GREENFIELD — It took one time through the batting order, but Greenfield Post 81’s offense finally started to slide into gear on Friday night.
Second-seeded Greenfield scored four runs in the third inning and tacked on from there, running away to open their district title defense with a 12-0 victory in six innings over No. 7 Belchertown Post 239 in an American Legion Baseball Junior Division opening-round playoff game at Veterans Memorial Field.
“We finally started stringing some hits together,” lauded Post 81 coach Tom Bresciano of the victory. “We’ve been leaving runners on the last few games, and so there’s going to need to be some extra hitting from us if we want to win some more games in this tournament.”
Greenfield advanced to tonight’s second round of the double-elimination tournament, and the squad will host No. 6 Agawam at 7 p.m. back at Vets. Agawam edged No. 3 Longmeadow, 5-4, in Friday’s opening round.
Greenfield’s offense wound up with 13 hits on the night, as Kalen Evans, Garrett DeForest, Max Charest, Jake Bryant and Owen Phelps all smacked two hits apiece.
“We’ll see some good pitching over the next couple of games so hopefully we can keep this going,” Bresciano said.
Evans keyed the offense in the four-run third inning, as he led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0. Bryant doubled in a run and Kiernan Freeman singled home a run, while Freeman scampered home on another wild pitch to make it 4-0.
That would be plenty for Evans on the mound, as the right-hander got the start and tossed five innings of shutout ball. He struck out four batters and allowed just two hits while walking three.
“He pitched great tonight,” said Bresciano of Evans. “His curveball was breaking nicely.”
With Evans keeping Belchertown’s bats quiet, the Greenfield offense continued to score runs in the fourth inning. Phelps had the big blow, a two-run double, while DeForest added an RBI single as Post 81 led 7-0 before scoring three more in the fifth to take a 10-0 lead. DeForest had a two-run single there, while Charest drove in a run on a ground out.
Greenfield scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to walk-off with the 12-0 mercy-rule victory. Brian Allen came across with the team’s final run of the night.
Greenfield swept a pair of games against Agawam this summer, though Bresciano said both were competitive and his team better be ready to go from the beginning. Phelps will draw the start on the mound for the 7 p.m. first pitch.
“Owen’s pitched great all year for us and has probably been our most consistent pitcher,” the coach explained. “Agawam’s a real good team. They’ve got a good coach and they’re sound defensively.”