Charlie Calvanese (left) snuck past Clay Bradley’s tag in the second inning to cut Westfield National’s lead to 6-5. Longmeadow scored three times in the inning to take a 7-6 lead, and Calvanese scored three runs of his own in Westfield’s 12-11 win.
LONGMEADOW – Head Coach Bruce Bradley’s ice water bath after Westfield National’s walk-off victory at Longmeadow seemed fitting in a game which featured six innings full of lead changes, clutch hits and even more clutch defensive stops to help the designated home team fight off elimination.
In the penultimate pool play matchup, National stayed in the hunt for the No. 4 seed in the four-team playoffs by rallying three times in the first three innings and using a walk-off infield single to defeat Longmeadow, 12-11, at Williams Street Playground Monday evening.
Mason Barnachez clubbed three hits and drove in three runs–including the game-winning run–in Westfield National’s 12-11 win at Longmeadow. The starting first baseman drove in Clay Bradley on an infield single in Westfield’s final at-bats.
“We needed to win this one,” said Bradley. “The biggest thing we reiterated with them is to never give up. We just battled back and that was the story of the entire game. We preach to them about the half inning of baseball. Some we won and some we didn’t, but we just kept fighting and everybody contributed to the win. I’m very, very proud of the team for this victory.”
Owen Jurczyk scored the first run of the game for Westfield National in the bottom of the first inning to start their six-run inning. Jurczyk scored three runs overall, including one where he hurdled over the catcher in the third inning.
The two teams put on an offensive spectacular from the first inning, pounding 31 hits and scoring 23 runs combined, but one infield single from Mason Barnachez proved to be the difference and provided the winning run with two outs. Barnachez and Raphael Morgenelli each drove in three runs and Tyler Cousineau went 4-for-4 from the plate to fuel the Westfield offense.
After Longmeadow scored four innings in the first inning, Westfield responded with six runs of their own. Barnachez’s sacrifice fly and Cousineau’s first single drove in a pair of runs to cut the deficit to 4-2 and Morganelli’s two-run double evened the score. Adam Blair’s flyout to the pitcher in foul territory allowed Nathan Goodwin to score after no one covered home plate. Morganelli then raced home after an errant throw home to give the Nats a 6-4 lead to start the back-and-forth affair.
With Longmeadow up 8-7 after two and a half innings, Westfield responded again by scoring three runs to take a 10-7 lead. With one out, both Bernatchez and Barnachez lined RBI singles to plate a pair of runs–the former highlighted by Owen Jurczyk’s hurdle of the catcher to score–and Mason would score on a stolen base to take a 10-8 lead. They would tack on one more run in the fourth inning on Bernatchez’s second RBI in as many at-bats.
Westfield took the lead for the final time in their final at-bats. Clay Bradley reached on his third hit of the game with one out, then advanced on a wild pitch and a fly ball. Barnachez then hit an infield single to shortstop, beating the chance of a throw and allowing Bradley to score the winning run.
“We spend a tremendous amount of time at batting practice,” said Bradley. “We got up a little bit with their first pitcher, but their second pitcher came in and was locating, so that requires some adjustment. The kids spend a lot of time in the cages and have a lot of repetitions.”
Adam Blair earned the victory in relief of Bernatchez, throwing two innings and allowing three runs on four hits, while striking out three Longmeadow batters. Bernatchez started on the mound in the slugfest, pitching four innings to help keep the Nats in the game. While he did give up eight runs, Bernatchez allowed a single run on a home run and two total hits over his final two innings of work.
“With Matt, we told him that we were most proud of cutting (his pitch count) from 28 (pitches) in the first inning to 15 pitches (in the fourth inning),” said Bradley. “The biggest thing with Matt is that he’s learned to never let things affect him and keep pitching. He really stayed focused on the task at-hand and I was very proud of him.”
Six different Longmeadow batters drove in at least one run, led by two RBIs from Wyn Jarunen, John Lefleur and Videep Vemuladalli. Charlie Calvanese and Ryan James scored three runs each, including four combined in the first two innings. The designated visitors reached safely on hits in four of the first five batters, including Lefleur’s two-run double. A fielder’s choice and RBIs from Jarunen and Teddy DeCosmo gave Longmeadow a 7-6 lead–their second of the game within the first two innings.
Longmeadow’s 14-hit outburst was spread out throughout the batting order. No. 9 batter Frankie Furnelli had a pair of hits, creaming a solo home run to right field in the third inning to give Longmeadow an 8-7 lead. Down 11-8 in the fifth inning, the hosts rallied again for three runs in three batters. James hammered a RBI double, which was then followed by Vemuladalli’s second RBI single and Jarunen’s groundout to the pitcher.
The Nats now are one win away from securing a trip to the district playoffs, where the No. 4 seed will face No. 1 Westfield American at Cross Street on Saturday. Pending the result from the Southampton-Easthampton game Monday, National will have the chance to secure their spot when they head up Route 10 to face Easthampton.
Longmeadow heads north to Amherst Wednessday in a battle of teams with 2-3 records. Both teams have lost the tiebreaker with Westfield National and will be playing for their final place in the standings.
