As resilient as the Walpole American team was against Braintree American in its Suburban League 11A quarterfinal showdown yesterday, it found out that they could only live on the edge for so long.
After falling behind four runs in the first inning and then eventually chipping away to tie the game, and then having a pair of sensational defensive plays to keep the game tied in the sixth, Walpole’s good fortune didn’t extend into extra innings as Braintree’s Gino LaRossa cracked a walkoff home run in the bottom of the seventh to give Braintree a 6-5 win at the Walpole Little League Complex’s Restaino Field.
Braintree moves on to the semifinals to play Hanover today at Restaino Field at 5:30 p.m. while Walpole is eliminated. It was tough night all around for local squads in the quarters as Walpole National fell to Kingston (2-1) and Westwood was blanked by Milton American (6-0) in the late contests.
It looked like it was going to be a long day for Walpole, who was the visiting team despite playing on its home field. After Lincoln Griffin hit a solo home run in the top of the first to put Walpole ahead, the first five Braintree batters in the bottom of the inning all had hits and came around to score. Kevin Hock and Connor Columbus hit back-to-back singles and Tom Victor doubled to plate both runners. Nick Valicenti followed with a two-run homer to left field and John Crowley then hit a solo homerun of his own to make it 5-1.
That’s when Walpole brought in Liam Kelleher, who put forth a sensational relief effort. Kelleher struck out the next three batters to stop the bleeding and then struck out the side again in the second. He kept Walpole in the game going six innings, allowing six hits and striking out seven before taking the tough luck loss by yielding the home run to LaRossa in the seventh.
Walpole cut the deficit to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the second on an RBI single by Bobby Ivatts to score Brendan Chaisson and Griffin (2-for-4, 2 RBI) followed with a double to left center scoring Ivatts. Walpole made it a one-run game in the third when Anthony Esdale scored on a wild pitch.
Walpole got the equalizer in the fifth when Pat Donovan cracked a clutch 2-out double to score Al Giendominco.
Braintree had the winning run on second base with no outs in the sixth when Walpole turned a nifty double play. Columbus hit a ground ball to third base and Giendominco threw him out at first. The runner on second broke for third and first baseman Chaisson fired back across the diamond to Giendominco for the out. Braintree followed with a single and a walk to put a pair of runners on with two outs and appeared to get the game-winning hit when John Crowley hit a sharp single to center. But centerfielder Nick Foxsen fired it in to cutoff man Pat Donovan who had a perfect throw to the plate and catcher Griffin applied the tag to cut down the potential winning run and send the game to extras.
After Walpole went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, LaRossa hit the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh high into the trees in left field to give Braintree the dramatic victory.
Robert McNiff worked the first 4 2/3 innings for Braintree allowing five runs on five hits with four strikeouts while Columbus went the final 2 1/3 innings yielding just one hit to earn the victory. Walpole had a chance to go ahead in the fifth with the bases loaded and two outs but Columbus came on to get Griffin to pop up to left and preserve the tie.
