It was a start to the postseason the West County Hilltown Hardwood Flooring Warriors were hoping for.
West County raced out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and didn’t look back, cruising to a 10-2 victory over Springfield in a PVYBL Mickey Mantle playoff game on Monday night at Mohawk Trail Regional in Buckland.
West County advanced in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament and will play against at home on Wednesday.
“We’re feeling pretty confident,” West County’s Eathon Bryant said. “We’re looking pretty strong and our defense is looking better than ever. We’re hoping to come out bats firing like we did today and come out with a win.”
A fast start it was for West County on Monday. After Springfield went hitless in the first, Bryant got things going for West County with a leadoff double blasted into the left-center gap.
Marshall Ingram came up the next at bat and ripped a double to deep left field, scoring Bryant and giving West County the early lead. Ingram moved to third on a Charlie May ground out and raced home following a passed ball on a strike three.
Wyatt Edes reached base on the dropped third strike, Cayden Payne walked and Jesse Dubreuil hit a single to load the bases for Jacob Martin, who drew a walk to plate Edes. Carter Blanchette then walked to score Payne, giving West County a 4-0 lead after one.
“First hit set the tone for the game,” Bryant said. “Marshall then came out and hit an absolute bomb. It showed the other team that we’re not here to play. We came in, [Springfield] almost beat us a couple times. We don’t take teams lightly. They had a whole new team so we showed them we can keep the same team all year and still win come playoff time.”
West County tacked three more on in the second. Bryant, Ingram and May all walked to open the frame and an Edes ground out scored Bryant.
Payne then ripped a single to bring Ingram in and Dubreuil cracked another base hit to score May, giving West County a 7-0 lead.
Springfield got a run back in the top of the fourth but West County responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. May got on with a walk, made his way to second on an Edes groundout before Dubreuil hit his third single of the game to bring him home, giving West County an 8-1 lead.
West County put two runs on the board in the fifth. Blanchette reached on an error, stole third and was brought home on a May single. Ingram, who had gotten on with a walk, moved to third on May’s single and scored on an Edes ground out to extend the lead to 10-1.
Springfield got a run back in the top of the sixth, but that was all the damage they would do.
Edes got the start for West County, going two innings, striking out one and surrendering one hit. May then came on and tossed the next two innings, tallying four strikeouts. Bryant pitched the fifth and sixth, striking out three before Carter Miller came on to strike out a pair in the seventh to close out the win.
Greenfield 9U All Stars
The Hamshaw Lumber Greenfield 9U All Stars traveled to Troy, N.Y. on Friday to compete in the Last Man Standing tournament.
Greenfield opened by falling to the Eastern New York Blackhawk Red squad, 12-0, on Friday, but responded with a 16-9 win against the Upper Deck Titans of Amsterdam, N.Y. on Saturday.
In the win, Madax Sherman knocked a pair of hits and scored three runs, Sean Winslow blasted a double, a single and crossed home plate three times while Preston Charboneau and Ryan Turner each tallied a double and a run scored for Greenfield.
Greenfield closed out its trip with a second game on Saturday, falling to the Eastern New York Blackhawks Black squad, 18-12. Collin Winslow smacked two doubles and a single, Jackson Baker and Jackson Puchalski each finished with two hits and Blake Grover had an RBI single and Elias Tripp hit safely in the loss.
Brock Puchalski finished the weekend with a pair of walks and runs scored, Philip Brodeur pitched well and had a hit at the plate and Kaydin Snow-Rose reached base in all three games for Greenfield.
F.C. Babe Ruth
Akey Insurance jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one and didn’t look back, cruising to a 12-0 win over Turners Falls Athletic Club on Saturday in a Franklin County Babe Ruth contest at Abercrombie Field.
Aiden Barilone, Sovann Noeun and Brandon Engelke-Aiken (RBI) both knocked a pair of hits in the win. Julian Kaiser had a two-RBI single, Ethan Hannon and Tavaaris Hall each had a hit and an RBI, Brendan Clough blasted a two-RBI double while Braeden Talbot and Ben Waring hit safely in the win. Kaiser, Noeun and Engelke-Aiken combined for a shutout on the mound.
Jake Knight and Malik Moore each tallied a hit for TFAC.
PV Summer League
Chanhee Son netted two goals, and Frontier scored a 4-1 victory over South Hadley in a Pioneer Valley Summer Soccer League contest on Monday.
David Pettinato and Quinn McNutt also tallied for the Hawks, with assists credited to Brady Burch and Ian Paciorek. Nico Lorantos recorded 11 saves between the pipes.
77th Invitational Four-Ball
Cody Booska and Dennis Booska captured the championship flight title at the 77th Invitational Four-Ball at the Country Club of Greenfield on Sunday, but they weren’t the only pairing to win their respective flights on Sunday.
Chris Cervini and Ryan Cote won the championship consolation finals, defeating Chris Bourbeau and Justin Dion. Jason Goodhind and Mark Waskiewicz took home the First Division championship while Dave Kennedy and Nate Burdick won the First Division consolation. In the Second Division, Chris Ferriter and Joe Wilson came out on top, with Jeff Jackman and Mike Archer winning the consolation.
The Third Division championship went to Josh Harker and Kevin Ward, with Chris Robbins and Sam Clarke winning the consolation. Hugh Barber and Jared Barber captured the Fourth Division crown, with Bob Kelley and Keith Savoie earning the consolation victory. John Wilkes and Bob Betsold took home the Fifth Division title, with Matt Gilbert and Mike Gilbert winning the consolation.
In the Sixth Division, Brodie Conant and Drew Conant came out as the champions, with Dave Washburn and Michael Squires winning the consolation. Rodney Herzig and Bob Bourbeau took home the Seventh Division title, with Neal Slocombe and Mike Mazur winning the consolation.
Keegan Downie and Ryan Sullivan were victors in the Eighth Division, with Anthony Wonseski and Roy Emerson taking the consolation. In the Ninth Division, Bill Betsold and Paul Barnard came out on top while Ike Purington and Mike Andrews won the consolation. Bill Luippold and Dan Gavin earned the 10th Division crown and Mark Castlehano and John Simanski won the consolation.
The 11th Division went to Nick Marscher and Jon Atkins while Scott Stacy and Jason Miller won the consolation. Tom Smith and Terry Sinclair won the 12th Division, with Jim McHugh and Dave Collette winning the consolation.