An Amherst baserunner motions to Westfield Little League Majors South All-Stars second baseman Scotty Bussell after reaching base safely in the bottom of the second inning Tuesday night. (Photo by Chris Putz)
WESTFIELD – Westfield South opened its game Tuesday night at Amherst with a walk, fielder’s choice, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout. With two outs in the second inning, however, Quinn Powers beat out an infield single to start a four-run rally and send South to its second postseason win, 4-3.
Westfield South is now 2-0 and in first place in Pool A of the 11-12-year-old Majors All-Stars tournament. They will next play at home Monday, July 8, against Belchertown.
After reaching, Powers immediately stole second, sliding in ahead of the throw, and then scored on Ryan Paro’s triple to right field. Scotty Bussell followed with a first-pitch single to center to score Paro. A Liam Webster single kept the inning alive for Mike Lurgio, who followed with a double to score Bussell and Webster and give Westfield South a 4-0 lead.
Paro started on the mound for South and breezed through the first two innings, retiring the side in order in the first on only seven pitches. In the bottom of third, Amherst managed to scrape together enough runners — with a Westfield South error mixed in — to score twice, cutting South’s lead in half. Amherst added a third run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-3.
Garrett Collis relieved Paro in the fifth and held Amherst scoreless, but not without some bottom-of-the-sixth drama. Collis walked the leadoff hitter on a 3-2 pitch to open the sixth. A bloop single put the tying and winning runners on base, but Collis got a strikeout and a pop-up to Lurgio at short before a hard ground ball to Logan Krol at first base ended the game.
The game was the polar opposite of Westfield South’s opening 18-0 no-hitter win over Gateway on Saturday.
At 2-0, Westfield South has two games remaining in pool-play, against Belchertown (July 8) and at Easthampton (July 10).
The top two teams in both Pool A and B advance to the semifinals on July 12.
