WESTFIELD – For the second time during the 11- and 12-year-old district pool play and the second time Saturday, Westfield American claimed bragging rights over Westfield National to advance into the winner’s bracket at Cross Street.
American strung together an eight-run first inning and used a scoreless start from Joey Dekarski to cruise to a convincing 9-2 victory and play Agawam Monday night for a spot in the district championship.
“It was pretty cool to have a doubleheader here at this point of the season,” said Head Coach Mike Raposo. “It’s good to see other age groups support the older kids and the older kids support the younger kids. It’s a very special thing as a Vice President and a coach.”
The district leaders in runs scored during their six-game pool play continued their hot offensive streak from the opening at-bat, drawing three walks and taking advantage of four National errors to manufacture an early 8-0 lead. American only mustered seven hits–and only two in the first inning–but the two hits were timely and productive.
After Jake LaBombard reached on an error and Brennan Jarvis walked, David Tirell hit his first of three doubles to the fence in left field, driving in a pair of runs to put the designated visiting team on the board. Four batters later, Connor Medeiros followed Brody Zabielski’s RBI walk by hitting a two-run single to plate Dekarski and Joey Delgado to balloon their lead.
“Jumping out to an early lead really gave us a lot of momentum,” said Raposo. “That was really the difference of the game. When you put seven or eight runs in the first inning, it’s tough to overcome. Those guys never gave up. They kept coming and had runners on base every inning. They’re a solid team and we might see them again.”
Dekarski earned his second win in as many starts against National, tossing a four-inning, three-hit shutout to tame the Nats’ offense. After earning the win in a tight 6-5 win at Papermill on June 29, Dekarski faced the minimum number of batters during the first time through the lineup, striking out three batters in the first nine at-bats. Dekarski also benefited from a sound defense that turned three inning-ending double plays in the second, third and fourth innings to stop any possible National threats.
“Joey was under the weather for the first week or so of All-Stars and he’s really back to full strength at this point,” said Raposo. “His first inning tonight was one of the best he’s pitched all season. It’s great when you can score a bunch of runs and have a shutdown inning. That sets the tone for the game. He hit his spots and the defense played well behind him, so I was really excited about that.”
National broke through the American defense in the bottom of the sixth inning, rallying to score two runs to stop the shutout. Matt Bernatchez and Mason Barnachez singled and doubled respectively with one out and came into score three batters later on a two-run single from Raphael Morganelli. The Nats recorded five runs during the final two innings after scraping three runs during the first four innings.
Bernatchez shined on the mound in relief for National, going six innings to stop the big first inning. He scattered five hits and one unearned run, while striking out seven American batters in a near-dominant outing against the potent American offense.
Both Westfield teams return to action Monday at 6 p.m. on the second day of the double-elimination district tournament. As a result of No. 3 Agawam’s 9-6 upset victory at No. 2 Belchertown, No. 4 National will head to Mini Fenway Park for a matchup with Belchertown in the first elimination game of the four-team tournament. On June 27, National was handed its first loss in an 8-5 Belchertown victory.
No. 1 American will return to Cross Street for their second meeting of the summer with Agawam. Westfield picked up its fifth win of their undefeated campaign in a close 7-5 win at School Street and will face each other again in a matchup featuring the top two scoring offenses and scoring defenses of the 2015 pool play.
