NORTHAMPTON – After enduring several trying losses at the hands of the Whip City’s two All-Star squads this season, the 10-11 year old All-Stars from Northampton entered last night’s matchup with Westfield North with a Hampshire County-sized chip on their shoulder and put Westfield in a very unfamiliar and uncomfortable position at MacDonald Park.
But after a first inning in which Hamp came out swinging, tacking four runs onto Westfield starter Ryan Moorhouse, Westfield awoke and held Hamp scoreless the rest of the way, earning an 11-4 victory and setting up a championship showdown with their classic rival.
“Northampton was there to win,” said North coach Billy Lamirande. “And nine of our twelve players play for the Westfield Wizards travel team, so most of our players have played five straight days. But we responded good.”
Lamirande went on to say that, in the Wizards tournament two days ago, the base paths were 70 feet rather than the Little League standard of 60, which he believes may’ve contributed to his players’ first inning struggles.
“You could tell the boys were making adjustments to the shorter basepaths again,” North’s coach said. “And by the end of the first, we were able to get our heads in the game.”
North’s trademark balanced attack was paced by Mason Collingwood, who would go three for three with a home run and two singles, with Chris Barber, Matthew Bernatchez, Jack Lamirande, and Aiden Burke all getting in on the fun, as well.
On the mound for Westfield, Ethan Flaherty relieved Moorhouse in an effort to both prevent further damage from the home squad and to also conserve number 11’s innings, in case he is to be called upon Saturday.
Flaherty extinguished any further Northampton threat, shutting the little blue devils out the rest of the way.
Lamirande believed that the early evening deficit was good for his team, a unit which hasn’t faced much adversity this All-Star season.
“This was one of the first times that we’d been down that much that early in a game, since the loss to South,” he said.
It is that very loss earlier in the week which will serve as motivation for North, who will hold the final battle for District and Whip City supremacy, at their homefield Saturday.
“These boys have played at Paper Mill and Cross Street so many times, that it really isn’t much of a ‘home field advantage’,” Lamirande said. “So there won’t be any surprises.”
First pitch in the district championship will be thrown at 11 a.m. Saturday.
