BUCKLAND — The Mohawk West County Pettengill Archery Sandy Koufax team jumped on visiting Northampton early Thursday night.
Mohawk came out swinging at the plate, scoring three runs in the first, two runs in the second and three in the third to take an early 8-1 advantage.
The hosts then rode their strong pitching to the end to pull away with a 9-3 victory in a PVYBL contest at Mohawk Trail Regional School.
You would have never known Mohawk was down a pair of pitchers on Thursday.
Grayson Bishop got the start on the mound, mowing down the first six batters he faced. He ended up throwing two and one-third innings, striking out seven and not allowing a hit. Tanner Jenks then came on and was able to keep the Northampton bats quiet, throwing two and two-thirds innings, striking out four and giving up one hit.
Phineas Tuttman closed out the final two innings for Mohawk, striking out three and giving up one hit.
“We’re missing some of our starting pitchers today,” Phillips said. “We did pretty well. We only had 16 kids today but we played well.”
Despite the loss, Northampton coach Steve Romanowski has seen a lot of positives from this team this summer.
“They’ve made improvements every game,” Romanowski said. “The defense has been outstanding. Our bats have been slower than we’ve liked but the fielding has been great. We have great enthusiasm and it’s been a great year.”
Bishop opened the bottom of the first by reaching on an error. He then stole third and was brought home on an RBI single by Tuttman. Sam Thompson then hit a single, a pair of steals put Tuttman on third and Thompson on second, and Jenks grounded out to bring Tuttman home. Thompson later scored on a passed ball to give Mohawk a 3-0 lead.
Noah Sprague got on with a walk in the second. Brady Gancarz then reached on a single and Levi Clark was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Bishop came up and cracked a single to drive in Sprague and Gancarz, putting Mohawk up 5-0.
Northampton got a run back in the third. Jackson Romanowski got on with a walk, stole a pair of bases and made it home on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Mohawk answered by tacking three runs on in the third. Jenks got on with a walk, swiped a pair of bases and made it home on a Doug Wilcox ground out. Grady Patnode then blasted a triple, and scored after Phillips drove him in with a single. Phillips then stole second and third and got home on a passed ball to extend the lead to 8-1.
“It’s a lot easier to play when you have a lead in the beginning,” Phillips said. “It’s a reassurance. It makes it easier to know it’ll be difficult for them to come back.”
Bishop opened the fourth by cracking a double. He stole third and Tuttman brought him in on a ground out, making it a 9-1 ball game.
Damian Sabach knocked the first hit of the game for Northampton in the top of the fifth, crushing a double to left field that brought in Matt Baird, who had reached on a walk.
Northampton scored its final run of the game in the top of the seventh. Aiden Zera got on with a walk and Liam O’Connor drove him in with a double.
Phillips made a great catch to save more Northampton runs from going on the board. Baird drilled a line drive to left field but Phillips was able to make a diving catch. He then got up and made the throw to second to get O’Connor out, pulling off the double play.
“I got lucky,” Phillips said. “If it was a little more to the right it would have gone right past me. It was a line drive but I was able to barely get it with my glove.”
Sabach hit a single but Tuttman recorded a strikeout to end the game.
“This season is going well,” Phillips said. “We’re definitely one of the top teams to my knowledge.”
On the other side, Romanowski hopes to see his team continue to take strides as the season goes on, seeing certain areas to work on as the summer progresses.
“We’re going to work on being more aware when the ball comes to you,” Romanowski said. “We need to be thinking of that ahead of time. We’ll work on situational hitting, not swinging so big when you have two strikes. It’s situations like that and keeping our focus through a whole seven-inning game. We can’t get down if we start losing and keep our head in the game, stay focused and stay playing hard.”