Berkshire Insurance’s Alejandro Rogers (3) is ready to connect against Cortina Tile in a Greater Westfield Babe Ruth Baseball League game Thursday night at Bullens FIeld. (MARC ST.ONGE / THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
WESTFIELD – There was only thing hotter than the sweltering heat blanketing the Whip City during Thursday night’s Babe Ruth Baseball League game at Bullens Field. Make that two – Cortina Tile and Berkshire Insurance.
Berkshire Insurance and Cortina Tile each put together one explosive half-inning of baseball to complete one of the strangest ties ever, 13-13.
Berkshire rallied from a 10-1 deficit and secured a COVID-shortened tie when Alejandro Rogers knocked in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The contest was called after the completion of the fifth, per league guidelines due to the coronavirus.
“I thought the game was over but we never gave up,” Rogers said. “We kept on fighting and kept on going. We’re a fighting team that won’t give up. We’re a battle back team.”
Cortina Tile positioned itself as the lead dog, taking an early 3-0 advantage.
In the first inning, Alex Provost and Josh Mayo drew first-inning walks, Kaevon Eddington dropped a bloop single onto the left side of the infield grass, and Josh Drumm laced a two-run single to right field.
Walter Ninotti manufactured Cortina Tile’s third run, reaching first with a base hit, stealing second base and coming around to score on an overthrow at first base on a sac-bunt from Robert Ninotti in the second inning.
Berkshire Insurance recouped one run in the bottom of the second when Grady Flaherty reached on an infield error, stole second base, and scored on Zachary Olsen’s RBI single to left center field.
Cortina Tile blew open the game in the third inning with a seven-run outburst … or so they thought as both bullpens quickly unraveled.
Carlos Rodriguez began the third with a lead-off single. Rodriguez stole second and third base. Mayo belted a one-out RBI single to center field and stole second. Eddington followed with a booming RBI single to left field. Subsequent walks by Drumm and Emmett Garfield loaded the bases. Walter Ninotti drew a walk to make it 6-1. Three consecutive wild pitches scored three more runs. A walk and another wild pitch made it 10-1.
Things looked bleak for Berkshire Insurance, but they kept on fighting.
In the bottom half of the inning, Berkshire loaded the bases with walks from Nathan Blackak and Jeremy McCormick, sandwiched around an infield error that resulted in Cooper LeClair reaching first base safely. Jim Cloutier then unleashed a two-run single to center field. Tucker Carey followed with a run-scoring single. A two-run single from Patrick Moore down the right field line made it 10-6.
Berkshire then went ahead without ever swinging the bat as the inning continued.
A double steal … an Olsen walk … a run-scoring wild pitch … a Devon Torrey walk … another run-scoring wild pitch … a Jacob Riley walk … back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Jackson LaValley and Alejandro Rogers … and a run-scoring wild pitch allowed the big mean, green machine to amazingly take an 11-10 advantage.
Cortina Tile failed to hang its collective heads, resurfacing with the lead a half inning later.
Daniel Provost, Mayo, and Drumm delivered RBI singles in the top of the fourth to recapture the lead, 13-11.
The stage was set for a fitting finish.
Olsen drew a one-out walk off Cortina Tile’s fifth reliever of the game. Torrey and Riley singled to load the bases. Then, with the game on the line, Rogers drilled a two-run hit to right field ensuring his team of a tie. The next batter struck out.
“I came up clutch. …What a game,” Rogers said. “It was wild. It was 10-1. We fought back and never gave up.”
Lost in the madness was a solid outing from Cortina Tile pitcher Tom Brown, who retired the first three Berkshire batters to begin the game. In the fourth, Provost provided solid relief, retiring the side.
