NORTHAMPTON — Four pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts, and Northampton’s 9-11-year-old Little League team beat Westfield National 6-2 on Thursday at McDonald Field to advance to the championship round of the District 2 tournament.
Marty Maslowski started the scoring for Northampton in the first inning, hitting an RBI single to bring in Liam Flynn from second. He came around to score to make the score 2-0.
After Westfield National tied the game at 2 in the top of the third inning, Flynn scored again in the bottom of the third. This time Trey Kuzmeski batted him in. Kuzmeski also scored to give Northampton the lead 4-2.
“I was up there ready to hit line drives, trying to hit them in the gaps to get extra bases,” Flynn said.
Flynn finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and advanced on passed balls four times.
“I was just making sure I could get to second base to get into scoring position,” Flynn said.
Maslowski added to the lead again in the fourth inning with an RBI double, bringing in Flynn once again to pad the lead to 5-2.
Maslowski finished with two RBIs, going 2-for-3 with one run scored.
“I used all my power, I was swinging harder than I usually do,” Maslowski said.
Northampton’s final run came in the fifth inning when James McNally hit a triple and scored on an error. McNally finished 2-for-3.
Maslowski started on the mound for Northampton and struck out five of the six batters he faced.
Maslowski was relieved by Flynn in the second inning. Flynn had two earned runs on two hits with three strikeouts.
Kuzmeski pitched two innings, allowing three hits, no runs and had three strikeouts.
Caleb Steiniger closed out the game, pitching one inning and allowing one hit with one strikeout. On offense Steiniger contributed a pair of singles and one RBI.
“We do have a good starting pitching lineup,” Northampton coach Robert Maslowski said. “They throw hard, and they throw strikes.”
The team has swung the bat well since the beginning of pool play.
“This game was actually not as well as we normally hit,” he said. Northampton had 10 hits and six RBIs in the game.
Northampton advanced to Saturday’s final, where the team will face either Agawam or Westfeld American.
“I’m taking it one game at a time. I’m hoping we win on Saturday and we’ll go from there,” Maslowski said.