Lancers fall to Rockville Eastern falls to Rockville in 2nd Round

As the Bristol Eastern Lancers attempted to make history this season and take home a state title, their goal fell short Wednesday evening as they lost to sixth-seeded Rockville 7-0 to end their season.

The Lancers, who sat at the twenty-two seed, hoped to upset the higher seed once again to advance to the quarterfinals. On Tuesday, Bristol Eastern took down eleventh-seeded

Nonnewaug 6-5 to advance to the second of the Class L State tournament.

Bristol Eastern coach Tyler Catlin said while it would have been nice to go deeper into the tournament, this season was a success. He said after losing eight seniors last year, no one expected the Lancers to do much, but they had a successful season and made it to the second round of the state tournament.

“I didn’t know what to expect when we headed into the season. I thought eight wins was a reasonable goal and they far exceeded those expectations,” Catlin said. “They came out and won some big games. They really exceeded my expectations.”

He said after beating Nonnewaug the team wasn’t surprised. He said the seeds are just numbers on paper and they expected to go to Nonnewaug and beat them.

“I think it speaks volumes to the leadership,” he said. “They expect to win big games and they expected to come here and win today.”

The difference between last season and this year for the Bristol Eastern Lancers came within their leadership. Catlin said last season they didn’t name captains and the team consisted of a lot of different personalities, however, this year Jazmyn Browne and Ashley Serafin led the way as senior captains.

On the field, the seniors’ play sparked much of the team’s success with the both of them being named all-conference in the CCC South Division along with sophomore Emily Valentine, who was also named AllState.

Catlin said Serafin pitched “phenomenally” throughout the year and kept the team in a lot of their games. He said she fought, threw strikes and kept the defense on their toes while Browne provided exceptional play at shortstop and a spark at the top of the order.