Westfield Post 124 baserunner Colin Dunn slides safely into home as Post 68 catcher Brian Bonacquisti waits for the ball during Monday night’s American Legion Baseball tournament game at Bullens Field. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Westfield Post 124 is championship bound.
Westfield advanced to the American Legion Baseball state sectionals championship with a thrilling 2-1 win over Pittsfield Post 68 Monday night at Bullens Field.
Colin Dunn went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, including the game-winner for Post 124, and Matt Plasse and Brent Houle silenced the opposition on the mound.
Dunn scored the game-winning run when Houle was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The two-out rally began with a Dunn single and stolen base. Chris Riga and Rob Sullivan walked to load the bases. Pittsfield starting pitcher Liam Nolan drilled Houle, giving Westfield a 2-1 advantage. The lead held.
“It feels great,” Dunn said. “This has been a rivalry since I was 12 years old. (Pittsfield is) our biggest competition.”
“One through nine – they can hit, they can all field the ball perfectfully … We’re respectful of our opponent. We love playing these games.”
Pittsfield knocked around Westfield for an 8-1 victory earlier in the double-elimination tournament, but Post 124 battled back to knock off East Springfield and overtake Pittsfield twice.
“These kids could have hung their heads and said ‘that’s it’ after getting beat up in Pittsfield,” Westfield coach Don Irzyk said, “but they made a statement against East Springfield, go up to Pittsfield and get a real convincing win, and then come home and have the attitude that they weren’t going to lose this one.”
Westfield established an early 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Dunn and Riga singled to lead off the home half of the first inning. Dunn advanced to third base on a Rob Sullivan fly out to center field, and scored on Houle’s sac-fly.
Pittsfield knotted the game 1-all in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Joe Dewey. It was the only run Plasse, the starter, allowed in five innings. He scattered five hits, struck out three batters and walked one before being removed due to a rule that allows American Legion Baseball pitchers to pitch 12 innings in three straight days.
Houle (3 Ks) pitched two scoreless, hitless innings to pick up the save. He was helped out by his defense in the sixth inning.
After walking two of the first three batters he faced to begin the sixth, Westfield turned a 9-6-5 inning-ending double play. Sam Blake caught a fly ball in right field, and fired it to the shortstop, Dunn, who in turn, whipped it to third baseman Matt Irzyk. Irzyk tagged out Mitch Clary, who attempted to take third base after tagging up on the fly out.
Post 124 also turned a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play in the second inning.
“You have to do the small things to win these ball games,” Dunn said. “Everything was going right for us. Every one of us from 1-9 wanted to do whatever we could to win. Everyone wanted the ball to go to them.”
Westfield next takes on Greenfield in the best-of-3 sectionals championship, beginning Tuesday night at Bullens Field at 7.
