OLD BRIDGE — South Plainfield and East Brunswick entered Tuesday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals with a combined record of 32-5 in part because of their resiliency and ability to overcome adversity, and both teams displayed those positive traits throughout the afternoon.

In the end, it was South Plainfield that responded last after East Brunswick overcame a game-long deficit by tying the contest with three runs in the top of the seventh.

South Plainfield responded immediately as Sophia Alvarez led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk-off home run for a 5-4 victory that gives the second-seeded Tigers (13-3) an opportunity to defend its GMCT title against top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas (17-4) on Friday at Woodbridge at 2 p.m.

“Honestly, I was looking for a pitch that I could drive, I was looking for a single to start off the inning,” Alvarez explained. “That’s all we needed. We needed runners in scoring position.”

Instead, she brought the highly-entertaining affair to a swift conclusion.

“I ended up getting my pitch and swung hard,” she added.

South Plainfield seized control of the contest by jumping on the third-seeded Lady Bears (20-3) for three runs in the bottom of the first. Ava Fusaro and Alvarez received lead off walks and advanced to second and third with a double steal before starter Nicole Swatko plated Fusaro with a sacrifice fly. Jocelyn Sosa then sent a 1-2 delivery over the fence in left-center field for a 3-0 lead that East Brunswick never overcame.

“My big thing is always to score first,” South Plainfield coach Antonia Pacillo offered, adding that she likes being the visiting team for the opportunity to jump on teams in the top of the first. “When we end up getting tied up (in the seventh), in that moment my thoughts are ‘Oh, Lord, what’s about to happen.’ But at the same time I remember that I have to keep my composure. These girls feed of my energy a lot so when I stay calm and cool and relaxed I feel that they do the same.”

East Brunswick responded characteristically, scratching out a run immediately in the top of the second as Maris Rampolla walked and scored on Ari DeMaio’s double to center. South Plainfield reinstated its three-run cushion in the third as Swatko doubled and scored on two wild pitches for a 4-1 edge.

The contest turned into a pitcher’s duel for the next three scoreless innings, each team managing only a single over those three frames. East Brunswick’s Bella Stagliano (15-2) retired nine in a row during one stretch, while Swatko (5-0) entered the seventh having mowed down the last eight batters she faced.

That didn’t last long.

Eva Munoz was hit by a pitch leading off the top of the seventh, Rampolla singled and DeMaio was plunked to fill the bases. Stagliano drilled a triple to right to tie the score and put the go-ahead run on third base with no outs. Pacillo then replaced Swatko with Ein Townley, the eventual winner, who Rachel Gerould greeted with an infield single, Stagliano holding.

Christiana Lee grounded out to second and Gerould was caught on the back end after straying too far from second for a game-preserving double play.

“That kid at second base (Daria Mazzarese) made a nice play and really put us in a tough spot,” East Brunswick coach Kevin Brady noted. “Credit to them for being excellent and fundamentally sound in a defensive moment that could have made the difference in the game.”

South Plainfield’s seventh inning was far-less convoluted. Alvarez led off with a rocket to left for her third round-tripper of the campaign and South Plainfield was back in the championship game.

“I pretty much blacked out from first to third,” said Alvarez. “All of the energy hit me at once and seeing my team at home was a pretty good feeling.”

It was a gut-wrenching defeat for East Brunswick, which lost for the second day in a row, and barely had an opportunity to appreciate its own seventh-innings fireworks.

“One of the things that’s made us a really strong team all year is understanding that the game is never over until that scoreboard hits that final out,” Brady stated. “Sometimes you show championship heart in different ways and different moments of a game and I think we showed that in that seventh inning. These are the life lessons, that’s what you want them to walk away with. Now we’ll focus on the states and, hopefully, put our best foot forward.”

South Plainfield and St. Thomas split their two Red Division encounters, the Trojans winning, 14-4, on April 8, the Tigers rallying for a 4-3 verdict on April 24. Pacillo, in her first year after replacing Don Panzarella, the state’s all-time winningest coach, is looking forward to the matchup.

“I’m very happy for my girls and happy that we’re heading for the finals,” Pacillo said. “If we’re going to win it all I want to beat the best. I think it will be a really fun game to coach and be a part of, let alone watch my girls do what they do best and play.”

St. Thomas Aquinas 2, Monroe 0: Sophomore Megyn Kerstetter picked a fine time to hammer the first home run of her varsity career.

Kerstetter jumped on a 1-1 delivery to shatter a scoreless deadlock with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and propel the top-seeded Trojans (17-4) to their familiar place in the GMCT championship game.

