Recap of Twister season

Twisters recap story from Aug. 5:

The wheels are already turning for the Torrington Twisters after finishing a frustrating season with a tough 1-0, 10-inning loss to the North Shore Navigators on Thursday.

General Manager Kirk Fredriksson is already looking at players for next season, including some in Connecticut.

A difficult 14-27 season ended with Torrington dropping 18 of its final 23 games after being tied for first place with a 9-9 record on July 6.

"We were 9-9 and were in first place," Twisters coach Gregg Hunt said. "We knew that wasn't going to continue. We thought we had a legitimate shot to get on the right track."

Torrington got to .500 at 9-9 with a 3-2, 11-inning win over in North Adams against the SteepleCats. A Jaren Mathews homer in the 11th won the game.

The euphoria was shortlived, as the Twisters made another trip to North Adams the next night. Torrington made eight errors and lost 13-3.

"Everything seemed to go downhill after that game," Hunt said.

Players forced to play out of position in the field and in the batting order due to a host of injuries and players leaving early for different reasons contributed to the Twisters' slide, Hunt said.

"(The roster) never gelled and we had some guys that we were depending on coming here," Hunt said. "We probably passed on some guys that in hindsight maybe we should have gone after."

It didn't help that Torrington was rained out 14 times this season.

"With the number of rainouts we had, we didn't have any rhythm," Fredriksson said.

Fredriksson said it was hard to lose the players that the Twisters lost early in the season.

"Baseball's a game of exposure," he said. "To the kids' credit, most of them dealt with it well."

Torrington had a 19-player turnover for the season, Hunt said. It started before the season ever began.

Catcher Kevin Silvett of San Diego State, Southern California pitcher Ryan Cabral, pitcher Michael Dixon of San Diego State, Central Michigan infielder Billy Anderson and Arizona shortstop Bryce Ortega could not make it due to injuries. Brigham Young's Steve Parker, a good player for the Twisters last season, went to summer school. James Teas of Central Michigan also did not make it. Chris Epps of Clemson had offseason surgery and was unable to join the team. Others that did not play a game in Torrington included Ryan Wilkins of Lipscomb and Kory Twede of Wright State.

Other players who left for various reasons included Aaron Barrows, Goshen's Andrew Rocco, Kevin Mager, Scott Shuman and Clay Caulfield.

Blake Silguero, a player who hit for power at Cisco Junior College in Texas, played just four games and was sent home because of a back injury. USC's Jordan Hershiser, son of former major league pitcher Orel Hershiser, left because of an arm injury. Robert Papenhause, an infielder from Brown, played in one game, breaking his wrist on a swing.

Steve Geltz, who was slated to be Torrington's closer, was signed by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim after pitching in three games for the Twisters.

Turnover is not unusual in summer leagues, but Torrington got bit by it early and often this season.

The statistical bottom line for the Twisters is not pretty.

Offensively, Torrington was tied for last in the NECBL in team batting average (.218), second to last in runs batted in (129), second to last in slugging percentage (.309), second to last in runs scored (146), second to last in on-base percentage (.300) and second to last in sacrifice hits (7). When the Twisters did get on base, they made life tough on opposing catchers, finishing fifth in the league in stolen bases (62).

The offensive woes did not make life easy for Torrington's pitching staff.

"Our pitchers are thinking, 'I got to hold teams to three runs or less or we have no chance to win,'" Hunt said.

Another problem was the Twisters had a hard time holding down their opponents in the first few innings of a game. Torrington was outscored by its opponents 38-24 in the first inning, 26-15 in the second, 29-13 in the third and 30-6 in the fourth. For an offense that had trouble scoring runs, being put behind the 8-ball early did not help. Torrington was 2-13 when opponents scored in the first inning and was 1-15 when its opponent scored first in a game. Comebacks were also not in the cards for the Twisters. Torrington was 3-24 when trailing after six innings, and that record slipped to 1-19 when trailing after seven and 1-21 when trailing after eight.

"We had games where we would not do well in the beginning and we were out of it," Fredriksson said.

The pitching staff was hurt by injuries and inconsistency. Several pitchers had good performances at the end of the year, but were hurt by a lack of run support.

Overall, the Twisters finished third to last in team earned run average (4.44), fourth in most hits allowed (350), second in most runs allowed (232), third in most walks allowed (183), tied for fourth in most triples allowed (8), fourth in most hit batters (40), tied for first in most wild pitches (37) and for second in most balks (6). On the positive side, Torrington pitchers finished tied for third in most strikeouts (346). Twisters hurlers also had the second most strikeouts where batters were called out looking with 105.

Torrington will not change how it recruits despite its worst record in its 12th season, Fredriksson said."We'll recruit the same," Fredriksson said. "You can't have that bad a luck every year. You can't lose 19 players every year."Baseball is a game of adjustments, Hunt said, and everyone from owners to general managers to coaches will make the necessary changes."