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WESTFIELD- For the third time this summer, Westfield’s 13-year-old all-stars
squared off with their district rivals from Pittsfield. For the third time in the 2015 state tournament, the combination of quality pitching and consistent offensive production led to a Westfield victory. For the third time of the tournament, Westfield won at Bullens Field, helping them claim the Western Massachusetts state title.
Six different batters recorded one RBI for Westfield, who used a five-run fifth inning to break open a tight final Sunday afternoon. Matt Pelletier threw five innings in the win to help the tournament hosts defeat Pittsfield 9-4, to advance to the New England Regional Tournament.
“I thought they played like champions today,” said Head Coach Matt Avery. “Pittsfield’s a very good team. They’re fun to play and have really good athletes, but we have great athletes with great work ethic. They deserved the title and they took it. I like how our team is playing.
“There’s no break for the opposing team. It’s really fun to coach because there’s no drop-off. It’s fun to be out there and see these guys hit and wear guys down. The little things we did today put pressure on them, opened up holes and got our guys hits, so everything worked together and we had a really good game today.”
With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning, an appeal from the Pittsfield head coach about the number of innings pitched paused the game for a considerable amount of time, but the Wolfpack stepped up and seized momentum instantaneously. Pittsfield caused little damage in a quick top half of the frame, and the Westfield offense exploded to control the game from there.
The Whip City sent 10 batters to the plate and half of them scored in Westfield’s big inning. Within two batters, they took the lead after Josh Lis, who doubled for the second time and advanced on a passed ball, scored on a Mason Collingwood groundout. Pelletier singled and Colby Gazda walked, and both batters advanced on a stolen base and a wild pitch. After throwing no wild pitches in the first four innings, the Pittsfield pitching staff unloaded three wild pitches and issued a passed ball.
Pinch-hitter C.J. Skribiski flared a bloop single to left field to score Pelletier and Dave Roundy singled to shortstop one batter later to plate Gazda. Roundy concluded the scoring after stealing home plate after Pittsfield threw down to second base in an attempt to catch Will Cameron stealing. The aggressive base-running proved to be a factor, as Westfield stole five bases in the inning alone and eight bases overall.
“We introduced a game called pick-up before states,” said Avery. “The game is that if somebody is down, you pick them up and if somebody else is down, you pick them up. I asked the guys to pick me up and pick up their effort, and they erupted. There was definitely a momentum switch and the crowd was right behind us too, which was great.
“We were hitting gap shots early, so we were telling the guys to cut the ball in half because that would benefit us even if they threw the slow pitching. They executed that well and these guys can hit. They’re a good hitting team and that makes it fun to watch.”
For the second time in the tournament, cousins Pelletier and Colin Scanlon combined on the mound for the Westfield win. Pelletier threw five innings of four-hit ball, allowing a pair of earned runs and shutting down the Pittsfield offense during most of his outing to earn the third quality start for a Westfield pitcher in as many games. Scanlon pitched the final two innings, striking out two Pittsfield batters and allowing four flyouts, including the final out to Pelletier at third base.
“He threw strikes, (but) we didn’t make some defensive plays,” said Avery. “A couple of minor tweaks, (but) they’re 13. I got on them a bit for that because they’re better than that and it was a lack of effort, not a lack of talent. Once we got through that, we were good to go.”
Westfield will head to the 2015 New England Regional Tournament in Winooski, Vermont, just outside of Burlington. The Western Massachusetts champion will play in Pool B with Maine, Rhode Island and the second team from Vermont that is not the hosts, and will open tournament play Saturday at 12 p.m. against the Maine state champions. Meanwhile, Westfield will host the 14-year-old New England Regional Tournament at Bullens Field from July 24-31.
