HS baseball: Medfield hands Middleboro first loss en route to D3 South crown

MIDDLEBORO – Their magical season had to come to an end for Medfield or Middleboro, and it’s never easy for the team that must walk away.

Medfield (19-1) capitalized on two miscues in the first inning to plate six runners and send 11 batters to the plate in an 11-0 rout over previously undefeated Middleboro in the D3 South Championship.

The Warriors, who finished below .500 in 2018, did not make the South Sectional Tournament in 2019, and had their 2020 season cut short due to COVID-19, advanced to the State Tournament.

“The top of our order is constructed to get out early on people and give us a lead early in games and we’ve done that all year,” said Warriors head coach, Dave Worthley, in his fourth season with the program. “It was nice to come out and (win) in a definitive fashion and send a message to the rest of the state and we’ve kind of created a winning culture.”

With one out, Jack Goodman (three runs scored) reached on an error and stole second and third, but Sachem starter Justin Plauskey was able to pick up a strikeout for the second out of the inning and hoped to leave the inning unscathed.

But the wheels came off the bus all with two outs, as Ben Leonard (2-for-4; walk; two runs scored) and Matt Donahue followed up with two-out singles. Plauskey, who is headed to Assumption in the fall, allowed two walks which knocked in the only earned run of the inning to give Medfield a quick 2-0 lead.

The big blow came as Jack Collins hit a liner to the outfield that fell off the outfielder’s glove for a huge error and the flood of unearned runs opened the gates for the 6-0 lead after the first half-inning.

Middleboro (17-1) had chances through the game as the Sachems loaded the bases in the the first and in the fifth inning but couldn’t tack on a run.

The Warriors’ pitching staff were also able to induce three inning-ending double plays including a line out to Goodman at short as he stepped on second base for the unassisted double play to end the fifth inning and all hopes for Middleboro.

First-year head coach Josh Porter hated the season to end on a sour note, but after taking over for the legendary Bill Lawrence, who lost a hard-fought battle with cancer earlier in the season – the opportunity proved to be much more than he expected.

“All season long we’ve gotten that timely hit and when they put up six in the first – you kind of want to respond. Loading the bases was great but you want to try and get a couple across and that just didn’t happen. (Medfield) is a great team over there. They hit one through nine, they pitched, they made the defensive plays,” said Porter, “What a season and a way to jump into this thing especially with the circumstances and taking over for Bill and he’s probably laughing a little bit and smiling down but in the end there is only one winner.”

Thomas Shurtleff improved to 7-0 on the season with four solid innings before leaving the game with the 10-0 lead. Shurtleff recorded five strikeouts while yielding only four singles and striking out the side in his final inning.

“He was very good, he’s been good all year and in the end there he was really able to establish his curveball which really had (Medfield) a little off balance,” added Worthley about his junior hurler. “When he gets ahead and throws strikes, he’s awfully hard to beat and no one’s had too much success against him this year.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3qyo3YO