HOLYOKE – The Valley Blue Sox entered Wednesday’s game red hot, winning nine of their last 11 contests. But on Tuesday evening, the Sox struggled to get their bats going against Martha’s Vineyard (10-8) in an 11-2 loss.
The defeat drops Valley’s record to 11-8 on the season, second in the West Division behind the Bristol Blues.
The Blue Sox struggled defensively early, committing two errors that enabled visiting Martha’s Vineyard to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Valley’s A.J. Guerrero provided an answer immediately, drilling a single past the second baseman that scored Jevon Mason to tie it up at one.
It didn’t take the Sharks long to re-take the lead in a productive third inning; Martha’s Vineyard scored three runs on four hits, highlighted by a double from Sharks’ first baseman Ryan Nicholson. By the end of the third inning, the visitors had a 4-1 lead, and they weren’t done building on their advantage.
They tallied another four runs in the following inning, led off by a home run from Luke Masiuk on the very first pitch he saw. Martha’s Vineyard strung together two hits and the Blue Sox committed an error, their third of the game, to allow the visitors to take a 7-1 lead.
The Sharks added to the rout with a lone run in the fifth scored by Logan Chambers on a double from Henry Wallen.
Valley made a dent in the deficit in the bottom of the sixth, but added just a single run to make it 8-2. Meanwhile, Martha’s Vineyard hit double-digits in scoring in the top of the seventh, jumping back out to an 11-2 lead in its next at-bat.
The Blue Sox showed some signs of life late, but couldn’t string together enough runs to try and close the gap. They stranded two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth and left one on in the ninth.
Amherst 12U beats Southampton
Henry Drinker tossed five shutout innings, striking out eight batters as the Amherst 12U All-Star team blanked Southampton, 10-0, in a Little League District 2 Tournament contest on Monday in Amherst.
Amherst got to work early, scoring four runs in the first inning. Wyatt Cook drove in Drinker and Kodey Camp on a single to center. Cook later scored when Max Lashway drove him in with a ground ball to first base.
In the third inning, Brady Klaes reached on an error and was driven in by another sharp single by Cook. After a walk and a fielder’s choice grounder, Gus Garrett Peltier drove in Cook and Cyrus Arwade with a line drive to center, making it 7-0.
Amherst added two more runs in t he fourth inning and closed it out with a bases-loaded hit by Derek Gromacki in the bottom of the fifth to stretch the lead to 10 and end the game.