Westfield High School senior pitcher Adam Mayhew may have labored to get through his start on the mound last night, but he cleaned up at the plate.
Mayhew went 3-for-3 with 2 RBIs, and pitched a three-hitter to lead Westfield to a 3-2 win over Amherst at Bullens Field.
“I was definitely better at the plate,” said Mayhew, whose defense bailed him out of a few jams. “I relied on my fastball and my defense. Then I tried turning it around at the plate.”
In the first, Westfield’s Conner Laraway reached on an error, advanced to second on a Kyle Murphy base hit, moved to third on a fielder’s choice, and scored on Mayhew’s hit.
Westfield made it 2-0 in the fourth when Ethan Atkocaitis drew a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on Rob Sullivan’s sac-fly.
In the third, Murphy singled, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on Mayhew’s hit through the right side.
On the mound, Mayhew kept Amherst off-balance through the first two innings and did not run into a jam until the third inning when the Hurricanes’ leadoff batter Justin Carey walked and Alex Tajima singled. But the Bombers’ senior pitcher struck out No. 3 hitter, Jason Hodgkins, and induced a ground out from clean-up batter, Mike Walkowicz.
Mayhew got in a bit of a groove toward the middle of the game, retiring seven straight batters into the fourth and fifth innings.
Hodgkins led off the sixth with a single and Walkowicz hit into what should have been a routine 4-6-3 double play, but the ball was bobbled and everyone was safe. Amherst pitcher Asher Young hit a bunt single to load the bases. A run scored on a fielder’s choice, and a sac-RBI made it 3-2. After a walk, Mayhew induced a pop-fly to escape the inning with a one-run lead.
Westfield ace Lee Albertson came on to close out the seventh inning. He allowed one hit, forced two ground outs, and struck out one batter to earn the save.
“They didn’t play well, we survived,” Westfield coach Rich Discenza said. “We put Minnechaug behind us – we’ll write that off as a bad day.”
The Bombers, who suffered a letdown after Prom Night against the Falcons, improved to 13-3 with yesterday’s win.
