SPRINGFIELD — Baseball can be a cruel game.
Just ask South Hadley.
The Tigers saw balls hit the chalk, an inch or so from being foul on two occasions, several that went for wind-driven base hits and errors made by usually sure-handed fielders.
Wahconah took advantage and rallied to beat South Hadley, 13-9, in a wild Western Massachusetts Division 3 semifinal game Wednesday at Western New England University.
Top-seeded South Hadley closed at 17-5.
Wahconah (15-8) will meet Frontier Regional (17-3), an 8-2 semifinal winner over Hoosac Valley, Saturday at 11 a.m. at UMass in the final.
“It was a tough one to lose,” South Hadley coach Matt Foley said. “They really swung the bats well and it was an exciting high school baseball game. You just don’t expect to go from winning a 2-1 game (over Belchertown in the quarterfinals) to losing, 13-9.”
South Hadley can look back with pride on the season. The Tigers earned their most wins in a season in over 40 years and captured a league title.
“You can look back on this group and what they’ve done is something I can’t commend them enough for,” Foley said.
Wahconah scored seven runs on eight hits during the fifth inning to take a 12-9 lead. It added another run in the sixth.
“They came out swinging,” Foley said. “Who would have thought they would put up seven runs without an error. It wasn’t an easy game to coach, but it was fun to watch.”
Wahconah’s Pat Butler came on in relief of starter Gage Frazier and hurled three innings of two-hit relief. He survived a bases-loaded situation in the seventh, and got the final out on a comebacker to the mound.
“We have 10 seniors and even in that last inning when we loaded the bases, it was a testament to them,” Foley said. “They just were never going to give up and I can’t ask any more of them.”
The teams combined for 24 runs and 28 hits. A strong wind blowing out to right field enabled the teams to produce extra-base hits.
“We both benefited from that,” Foley said. “I thought the way we came back after they went ahead was admirably and that’s what this team can do.”
Senior James Foley thought his team would come back.
“We’ve fought hard all season,” the shortstop said. “We’ve come back from bigger deficits before, but today, we just didn’t have it in us.”
Senior Justin Kleeberg said the Tigers were a confident group right until the end.
“We had no doubt in our minds we could come back,” he said.
It was the final high school game seniors Ismael Diaz, Alex Dragon, Ethan Fleming, James Foley, Kleeberg, Mario Oliveira, Colin Paleologopoulos, Adam Pilchowski, David Pratt and Tom Shea.
“We had a great season — better than most expected,” Oliveira said. “There were many what-ifs that could have made the game gone either way. But Wahconah’s a great team and they came out and battled.”
South Hadley struck first. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Dragon walked and scored on triple by Pratt.
The Warriors erased the deficit with a four-run third. Andrew Beaudoin had an RBI single, Matt Schnieder drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error enable another run to score. Frazier’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1.
South Hadley plated three more runs in the third to forge a 4-4 tie. A two-run triple by Ted Doyle and an RBI single by Dragon created the deadlock.
But Ben Schmitt smashed a solo home run over the right-field fence in the fourth to provide the Warriors with a 5-4 edge.
The lead didn’t last long. South Hadley struck for five runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-5 lead.
James Foley, Pilchowski, Doyle, Dragon, Pratt, Kleeberg and Paleologopoulos had big hits during the inning.
Wahconah erased that deficit by scoring seven runs on eight hits in the fifth inning. Shane Sinopoli’s two-run single keyed the inning.
Ty Cowdrey, Beaudoin, Matt Schnieder, Austin Cancilla, Frazier and Cam Taylor also drove in runs during the frame.
“I don’t think we made bad pitches,” Matt Foley said. “They were really battling up there. They are a very competitive team.”
Wahconah closed the scoring in the sixth when Taylor tripled and scored on a single by Will Genaway.
“My pitchers battled against a very good hitting team,” Matt Foley said.