

East Hampton 4, Avon 1

East Hampton 17, RHAM 5

East Hampton 7 Bacon Academy 2

Coventry 3, East Hampton 0

Class C Tournament

East Hampton 13, Old Lyme 3

East Hampton 1, Woodbury 0

East Hampton 6, Guilford 2

Joel Barlow 14, East Hampton 2