WESTFIELD – After cruising to a victory in the 2015 New England 14U Babe Ruth Regional tournament Friday night, the hosts continued their offensive surge to clinch a top-4 finish, but repeating as regional champions at this age level will require winning out of the loser’s bracket.
Westfield defeated Eastern MA representative Marblehead, 9-0, Saturday afternoon, but fell to the Maine state champions from Portland Sunday night to drop into the loser’s bracket. Maine’s Traejyn Fletcher struck out 13 batters and allowed a hit in the first inning and the seventh. The Maine offense finally broke the scoreless duel with three runs in the fifth and five runs in the sixth in a battle between the top two offenses after the first two tournament games.
Baley Collier (1) scored the team’s first run of the game – and his only run of the game – in the first inning, when he came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Carter Cousins. Cousins reached safely after Collier evaded the potential tag from Marblehead catcher Jake Miller. (Photo by Robby Veronesi)
The Whip City’s undefeated start continued Saturday afternoon, however, in equally convincing fashion to its first win over Nashua, New Hampshire. A four-run first inning put the home team on top early. Spencer Cloutier and Sam Parker each recorded two RBIs to lead Westfield, while Cam Davignon, Billy Mollison, Cam Parent and Carter Cousins each recorded one RBI to back Jimmy Hagan’s five-inning shutout victory on the mound.
“It felt like we were threatening every inning and there was a good contribution of runs,” said Head Coach Mike Nihill. “A little concern is the start of our games, so we’ve got to get more first-pitch strikes, but Hagan settled down and pitched very efficiently from the mound.”
Westfield jumped out to an early lead during their first at-bats, with the first four batters in the lineup scoring with no outs. The heart of the lineup all contributed RBIs in the opening frame, started by Cousins’ fielder’s choice to plate Baley Collier. Davignon recorded two hits during his three at-bats and continued his hot start to the tournament by driving in Jimmy Hagan on a line-drive single to right field.
Cloutier drove in Cousins one batter later, hitting his second RBI single of the tournament and third consecutive hit in as many at-bats. Parker finished the consecutive hit parade by clubbing a RBI double to deep center field, scoring Davignon, but Cloutier was thrown out at the plate – the first of two times Marblehead recorded an out at home plate.
The Whip City plated three more runs in the third inning when the heart of the lineup came to bat for the second time in the game. Cloutier lined his second RBI single of the game to left field to score Hagan, while RBI fielder’s choices from Parker and Parent plated Cousins and Davignon. A Marblehead balk and a RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Mollison capped the Westfield offense in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Jimmy Hagan escaped a first-inning jam and cruised to a win by throwing five scoreless innings and scattering four Marblehead hits. To end his outing, Hagan retired 10 of the final 11 batters and allowed four total base runners after the first inning. (Photo by Robby Veronesi)
“They’re finally getting to the point where the pitchers at this level are good, so they’re getting a consistent read on velocity,” said Nihill. “Go back a couple weeks ago in districts and states and the pitching is more up and down. Now with the pitching getting as good as it is, kids are now getting rhythm and timing and you’re starting to see their true colors. To win a game, four hot batters are all you need and we’re starting to get that. The infield is sound and outfield is as strong as we’ve seen it, so we’re very confident we have all our bases covered defensively.”
Hagan recorded his first victory of the tournament in shutout fashion, throwing five scoreless innings and striking out three Marblehead batters, while pitching under 20 pitches during the first four innings. The visitors scattered four hits through the five innings, and only managed two more hits during Cousins’ two innings of relief. At one point during the middle innings, Hagan and the Westfield defense retired 10 of 11 Marblehead batters, with a single to left field by Ryan Dombal recording the lone baserunner.
Westfield settled down in the field after a tough first inning which saw Marblehead load the bases. With one out, an Eli Cohen single, an errant pickoff attempt and another error put two men on. Mike Nihill snagged a line drive in center field for the second out, but Charlie Kahn singled to load the bases. With a chance to put Westfield behind early, Dombal skied a foul ball over home plate, which was caught by Davignon to end the lone threat for the visitors.
“He’s super efficient and he has that incredible curveball that he’s not afraid to throw at any point,” said Nihill. “He’s still confident enough to throw a curveball with three balls (on a batter). He’s aggressive and once he gets on his rhythm, he gets on top of batters quickly and now it’s in his control. By the third inning, his grip on the ball was obviously starting to take over the curveball. We’ve asked him if we can call more of his pitches to the catcher and he said ‘when I start doing bad, maybe then you can start doing it.’
“The days of seeing a pitcher throw six innings are done. There’s not enough time off anymore, so now you need to see that second layer of depth that you have at pitching. It’s going to get interesting and it’s the best teams left.”
Westfield will have a day off before playing their first game in the loser’s bracket Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Bullens Field. They will play for a spot in the championship game, and a chance to face off against Portland for the second time, against either Cranston, R.I., or Pittsfield, Mass., who play in an elimination game Monday night at 6 p.m.
