Members of the Westfield Sons of Erin gather for a team photo after winning the Dan Welch City Cup during Thursday night’s Babe Ruth game against McDonalds at Bullens Field. (Photo by Frederick Gore/www.thewestfieldnews.smugmug.com)
WESTFIELD – For the second time in as many years, the Green and Gold will have their names etched on the Dan Welch City Cup, but this year’s road was not quite as easy to achieve the same goal.
Entering the 15-16-year-old tournament, Sons of Erin began play as the No. 2 seed, but fell to McDonald’s, placing them in the loser’s bracket. Staving off elimination by eliminating Advance Manufacturing and top-seeded Westfield Police, a rematch with McDonald’s to decide the champion was set.
After a wild 12-11 slugfest Tuesday afternoon, Sons of Erin completed the turnaround by using dominant pitching and defense (and a little offense) to post a 3-1 victory and claim the title.
“The kids really rallied themselves,” said Head Coach Don Murray. “I stepped back and let them motivate themselves. I just made the moves on the field and they really motivated each other.”
Sons of Erin was led by starting pitcher Sean Moorhouse, the usual closer, who shut down the potent McDonald’s lineup by tossing a complete game gem, sprinkling six hits while allowing just one unearned run. The visitors got the leadoff hitter on base in four of the seven innings, but Moorhouse and his defense denied any possible threat.
“Coach gave me the start, so I had to pace myself to go the distance,” said Moorhouse. “Guys were picking me up in the field big time. These guys have been great all season. People have to step in all the time and it’s great to be playing with these guys.”
“That’s the first complete game of the season for him,” said Murray. “I didn’t use him a lot and in some of the games at the end, he went three or four innings. Tonight, though, I knew he had seven innings in him. He’s a performer. He’s a gutsy kid and he wanted the ball tonight and it made all the difference.”
The usually-potent bats supported Moorhouse early, spotting him a pair in the first inning. After Ethan Gamble and Moorhouse drew walks to start the bottom of the inning, some timely base running and a wild pitch set up runners on second and third for John O’Brien.
The reliable shortstop skied a sacrifice fly to left field, easily scoring Gamble. With two out, Matt Hannoush ripped a single off starting pitcher Colin Burns, rolling enough for Moorhouse to score to put the home team up 2-0.
Sean Gezotis added some crucial insurance in the fourth inning. With one out, Drew Carson and J.D. Huntley singled, setting the table for Gezotis, who recorded the third-straight hit of the inning and driving in Carson to increase the lead to 3-0.
McDonald’s added a crooked number of their own in the top half of the fifth inning with the help of two errors, but the defense settled down afterwards to maintain control throughout the game.
