Runs were at a premium in the Whip City, Monday night.
Westfield Post 124 ace Devin Baker limited visiting Greenfield Post 81 to just five hits, and the hosts scratched together the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to capture a tight 2-1 victory in an American Legion Senior Division baseball game at Jachym Field in Westfield.
Baker and Greenfield right-hander Owen Phelps both pitched well in the tight contest. Phelps struck out seven and walked just one in a complete-game outing, limiting Westfield to just four hits offensively.
“It was a well-pitched game by both sides,” Post 81 manager Kyle Phelps offered. “Owen pitched great and Baker pitched great. We had a couple opportunities early in the game with runners on and didn’t come through tonight.”
Greenfield trailed 1-0 into the fifth inning, before pushing the tying run across. Owen Phelps singled and stole second base, and with two outs, Connor Waitkus drove him in with a base hit.
It stayed that way until Westfield took the lead in the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh, Owen Phelps again singled and stole second, before moving to third on a Bryan Baumann single. With runners on the corners and one out however, Westfield managed to induce a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and secure the win.
Greenfield (6-2) has another tough game on the docket tonight at home, when it welcomes East Longmeadow to Vets Field for a 7 p.m. game.
Mickey Mantle
Pioneer Stone Seals/Scotty’s had the bats going early and often against South Hadley, coming away with a 15-0 victory in five innings in a PVYBL Mickey Mantle game at Landers Field in South Hadley, Monday night.
Jacob Quinn allowed just two hits on the mound for Pioneer, striking out six. He helped himself on the offensive end, hitting two singles and registering an RBI.
Just about every Pioneer hitter got in on the action. Cayden Lehtomaki got his confidence at the plate with three hits, two of which were triples, knocking in five RBIs. Kyle Brunelle had a triple, single and two RBIs and Dalton Henderson had a pair of RBIs.
Josh Brunelle had two singles and batted in a run, Gavin Rubio brought in a run with a double and Jake Croteau had two singles. Jason Quinn, Jakob Burnett and James Robison each brought in a run with a single.
Sandy Koufax
Host Amherst rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings, and Ryan Snyder’s two-run, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth propelled them to a 6-5 victory over the Hubie’s Tavern West County Warriors in a Pioneer Valley Youth Baseball League Sandy Koufax game at Ziomek Field in Amherst on Monday.
The Warriors led 4-1 entering the seventh, and regained the lead with a run in the top of the ninth after Amherst had tied the score. Wyatt Edes and Cole Johnson both singled in the ninth, and Nate Wiles drove in the go-ahead run to make it 5-4.
Snyder, who had four hits and four RBIs, won the game for Amherst in the home half of the ninth.
Sam Schreiber pitched well for the Warriors, going 6 1/3 innings on the mound. Edes, Wiles and Johnson all finished with two hits, while Rosco Palmer, Jesse Dubreuil, Tyler Dubreuil and Ben Thompson each added a hit.
West County is right back at it tonight on the road at Dalton.
Chuck Stone LL
The Chuck Stone Little League All-Stars fell to North Leominster, 9-3, at James H. Salevan Field in Athol on Monday.
The loss put Chuck Stone out of contention to advance to the District 3 playoff. Chuck Stone plays its final game on July 8 at Lunenburg’s Marshall Park.
Branden Engelke-Aiken started for Chuck Stone and finished with four strikeouts. Connor Cox and Alex Blunk both had RBI hits.
Engelke-Aiken will get the start against Lunenburg with additional rest due to a bye and the holiday. With one game to play, Chuck Stone is ready to go out a winner.
“We are going to have to hit and we will have our best pitcher on the mound,” assistant coach Tony Vitello said. “We are going to bear down and put it together. We want to come out with a win, the kids need it.”
It was the last Little League game at James H. Salevan Field for Engelke-Aiken.
“My friends are on the team,” Engelke-Aiken said. “I am going to miss playing on the field.”
Cox’s RBI single with the bases loaded tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third. Blunk laced an RBI double in the top of the sixth.
Morgan Softic pitched in relief, striking out one hitter. Jaxon Haggett and Alex Lavigne had hits for Chuck Stone.
Chuck Stone had difficulty with the bat of Brendan Bail, who homered twice for North Leominster. Bail hit a solo shot to left field in the second. In the fifth, a three-run shot by Bail made the score 7-2.
Sawyer Corbin started for North Leominster, striking out six. Danny Nelson got the win out of the bullpen and struck out two. Ben Simons and Patrick Gallagher (RBI) had two hits each for North Leominster. Gallagher’s triple scored a run in the bottom of the fifth.
James Williams gunned down a runner trying to steal in the second inning for Chuck Stone.
10U Cal Ripken state tourney
After dropping a closely contested 5-4 game against Uxbridge Thursday, the Greenfield All-Stars went on to win two of its next three games at the Cal Ripken 10U State Tournament in Uxbridge this past weekend.
The Greenfield bats were clicking to open Saturday’s action, leading to an 11-0 victory over Northbridge. Evan Tsipenyuk led the attack, going 2-for-4 with two doubles. Hunter Donahue, Mason Fiorey, Juleyan Laughran-Carter and Brayleigh Burgh each had two hits and George Gutierrez Jr. tacked on a double. Arthur Fitzpatrick and Hayden Girard had great performances on the mound to lead to the shutout.
In the afternoon, Greenfield came away with a 3-2 win over Ash-West, with Tsipenyuk and Laughran-Carter striking out a combined nine on the mound. Tsipenyuk had a double while Fiorey, Laughran-Carter, Fitzpatrick and Burgh all had hits.
To close the weekend, Greenfield fell to Nashoba, 16-4. Jackson Glazier went 2-for-3 with a double, Donahue had a double and Girard had an RBI single.
In the Home Run Derby Saturday night, Tsipenyuk took third with a three home-run performance.
Junior Legion
Holding a 7-5 lead in the top of the seventh inning, the Greenfield Post 81 Junior Legion team was unable to hold on as visiting Longmeadow came from behind to capture a 10-8 victory in action late Sunday night at Vets Field.
Nick Bresciano tossed five solid innings for Post 81. Bobby Provost was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Mike Bassett was 2-for-3 with two runs and MJ Paulin added two hits and two RBIs. Nate Sciandra also had a hit and an RBI.
Montague Co-Rec
John Dewicki’s grand slam, to go along with four hits, propelled Travel Kuz over Fairview Landscape, 13-7, in a Montague Co-Ed Softball League game, Monday night.
Joe McMillon went 3-for-4 and Jessica Loynd went 4-for-4 at the plate for Travel Kuz.
Angelica Perfido and Dustin Olson each had hits for Fairview Landscape.
DRIVE League
Garrett Cote’s 33 points pushed Beck’s Auto to victory over Maple Row Insurance, 71-69, in DRIVE League action on Sunday in Northfield.
Tucker Llewelyn chipped in 26 points for Beck’s Auto, while Tim Hoar and Ryan Hoar combined for 51 points for Maple Row Insurance in the loss.
• Elsewhere, Dan Donoghue’s 32 points were not enough for Bruso Computer Solutions in a 66-61 loss to Markol Strong.
Ryan Roberts scored 19 and Matt Gibson dropped 16 for Markol Strong in the victory.
• Also, Chris Brown and Ben Johnson combined for 39 points in Team No Name’s 101-81 defeat of VT Hoops. Ian Fulton-Black had 25 points and Tom Manning had 21 for VT Hoops.