NORTHAMPTON — Post 28 is playoff bound.
The Northampton Senior American Legion baseball team wrapped its regular season with an exclamation point in its 14-4 win over Sheffield Post 340 at Arcanum Field on Thursday evening. The victory secured Post 28’s spot in the District playoff picture as it earned a spot in District 3 No. 1 Belchertown Post 239’s pod.
Thursday, Northampton’s offense broke open during innings five and six as the hosts poured in 10 runs over the final two frames to enact the run-rule and put a bow on the contest.
Trey Kuzmeski bombed a three-run triple over the Sheffield left fielder’s head during the bottom of the sixth, which wound up being the final play of the game as Kuzmeski’s bases-clearing bash brought the score to 14-4.
“I could not be more proud of these guys,” Post 28 head coach Adam Krol said. “We did the first task, which is get to districts and now it’s time to show Massachusetts what this team has. I’m so proud of them. That was a good win to end the year.”
Since Thursday’s result only impacted where both teams would have to play in the district tournament, both squads rifled through pitchers in order to keep pitch counts low. Northampton used three arms while Sheffield had four, making it difficult for either team to get into a rhythm from the rubber.
“We got great pitching,” Krol said. “I have confidence in our pitchers against anyone in the state, so full confidence in anyone that goes out there.”
Post 28 scored three of its first four runs by either pass balls or errors to jump ahead, 4-0, following three frames. Sheffield made it a one-run game by the fifth inning as Post 340 plated two runs during the fourth after a Northampton fielding error, then closed it to 4-3 on a RBI single from Ben Kelly.
But a four-run fifth quickly dispelled any notions of a Sheffield comeback as Post 28’s bats were highlighted by a RBI single from Carter Styspeck and RBI fielder’s choice from Aiden Keeling-Lococo to extend its lead to 8-3 .
A single run from Post 340 during the top of the sixth made it 8-4 Northampton, however RBIs from Harry LaFlamme (sacrifice fly) and Cody Keel (single), plus a bases-loaded walk from Sheffield’s reliever set the stage for Kuzmeski’s game-deciding three-bagger during the bottom half of the sixth.
Thursday’s victory also snapped Northampton’s three-game losing streak — its longest of the summer — and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“There’s no better teacher than failure,” Krol said. “I don’t look at those losses as necessarily negatives, I think we got a lot of positive things out of them despite the score. These guys are resilient. They know how important it is to just keep going and keep pushing through.”
Post 28 concluded the regular season with an 8-5 record and solidified fourth place in the District 3 standings.
Now, Northampton will turn its attention to Leominster Post 151 as its opening opponent on Saturday and could meet up with Belchertown Post 239 again down the road. Post 28 was the only team to defeat Belchertown during the regular season as it finished 12-1 overall.
“Credit to them for winning our Western Mass. [district],” Krol said. “That’s a really impressive program that continues to find a way to win and plays baseball the right way. But hey, we have a chance to not only play them, but beat them again. I think we’re itching for that chance and we’re just excited to be playing more baseball.”
First pitch for Saturday’s playoff battle is set for 3:30 p.m. Belchertown will play North County in the opener at noon. The pod is a double-elimination event and will continue on Sunday and into next week.
West County 3, Amherst 1 — West County found a way to sneak across three runs on only one hit to put a roadblock in Amherst’s path to the PVYBL regular season championship on a muggy summer evening at Mohawk Trail Regional School on Wednesday. The Amherst/West County rivalry has been building, with the teams splitting walk-off wins in last year’s regular season before Amherst pulled off an extra-inning victory in the championship game. This season, West County got the better of Amherst in the first tilt, 5-2, handing Amherst what was one of only two losses coming into the evening.
Amherst cracked first, with Cyrus Arwade scoring after doubling in the top of the second, using heads up base running to go all the way from second to home on an infield error off the bat of Tristan Feeley. In the bottom half, the first two outs came easily for Amherst, but then a single and a walk set up West County to even matters with a steal attempt that led to a run on an overthrow.
Amherst went quietly in the third, fourth and fifth frames, with the only action on the base paths coming via a Feeley hit by pitch and a Gus Garrett Peltier single. In the bottom halves, Arwade cruised through the third and fourth on the mound with two 1-2-3 innings, and reliever Drew Hollard similarly set West County down in order in the fifth.
The ‘Canes put runners on second and third in the top of the sixth with nobody out (Oliver Howard double and Holland single), but the West County defense was able to escape without allowing a run.
West County rallied with two outs in the sixth to score two runs and take the lead. Oscar Reich led off the seventh with a single for Amherst, but three batters later he was left standing on first as West County celebrated their victory.
Amherst pitchers Arwade and Holland allowed no earned runs and only one hit on the night, striking out nine combined. Garrett Peltier went 2-for-3 from the plate and Daniel Lebron also contributed a hit. Caleb Kimberly pitched brilliantly for West County, allowing no walks over 6 1/3 innings.
Northampton 9, Greenfield 2 — The Blue Devils notched a win on Tuesday at Florence Athletic Fields. Northampton got on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Dylan Lawrence-Riddell was struck by a pitch, which drove in a run, and Nicholas Theroux singled, scoring two more. They never looked back from there.
Lawrence-Riddell earned the win on the mound. He gave up one hit and zero runs over 4 1/3 innings while striking out four. Oliver Yau appeared in relief.
Theroux and Miles Cameron each drove in two runs for Northampton, Bradyn Rios went 2-for-3 at the plate and Elliott Frankl and Jackson Galenski each stole multiple bases. The Blue Devils’ defense was on display, with Austin Barcomb throwing out a runner attempting to steal second base in the top of the first inning. They also turned two double plays in the win.
The PVYBL playoffs begin on Monday.
