Legion baseball: Jake Waller drives in winning run as Belchertown Post 239 beats Westfield in extras

BELCHERTOWN — The Belchertown Post 239 Senior American Legion team improved to 2-0 on the season, with its latest victory coming in walk-off fashion in extra innings on Wednesday evening at Belchertown High School.

Tied 1-1 in a pitchers’ duel with Westfield Post 124, Post 239 plated the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jacob Smith reached third base while Jake Waller stepped to the plate. Waller drove a pitch into the outfield and a Post 124 fielder settled under it to make the catch. The fly ball was plenty deep enough for Smith, who tagged up and scampered home to give Belchertown the thrilling win via the sacrifice fly.

Smith led the way offensively for Post 239, ripping a pair of hits – including a double – and scoring both Belchertown runs as he reached base three times. Belchertown’s Thatcher Rudnik tallied two hits, Ryan Gould singled and walked, Dom Aloisi had an RBI hit and Evan Ferguson hit safely. Waller walked to go along with his winning RBI.

Josh Misiaszek struck out seven, walked one and only allowed three hits in his four innings of work – giving Post 239 a quality start on the bump. Canyon Charron came on in relief, allowing two hits and fanning two in a pair of scoreless innings and Waller finished the job by pitching two frames.

Waller gave up the lone Westfield run in the top of the seventh, turning a 1-0 Post 239 lead to a 1-1 tie heading into extras. But he more than made up for it with his walk-off sacrifice fly an inning later.

Belchertown Post 239 (2-0) returns to the diamond on Friday, as it hosts the only other Hampshire County legion team in Northampton Post 28 (1-0). First pitch is slated for 5:45 p.m. at Arcanum Field in Florence.