Kerstetter wasn’t exactly thinking home run when she stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the sixth of a compelling, scoreless affair.

“Before that our team was hitting, but we weren’t putting anything together,” she said. “I came up in a two-out spot. I took the first two pitches, I didn’t like them, and then the next one I just swung and hit it. I did not know it was over until I got to second base.”

St. Thomas tacked on an insurance run it wouldn’t require as Alyssa Collins followed Kerstetter’s blast with a single and scored on a base hit by Gwen Negron.

“We were starting to press to get hits because it was 0-0 and we’re getting hits, we just weren’t piecing them together,” Kerstetter said. “Our team was anxious to gets hits and help Liz (Negron) out, she was pitching a great game and we had a good game on defense. After that they kind of crumbled.”

As one might expect, both pitchers maintained their late-season excellence. Negron (16-3) fired a three-hitter with 14 strikeouts and one walk in posting her seventh shutout of the season.

Monroe’s Monica Bukowczyk, a Player of the Week candidate, continued to shine by blanking the area’s top team for five innings.

Sophia Colucci and Brielle Cubala had two hits apiece for St. Thomas while Bukowczyk, her sister, Brianna, and Brielle Zarsky each had singles for fourth-seeded Monroe (11-9), which had a four-game winning streak halted. .

”It feels crazy. All of the hard work I did in the winter hitting,” Kersetetter reflected.

“It feels really good to see my hard work pay off.”

Armed with $8 million in aid from Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration, town leaders are looking to the day when earthmovers and dump trucks will begin clearing the wreckage of a burned, abandoned mill that’s been stood as a derelict eyesore for two generations.

Restoring the InterRoyal mill property in Plainfield is more than another brownfield cleanup, they say, because the 16-acre site could become the heart of an energetic, thriving town center that Plainfield has never had.

“From the Chamber’s perspective, this kind of redevelopment is incredibly important not just financially, but for community morale,” said Elle-Jordyn Sherman, executive director of the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a chance to turn something toxic into something positive. It has the potential to bring more foot traffic and energy into the area, which supports our local businesses,” Sherman said. “I see it as a major opportunity for Plainfield.”

“Just the cleanup alone is a wonderful morale boost. Since this site has been dormant and neglected, it’s also a safety hazard for the area. I can see that post-cleanup, this project coming forward in phases and helping the town for revenue, jobs and morale,” he said.

The mill had been one of Plainfield’s chief economic engines for nearly 80 years, employing hundreds of workers producing cotton textiles and, later, office furniture. In the mid-1980s, InterRoyal shut down operations, which proved to be a devastating blow to the town.

The company leased parts of the complex to a recycling business and other small operations, but with nowhere near the previous employment level. The mill began falling into disrepair and, in 1995, the company abandoned it altogether. The property, heavily contaminated with asbestos along with PCBs and other chemicals from decades of heavy industrial manufacturing, became a hazard.

In 2000, Michael Saad, a former selectman and the town’s economic development director at the time, ordered the demolition of part of the old mill without following environmental protection rules. He knew of extensive asbestos contamination, according the the Environmental Protection Agency, which said and he and Vermont contractor Edward Carroll didn’t prevent release of fibers that could be inhaled by workers and the public.

The EPA charged both men criminally; each was sentenced to probation and fines in 2004.

In 2005, a spectacular blaze in the complex drews scores of firefighters from the region and gutted the three-story manufacturing building. Accounts at the time said flames could be seen for miles, and neighbors were evacuated because of the concentration of burning hazardous materials.

Federal and state environmental agencies were so concerned that they demolished sections of the wreckage to prevent risk of further contamination.

“As someone who grew up in Plainfield and was actually a student at Plainfield Central School when the InterRoyal site fire happened, I remember how disruptive and scary it was,” Sherman recalled.

“I had family members displaced from their homes and we even missed days of school because of it. It continues to be a hazard and seeing progress toward cleanup and potential revitalization means a lot, both personally and professionally.”

The property has been fenced off ever since, but trespassers never stopped getting in. Aerial views from Google maps show blackened, burned ruins stretching a quarter-mile.

Town leaders, state officials and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney spent years trying to secure environmental remediation funding, and this spring the state Bond Commission allocated $8 million. The Providence-based Discovery Group had put forward a proposal to redevelop the site once it’s cleaned.

