Despite jumping out to an early lead on Wednesday, top-seeded Mohawk Hilltown Hardwood Flooring was unable to hold serve at home.
Visiting Westfield scored three runs in the fourth and four in the fifth to capture a 7-3 victory over Mohawk in the winners’ bracket of the Pioneer Valley Youth Baseball League Mickey Mantle playoffs in Buckland.
Westfield, which beat Dalton, 7-6, thanks to a walk-off passed ball in the opening round prior to the game, found itself trailing 1-0 after Mohawk struck for a quick run in the bottom of the first inning. Wyatt Bandy-Page singled, took second on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Moffatt, and scored on an error off a hot-shot from Cody Letourneau.
Mohawk held the 1-0 lead into the fourth inning before Westfield finally got to starting pitcher Jordan Grenier. The visitors scored seven consecutive runs over the next two innings to take a 7-1 advantage.
Mohawk cut into the deficit in the fifth, as Sim Maniatty singled and scored on an RBI single from Jacob Christi, and Grenier reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and scored on an error to cut the lead to 7-3. Despite threatening throughout, however, Hilltown Hardwood Flooring suffered its first defeat in the double-elimination tournament.
Christi was 2-for-4 on the night, while Dylan Allen was 2-for-3 to help pace the offense.
Mohawk will return to playoff action tonight, when it travels to play Frontier, a 7-6 winner over Palmer on Wednesday. Time and location of that game were unavailable at press time. For more information, visit the league’s website at www.pvybl.org.
Sandy Koufax
Tynan Creagh was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and host Frontier Alber Hearing Services captured a 10-4 win over Granby (Conn.) in the Pioneer Valley Youth Baseball League Sandy Koufax playoffs Wednesday night at Headmaster Field in Deerfield.
Matt Como was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the win for Frontier, while Kevin Baumann and Ben Zaranek finished with two hits each. Tom Alber and Kyle Barnes singled and drove in runs, while Ben Martino and Rowan Blair added hits.
Zaranek picked up the victory on the mound, while Blair locked things down in relief.
Frontier will host another playoff game tonight at 5:45.
Teddy Bear 4, Longmeadow 2 — Chris ‘Skinny’ Williams delivered a go-ahead RBI double in the top of the eighth inning, and Tim Capuano tacked on some insurance with an RBI single one batter later to send Teddy Bear Pools to a key 4-2 victory over Longmeadow in a Tri-County League men’s amateur baseball game on Wednesday in Longmeadow.
With the score tied 2-2 after seven innings, Seth Leslie led off the top of the eighth with a single. Williams delivered the double to make it 3-2, and Capuano drove him home with an RBI single for a 4-2 advantage.
“I was just fortunate that Seth gave us a chance,” Williams said of the hit. “I was just trying to get good wood on it and I got a fastball that I got a good swing on.”
That would be enough for starting pitcher Trevor Edwards, who went all eight innings to pick up the victory. Edwards struck out four and walked two, limiting Longmeadow (7-11) to just five hits on the night.
“Trevor pitched a great game,” offered Teddy Bear skipper Harlan Bean. “He’s been good for us all year.”
Leslie and Liam Datres de la Blotier had two hits apiece for Teddy Bear (9-10), which has two games left against Wilbraham Funeral Home (Friday away, Sunday at home) before the playoffs kick off next week.