To have a shot at winning the American Legion Baseball Senior Division district championship, Greenfield Post 81 knew the road would have to go through Pittsfield Post 68.
The perennial powerhouse from the Berkshires outslugged visiting Greenfield for the second time in three days Saturday, eliminating Post 81 from the double-elimination tournament with a wild 12-10 victory in a semifinal game at Clapp Park in Pittsfield.
Post 81 finished its summer with a 15-6-1 overall record, including a 2-2 mark in the playoffs. Pittsfield, which defeated Greenfield by an 11-3 margin on Thursday, advanced to the best-of-three championship series against Wilbraham Red. Game 1 kicks things off tonight in Wilbraham.
“It was a great season,” began Post 81 skipper Kyle Phelps. “We were the zone champs for the first time in a long time, ended up having the third-best record in the district which is good. The guys are disappointed to lose but we did a lot of good things this summer.”
Greenfield needed to beat undefeated Pittsfield twice on Saturday to advance to the championship. The visitors very much looked like a team capable of doing just that early on. In the top of the first inning, Post 81 banged out five hits, scored five runs, and chased Pittsfield starter Ian Benoit from the game before he even recorded an out.
“It was our biggest rally of the whole season,” said Phelps of his team’s 5-0 lead right off the bat. “Especially when it’s in the first inning of a big game like that. We came out swinging. Every ball was right on the money. That momentum didn’t last very long unfortunately.”
Pittsfield nearly matched Greenfield in the home half of the wild first inning. The squad answered with four runs of its own, cutting the deficit to 5-4 and setting the stage for what was to be a high-scoring slugfest.
“You have to look at it as a 1-0 game still at that point because we still had the lead,” Phelps said. “You’re trying to push that message to the guys. We didn’t really slow them down offensively but they didn’t really slow us down either.”
Post 81 carried a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, creeping in on a chance to force a decisive Game 2. But Pittsfield had one last rally remaining, and it ultimately sunk Greenfield and put an end to its season. Post 68 scored six times in the fifth, chasing Ben Arnold from the game after 4 1/3 innings on the mound. The hosts tied the game on a squeeze play, took the lead on an error, and received a two-run double from Benoit that helped them to a 12-7 advantage.
“We had a hard time getting an out in the fifth, they had a lot of hits,” Phelps said of Pittsfield.
Post 81 didn’t go quietly. The club scored twice in the sixth and once more in the seventh, getting the tying run to the plate before a ground out ended things and sent Pittsfield into the title series.
“The guys still felt confident even after that (fifth) inning,” said Phelps. “You could see it, like that game against Westfield earlier this season. We felt like we were going to win the game 13-12. Even after the big inning, they were picking each other up. It was good to see.”
Luke Viens had three hits to pace the Post 81 offense, while Colin Cloutier, Max Charest, Tionne Brown and Kalen Evans all had two hits to help Greenfield hold a 13-12 edge over Pittsfield in that department. Kiernan Freeman, Evans and Charest all drove in two runs.
Hunter Potash came on in relief in the top of the first inning with no outs and wound up going all seven innings to earn the victory for Post 68. He struck out four and walked one. Evans came on in relief of Arnold to get the final five outs of the game for Greenfield.
Despite the loss, next summer should find Post 81 right back in the mix come playoff time.
“Look forward, we’re only losing five guys from the team,” began Phelps of Brown, Eliot Mousseau, Viens, Owen MacPhee and Adam Hallenbeck. “They’re very important guys for us. But with the experience the young players gained, it definitely bodes well for the future.”
Agawam 5, Greenfield 1 — For the fourth time this season, Post 81 was unable to solve Agawam Post 185 on Saturday.
Laine Page limited Greenfield to just five hits, and host Agawam eliminated Post 81 with a 5-1 victory in the Junior Division semifinals at Agawam High School. Post 185 handed Greenfield both of its losses in the double-elimination tournament, and wound up a perfect 4-0 against it over the course of the summer.
“They had our number this year,” admitted Post 81 coach Tom Bresciano of Agawam, which sent Greenfield into the loser’s bracket with a 5-4 win when the teams met on Wednesday night. “It was a good season for the guys. We had a good group of kids and it was fun to be able to coach them. We would’ve liked to have gone a little further but a few too many mental errors cost us in both losses. We gave them too many outs.”
Agawam, which advanced to play Westfield in the Junior Division championship, took a 2-0 lead with single unearned runs in the first and third innings. The hosts broke it up open with a three-spot in the fifth inning, including a two-run double by Joe Longo to stake themselves to a 5-0 advantage.
Post 81 clawed back with its lone run of the game in the top of the sixth. Joel Peabody was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on an RBI single from Corbin Blight.
But Greenfield was unable to cut into the deficit any deeper, as the offense managed just five hits in total — one each from Peabody, Blight, Garrett DeForest, Bryan Baumann and Brody Baird.
“We really couldn’t get anyone past second base,” said Bresciano, whose team stranded a runner on third base just once all game. “You’ve got to tip your cap to their pitcher. He wasn’t overpowering but he kept us off-balance all day. We hit a lot of ground balls and their guys made the plays.”
Baird took the loss on the mound for Post 81. He went the distance, striking out two while walking a pair and allowing five hits.
“He pitched well enough to win the game, definitely,” said Bresciano of Baird. “We just didnt’ help him out at all.”
Post 81 finished its summer with an overall 14-7 record, including a 3-2 mark in the postseason.