Westfield’s Sean Murphy scores during Sunday’s game against Waterford. Westfield went on to win 4-1 at Bullens Field. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – One season ago, the Westfield Babe Ruth Baseball 13-Year-Old All-Stars advanced to the World Series with one loss in the New England Regionals double-elimination tournament at Bullens Field. On Sunday, those same 13-year-olds, now playing as 14-Year-Old All-Stars, were eliminated in regionals play despite mounting a strong finish with a 2-1 record in pool play.
“We should still be playing,” said Westfield 14-Year-Old All-Stars manager, whose team rebounded from a shocking opening night loss Friday to win consecutive games over the weekend. “We didn’t lose our way out of the tournament.”
Westfield defeated previously unbeaten Waterford (Conn.) 4-1 Sunday at Bullens Field, but fell just short of advancing on its side of the bracket of pool play.
Waterford scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning. Adam Pinch hit a one-out single, advanced two bases on a wild pitch and ground out, and scored on Dan Castelpoggi’s two-out base hit. Castelpoggi beat out an infield hit to keep the inning going and score the run.
Westfield knotted the game 1-all in the fourth when Sean Murphy reached on an error, stole second, and scored on Scott Walsh’s RBI single down the left field line.
It would have been the go-ahead run had Westfield not run themselves out of the third inning.
Schwartz led off the top of the third, reaching on an error. He moved into scoring position with a stolen base, but was caught attempting to score on a wild pitch. Waterford catcher Alex Petchak recovered the ball in foul territory behind the plate, and tossed it to pitcher Tyler Yeomans. Yeomans tagged out the base runner despite colliding with him.
Westfield finally did score the go-ahead run, two, in fact, in the fifth inning.
Austin St. Pierre singled and stole second base with one out to begin the fifth. Anthony Clark walked. Both base runners scored on Walsh’s two-run double to left center field. Westfield led 3-1.
“Preparation was huge – our batting work, the coaches’ instructions – to win that and not give up a lot of runs,” Walsh said.
Westfield tacked on an insurance run in the top of the sixth on St. Pierre’s sac-fly to take a 4-1 lead. The Whip City loaded the bases with a pinch-hit walk from J.D. Huntley, and consecutive singles from Schwartz and Moorhouse, who beat out a throw from the Waterford reliever on a bunt.
Waterford injected some drama into the final inning.
In the seventh, No. 3 batter Chase Speller, 0-for-2 in his previous at-bats, hit a dribbler down the first base line. Speller came precariously close to touching the ball with his foot – in fact, Westfield manager Troy St. Pierre thought he had and argued his point with the umpires to no avail. Clean-up batter Dan Castelpoggi pushed starting pitcher Ari Schwartz to a 3-0 count, but Schwartz rebounded to strike out Castelpoggi. Schwartz induced a fly out and ground out to end the game.
“I was throwing strikes better, we made no errors,” Schwartz said in comparing his first outing in the regionals, a tournament-opening loss. “We just played better. We had better energy (today).”
Schwartz admitted the pressure of winning the 2012 regionals played a role in his team’s first loss.
“There’s a lot more pressure on us this year,” Schwartz said. “People expected more from us … Last year, it didn’t matter to people if we won or lost. No one expected us (to win the eastern regionals in 2012). We could have gone 0-2, and nobody would have cared.”
On Saturday, Westfield soundly defeated Vermont 16-5 to remain in contention for a semifinal spot. Moorhouse delivered one of several key hits for the Whip City’s All-Stars, a booming two-run triple. St. Pierre earned the victory on the mound, and Moorhouse closed out the final inning.
“We came into that game having confidence,” St. Pierre said, reflecting on Saturday’s rebound victory. “Our bats got us started. We had a big game all-around. Hitting, defense – it all came together.”
