The Northampton Post 28 Senior American Legion baseball team is slumping at the wrong time after dropping its third straight game following its 16-8 loss to the Wilbraham Falcons at Minnechaug Regional High School on Wednesday night.
Post 28 was ahead, 6-1, through three and a half innings, but then gave up 15 runs throughout the final three frames. Their chances of qualifying for the District tournament as one of the top six teams in District 3 will come down to the final day of the regular season.
Northampton starter James Lavallee gave up just one unearned run in three innings, but was taken out to preserve his pitch count, should the team qualify for the postseason.
Post 28 fell to 7-5 overall and most likely need to win their regular-season finale to clinch a berth into the playoffs.
Kaleb Jorritsma powered Northampton’s bats on Wednesday with three hits and three RBIs while Matt Vassallo (two hits), Aiden Keeling-Lococo (three runs scored) and Trey Kuzmeski (triple) delivered from the batter’s box against the Falcons.
Post 28 returns to Arcanum Field for a one last home game on Thursday. First pitch against Sheffield Post 340 is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.
On Wednesday morning, Belchertown Post 239 was informed by North Adams Post 125 that it would not have enough players available to make the trip to Belchertown for the teams’ scheduled game at Belchertown High School.
While it comes as a bummer for Post 239, which was looking for a 10th straight victory and got it via forfeit, they have officially secured the No. 1 overall seed in District 3. Belchertown will host a playoff pool under the new postseason format.
The top six teams from each region make it, with the top seeds all earning the right to host. The No. 3 seed of each region will be in the pod of their respective No. 1 seed. Teams seeded at No. 2, 4, 5 and 6 will all be mismatched from different regions and scattered throughout the pods to make up the bracket. The winners of each pod will advance to the next round, similar to college baseball’s “Regionals” and “Super Regionals.”
The tournament is set to begin on Saturday, with Post 239 (12-1) playing against North County of District 4 at noon at Belchertown High School. Another game will follow suit at 3:30 p.m., with the losers of those two contests playing on Sunday morning (10 a.m.) and the winners battling it out afterward at 1:30 p.m. — both games also taking place at BHS.
PVYBL Sandy Koufax
Amherst 20, Hatfield 5 (5) — The Hurricanes ran away with Tuesday’s PVYBL Koufax game against Hatfield at Smith Academy. Amherst was up 16-0 after two, with Oscar Reich and Daniel Lebron throwing scoreless innings for the ‘Canes and the offense batting around in each inning. Gus Garrett Peltier allowed just one run across the fourth and fifth to close out the run-rule-shortened game.
Brady Klaes had two doubles and a single along with a walk for another monster night at the plate. Oliver Howard also delivered for the Hurricanes, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Drew Holland, Cyrus Arwade, Tristan Feeley, Julian Park, Oscar Reich, Nick Stinson, Tyler Bray and Aidan HawkOwl all either scored, collected a hit, or tallied an RBI for Amherst.
