WESTFIELD – Westfield American
faced their largest deficit of the tournament in the 11- and 12-year-old district championship Thursday evening at Cross Street after Agawam erupted for seven runs in the first two innings. The only problem for Agawam was that they had to get the hosts out 12 more times without coming back, a feat that no team had achieved.
Down 7-1 entering the fourth inning, the No. 1 seed exploded for 10 runs on seven hits, including consecutive hits from the top six spots in the lineup, to come from behind and take the lead before Tobey Barlow shut down Agawam to claim the District Two championship on their home field.
“I was really proud of the way that we didn’t give up,” said Head Coach Mike Raposo. “We clawed our way back one at-bat at a time. Our message was that we have 12 outs left. Let’s make the most out of every single out and keep fighting. In baseball, you never know what happens until the final out and we have the capability of coming back.
“I thought it was an outstanding tournament this year. From game one, we had an extra-inning game against Belchertown and that’s how it was between the top four to five teams. Anyone could have won the district. Agawam has a great team, but I thought we had the team depth to come through and that’s what won it at the end of the day.”
Agawam struck early and often in the first two innings, starting with back-to-back solo home runs from Connor Feyre and Laine Page. The duo combined for 24 home runs during the entirety of the district tournament and the pair factored in the five-run second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Feyre plated a pair of runners to extend their lead to 4-0. Page was intentionally walked and Mike Santore cleared the bases with a line-drive single to right-centerfield.
Feyre also started the game for Agawam and pitched one inning of scoreless baseball before being taken out and replaced by Peter Parrotta. With their three other starting pitchers unable to pitch due to the mandatory days of rest, Westfield American had to mount a comeback against pitchers who did not have much experience pitching during the summer.
Connor Medeiros sparked the offense early for Westfield, lining a double in the second inning and a run-scoring single to centerfield in the third inning to score David Tirell and put the hosts on the scoreboard for the first time. Westfield placed runners in scoring position every inning, and left the bases loaded in the first and third innings, but Agawam’s defense shut down any chance of stringing together runs until the big fourth inning.
Barlow started the frame by reaching on an error by second baseman Connor Twohig. A patient walk drawn by Niko Kapsanis put two boys on and no out and the top of the order took over. Ten straight men reached safely to start the inning and the next six batters after Kapsanis recorded hits to spark the comeback.
With Barlow and Kapsanis on second and third base, Jake LaBombard smacked a two-run double to left and Brennan Jarvis plated LaBombard on a single to centerfield. After Tirell doubled, Joey Dekarski hit a two-run double halfway up the fence in left-centerfield. Joey Delgado lined a double down the rightfield line to score Dekarski and Chris Gage drove in Delgado on a first-pitch single in his lone at-bat. A wild pitch, a stolen base and another RBI from LaBombard completed the inning and gave the momentum entirely to Westfield American.
“We’ve been waiting for the bats to explode and that was the inning where we put it all together in this district run,” said Raposo. “We were just hoping to hit singles and that’s really what it was. It was base hit after base hit to put together a rally. Once a couple guys get on base, they feed off each other. They get excited off the bench, put the pressure on the pitcher, and just keep having good at-bats. Once you have good at-bats, and put good swings on the ball, good things will happen.”
Down 7-0, Trent Adam pitched two innings of scoreless baseball to help Westfield stay in the game. Adam allowed two singled to Twohig and Feyre, but struck out three batters–two of which coming in a 1-2-3 third inning. Barlow earned the victory by pitching 2.1 relief innings and continuing the shutout of Agawam after the second inning. A substitute to start the game, Barlow walked two and struck out two Agawam batters while allowing zero hits and inducing a high popout to LaBombard to end the game.
“You tell these kids at the beginning of All-Stars that you’re going to get your time,” said Raposo. “(Barlow) came in and did his job and really shut the door and allowed us to come back. Trent came in in the middle innings and kept them off the board for two innings. He threw strikes and that’s all we asked of him. Between those two guys and the bats, that’s how you win a baseball game.”
Westfield American heads west Wednesday for the first game of the Section One tournament. As District Two champion, Westfield will take on District One champion Pittsfield at a time to be announced.
“We’ve had a few runs in the past couple years where we won districts, but I think we want more,” said Raposo. “I’m hoping that we can put a good effort in and I hope that the depth that we have can really help us in that run.”
