GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Post 81 team picked the right day to have its bats going.
Post 81 opened Wednesday’s slate with a 10-0 win over Westfield Post 124 in five innings, forcing a second game to decide the Senior Legion District 3 Champion.
The 20 minute layoff between games did nothing to cool off the red hot Greenfield batters, who tallied 14 hits to beat Westfield 13-0 and take home the District 3 championship in five innings at Vets Field.
“It’s a great feeling,” Greenfield coach Kevin Luippold said. “Coming into today we knew we had to go 2-0. Our backs were against the wall and we showed we wouldn’t back down. Winning a combined 23-0, beating a team who had already beat us — and was unbeaten — twice in one day is a fantastic feeling.”
After winning the first game by mercy, Post 81’s confidence was sky high heading into the second win-or-go-home game. The confidence was only added to as Greenfield had lost to Westfield on Saturday, it’s lone loss of the tournament.
“Once we won the first game we knew we were going to win the second game,” Greenfield catcher Dylan Martin said. “We were more nervous going into the first game where they had beat us and we didn’t know what to expect. We felt really good going into the second game.”
It didn’t take long for Greenfield to light up the scoreboard. Kyle Barnes opened the game with a leadoff single and Jacob Quinn brought him home with an RBI single to give Post 81 the early 1-0 lead.
Greenfield broke things open in the top of the third. Jake Sak, Barnes and Michael Bassett each singled to load the bases for Quinn, who base hit scored Sak and Barnes. Ben Martino was then hit by a pitch and Kevin Baumann smacked a single that scored Bassett.
A Westfield error off a Brody Baird ground ball brought Quinn and Martino in to score and just like that Post 81 held a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the third.
The fourth inning wasn’t much better for Westfield. Barnes — who went 5-for-6 in the two games on Wednesday — got on with a single.
Barnes stole second and an error off a hit from Bassett brought Barnes home to put Post 81 up, 7-0.
“I felt good in batting practice,” Barnes said. “I was squaring the ball up. I was able to get the first one off the lefty so that skyrocketed my confidence. I was hitting the ball well today.”
Quinn reached on an error, Martino singled and Baumann came up and hit a ball that dropped in center to score Bassett and Quinn. A third error in the frame for Westfield loaded the bases for Cullen Brown, who’s sac fly scored Martino and suddenly Greenfield had roared out to a 10-0 lead.
Greenfield scored three insurance runs in the top of the fifth to ensure the game would end by mercy at the closure of the inning.
Bassett and David Carey got on with singles and a Quinn RBI — his fourth of the game — brought Bassett home. Martino then cracked a single that scored Carey and Quinn to put Post 81 ahead, 13-0.
While Greenfield got the job done at the plate, Jason Quinn was equally impressive on the mound. He pitched two scoreless innings in the first game and then didn’t allow a run in five innings of work in the second game.
Tuesday’s semifinal win over Belchertown — the team that knocked Post 81 out of the first Legion tournament of the summer — was a major turning point for Post 81.
“Once we beat Belchertown twice in the tournament we felt like we couldn’t be beat,” Barnes said. “We didn’t play our best when we played Westfield down there. We knew coming into today we would give them our best and we gave them our best.”
Post 81 moves on to the state tournament, opening up with a showdown with Bridgewater Post 203 on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Mahan Field in Natick.