SOUTH HADLEY – After the first inning of Thursday’s PVYBL Mickey Mantle baseball game, South Hadley found itself in the driver’s seat while Amherst was on its heels – something neither team was accustomed to.
“It felt good, we haven’t started like that in awhile. (We’ve) been slumped on the bats and in the field recently,” South Hadley’s Nate Carillon said. “It’s a big confidence boost moving forward to Sunday.”
After a three-run first inning that staked it to a 3-0 lead, South Hadley never gave up the advantage for the remainder of the game, though Amherst made a brief comeback attempt and tied the contest back up in the top of the fourth inning. In the team’s very next at-bat, South Hadley reeled off four more runs, ultimately securing a 7-3 win. The victory improved South Hadley’s overall record to 5-2.
It was a bit of a wake-up call for Amherst, which came into Thursday’s contest with a 7-1 record, including five mercy-rule victories. Though it hadn’t yet faced off against South Hadley, it wasn’t a good day for the visiting squad, which struggled with errors and consistency throughout the contest.
“This is really the first game all year that we’ve had mental errors. What do you chalk it up to? I don’t know,” Amherst coach Brian West said. “We’ve been playing three games a week and we’ve had four or five days off. So does that play into it? Maybe. But it basically comes down to – you can’t make mental errors and win a baseball game, especially against a good team.”
South Hadley’s starting pitcher, Braeden Lamirande, threw all seven innings for the home team, striking out two batters, while his team played rock solid defense behind him. Amherst rotated three players on the mound; Alex West started and threw two innings before Elijah Rubinstein came on in relief for three innings. Ryan Gould threw one inning to close out the contest.
“My expectations are only that we just come and play good baseball. We’ve had some issues with errors lately and we played pretty clean tonight,” South Hadley coach Ray Carillon said. “That just makes all the difference.”
The visitors tied the game up in the top of the fourth, getting their comeback attempt started with singles from West and Rubinstein. Rubinstein got Amherst on the board with the first run, followed closely by some brilliant base running from Jon Waite for the second run. Jake Waller plated the game-tying run.
But though the momentum shifted in Amherst’s favor briefly, it swung hard in the other direction immediately after.
“We come back, we score three runs, we tie the game up, and then in the next half inning, you know, it turns into a nuclear inning,” West said. “These kids have played enough baseball where they know if you walk guys and make errors, mental or physical, it’s going to cost you the game…we’re just gonna file it away into memory bank and come to play on Sunday.”
South Hadley exploded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four more runs to regain the lead. Cody Moskal and Jack Maziarz both walked to lead off, and Taylor Rogers laid down a beautiful bunt to load the bases with no outs. From their, the home team was in their comfort zone; Noah Carillon picked up a two-RBI single and Jackson Keller doubled as the home team padded their lead with some impressive at-bats.
“We’re trying to change our approach to the plate,” Carillon said. “We’re trying to be more aggressive at the plate and trying to make sure that we’re hitting first pitch fastballs, so we ended up with a number of hits today off of that.”
The remainder of the game was a defensive matchup, with neither team scoring in the last three innings.
Pa’lante 7, Teddy Bear Pools 2 – Andy Gregorcewicz hit a triple and scored once and Patrick Serio had a single and an RBI in Teddy Bear Pools’ 7-2 loss on Thursday night at Frontier Regional.
The defeat dropped Teddy Bear to 4-9 on the season.