GREENFIELD — It was very much a ‘survive and advance’ kind of night for Greenfield Post 81.
The top-seeded team in its pool, Greenfield overcame an early deficit, took a sizable lead, gave a few runs back, but ultimately held on for an 11-6 win over Easthampton Post 224 in an American Legion Baseball Senior Division playoff game Wednesday evening at Veterans Memorial Field.
Post 81 advanced to play Pittsfield Post 68 in a winner’s bracket playoff game tonight back at Vets (7 p.m.). The winner would be in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the championship series.
“We did what we had to do to get a win,” admitted Post 81 manager Kyle Phelps. “It wasn’t pretty but now we’re in a spot we’ve been looking forward to all summer.”
The loss dropped Easthampton into an elimination game, set for tonight at Nonotuck Park against Wilbraham Blue (5:30 p.m.).
It was a bizarre night for the Greenfield offense, which scored 11 runs on just six hits. Post 81’s lineup showed discipline, however, drawing seven walks, while also being plunked four times by Easthampton pitching.
Post 224 took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning. Cam Ziomek walked with one out and scored on a Connor Roy triple, and Cody Cavanagh eventually singled home Mike Baldwin (fielder’s choice) to put the visitors on top.
The advantage was short-lived, as Greenfield answered in the home half of the frame. Connor Waitkus (fielder’s choice) and Owen MacPhee (walk) scored on back-to-back wild pitches to put the hosts on top, and Adam Hallenbeck drove in Colin Cloutier with a sacrifice fly to center field to put Post 81 on top, 4-2.
Greenfield took advantage of some more wildness from the Easthampton pitching staff to cash in with a big fifth inning that ultimately put the game just out of reach. Holding a 5-2 lead, Post 81 batted around in the fifth to score six times on four hits.
Tionne Brown got the offense rolling with a two-run single off the glove of a diving third baseman, and Luke Viens followed with the big blow. The Mohawk Trail Regional High School product drilled a two-run triple to deep left field that scored Brown and Kalen Evans. Two more runs later scored in the frame, as Greenfield extended its lead to 11-2 with a breakout inning.
Easthampton didn’t go away quietly. The visitors, which defeated Longmeadow in the opening round of the tournament Monday night, struck for four runs to make things interesting. Gage Fortin had an RBI single in the inning, while Tyler Keeney, Cody Cavanagh and Connor Cavanagh all reached base and scored to pull the visitors within an 11-6 margin.
The visitors put two more runners on base to start the top of the seventh, but Evans, on in relief as the fourth pitcher of the night for Greenfield, retired the final three batters of the game to preserve the victory and send Post 81 into the next round.
Joel Peabody earned the win, as the right-handed ace from Greenfield High School struck out five and walked two in four innings of action. Hallenbeck, Jake Suhl and Evans tossed one inning each, as Post 81 tried to keep pitch counts low with a potentially busy week ahead.
Fortin took the loss for Easthampton, walking five and striking out a pair in 2⅔ innings. Post 224 also used four pitchers on the night.
Greenfield now has the matchup it wants against perennial power Pittsfield on its home field.
“They’ve been the top team in this district the last three or four years,” offered Phelps of Pittsfield. “That’s the reason we wanted to win the league, to be able to play this game at home. We expect their best and it’s going to take our best to beat them.”
The winner of the Greenfield-Pittsfield game would get Friday night off and need to win just once on Saturday to reach the championship series. The loser would need a win Friday and two more on Saturday to earn the reach the same fate.