WESTFIELD – Westfield American’s 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars began their sectional double elimination tournament on an offensive tear Wednesday evening, bookending their first game since becoming District Two champions with crooked numbers in the first and last two innings.
Despite a small rally from District Three champion Winchendon in the middle innings, the combination of patient at-bats and shutdown relief pitching from Kyle Scherpa held American at an arm’s length, advancing into the winner’s bracket with a 12-5 win at Cross Street.
“They’re a really good team,” said Head Coach Tom Flaherty. “They threw the ball well, but the hard part about sectionals is that you have to conserve your pitching. They tried to keep conserving their pitching. Manga threw absolute gas and some of our younger kids were a little nervous against him, but we told them to get in and force him throw strikes. Caden Matuszczak changed the game for us (by) a 10-pitch at-bat and the next batter forced him out of the game. That was a big turning point emotionally for our kids.”
As the designated visiting team, Westfield jumped out in front during their first two at-bats, plating seven runs in the first two frames to take a quick 7-0 lead. Liam Poole and Kyle Scherpa each drove in four RBIs, while Scott Hepburn added a pair of RBIs. Nick Lenfest and Colby Lapoint drove in a run each to help fuel the 12-run, 11-hit outing.
Westfield struck for four runs in the first inning off Winchendon starter Jake Saveall, hitting four of their six total hits in a row to take a quick lead. After Kyle Scherpa’s RBI sacrifice fly plated the first run of the night, Poole, Hepburn, Lenfest and LaPoint recorded consecutive hits with two outs to extend their lead.
The Whip City boys sent all nine batters to the plate in the second inning as well. K. Scherpa’s RBI fielder’s choice with the bases loaded allowed Patrick Flaherty to score his second run of the night. Poole grounded out for the second out of the inning scoring Jacob Wagner, and Hepburn finished the scoring with a double off the right field wall to score K. Scherpa.
In the final two innings, Westfield plated five more runs to re-extend their lead. Four of the five runs came in to score via walks and K. Scherpa’s RBI single–his first hit of the night–plated the fifth run. American drew six walks against the final two pitchers from Winchendon, who used five pitchers in a conservative effort to save arms for Friday’s elimination game.
“I think every pitcher that Winchendon threw had a different speed and forced the kids to get up on the fence (of the dugout) and see what’s coming at them,” said Flaherty. “The first pitcher was throwing steady strikes and we hit him. We scored four runs that first inning and that was a big confidence builder for us. In our key games this year, we haven’t scored in the first inning or two, so for us it was a different thing where someone else was playing catchup and not us.”
Hepburn earned the victory for Westfield American, pitching into the second, allowing a single hit and two unearned runs while striking out three Winchendon batters. Connor Niemiec pitched 1.2 innings in relief and held the lead, with the only damage coming on a two-run home run to straightaway centerfield by Payton Manca. K. Scherpa earned the save, pitching 2.2 innings. He entered the game in the fourth inning, when Winchendon had the potential tying run at the plate with one out.
“Everybody concentrates on Jay (Scherpa) and Kyle can throw strikes,” said Flaherty. “He can throw hard strikes and that’s an important factor. Jay’s a very good pitcher with good form and can wing it in there. They’re twins and Kyle’s doing basically the same thing. He came up against their big hitters and shut them down.
“There weren’t a lot of mistakes made in the field. They hit the ball well and we fielded it. Ending that last inning 1-2-3 really helped because that conserved Kyle Scherpa’s pitching.”
Westfield will head east Thursday for the winner’s bracket matchup with District Four champion Holden. If American wins, they will host the sectional final Saturday. If Holden wins, Westfield will head to Winchendon Friday evening for the second matchup in three days.
