Southwick second baseman Ross Lebo, left, attempts the double play after Greenfield runner Garrett Hudson slides in. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SPRINGFIELD – My how things can change in the blink of an eye.
In a heartbeat, jubilation became desperation, and eventually, decimation for one local baseball team when a home run call was reversed and ultimately cost them the game.
Southwick clean-up batter Jake Goodreau bashed a ball deep to center field with two outs and one runner on base in the top of the seventh inning that resulted in a “home run” call Wednesday, tying the Western Massachusetts Division II semifinal between the Rams and the Greenfield Green Wave 5-5 at Western New England University. When Goodreau crossed home plate, players stormed out of the dugout to celebrate the feat.
Immediately, the umpires convened and reversed the call to a ground-rule double. The base runners returned to second and third. Nick Fortini, who got his team off and running with a two-run single to begin the game, popped up for the final out.
No. 5 Greenfield survived to defeat the red-hot ninth-seeded Southwick-Tolland Rams 5-3.
“Regardless of whether the ball went over the wall or not, the umpire who made the call should have stuck with it,” Southwick coach Tim Karetka said. “We did a great job. That’s how close we were.”
Southwick opened the game with Fortini’s two-out, two-run single off Greenfield pitcher Michael Duclos. Duclos recovered one of those runs in the bottom half of the inning, scoring a run on a fielder’s choice to cut the Rams’ lead in half.
In the third inning, Southwick was victimized by errors.
A lead-off hit from Jacob Elwell (2-for-2, walk, sacrifice), an infield error, a run-scoring hit from Zachary Bartak, Duclos’s two-run double to deep left field, two more errors, and a sac-fly resulted in what felt more like a tidal wave, and a 5-2 Greenfield lead.
In the fifth, Goodreau hit a sac-fly to score a run and pull Southwick within 5-3. It is as close as the Rams would get.
Duclos finished with a six-hitter. He struck out just four, but kept Southwick off balance with a decent change-up. Southwick pitcher Bob Hamel scattered nine hits, struck out two batters, and walked two in a complete game effort.
“We had a great season,” said coach Karetka, whose team convincingly knocked off top-seeded Monument Mountain, and Hoosac Valley en route to the semifinals. “These kids fought and fought and fought. …They have a lot, a lot of heart. It’s a disappointing loss, but that’s what tournament baseball is all about.”
