GREENFIELD — Greenfield Post 81 kept its American Legion postseason alive.

Northampton Post 28 gave Greenfield all it had, but Post 81 found a way to come out with a 6-5 victory, Sunday at Vets Field.

Greenfield moves on to play Pittsfield Post 68, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., with the winner playing Wilbraham Post 286 Red at 8:30 p.m. in the Championship game.

“We’ve been in games like this all season, one run games,” Post 81 coach Kyle Phelps said. “These guys are used to it. They never give up. We were up and they came back but we didn’t hang our heads. They’re just a gritty bunch.”

With the game knotted at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Greenfield got a rally going as Garrett DeForest reached after being hit with a pitch.

An error put Colin Cloutier on first and moved DeForest to second, and a wild pitch put runners in scoring position.

Connor Waitkus brought home DeForest with the game-winning run on a slow rolling grounder to second.

“We do the little things,” Phelps said. “We move runners around, we play small ball when we need to. That was a big RBI right there, just on a simple groundout but we got the run in.”

Owen Phelps pitched the entire game for Post 81, striking out five while surrendering six hits.

Northampton added three runs with two outs in the fifth inning. Devontay Edmonds blasted a double to deep center to bring in a pair of runs. Nick Heafey then hit a shot that got over Waitkus’ head in center and brought Edmonds in and tie the game at 5-5.

Phelps kept his composure, though, retiring seven of the next eight batters to preserve the win.

“He was unbelievable,” coach Phelps said. “He’s been great all season, he had a great high school season and he’s been awesome for us in the Legion. They were hitting him in the middle innings and he was getting tired but he dug down deep and wanted to go out there for the seventh. We were going batter-for-batter there and he got the last out.”

Northampton coach Chuck Holt saw his team fight at the plate, but was unable to generate base runners consistently.

“I expected it to be a battle,” Holt said. “Good pitching performance again, we’ve had a lot of those against us recently. Greenfield is a super tough team, they’re competitive and they battle.”

Greenfield scored the first run of the game as Post 28 starter Matt Bouley struggled with control. Bouley hit three batters to load the bases and a wild pitch brought DeForest home from third.

Post 81 added its second run in the second, as a Brian Baumann single brought Sam Bobala home.

Northampton answered in the top of the third when Andy Grygorcewicz came to the plate with Jackson Heath on first. The big first baseman hit a rocket over the 375-foot sign in left field, tying the game at 2-2.

“That kind of power is rare, even for our hitters,” Holt said. “Andy has had an unbelievable season for us. The top of our order has been really special this year and they’ve been the catalyst of us scoring a lot of runs and going on a winning streak. That was one of the furthest home runs I’ve ever seen.”

Greenfield stayed consistent at the plate, with Cloutier and Waitkus hitting safely to put runners in scoring position for Kalen Evans in the third.

Evans hit a shot to short that wasn’t collected by Heafey, bringing Cloutier in for a 3-2 lead.

Post 81 added two more runs in the fourth, when a Cloutier double brought in Joel Peabody and DeForest.

Bouley pitched 3⅓ innings for Post 28. He walked five and allowed six hits and five runs. Jake Brittain came in relief and allowed one hit over the final 3⅔ .

Wilbraham Post 286 Red 8, Northampton Post 28 6 — Post 28 suffered its first postseason loss Saturday night at Spec Pond in Wilbraham.

Northampton scored three runs in the third to tie the game at 3-3 and added one in the fourth for a 4-3 lead.

Red came back with a three-run fifth for a 6-4 lead, but Post 28 answered with two in the sixth.

Red matched the two runs in the sixth to win.

Heath (two runs), Grygorcewicz (two runs) and Edmonds each had a hit and an RBI for Hamp.

American Legion

Wilbraham Post 286 Red 8, Northampton Post 28 6

Northampton         003 102 0 — 6 6 2

Wilbraham             030 032 x — 8 11 1

WP—Dunklee LP—Serio

Records: Northampton (13-6) Wilbraham Red (15-5)

Greenfield Post 81 6,
Northampton Post 28 5

Northampton           002 030 0 — 5 6 3

Greenfield                 111 201 x — 6 7 0

WP—Phelps LP—Brittain

Records: Northampton (13-7) Greenfield (15-5)