NORTHAMPTON — Northampton Post 28 defeated Westfield 5-3 Friday afternoon at Arcanum Field.
Northampton and Post 124 entered the American Legion game with identical 8-1 records, but Northampton was able to come out on top after maintaining control over a momentum shift late in the game.
Despite the close matchup, Post 28 entered the game with confidence and certainty.
“I told them that we just should play with the same kind of energy and enthusiasm as we had last night,” coach Chuck Holt said. “We played a really good team (Thursday night) and beat Pittsfield, so I thought we should just kind of have the same attitude.”
Similarly, Northampton’s Ian Ostberg insisted that the team never doubted their ability.
“I think one of our team’s strong suits in particular is that we always play confident. I think every guy has faith in every other guy on our team,” Ostberg said.
Northampton took an early lead in the bottom of the second inning, with Hector DeJesus hitting a hard RBI single to send Mike Mieczkowski home. Westfield tied the game in the top of the third and it remained even until Westfield initiated a fifth inning surge.
At the top of the fifth, Northampton switched out starting pitcher Brandon Zaikowski for Kevin Banas, and soon afterwards Westfield took a 3-1 lead.
But Northampton rallied and a noticeable increase in energy preceded a four-run fifth inning by Post 28.
At the start of the inning, Derek Zewinski, Pat Grygorcewicz and Banas scored to further boost the team’s confidence.
Later in the fifth, with one out and the bases loaded, DeJesus hit an RBI single to send Mike Mieczkowski home and increase Northampton’s lead to 5-3.
Post 124 was unable to answer in the sixth inning, as Northampton’s Ian Ostberg made some strong throws at shortstop to keep Westfield from getting back on the board.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ostberg took over for Banas and closed out the game. Ostberg only faced three batters, as Westfield’s three hits were all caught in Northampton’s outfield.
Going into that last inning, Ostberg wanted to keep things simple and focus on the fundamentals.
“They hadn’t really had any strikeouts all game, I noticed that,” Ostberg said. “So I was just trying to throw strikes and wasn’t trying to dance around them too much.”
With eight games remaining, Ostberg believes that Post 28 needs to continue to focus on the fundamentals.
“Baseball is a game of little things,” he said, “and some of our mistakes came from just little mental mistakes and little physical mistakes, so just sharpening up some of the small things and I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Holt mirrored his player’s statements after the game, underscoring the importance of consistent defense moving forward.
Northampton Post 28 (9-1) plays Wilbraham Post 286 Blue (6-3) at Arcanum Field at noon Saturday.