GREENFIELD — A steady diet of Tyler Townsley and a big bottom of the third inning proved to be the perfect combination Thursday for Greenfield High School.
The eighth-seeded Green Wave scored six runs in the home half of the third, the big blow coming on a bases-clearing double by Zack Avery, and Townsley allowed just three hits in seven strong innings to propel Greenfield to an 8-2 win over No. 9 Pioneer Valley Regional School in a Western Mass. Division III preliminary-round game at Veterans Memorial Field.
“I’d say that was one of his better outings all season. Tyler pitched pretty well,” offered Greenfield skipper Tom Suchanek of Townsley, who struck out five and walked three in the complete-game outing. “What he was more effective with today was he got ahead of hitters, and he was throwing his curveball for strikes.”
Townsley looked like he would be matched in a pitcher’s duel early on, as Pioneer ace Eliot Mousseau stymied Greenfield until the fateful home half of the third. The Wave (12-9) took advantage of three Pioneer errors, two leading directly to runs. Colin Cloutier drove in a run with a single that made it a 3-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Avery drilled a three-run double to the left-center field gap to extend the hosts’ advantage to 6-0.
“That was certainly a big hit at that point in the game,” Suchanek said.
The miscues in the frame were a bit surprising to Pioneer coach Jordan Branson.
“We’ve mostly been able to avoid innings like that and didn’t do that today,” the first-year coach explained. “It was odd, to be honest with you. Some of it was their execution and timely hits, but we’ve been making those plays all season. Maybe a little bit of it was nerves or trying to do too much when the ball was hit to you.”
Staked to a 6-0 lead, Townsley kept Pioneer (11-10) off balance for the most part the rest of the way. Cloutier’s sacrifice fly in the fourth was followed by Tyler Miner’s RBI single to extend the lead to 8-0.
The Panthers got on the board in the fifth when Alex Tyson reached on an error and later scored when Greenfield opted to throw through to second base to catch another runner stealing. Jordan Loughman pulled the visitors within 8-2 with an RBI double in the sixth that scored Mousseau (walk), but Townsley retired the final five batters he faced to secure the opening-round win.
“Part of the reason we were able to do so well this year was the guys never give up, and that was again the case here,” lauded Branson of his team, which returned to the postseason for the first time since 2012 after winning 11 regular-season games. “We could’ve been down 25-0 in the seventh and they would’ve played until the very end.”
Tyler Boissonneault was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base out of the No. 9 hole for Greenfield, while Townsley added two hits and scored twice. Loughman, Mousseau and Cody Letourneau had Pioneer’s three hits.
Greenfield advances to play at No. 1 South Hadley High School in a D-III quarterfinal game Monday at 4 p.m. The two teams met twice in the regular season, both South Hadley wins, though both games were tight (16-14 and 3-1). In the 3-1 loss on May 23, a questionable call that went against the Wave swung things as the Tigers managed just three hits against Miner but still eked out a win.
“It’s the old third-time scenario,” said Suchanek of the upcoming matchup. “We played them tough the last time, so we’re just going to go down there and do what we can to try and get a win.”