WESTFIELD – The 2015 Amanti Cup for 13- and 14-year olds saw its field trimmed to the final three teams Thursday evening, with one of the two championship spots set after the first of two games.
The upsets from Wednesday night’s City Cup carried over to the next day, when No. 2 ITI claimed one of the two championship spots with a 8-1 victory over No. 1 Berkshire Insurance Group in game one, while No. 3 Kiwanis Club held off No. 4 Camfour to earn its second straight win in the consolation bracket and force another elimination game against Berkshire Friday.
ITI fell behind to start the game, trailing 1-0 after one inning, but the pitching of Ethan Flaherty and run production from Michael Hall and Cam Davignon fueled the visitors en route to a four-run sixth and an 8-1 victory.
Up 2-1 after five innings, ITI loaded the bases after the first three batters walked. The heart of the lineup drove in all four runs in the following at-bats, led by Davignon’s second RBI single of the game to drive in Mateo Sanchez. Mike Nihill lined a sacrifice fly to plate Carter Cousins and Hall lined a two-run double to centerfield to plate Scotty Bussell and Davignon and blow the game open.
Cousins and Bussell teamed up in the seventh inning to drive in the final two runs for the visitors, using the eighth Berkshire-issued walk and another sacrifice fly respectively to extend their advantage to 8-1.
After surrendering an unearned run in the first inning to the regular season champions, Flaherty earned the win on the mound by scattering five hits and striking out a trio of Berkshire batters during his five-inning outing. Cam Parent earned the tough loss for Berkshire, allowing two runs in four innings and surrendering six hits.
The top-seeded Berkshire can still face ITI in Saturday’s championship, but they will have to defeat No. 3 Kiwanis Club, who remained alive in the 2015 Amanti Cup by eliminating No. 4 Camfour, 14-6, in the Thursday nightcap.
The visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead on two Kiwanis errors, but the designated home team utilized an eight-run offensive outburst to maintain control and build a substantial margin early. The No. 3 seed knocked Camfour starting pitcher Jack Lamirande out of the game without recording an out, using consecutive doubles to start the inning.
After a wild pitch and an error brought in two more runs to put the home team up 3-0, Logan Krol knocked in another run on his first of two RBI singles and teammates Ian Willhoite and Zach Hall recorded singles which drove in a pair of runs each to cap off the eight-run inning.
Facing elimination, Sam Parker earned the victory on the mound for Kiwanis, throwing five innings of two-hit ball while allowing no earned runs and striking out five Camfour batters. Parker also went 3-for-4 from the plate, smacking three doubles while driving in runs in the first and fourth innings.
Berkshire and Kiwanis Club will play at 7:30 p.m. Friday night with the winner facing No. 2 ITI in Saturday’s championship series. The first game of the doubleheader will be the final game from the consolation bracket of the Dan Welch City Cup. No. 1 Sons of Erin will face No. 4 Westfield Police in the 15- and 16-year-old division, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s final against No. 3 McDonald’s.
