TURNERS FALLS — After battling back from an early deficit to tie the game, the tides seemed to be turning for the Turners Falls High School baseball team on Thursday.
The host Thunder rallied from a 3-0 deficit to pull even in the bottom of the third inning, settling into what was looking like a potential late-inning nail-biter. But an error at a most inopportune time in the fourth inning changed the complexion of things, and visiting Lee High School capitalized. The 10th-seeded Wildcats scored the final six runs of the afternoon to snag a 9-3 victory in the opening round of the WMass Division 4 tournament at the Bourdeau Fields Complex.
Lee advanced to play in Monday’s quarterfinal round against No. 2 Hopkins Academy.
Locked in a 3-3 game in the top of the fifth, Lee (10-11) had runners on first and second with one out. A potential double-play grounder got past shortstop Jake LaBelle and squirted into the outfield however, allowing Declan Drozd to come around from second with the go-ahead run.
“We kind of hung our heads a bit after that,” admitted Turners skipper Scott Minckler of the play. “That’s kind of been our issue throughout the season at times. Our gloves have failed us and we haven’t been able to fully recover when we needed to.”
Clinging to a 4-3 lead, Lee put the hammer down in the top of the sixth. The team scored three runs with just one ball leaving the infield. The big blow came with the bases loaded and one out. A grounder up the middle against a drawn-in Turners infield was snagged by a diving LaBelle. He didn’t have a play at the plate, as Lee’s Evan Heath got a good jump and scored. While LaBelle got the out at first, heads-up base running by Drozd saw the team’s third baseman continue running and score all the way from second base, extending the advantage to 7-3 in the process.
“We’re very aggressive on the bases,” began Lee coach Tim Shepardson. “We always try and take chances. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, we lost a couple guys at the plate today, but we also get our share of guys home and that was an example there (in the sixth).”
The Wildcats pushed across two more in the seventh, and the pitching of Lucas Bombardier and Andrew Ruef combined to retire Turners’ final six batters of the game.
Seventh-seeded Turners (8-11) trailed 3-0 early, as Lee’s Ruef and Bombardier stroked RBI singles in the top of the first and Drozd added an RBI single of his own in the second.
“That definitely got the guys going,” said Shepardson, whose team received hits from seven of the nine batters in the lineup. “For the most part, our lineup one through nine is pretty good. We swing the bats well.”
Despite the early deficit, Minckler said he had faith his club would respond.
“There’s a lot of ballgame left at that point,” he said of the early 3-0 deficit. “I know our bats are good. I thought we’d be able to get back in it quickly.”
Thanks to first baseman Jake Burnett, the Thunder did just that. Jack Putala drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the second, and Burnett followed with a liner to center field that cleared the fence in a hurry. His two-run home run had the hosts right back in the game, trailing 3-2.
“That’s a big spark,” Minckler said. “He got some pop into that one and the ball carried well.”
Shepardson said the long ball slowed his upstart squad for just a bit.
“That took a little wind out of our sails,” the Lee coach admitted.
Turners tied the game in the third inning, when Kyle Dodge singled and scored on a double from right fielder Jon Fritz.
“Once we got it to 3-3, things were going the right way and we felt good about it,” said Minckler.
Bombardier shut the Thunder down from there however. He struck out six and walked three in six innings of work, allowing just five hits. Turners managed just one hit over the final four innings, as Dom Carme’s single in the sixth and a walk to Kyle Dodge in the fifth was all that the hosts could muster in that span.
Jake Dodge took the loss, striking out two and walking four in five innings. James Robison closed out the game, tossing the final two innings out of the bullpen.
Lee 9, Turners Falls 3
Lee ………………………. 210 013 2 — 9 11 1
Turners Falls ……….. 021 000 0 — 3 5 5
Hits: (L) Heath 2, Drozd 2, Ruef, Redstone, Bombardier, Somerville 2, Durkin 2. (TF) Fritz, K. Dodge, Burnett, LaBelle, Carme.
2B: (TF) Fritz.
HR: (TF) Burnett.
RBI: (L) Heath, Drozd 2, Ruef, Bombardier, Durkin, Redstone. (TF) Burnett 2, Fritz.
WP: Bombardier (6ip, 6k, 3bb), Ruef (1ip, 1k, 0bb).
LP: J. Dodge (5ip, 2k, 4bb), Robison (2ip, 0k, 1bb).