WESTFIELD – George Herman Ruth, better known to millions worldwide as “The Babe”, made his debut in Major League Baseball 99 years ago Thursday.
Fitting then, that the youth baseball league which bears his name should begin its western Mass. tournament this weekend.
Westfield fans witnessed the fitness of their 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars last night as the lads laid out Northbridge 17-0 in the first round of the tournament, displaying sportsmanship that would make the greatest baseball player ever to live proud.
Bullens Field is set to play host for the weekend-long event, with Leominster hosting the 14-year-old tournament, and North Adams putting on for the 15-year-olds.
After Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik tossed out the ceremonial first pitch, Westfield immediately imposed their will, with pitcher Mitchell Longley throwing gas and striking out three Northbridge batters to enable Westfield to reach the plate.
Once up to bat, Westfield went to work on Northbridge pitcher Sam Gallagher, giving the scoreboard a serious workout with eight runs, with RBI’s coming from Matthew Masciadrelli and Longley, and a sac fly from Nate Bonini, which brought Dillon Bazegian home.
Gallagher had control issues and walked in several runs, and by the end of the the second, it became apparent that this one would be over sooner than anticipated.
Though Northbridge would put itself in scoring position on several occasions in the game’s final innings, Westfield closer Dalen Mochak induced a strikeout and two groundouts to end the game via mercy rule under the Bullens lights.
After the game, Westfield Coach John Bonini was modest about his team’s convincing victory.
“This is step one out of four,” he said of his team’s road to a western Mass. championship. “Everyone took care of business tonight.”
When asked of the keys to his team’s convincing win, Bonini went with the tried-and-true response: pitching.
“Tonight Mitchell (Longley) and John Daly came in and did what we needed today on the mound,” he said of a pitching tandem that, along with Nick Garde and Mochak, combined to allow only two hits and took down nine Northbridge batters by way of the K.
Northbridge will brush this one of their shoulder and take the field again today at 4 p.m. against East Side Worcester, while Westfield is off until Sunday at 4 p.m., when they will get their crack at Worcester, the region’s District Four champions, in a game which figures to be a more challenging matchup for the Whip City’s 13-year-olds.
