The Westfield South 10-11-year-old All-Stars scored four runs in the third to regain the lead, then used a pair of defensive gems in the fourth to shut down Agawam in an 8-5 victory Saturday at Cross Street. Westfield South (1-0) next plays Northampton on Thursday at Cross Street.
Westfield South took the early lead with two runs in the first, padded its leads with two more in the sixth — but really earned the win with its fourth-inning defense. In the inning, Agawam had two runners thrown out at the plate. The first came on a bunt with a runner at third. Westfield third baseman Ryan Paro threw a strike to first to get the out. With the runner breaking from third, first baseman Logan Krol threw another strike home to catcher Jack Blake, who blocked the plate and applied the tag in a cloud of dust to complete the 5-3-2 double play. Later that same inning, with runners at first and second, Agawam again bunted. Pitcher Baley Collier fielded the ball to the right of the mound, but threw wide to first. The runner at second raced home and his teammate on first tried to follow, but Krol recovered the errant throw in short right field and again threw a strike to Blake — and it was deja vu all over again. Blake grabbed the throw, blocked the plate and applied the tag for the third out. For the remainder of the afternoon, Agawam never got close to scoring again.
After losing the coin flip and having to play as the ‘visitors,’ Westfield South quickly took the lead in the first. Tanner Koziol worked a full-count walk to lead off, moved over a base on a Tony Torres ground out to the right side, and scored on Collier’s base hit. Collier scored on Blake’s single to right.
Agawam scored once in the first and twice more in the second for its only lead of the game, 3-2. All that went away in the Westfield third. Torres opened the big inning with a single, then immediately stole second, sliding under the Agawam tag. After Collier walked, Krol lined a hard base hit to center to score Torres and Collier. Blake next went the opposite way, dropping a single into short left. Krol went to third on the hit and Blake took second on the late relay from the outfield. Scotty Bussell tried to extend the inning, but his line drive was caught on the mound. With two outs, Liam Webster singled to score Krol. Blake missed third attempting to score and retreated back to the bag. He finally did score Westfield’s sixth run when Matt Pelletier lined a single to center.
Westfield added a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Pelletier walked and eventually scored on a passed ball. Collier also walked and later scored on Krol’s second hit of the game.
Collier finished with six strikeouts, two of those ending innings where Agawam had runners on base. Agawam kept Collier busy all day with its penchant for bunting. Aside from the errant throw on the fourth-inning bunt, Collier fielded two others without a problem and another had him diving to make a highlight-reel catch in the third.
Colin Scanlon came on in relief of Collier with two outs in the sixth and needed only three pitches to strikeout Agawam’s last hope, ending the game and preserving Westfield South’s win.
Blake (3-for-4) and Krol (2-for-4) led Westfield South’s nine-hit attack.
