Westfield South Coach John Blake pays a visit to the mound last night vs. Belchertown (Photo by Peter Francis)
WESTFIELD – A 4-2 lead is generally considered to be a good thing heading into the bottom of the last inning of a baseball game, and the assembled denizens of Cross Street Park may’ve expected the home Westfield’s South 11-12 Year Old South All-Stars to pull it out last night.
What they expected and what they got from were two very different things.
After bringing the aforementioned 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth frame last night, South’s opposition, Belchertown, would go on to tie it up, taking the game all the way to the bottom of the eighth inning.
Belchertown starting pitcher Victor Camerota would proceed to hit a walk-off grand slam to stun South 9-5.
“The boys were disappointed, but I told them there were a lot of close plays,” said South coach Peter Lurgio, including a controversial “safe” call on Belchertown second baseman Cam Barry’s game-tying, bottom of the sixth score.
Westfield South Relief Pitcher Garrett Collis winds up to hurl a fastball last night vs. Belchertown. (Photo by Peter Francis)
Following a third inning two run homer from South starting pitcher Mike Lurgio off of Camerota, South appeared to be in the driver’s seat in a contest with major playoff implications.
Belchertown entered the game 3-0, with the host South seated at 2-0 prior to the matchup. Local insiders believed that the winner of the game would likely go on to claim the top seed in Pool A’s postseason pool play, with semifinals beginning Friday.
Belchertown understood the game’s significance, and fought back after each South run, culminating in the Barry score following a wild pitch from South reliever Garrett Collis to knot the game at four runs apiece, ringing the bell for extra innings.
The two extra frames would see South score one more run in the top of the eighth before Camerota would silence the home crowd with a missile into Paper Mill’s famous dirt pile.
Lurgio remained relatively upbeat following his team’s shocking loss.
“We have one more game, but after tonight, we might’ve lost a home seed in postseason play,”he said. “We (the coaches) tried to drill into (the players) heads ‘Belchertown beat us. We did not lose.’”