“Part of the land will be donated to expand Lion’s Park, while several buildings, including the R&D Building, will be remodeled for businesses like restaurants and retail. This mixed-use project will include rowhouses, a potential sports complex, and spaces for events like farmer’s markets and festivals to enhance Downtown Plainfield,” the company said in a statement.

Economic Development Director Shannon Fagan said that gives Plainfield a chance for something it hasn’t had: A traditional New England town center.

“Plainfield doesn’t really have a Main Street. With this, Railroad Avenue could become a great little Main Street,” she said.

Cunningham wants residents to be patient, but is confident that improvements are close.

“While we anticipate a five-to-eight-year window for cleanup, construction and opening, we are enthusiastic about the entire scope of the project for the jobs it generates during construction as well,” he said.

Plainfield Historical Society President Rose Bergeron suggested that Lion’s Park, which is next to town hall and alongside the InterRoyal site, could add a small memorial to mill workers as a centerpiece.

“There are second- and third-generation families that live in the mill workers’ houses. The history of the mill is very essential, this is our ancestry,” she said.

Artist Lily Pollard, 25, grew up in Plainfield, and is excited about the possibility of a more lively, thriving Railroad Avenue. This week she was painting a mural on the DayBreak Diner, which would be in the heart of any new commercial center there.

“That would give people a reason to come down here, it would make more of a hub for people. There’s no real town center to go to for things,” Pollard said. “Usually I’d go to Danielson or Norwich, and I drive to Willimantic regularly.”

At the nearby Joyful House restaurant, co-owner Rufi Yang just opened the dining room this past week. The previous owner had kept it closed since the pandemic; Yang moved from Brooklyn, N.Y. to buy the restaurant and build business.

He said revitalizing the InterRoyal site would be a huge boost for the town, especially if apartments were part of the redevelopment mix.

“When I moved here I had a struggle getting somewhere to live, there are barely any apartments for rent in the area,” he said. “So if that (property) could be apartments or a small shopping center, that would be perfect. And it would build the town. This isn’t too far from Rhode Island; there are lot of people there thinking of moving to Connecticut. I told them it’s beautiful here.”

A two-phase development at 900 North Ave. in Plainfield will include 81,000 square feet of new warehouse and industrial flex space and a 40,000-square-foot sports facility. — Rendering courtesy: The Blau & Berg Co.

By Joshua Burd

The site of a long-vacant building in Plainfield will soon be revitalized as more than 120,000 square feet of new warehouse, flex industrial and sports and recreation space.

According to The Blau & Berg Co., which arranged the sale of the property, ECA Acquisitions will join city officials next week to mark the opening of the facility at 900 North Ave. They’ll do so while hailing the transformation of an eyesore on the city’s East End, where the previous structure was demolished to make way for the two-phase project.

Phase one includes some 81,000 square feet of new warehouse and industrial flex space divided into five units ranging from 14,570 to 22,000 square feet, according to a news release. Four of the units will include two interior loading docks, while the fifth unit has four exterior loading docks.

The second phase, a 40,000-square-foot sports facility, will feature courts for tennis, soccer, volleyball and pickleball. Plans also include a fitness center, a restaurant, a sports bar, locker rooms and a spectator viewing area, with an 11,000-square-foot second floor that has an event room, a golf simulator, viewing areas and an arcade.

Blau & Berg’s John Longo, Peter Murano, Jason Crimmins and Alessandro (Alex) Conte represented the seller and the buyer, a firm led by Eric Rabinowitz and Barry Caldwell, in the sale of the 3.3-acre redevelopment site.

“For decades, this site stood as a symbol of neglect,” Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp said. “Today, it serves as proof that strategic partnerships and community-centered leadership can breathe new life into previously overlooked spaces. With the development of this modern warehouse and dynamic sports facility, we are turning blight into opportunity, creating jobs, attracting investment and delivering a space where families, athletes, entrepreneurs and everyday residents can thrive. I thank ECA Acquisitions for believing in Plainfield and for sharing in our mission to reimagine what our city can be. Together, we are not just revitalizing a site, we are reshaping the future of our city, one bold project at a time.”

Caldwell added: “At ECA Acquisitions, we are fortunate enough to be able to design and build projects that have a positive impact on the community. This project is special to us because it is a community we care about and a community we are a part of. This building will produce high-quality jobs for local residents and immensely improve the neighborhood and area with a much-needed upgrade. We will also provide warehousing and entertainment for Plainfield and the surrounding area. It will also be a gathering place for locals that serves the community in a productive manner. We are proud of the collaborative effort from our team and the City of Plainfield that has brought this project into reality.”